Buffalo Bills RB LeSean McCoy
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Q: What about the way Mike Gillislee has stepped in for you guys?
A: Mike’s been special. Asked him to come in here and make some plays. A lot of backs were down. To come here and get a touchdown, and even the week before that making some plays. So helps out with the backfield, you know with the depth.
Q: Does the disappointment of Sunday still linger or what was the level of disappointment even after Sunday?
A: You lose a game obviously you’re mad and disappointed. But you move on. We got the Redskins this week. A good opponent so you try and go in there and get a win.
Q: But was especially hard to move on? Going on how you handled things and how you walked out after the game. What was your mindset immediately after?
A: Just upset that we didn’t win the game. You know the same as any game if you lose. Obviously pissed off and that game I thought we had. We just made some big errors and just with the penalties. So small things kind of got us and that was really it. Just pretty much angry about that.
Q: What’s your thought on where you go from here as a team with three games left and a difficult play off situation?
A: For one, this if our job. For one. For two is…I mean anything is possible. Anything’s possible. We gotta win a game. That’s it. Each game at a time. If anything happens or works out for us then that’ll be great. But only thing we can do is control what we can control and that’s win games.
Q: Missed expectations seem to be the theme at this point in the season. Where are you at as far as expectations go?
A: I thought that a lot more wins than losses for sure. But right now you can’t really focus on that. We got a season to finish and hope that some things work out for us. But we gotta win, you know this game right here. You can’t just look at all the other stuff that doesn’t matter. Right now all that matters is the Redskins and trying to get a win.
Q: What was the thought pregame when you bent down and kissed the logo?
A: We got the Redskins this week. All that’s in the past.
Q: It was a very public statement. What were you trying to get across?
A: Listen I’m worried about the Redskins. The game in Philadelphia’s over.
Q: So it was just another game, right?
A: That game’s done.
Q: Who steps up now for leadership in the locker room?
A: I mean we all got to step up. I think all the big players on this team, the older veterans, we gotta come in here and set the tone.
Q: Who do you see when you think of player leaders?
A: I look at (Eric) Wood. I look at myself. I look at guys like Kyle (Williams). We gotta step up and lead this team. It’s a young group of guys. We’re full of talent.
Q: When a game is unfolding, and you mention penalties, what is happening on the sidelines with the leaders to control the game?
A: It’s tough because lately we haven’t been making so many penalties. Lately we haven’t been making the small, dumb mistakes. Then in crunch time where we kind of had to be sharp, be perfect, that’s where everything really kind of just collapsed. We had so many penalties. So it’s weird because lately we’ve been doing so well and I don’t think it starts at the game. It starts at practice. In practice we’ve been doing fine. So that’s one of them situations last week, man it’s just hard to really understand cause how well we’ve been playing as a team.
Q: Do you expect Tyrod Taylor to be a leader for this team next year?
A: Yeah. Tyrod it’s like, yeah he’s new at starting quarterback, but he’s handling himself well and he leads be different examples. He ones of the guys that’s always here on time. Does the right things. So that’s different ways to be a leader by example.
Q: Does it send the right message to the team to send him out next year as the starter?
A: You’re asking me that…that’s for the guys upstairs to really determine that. But as far as I know he’s my leader. He’s my quarterback. So I support him.
Q: Is there every a worry guys are throwing the towel in?
A: The guys I’ve been around…I feel like the guys here, I don’t see that. I feel like, we got out and win and pray things happen, we can get in the playoffs. But if not, we gonna play every game like it’s our last.
Q: Did you feel a risk all along that the Eagles came might become too much about you and not enough about the team? Did that happen emotionally at all for you?
A: No I don’t think so at all.
S Bacarri Rambo
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Q: Do you have thoughts about going back to Washington? Any feelings?
A: No because I’m mature enough to understand that it is business, it’s no hard feelings. I still communicate with some of the guys that are still there but I’m just treating this like every other game. Just go out there and compete and have fun and give my best and give my all for my teammates and the team.
Q: You started out strong there, I mean they had you in the starting lineup. Do you ever look back and think what happened?
A: I see that as a positive. It just made me grow into a more mature understanding of the game and the business of the NFL. It just made me grow up a whole lot.
Q: Maybe that pays off in your approach to work a little bit?
A: Yes, I saw that as a positive. Being released, it just made me go harder. It made my just prepare and take the game a lot more serious because you never know when you’re last down will be.
Q: Tell me about Kirk Cousins. What do you see from him?
A: Kirk is playing good right now. He’s very accurate, he has a very strong arm and he’s getting the ball to the playmakers and they’re making plays. He’s doing a very good job right now.
CB Nickell Robey
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Q: On missed coverage, is that because somebody wasn’t able to quickly read an adjustment or read a play at the line of scrimmage?
A: Normally, when things like that happen, it’s just a communication call. Just trying to get a communication call in and sometimes it doesn’t relay all the way across the defense. Sometimes it gets to everybody except for that one person that probably doesn’t hear it, so sometimes you get complicated when you’re trying to communicate, like when a defensive back is trying to communicate with a defensive lineman. He has his hand in the ground so he can’t really hear what you’re saying, so like you got to really go down there and talk to him a little bit and be like, “Hey, hey, you got this.” Little things like that.
Q: Is that a product of Rex’s scheme though?
A: Yes.
Q: Like that type of communication between a DB and a defensive lineman?
