Buffalo Bills Wednesday Media Session

Head Coach Doug Marrone
Wednesday, November 5th, 2014

Q: Injuries?
A: Scott Berchtold: Limited Participation: Ron Brooks with a groin, Marcus Easley with a knee, Marquise Goodwin with a hamstring, Ty Powell with an ankle, Fred Jackson with a groin and Sammy Watkins with a groin. Full Participation: Robert Woods with a back.

Q: Is Marquise Goodwin closer to playing?
A: He finished today and did everything we needed him to do.

Q: Were you surprised to have Fred back?
A: He’s still limited. I’m not going to go out on a limb yet. No, nothing Fred does ever surprises me or anyone around here.

Q: How much of practice did he take part in?
A: It’s a tough call. We’re going to have to make a decision as it goes on. The thing is, it’s hard to tell because you’re not really playing at 110 percent. With all of these guys here that are listed, you’ve just got to watch them move and make a decision. There’s a lot of communication with the doctors, trainers, coaches and the players. They’re a big part of it, but the players are always going to say they want to play and it falls on us as coaches.

Q: What’s happened to Sammy?
A: He got hurt in practice and didn’t finish.

Q: Is that a different groin injury than he had last week?
A: It’s an injury.

Q: You’re an underdog at home. Do you think you’ll mention that to the players?
A: One thing about it is that we have a responsibility as professionals not to talk about that, which I believe is right. I think there’s so much talk about it and people look about it that players are aware of that stuff and what goes on. It’s going to be that way until we prove that we can go out there and win on a consistent basis. I don’t get upset with anyone. Do you need it as motivation? I think these guys go out there every day and they understand what we have to prove each day.

Q: Are you looking forward to Marquise Goodwin working with Kyle Orton?
A: It’s more about availability for him. I think the more he’s available, the more he practices and those things then we’ll be able to better say where he is. We know he has talent and he can do those things. Even last year, we thought we have him off to a good start. At one point, I forget who we were playing last year – it might’ve been New York – and he really played well. Injuries happen and they occur and you lose it, so it’s hard to come back and start doing it. If he’s available, sure it’s something that we all hope for.

Q: Are you concerned that you can’t generate the necessary rushing attack against Kansas City this year?
A: Last year, it was such a different ballgame. Coming in, there are still the same aspects from them from a defensive standpoint. They’re playing the multiple fronts. They’re playing extremely well with the two outside guys. I think the inside guy, [Dontari] Poe, is having an unbelievable year. He’s a hell of a player. I think he’s a guy that’s flying under the radar in this league. The linebackers are extremely physical, downhill players. They’re getting really good play out of their secondary. Last year, we were able to hit some big plays on them. We were one of the few teams that did. It’ll be challenge for us. His team challenges you. I told the team today that we’re going to have to play well on all three phases for sixty minutes. Kansas City is a very well disciplined team. You will not see them make mistakes. They’re very, very efficient.

Q: Does the Kansas City game last year still stick in your craw?
A: I think that every game you lose, you look back and how you lose it doesn’t matter; at the end of the day, you lost. All of those situations are so far in the past and we try to stay in the present of what we can do now. We’re not really looking back at that.

Q: Does Jerry Hughes fly under the radar?
A: Early on, absolutely, but I think a lot of people have recognized him lately. I know opposing teams do. I think that’s where it starts first. They worry about him on the field and other coaches are telling you, ‘Hey, that guy’s a heck of a player.’ His production is really high. He goes out there and plays every single play, no matter what it is. He’s got a great motor. Under the radar nationally? Probably. Probably. And that goes with the team’s concept. I don’t know how many times I could tell you that when you win football games and people start looking at you, stuff like that gets noticed. When you’re not and you’re playing real well, a lot of times it goes unnoticed.

Q: Was it just a situation where he needed a chance and wasn’t getting that with Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney entrenched in Indianapolis?
A: I can’t speak about the Indy situation because I really don’t know that. Sometimes a change of venue is good for a player. All of the sudden they blossom and become a better player. There’s a history all over this league on every team that can tell you that. I just think that he was able to come here and take advantage of his opportunity and has really been outstanding.

