Buffalo Bills HC Rex Ryan
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Opening Statement: Alright. Today guys, we had, happy to report, no injuries. So that’s a good one. We did have Sammy Watkins, you might have noticed, he wasn’t out there today but that was just a scheduled day off, so to speak, out of football. And we have like a whole thing. As he transitions in the plan, we have a whole program set up for him, so nothing to be alarmed with there. No update on Reggie (Ragland), on Cordy (Glenn) and on Corey White. No updates there, so status is the same with those guys. We had (Jerel) Worthy out with a medical. He’ll be back Thursday, I believe, but he said he’s got a little medical thing. With that, I think that’s pretty much it. I was really encouraged today. Saw a lot of good things, in particular, on defense. We’re really flying to the football. I thought the coaches made a real point of emphasizing it and I saw it today and good things happen when you fly to the football. You saw in the red-zone, back-to-back plays for interceptions, one by Stephon Gilmore, one by Preston Brown. So that was really encouraging to me. With that, I’ll open it up to questions.
Q: With the report yesterday that Cordy has a high ankle sprain, is that accurate?
A: Well you can say it anyway you want I guess. When I hear high ankle sprain, I think, “Oh, God. That’s a five-week injury or something like that.” So, I get concerns there. We’re not concerned with those.
Q: Will he play Saturday?
A: I’ll let those guys tell me. Will he play this game? I don’t know, we’ll see. Probably not, but he hasn’t been declared out for this game.
Q: What’s the status of Richie?
A: Yeah, no new thing with Richie. Richie’s like, “Ah, I’ll be back in two days.” So that’s Richie. Our medical people may have something to say about that but again, it’s not an injury that, it might be discomforting, he’s—what’s the word? Somebody come up with a word and fill it in there. Just blank, discomfort, what is it? Somebody. Come on. Who’s got a good one? Feels bad to him, feels good for us. Here, you got it on me. I’m in high water right now. He’s uncomfortable.
Q: What’s the approach with Sammy not practicing today?
A: We’re going to definitely go slow on it, but there’s a game-plan for him in place. He had a really good day yesterday. This had nothing to do with, “Oh, he’s sore or something.” No, that’s not it. We have a game-plan in place for him and we’re going to follow it.
Q: In that respect, how much did you learn from last year? I know you already talked about overworking the guys?
A: Yeah, as much as we want him out there, we get paid to win games in the regular season. Now that doesn’t mean that work’s not important because it absolutely is important, but we also have to weigh the pluses and the minuses. One of our main things is to make sure our guys are at optimal level when we start the season. So whatever that means, for every player, not just Sammy, that’s for every player, that’s the goal.
Q: Given the fact that you’re easing in Sammy, you don’t expect him to play Saturday do you?
A: I haven’t said that yet, but we’ll discuss. We haven’t even really thought about the game yet, guys. How long the starters are going to play, all this, who’s this, who’s going to do what, we haven’t even discussed that yet. We will as the week goes on.
Q: You said you were impressed with the defense. Obviously that’s a product of getting some guys back. Is there anything you’re seeing that the defense is doing a better job on than from the start of camp?
A: Yeah there’s a lot of things. I think number one is we’re putting what I call ankle-weights. Sometimes what you do is put your guys in stressful situations against maybe not the ideal things and situations, and you learn from it, you teach from it. So we’ve been doing that a lot. You’ll see. Guys are in three-wides or whatever and we got our base defense on the field. So anything like that, we’re trying to be prepared for everything. I think our guys are doing a good job, I think our communication is good. I think we’re really getting on the same page. I think we have a very good understanding of that and to me, it’s exciting to see.
Q: Because Richie and Cordy are veteran guys and they’ve played together last year, is there a little less worry on your part because you know that they’re experienced and will be ready to hit the ground running when they are healthy?
A: Without question. There’s a great comfort level having Richie Incognito at guard and Cordy Glenn at tackle; no question about that. I wouldn’t classify these things as serious injuries that they have, so that’s a good thing. But we do want to be smart. We want to make sure we get them back close to 10-percent before we put them on the field.
Q: What’s the latest with Reggie Ragland?
A: There’s really no update. His status remains the same. If you want me to use the swelling deal, remember I tried to put another word in and it got me in trouble, so same status.
Q: As a follow up, is it also an effort to perhaps find a positive solution when you hear ones that aren’t so positive? If he’s got any kind of torn something, and I’m not saying I know that, I’m saying why wouldn’t that be acted upon now to get the kid healthy?
