Doug Marrone Thursday Media Session

Head Coach Doug Marrone
Thursday, October 23, 2014

Q: Injuries?
A: Did not participate in practice: Marquise Goodwin with a hamstring, Ty Powell with the ankle, C.J. Spiller with the shoulder and Fred Jackson with the groin. Limited in practice: Marcus Easley with the knee and Aaron Williams with the neck. Full participation: Mario Williams with the thumb, Sammy Watkins with the groin and Brandon Spikes with ribs.

Q: How is Aaron Williams coming along?
A: We’ll just stick with the report right now.

Q: How about Easley? How is he coming along?
A: Good. Good. Yeah, he’s out there.. He’s running around, so he’s progressing well.

Q: Does he have a chance to play Sunday?
A: He might. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. He’s been two days now running on it. We’ll see how he is soreness-wise and everything.

Q: Do you air on the side of caution with the bye week coming up, which would allow guys even more time to heal?
A: I think that when we get to the end of the week we’ll definitely talk about those decisions. I think it’s player by player, but I think we talk about all of that stuff.

Q: What sense do you get of Goodwin’s frustration level with all of his injuries?
A: I think it’s tough for any player. Again, availability is a big thing. It’s very difficult, especially when they occur early in your career, to continue to get better and better. It’s almost like when those things happen, I don’t want to say you start back at square one, but there’s definitely a move back before you can start working to move forward. He’s definitely frustrated with it. That’s part of this game. One of the things that’s not a secret that you talk with players about all the time is availability. He hasn’t been available as often as he would like to be or as we would like him to be.

Q: What do you miss from the offense when he’s out?
A: I think everyone knows it’s the element of him in the return game. He did it last year. He was a backup to C.J. You miss the element of being on the outside and being able to clear things out. We still have some guys with speed out there. Obviously, Sammy can run very well and the other guys don’t run poorly to that extent, but with Marquise you miss that guy that can take the top off of a defense.

Q: Who is going to get the next crack at kick returner?
A: We’re working a bunch of guys back there. Sammy we worked back there. Robert Woods has been back there. Leodis (McKelvin) has been back there, so we’re working them out during the week and evaluating who we feel most comfortable in reps.

Q: How do you prepare for Percy Harvin with no tape to work off of?
A: We’ve got to prepare for all of them. They have a very good offensive line. They have outstanding backs. They have the skill positions. They just resigned the slot. They have guys that can play on the outside. If there’s nothing on tape, it’s kind of hard to go ahead and prepare for things like that. We’ve just got to be disclined in what we do defensively.

Q: What input does Jim Schwartz have, considering he faced Percy Harvin when Detroit played Minnesota?
A: On film, obviously, we know the type of explosive athlete that he is and all of the things he can do, but you still don’t know how someone may use him and you just have to be aware that he’s on the field. Again, if you put too much attention on him, those other guys are pretty darn good too.

Q: What do you know about Kyle Orton as a person?
A: Yeah. On a personal level, outside of the football, he’s a regular guy. You can go out in Buffalo and meet a guy with his personality anywhere. In a bar, in a bowling alley, in a pool room, in a place where your family is. Just a normal, regular guy. No ego. Highly competitive. That’s probably the thing you wouldn’t see until you watched him compete and saw how competitive he is, how hard he is on himself, how well he prepares. I think, generally, the people in this region would be able to at least understand him. He’s a lot like us and like people from here.

Q: Once you get into the flow of the season, is it hard to get to know a player personally like that?
A: It’s probably a little bit easier with the quarterback than it is with the other positions. I try to make sure that I go around, talk to everyone, see how it’s going. I think that’s an important part of it, especially for my position. You have to be on the defensive side, you have to be on the special teams side and the offensive side to get to know everyone. That’s one of the things that I’ve always taken a lot of pride in; knowing the guys in the room and knowing them well personally. There’s a point during the season where you’re spending more time with the players than you are with your family. I think great stories come out of it. When I had my own position group, when you’re with them all the time you can walk into a room and stand in front of the room and say, ‘What’s the matter? What’s going on?’ You could tell that right away. It’s the same situation when I would walk in the room and they would say, ‘Coach, what’s going on?’ They sensed that and I think that’s from being together for a long period of time. I think that’s part of what trust is too. There’s trust at a professional level, but there’s also trust at a personal level. I think trust is something that encompasses both of those and, obviously, a lot more.

Q: Would it surprise you that Kyle Orton is only the second quarterback since 1960 to throw for over 280 yards in his first three games with a team? The other guy was Jeff George.
A: If someone told me that and asked if I’m surprised, yeah it surprises me for as many people that have been though this game.

Q: Especially for a guy that’s been out of football.
A: People say that and I understand why they say that, but really it was just the offseason. He ended one year and he was doing it for ten and I’m sure – at least, I would have expected him to be throwing the ball around a little bit – when he was down. He might not have. I would say yes, I was surprised. Not surprised by him doing it, but surprised that he’s the only one doing it.

Q: At this point, are you moving forward with Preston Brown as a starter over Keith Rivers?
A: He’s playing well. Matchups are a big part of it and his snaps have increased over Keith.

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