Q: What’s your view of Travis Kelce?
A: I know a little bit about him, obviously, through the college ranks. I thought he was a heck of a player at the University of Cincinnati. He made plays kind of like you’re seeing now. I don’t know about things that have happened before, but I’ve always thought that he was a very, very talented player. He’s a big guy, big target, can run across the middle, catch the ball, difficult to get down and tackle. He also has the ability to be a matchup problem, which you’re seeing a lot in this league now. He can split out at wide receiver and you have to make decisions about who’s covering him. It looks like he’s coming on. I think he’s getting more and more involved in their offense.

Q: Does he have some traits that remind you of Rob Gronkowski?
A: I don’t think that would be fair to Gronkowski, because of his history and everything that he’s done and proven that he can do. Kelce is coming along. He’s progressing well. He’s a good football player and one who we have to be aware of where he is on the field.

Q: You guys have been a bit better covering tight ends lately. What do you attribute that to?
A: It’s matching up, matching up the underneath. A lot of that is those guys making good plays. You’ve got to tip your hat to them. Again, a lot of it could be the rush. We’re getting to quarterbacks. I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. I think the secondary is playing well. We’ll be tested in this game with the backs and the tight ends and even the receivers, from a standpoint of they’re outstanding route runners and they complete balls all over the place. I know that they don’t have as many touchdowns as they want, but they don’t need to throw it. They can run the ball. They’ve got 11 rushing touchdowns. It’ll be a challenge for us to be able to stop the run and the short passing game and still be alert for them taking shots.

Q: You’ve been unhappy after the last three home games. How important is it to play your best game at home?
A: I’m always striving for all three phases playing our best game and trying to do that. I think it’s important. When you get yourself in a situation where you have the third quarter starting and we have three of the four of these home games, with the first one being Kansas City at home, it’s extremely important.

Q: Is there any more light you can shine on Sammy’s injury situation? How concerning is that injury?
A: Again, I can’t sway the line or fantasy or anything like that, but I don’t know. He didn’t finish practice, so I don’t know where he’s going to be tomorrow. I don’t know where he’s going to be. I don’t know. I really don’t.

Q: What’d he do?
A: Groin. He could play or he could be out for two to three weeks. Who knows? He’s like Fred. I don’t know. I have no information, except that he didn’t finish practice.

Q: Can you talk about the challenges that Jamaal Charles and Knile Davis pose?
A: Jamaal Charles is one of the best running backs in the league. He can catch the ball, run the ball inside and outside. He’s a dynamic runner and playmaker, however he gets the ball. The other kid, I loved him when he was coming out of Arkansas. Coming out, we looked hard at him. I really liked him. Big kid that can run. He’s a different type of style of back, but a guy that they put back on kickoff, so that just shows you the type of speed he has. I think that it’s a heck of a one-two punch. It’s a big challenge again. Both of those guys are doing well. Charles’ carries have been increased. He’s definitely a weapon, one of many that they have back there.

Q: Does part of you wonder whether Kyle Orton’s performance will regress?
A: I just keep pushing. As coaches, we just keep pushing the players, trying to get them better every day. You can get better every time you’re out here and that’s the whole key for our team. With some of the mistakes we’ve made in the past, sitting here with what we are, we understand that if we keep making those same mistakes, people are going to take advantage of it and we’re not going to be able to recover from those mistakes. That’s why we keep pushing. With Kyle, he’s a very competitive guy. He’s pushing the heck out of himself and pushing those around him. That’s what we need. I talked to the players about leadership, starting with me being able to push. It goes to the coaches and then goes to players. We’ve got to be able to lead. Are we going to have some bumps? Yeah, there’s going to be some bumps, but we’ve got to be able to go through that adversity, whatever it may be.

QB Kyle Orton
Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Q: Kyle, just your thoughts on heading into this weekend, the second half of the season, and the challenge against the Chiefs.
A: We have a great team coming in here and playing against us. Kind of similar teams really strong defenses, offensive teams that want to run the football, and not turn the ball over. They’re hot right now and we feel like we’re just getting into our stride. Obviously a big game at home and one that would be a great one to win.