A: I get what you’re saying. If you know a guy has got a torn ACL or whatever it is, then you’re going to have the surgery. Absolutely. So the fact that we’re waiting to get the swelling down so we can make that clear determination of what exactly his injury is and the extent of his injury and I think I’ve been fairly consistent with that message, and that’s really what we’re going to do. It’s not like we’re all of a sudden, “Hey, this, that and the other thing.” No. The truth of the matter is, and I know reports out there say he’s got ‘this,’ he’s got ‘that.’ Guys, there isn’t one person that knows exactly what the injury is, the extent of the injury, until the swelling goes down. I think that’s the progression that we’ve talked about.
Q: You’ve been around the game a long time and been around lots of players with knee injuries. Doesn’t it seem to you that this has been a real long time since the injury, that swelling would still be an issue? Have you asked your medical people about that?
A: I really believe that that’s kind of, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s almost the norm. I think sometimes when you know a guy has a torn ACL or whatever, a lot of times you can flat tell immediately what the injury is. And that’s what we’ve been trying to say is that, guys, right now, it’s clear that nobody knows that he has a torn ACL, if that’s your question. (When) the swelling goes down, we’ll know exactly. Is that a possibility? I guess it could be a possibility. We’re waiting for the swelling to go down to know exactly what the picture is. I think that’s really where we’re at.
Q: What did Sammy show in his one practice?
A: He looks pretty good. I will say this, one of the most unusual things I’ve seen from Sammy was the defense was on an all-out pressure and Sammy kind of gets caught in between. Stephon doesn’t bail on him and he doesn’t jam him, he’s kind of caught in between. So as he’s breaking like he’s going to run his route, he kind if gets stuck, so he just runs over Stephon. And I’m like, “Sammy, what are you doing?” And he goes, “I don’t know.” So that’s one way to get open, just run right through the guy. But other than that, big dude looked fantastic. I mean, he obviously caught that big touchdown catch and ran some routes, he looks great. So that was really encouraging to see, to see how he was playing.
Q: And what does that do to your offense as a whole? Just to have your top receiver back.
A: Well he’s a Pro Bowl receiver. The only thing that’s missing is him going to a Pro Bowl, being voted in. But he’s one of those guys that I’ve had to try to cover him, that’s never worked out well. So, we all know, fans in Buffalo, we all know what kind of player Sammy Watkins is and clearly he’s one of the top receivers in the game. So, yeah, that gives you a big boost to your team.
Q: Talk about Marquise Goodwin this camp, it looks like he’s been involved.
A: He’s healthy, he knows what he’s doing he doesn’t have any issues medically and he made a tremendous catch today and those are things—the first thing that jumps out at you obviously is that speed. That’s always going to jump out at you. But he’s becoming really a nice receiver and a guy that you can depend on catching the football, so that’s been great to watch.
Q: Is there any really thing different about his day-to-day approach that you’ve noticed?
A: I think being familiar with what we do offensively I think is a big boost, that’s not a thing that slows him down. He knows what he’s doing, I think that’s a big thing. Sometimes when you install new offense, defense or whatever, there’s a learning curve. I think he’s definitely accelerated through that. We know he knows what we’re doing and that’s why he can let his physical gifts jump out.
Q: I just asked Sanjay Lal about him. It’s a shame he’s not in Rio, but he said it’s really great that he’s here because this is his career and he’s making big strides. Do you see that?
A: Yeah. I do see that, but I would never rob a young man or woman of an opportunity to represent our country. I think that would’ve been great, but the fact that he’s here is more to our gain. I get that, I totally understand it, but as an organization, we were unanimous in the fact that if he had the opportunity to represent our country, then we were all in on that.
Q: I get that, but Sanjay was saying if he made the Olympics he wouldn’t even be here, and he’s making a statement this camp. He wouldn’t have been here making a statement.
A: No, that’s true. There’s no doubt. And like I say, it was more benefit to us, but for him, I would have loved to see him get that opportunity, but in a way, I was 100 percent in on it, but I’m glad he’s here also.
OC Greg Roman
Monday, August 9, 2016
Opening Statement: Ok, training camp, we as coaches put in long hours, everybody hears about that. But we get to come here, and everything’s ready for us. We go up to our room, and everything’s set up. The meals are there. So everything’s taken care of, and there are a lot of people here working hard. My man Kyle here, I come off the field everyday, and this guy is working real hard. Right now, he’s my MVP here at training camp, so thanks Kyle. What do you got to say, anything?
