Doug Marrone Thursday Media Session

Head Coach Doug Marrone

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Q: Injuries?

A: Scott Berchtold: Did Not Participate in Practice: [Marcus] Easley with the knee, Randell Johnson with the knee and Chris Williams with a back and [Marquise] Goodwin has been changed to a head. Limited Participation: [Keith] Rivers with a groin, [Da’Norris] Searcy with an ankle. Full Participation: Sammy [Watkins] with ribs, EJ Manuel with abdominal, [Robert] Woods with the ankle and [C.J.] Spiller’s been added with the chest.

Q: Are you any closer to knowing the status of Chris Williams for the game?

A: No, we’re not there. We’re just trying to rest him and see how strong he’s going to be when we put him back out there.

Q: Can you talk about Cyril’s [Richardson] development this season?

A: He’s done a good job and he’s still not out there, with Kraig [Urbik] playing there a little bit too. The problem with Kraig playing there is that he’s our backup center. That’s the one thing that we’re concerned about, but both of those guys have been working in that situation. It’s practice. Practice is so much different right now than the games. He’s working hard technically, but he’s going to have some tough matchups.

Q: Is the Goodwin thing something that developed in practice yesterday or something that might be dating back to the game on Sunday?

A: No, in practice.

Q: Is he undergoing any concussion protocol?

A: Scott Berchtold: Yes.

Q: Did Spiller’s chest injury happen in practice today?

A: That one I don’t know about. No. No, it didn’t happen in practice. I think it’s more like the EJ situation, where he came in and said, ‘Hey, I’m a little tight.’ Then I saw it on here because it’s a high-profile situation.

Q: There’s no concern that Spiller and Manuel won’t be able to play?

A: No.

Q: Do you feel comfortable going into a game with just four active receivers?

A: Yeah, a lot of teams do that. A lot of team do that. We still have some other options if we want to bring someone up from the practice squad or things like that. We’ll see how the week goes. Normally, most teams do dress four. We’ve been dressing more because, obviously, Marcus [Easley] was a special teams player for us. No, I don’t have any concerns.

Q: Per the concussion protocol, could Marquise still play Sunday if he passes?

A: Scott Berchtold: Yeah, I would assume so from what they’ve done in the past.

Q: What is your level of concern with depth at safety? Is there a possibility of Deon Broomfield or Kenny Ladler coming off of the practice squad?

A: That’s definitely a possibility, depending on how things go down the road, but right now we have Corey [Graham] covering us as the fourth safety. I think when you look at most rosters, again I can’t speak for anyone else, but most of them have three safeties and usually the fourth player is more of a special teams player that can go there and fill that role. Those things, and I’m big about promoting from within if those things do occur and we do need that help.

Q: What are your thoughts on Mike Williams being out of uniform on Sunday?

A: I didn’t even notice that.

Q: What’s your outlook for Da’Norris Searcy with that ankle injury?

A: I feel good as long as there’s no setback between now and the game. I think he really looked good out there today on a limited basis. As long as there’s no setback, it’s not a concern.

Q: Have you changed your philosophy on how you want to handle rub routes?

A: After the game, like I said, it’s very difficult when you’re tight on the goal line. If you play someone off and someone on then there could be a window. That’s one where you’ve just go to get on in there, press them up, fight through it; all the things that everyone says. But in the field, somebody is on and somebody is off. Very rarely will you see it come across. It’s the responsibility of the off player on how he wants to defend that route; whether he wants to go over the top or he wants to go underneath. From the standpoint of being beat on it, it’s a matter of technique and decision-making process than it is a general schematic process.

Q: How much is chemistry and communication involved with that?

A: I think, Tim, you’re right. There’s a lot that goes on in this league where coverages are called and then basically every team has these tools in their back pocket that they can make calls out there, so communication is important. I think what you have to do is you have to do a very good job during the week on that and then be able to carry that over onto the field. A lot of times when you look on tape and you see coverage blown from anywhere, it’s usually the lack of communication that occurs on the field. The more your own the field, the more you’re communicating, the better the opportunity you have to be successful.

Q: Does moving guys around make that communication more difficult?

A: From the younger guys, playing and communicating, you like to have a system. I would always say that you have a system of base communication of how you do it, so this way, god forbid, it’s the same problem that if you have to go outside the building to bring somebody in, you have to have those things down. Really the thought process of myself is to be able to plug someone in there, learn the calls and do it, but there is that playing together, knowing what’s going on, knowing what each other likes to do and who likes to be on and who likes to be off, those situations where communication can happen faster.

Q: Could Ron Brooks be in line for more snaps this week?

A: Potentially, yeah. He played well last week, but again, it’ll go with matchups and what we feel and the responsibilities that everyone has. The one thing that we have to do a good job of, and we have been, is that when you see snaps increase or decrease, there’s an effect on every position, meaning that it bleeds down to the special teams area. We’ve just got to be smart on how much the core special teamers are playing compared to how much they’re on the field, because that’s a third of the game or a third of our team that has performed very well and has given us some opportunities.

Q: Would you categorize how Nickell Robey did against the rub plays last week?

A: Nickell knows. We talked to him. On the first one, he went underneath and that was a tough one. He needs to stay over the top on that, but he’s a young football player that’s made a lot of plays for us. I said before that there’s probably a little bit of pressing and trying to make a play. He just needs to go out there and play and let the plays come to him. Really, at the end of the day, that’s what you need to do at all of the positions. When you try to do more or your trying to do something, that’s when mistakes happen and you get yourself out of position.

Filed under: Buffalo Bills

Tagged with: Buffalo Bills, Doug Marrone