Q: Do they show you a lot of defensive fronts? Are they kind of multiple look defensively?
A: Yeah, they’re multiple. Maybe not as much as some of the teams that we played the last few weeks but one they get you in positions, third and long and all that stuff they will try to disguise stuff and try to confuse you. But more than anything they just have really good players on defense, they want to create one on one situations in the pass rush, in the secondary, and they win a lot of those matchups so we’re going to have play our best game to go out there and win.

Q: They have two great edge rushers in Hali and Houston…
A: No doubt, their edge rushers are very good. They have been for a very long time and their whole defense is predicated on that, linebackers that push the pocket, defensive tackles that push the pocket, and kind of funnel everything to those two. Secondary guys that want to come up and play physical and make the quarterback to hang on to the football and give those guys time to get home.

Q: Kyle, what happened with Sammy’s injury from your perspective?
A: You’ll have to ask him. I don’t talk about that stuff.

Q: Kyle, you had the extra week with the bye, does that afford you and Coach Hackett additional time to make other or additional considerations with respect to the game plan?
A: Not really, you just try to stay on schedule. We put plenty of time in on the game plan. We’ve got a good game plan this week, it’s all about going out and executing it and we had a good day of practice today, go out and get two more really good days of practice in and go in playing with a bunch of confidence and just do our job better than they do.

Q: We saw Fred out there in the drills, how did that feel to have him out there?
A: Great. He’s obviously the captain of our football team, an experienced back and as much as he can go out there and play would be a huge help for us.
LB Nigel Bradham
Wednesday, November 5th, 2014

Q: Can you talk about the challenge that Jamaal Charles and Knile Davis present as a one-two punch in that backfield?
A: Two great running backs. Probably the top two backs in the league right now. They’re a great tandem. We pretty much just have to come out there ready to play. We have to execute on defense and communicate and be able to contain those two guys and try to limit them to rushing yards and receiving yards because they can do it all.

Q: How do you stop that? A combo that can both catch and run
A: Pretty much you just have to play great defense. Go out there and be sound on defense. Communicate. Don’t have any mistakes. Pretty much just us not giving them anything and making them earn it pretty much so that’s what we have to do.

Q: Have you watched much film of last year’s game? You outgained them by 260 yards so there’s probably some good stuff in there.
A: No, we didn’t really look at last year’s tape. It’s something that you probably could watch but we’re a different team we feel like so with a different defense. We got different guys out there. Different scheme. All things like that…it’s a different team so we don’t really go back and look at last year’s game and I still we think lost that game last year so there’s definitely no reason to go look at it.

RB Fred Jackson
Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Q: How did it go?
A: It went okay today. It was a good action, the first time I’ve done anything like that on it because it was out there at practice. It went well, we will see how it goes, the doctors are still being doctors and being cautious so we have to see how things go throughout the week.

Q: Is this going to be like Monday where how you feel tomorrow will be a big determining factor?
A: Yeah, and that was something they said.. We will see how you respond tomorrow. It’s a process and this is another step in the process, come out here and do some work today but you got to see how you respond and see how you feel in the morning.

Q: Did you do full reps with the ones most of the day?
A: I did some good work. I did typical stuff that we would do on Wednesday to get out there and move around and see what it feels like. It’s a process that I have to continue to see where I end up going. I was able to do some stuff today, I was able to feel confident in moving around today so if things continue to progress it’s good news.

Q: Fred does the proximity of these next few games being only four days apart, is that playing a factor in what the doctors are considering?
A: Oh, I’m sure it is. To play this weekend and then come back and play four days later I’m sure will be something they will take into account. It’s something that we all have to take into account. That’s something that they will think about all week. If it’s going to hinder being able to play the rest of this season, that is something that they will tell me and something I will have to deal with.

S Da’Norris Searcy
Wednesday, November 5th, 2014

Q: Obviously there’s been some rotation with yourself and Duke. How does playing multiple safeties help?
A: It helps a lot especially with a large variety of us…we all play key roles on special teams. It’s good for us to have the fresher guy to go on defense so that’s there’s no drop off on the defensive side of the ball.