Kyle: I’d like to say good luck for this year, and I hope you guys win.
Roman: Alright, Alright! Thanks Kyle. Guys, training camp, it’s a process. It’s a process of constant improvement. Learning, teaching, getting on the same page, and getting ourselves physically ready. Really like how our guys on offense are attacking everyday and getting on the same page. You know, we got a quarterback who’s returning as our starter in Tyrod [Taylor], who has really taken the reigns of this offense over. And as a coach, you’re always, you know, how much can I give him? How much leadership? And he’s just taken it. He’s taken the reigns and just going with it. You know, he’s calling for extra meetings with the offense. Bottom line is, being everything from a leadership standpoint that you want. So as we move through training camp, competition is hot and heavy. We’re looking for guys at this point to take advantage of opportunities. Some days you might get eight throws, and some days you might get none. Just so you know, if you don’t show up on the stat sheet, but we grade every thing these guys do. We don’t hold it against them if opportunities don’t come their way. We’re still evaluating them based on opportunities that they have. So any questions?
Q: Greg, how much does that process get further along when you get your first glimpse of Sammy Watkins on the field in uniform?
A: Oh, without question. I mean, you know, Sammy is a special player. He’s in his third year. We got to get him physically right. He’s been totally and mentally engaged in everything we do. There’s some chemistry now that we get to build, and that’s big time. Understanding body language, you know, a flick of the eye. You know, the hand going up. All those little body language things and timing things that need to take place to play at that kind of high level.
Q: Coach the timing seems to have progressed considerably here in the second week, at least in terms of the consistency of the timing between receivers and quarterbacks. Could you maybe just speak to that and have you seen that from your practice tape review?
A: Yeah I mean definitely. That was one of the two words that we really wanted to focus on and proving on and it’s easy. All you have to do is say one word. Timing. And it gets really back to the root of what we’re after. We need to play with better timing in the passing game, and I believe we’re on course to do that. I think the guys have definitely embraced it. They understand it. We really talked about it throughout the offseason, and they kind of picked up where we left off.
Q: Coach, specifically in redzone 7-on-7 you guys have been pretty good, it seems to me, in camp. Maybe specially Tyrod. Have you identified that at all and what are the reasons you’ve identified that if so?
A: Yeah I think redzone is definitely an area that we felt like we weren’t ready to really dive into in an extreme level last year. You know, the level we’d like to be at. So it was definitely in the offseason something we were going to emphasize, you know? And with this group so far, you get what you emphasize. So I would fully expect us to be operating at a higher level there. And that’s what you want. You want a group that if you emphasize and work on something, it’s going to show up.
Q: Greg you mentioned Tyrod. What is the biggest difference with him being in a three-way competition and knowing he’s the guy?
A: I think the competition itself was very valuable for him because it wasn’t a phony competition, or it wasn’t a sound bite. You know, it wasn’t spin. It was a real competition. So we got to see him come compete everyday last year and win something. His teammate saw him win it. This year now, you know, were certainly past that stage. We’re into the refinement, you know? We’re at the “what can we improve on?” and it’s our job as coaches to identify all of those things and really focus on them. Fortunately for us, he’s the kind of guy who wants to attack problems. And I always say I want to know about a problem as soon as possible. And that’s how they’ve got to think too, you know? Don’t tell me, “oh that was fine,” you know? We want to attack how it can be better and that’s definitely how he is approaching it. When you have that kind of mindset, that kind of allows you to improve at the rate you should.
Q: Greg, how much more have you put on Tyrod’s plate schematically compared to what you had on it last year?
A: You know we’ve thrown some things out. We’ve added some totally new things. And we’re kind of diving into some things that I’ve done in my past that we weren’t quite ready for last year. Or it just didn’t suit us or make sense. So we’ll experiment with that stuff and see how it goes. I think there’s a percentage of what you do every year that’s a little bit new. You kind of need to get the R and D wing up and running, so that you’re not stale and predictable. So there’s definitely some new things that we’re going to work on and we generally do that when nobody’s around. But we’re going to run them all in our first preseason game.
DT Marcell Dareus
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Q: What was your issue? What kept you kept you away?
A: I just had to recover a little, I had some things I had to take care of. At the same time, I wanted to make sure I was ready to go. There’s no rush, let’s get together, just kind of stay focused, stay inside the playbooks and be on top the game when we get going.
Q: Marcell, what’s it like to have Brandon Spikes back on your team?
A: I mean it feels good to have a familiar face to come back with the team. And he’s just such an inspirational guy for a lot of guys on the team. And he’s a good person, good spirit and he plays hard. I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of things he’s going to get better at and he’s going to work on, so he’s going to be everything that we need him to be.
Q: How much pressure do you put on yourself to get this defense back to what it was two seasons ago?
A: I mean, I don’t feel it as pressure, just like I was saying, we’re going to do what we have to do. I mean it’s going to be fun, you know, put our heads down—and I don’t feel any pressure. I’m going to go out there and do my thing. I mean, I love what I do, I don’t look at it as work and I don’t feel like nobody can block me anyway.
Q: Marcell, what’s been different adjusting to a new position coach?
A: I mean, I’ve had a new position coach every year since I’ve been here. So, I don’t feel like its anything new, just go out there and do what I have to do, we’re going to work together and just get better and better as the day goes. So, just kind of make the best out of it and pull it all together.
Q: Is there a general difference in the way that you’ve been coached this year compared to the way you were coached last year? If so, what would be the biggest thing?
A: (John) Blake works the hell out of us, he works us to death. He wants to make sure that we’re in shape, we can play in the fourth quarter just as fresh as we would be in the first quarter. So, he just wants to get stronger and stronger as the game goes on, and that’s just his method of coaching and we’re all embracing it and we’re going to do what he says because, you know, he’s our coach. You know, we talk with and we’re getting the understanding of this is what he wants, this is what he wants to do.
Q: Marcell, you’re one of the veterans on the team now. How do you get through the grind of training camp because these are long hot days?
A: Believe it or not, it’s actually fun. Being out there and you’re just not with your guys, you’re not with people that have one common goal, everybody is just out there for themselves. So when you get to camp and you’re around your guys, you’re just kind of looking like well, okay I know you wan the same thing that I want this year. We’re coming out here doing the same thing. We’re going to work out together, we’re going to sweat together, we’re going to hang out together. You actually come with your real friends and kind of just doing something that we all love to do. And I don’t feel it’s a grind, you get tired just like anything, but it’s also just fun.
WR Sammy Watkins
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Q: There’s no notable change. If anything, you’re looking faster. As far as what you’re able to do, do you feel like you have the full realm of everything you had before the injury?
A: Yeah. I got the basic stuff, now it’s just trying to be as smooth as I can, trying to be explosive, trying to be powerful. And just trying to do everything the right way and not trying to take off on the injury. I’m pretty much clear now.
Q: So you have full confidence that you’ll be okay when you plant and go? You’re at full confidence right now?
A: I’m not where I need to be at, but for right now, for what I’m doing, I think I got confidence in running routes and stuff like that. And I’m going to keep getting better.
Q: If you’re not quite where you need to be, what do you have to do to get to where you want to get to if you’re not 100 percent confident in it yet?
A: Doing everything the training staff wants me to do and that’s with any drills, listening to Rex while competing. Just being smart about the whole situation. Like I said, it’s a process of mentally really getting prepared more than anything. The injury, I think is healed. I think I’ll be alright but just going out there and competing, that’s where I need to get my mindset at.
Q: Rex talked about a game-plan with you. So yesterday was a full day, today you were limited. Is this going to be like every other day, a switch between full and limited?
A: I really don’t know. I don’t know the schedule. Whatever they’re throwing at me, I ‘m trying to be prepared. If they throw me on the field, I’m trying to be prepared for that. I’ll let the training staff kind of handle that. If I’m practicing, I’m practicing. If I’m not, I’m doing some type of crazy running.
Q: So you’re physically good, but is it a mental hurdle now? Just trying to mentally get over that hump and feeling good?
A: I think the game of football is kind of mental and to have an injury, that’s when it really becomes mental with just running routes. Being that I’m doing all these explosive movements, it’s mental. I think once that mental block leaves, I’ll be fine.
Q: What do you think of the competition that’s going on around you? You and Robert are in there, but you have a lot of guys competing there. You’ve had a chance to look at it, any thoughts on what’s going on there?
A: We got a competitive group. We got a good wide receivers coach, Coach Sanjay (Lal) who’s a great coach, and everybody’s looking good. Right now, everybody’s just competing and we have gotten so close now where we’re just out there every day trying to make each other better and get better. We’re not looking at who’s going to be starting or who’s leaving. In our offense, there’s really no starters. You can get switched in on different things.
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Tagged with: Buffalo Bills, Greg Roman, Rex Ryan, Training camp
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