Q: It seems like there’s so much focus on the Chief’s running game. Do you feel like their passing game’s overlooked a little bit?
A: Well the main thing is, every week is to stop the run. Once you stop the run, you can get your team be one-dimensional and then defending the pass would be easy.

Q: Alex Smith has always had that “game manager” title to him. What do you see on film? It doesn’t seem like he makes many mistakes.
A: He doesn’t. He’s a proven guy back there. Like you said, he’s a good game manager. He’s going to put his team in the best position to win. They rely on you to make mistakes but you just have to go out there and communicate and just all of us be on one core and just go out there and play physical and fast and come out with the win.

S Aaron Williams
Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Q: Six of 11 of their passing touchdowns have gone to tight ends, none to wide receivers. Do you think that says something about their offensive tendencies?
A: No, I just think that they rely a lot on their tight ends, not to say that their receivers can’t do it. Their offensive scheme is just based a lot on tight ends. With that being said, we’re not going to overlook their receivers. Bowe has pretty much set a standard for himself in the NFL knowing that he’s a playmaker. We’re not going to overlook that and neither are we going to overlook Jamaal Charles.

Q: Looking at (Travis) Kelce though, he’s a guy that has a little bit more athleticism than your normal tight end. What do you see from his skill set that has made him so productive this year?
A: Honestly, he’s another Gronk (Rob Gronkowski) pretty much. Gronk is really big and has a various skill set and runs like a receiver. For us to stop him we have to be really physical on him, get our hands on him and try to slow him down just a little bit and rely on each other to be in the right spots.

Q: Talk to me a bit about the magnitude of this game…
A: This is a very important quarter for us, any AFC game can be very important. But like Coach says every day we can only look one game at a time. We’re really focused on Kansas City and nothing else. With that being said, we are going to work each and every day to get our record better. For us to come out here and practice hard every day and get each other better, work on our responsibilities and being fundamentally sound.

C Eric Wood
Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Q: This game is almost like looking in the mirror for you guys. These are very similar teams…
A: That would be a compliment because they got a good team. They have a great defense, a really efficient offense, and good special teams. They’re a total package and we will have to be on our A game.

Q: What about the challenges that they pose as far as their pass rush?
A: Obviously, their ends are as good as it gets in this league. Houston and Hali are playing at a high level the past few years and they have some guys up the middle with some juice too. It’ll present a big challenge.

Q: Coach Marrone was saying Dontari Poe was kind of under everybody’s radar, what do you think of him?
A: I think he’s an excellent player.. He’s been good since he entered the league. He’s got a good combination of size and power and quickness and he’s a good ball player.

Q: Eric, if Sammy (Watkins) is down this week it’s a pretty big hurdle to overcome don’t you think?
A: Yeah, obviously he’s a really good player for us. Anytime you lose one of your top guys that’s pretty big.

DT Kyle Williams
Wednesday, November 5th, 2014

Q: What do you think of the run game that Kansas City brings?
A: They have Jamaal Charles who’s a great player. Really great scheme. The O-Line is doing a really good job of staying after guys and giving him an opportunity to break tackles and get into the secondary so it’s a great challenge for us and we’ve got a lot of work to do before we get to Sunday.

Q: How would you describe his running style; Jamaal Charles? What kind of runner is he?
A: Catch him if you can, I guess. You see with him, he can make cuts and run downhill. He can take the perimeter. He’s not a real big guy, but he can still get the yardage between the tackles if you’re not sound and putting pressure on him. Like I said, we’ve got a lot of work to do before Sunday and we’ve got a big challenge.

Q: I don’t want to say you’re taking it easy, but does the defense have more confidence in its ability to stop the run because you’ve proven it this year than maybe in previous years at this point? And I’m not saying this is anything against Charles or anything like that but is there more confidence in the ability to do that?
A: Well I think there’s more confidence because we’ve played well up to this point in the season, but each week is a challenge in itself. With those guys, they have a good scheme. They have good players. It’s going to be a big test for anybody especially for us coming in here. It’s a big AFC game so we have to take each week for what it’s worth and this week we have a big challenge, like I said.

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