A: I communicate with Mario (Williams) all the time. Every play I communicate with Mario so like say if it’s a blitz, we got a blitz coming off on the field, and they motion to the boundary, I communicate. As I’m motioning over, I tap Mario on the side like, “I’m going, I’m going,” and that lets him know that instead of coming so hard inside, it tells him to do something else different. Little stuff like that, that’s when it gets dicey a little bit.
QB Tyrod Taylor
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Q: You’re kind of going home this week.
A: Yeah.
Q: What’s it like for you playing there in front of friends and family?
A: Definitely excited for the opportunity to go back and play in front of, like you said, friends and family. The closest professional team to my home town and it’s gonna be fun. But more importantly it’s a big game for us. I like it that it’s a big game and I get a chance to go back and play in front of friends and family.
Q: Did you grow up a Redskins fan?
A: No. I was more of a player guy growing up. Didn’t necessarily have a team.
Q: Who was your player?
A: I mean of course growing up watching (Mike) Vick. Watched a lot of the Falcons. DeAngelo Hall is from my area. Watched him. I liked the Cowboys growing up as well. Different players. I could name a bunch of teams or players.
Q: Did this being your first year both in Buffalo and as a starting quarterback, make it challenging to assume that role as the natural leader? Guys still learning who you and you learning them as well.
A: Definitely. Had to take time to learn the guys and also to them learning how I am on a day to day basis. The thing that you could do in that situation is be consistent in your preparation. Be consistent in your approach. Do your job each and every day and then they’ll understand that you’re focused, that you’re dedicated to what you do, and then you can start leading verbally. But until they see it in person, it’s gonna be hard for them follow suit.
Q: At what point did you reach that this year?
A: When I signed, as far as my approach, I came in with the confidence and with the attitude – this is my job, and that’s how I carried myself. But I know it’s still a quarterback competition still going on. But at the same time I still approached it as if I was the starter. And that’s how I’ve always approached my work ethic or anything that I do as far as competing. That’s how I approached it.
Q: So even back in the beginning when you were taking third string reps, that was the same attitude?
A: Yeah. I wasn’t the third string. It was three number ones. But yeah.
Q: Well yeah, but there was kind of a pecking order…
A: Yep and I’ve always, like I said, I’ve just always approached the job as if I was the starter. Just my mindset and how I carried myself.
Q: How vocal of a quarterback do you consider yourself to be?
A: I think I’ve been more vocal. Of course from the quarterback position it’s gonna be times where you have to be more focal and I take on that. I know it is part of the position and its part of who I am. Like I said I don’t have to be vocal at all times. I can lead by example. But when the opportunity presents it and I need to say something I definitely do so.
Q: When things weren’t going your way in Philadelphia with the penalties and what not – who do you see on the sideline talking and getting people on track?
A: In the offensive huddle it’s me or E. Wood (Eric Wood). Shady (LeSean McCoy) pitches in here and there, says what he has to say. But I would say it’s between and E. Wood.
Q: Rex Ryan mentioned on Monday that one step you may have to take in order to become a consistent starter in this league is fourth quarter and winning games when you’re behind. What is your take on that?
A: Definitely something that we can be better as a team. You don’t want to go into each game banking on trying to win it in the last drive. That’s not a recipe for success in the long run. You want to better as a team. Can I be better on certain drives? Yes. But at the same time I think I’ve done a very good job in the fourth quarter. Just haven’t closed out games the way we wanted too in certain insistences. But the opportunities that we’ve had, we’ve dropped a couple. But as far as just me being better in the fourth quarter, I think it’s more of a team thing and not just on me.
Q: Do you sense in these late fourth quarter situations, is there enough urgency from the team?
A: Yes we do. The week before we won it in the same situation. So do say we haven’t done it is far from the truth. We’ve done it. We just haven’t done it consistently the way that we wanted too. And it’s definitely some urgency out there, and we understand the situation on the road. But we just haven’t been able to accomplish it the way we wanted too and every time. It’s hard. I mean it’s hard to win a game on the road, and it’s definitely hard to come back and wins game. But it’s something that we’re striving to get better as a team. It’s not gonna be 100 percent. No one in the league is 100 percent at doing it. It’s something we’re working towards and something we’ll get better at.
Q: From what you’ve seen, how would you describe the Redskins defense?
A: Very physical. Their front five is very physical. Have talented guys in the secondary. Have been a little banged up but definitely guys that have experience especially in the safety. The two safeties are very experienced, the corners experienced and the other corner, (Bashaud) Breeland, has been playing very well. So very physical and talented guys. But looking forward to that match up.
Q: Do you think you’ve earned the right to have management reevaluate your contract at the end of the season?
A: That’s not really my concern right now. I just go out there and play, and my focus is on trying to win games, and let management and whoever handles that worry about that. But right now my focus is on the Redskins and focusing on getting a W this weekend.
Q: Will it be uncomfortable going into next year virtually on a one year deal as this team’s starting quarterback? Knowing that you’re kind of in a limbo year there.
A: No it’s not.
Q: You haven’t thought about it at all?
A: No because I have three important games. I don’t have time to talk about contract situations.
RB Karlos Williams
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Q: Is has been a little while since you got out of the practice field how are you feeling?
A: Sore, sore I do a lot of treatment. 6:30 am till after afternoon meetings. So just trying to make sure I get as much treatment as possible, get my range of motion back. It felt good being back out there with the team. Being able to participate, being part of practice you know be a part of the game plan and get a flow of practice. But it is still really, really sore, really, really tender at certain areas. But overall it is getting better, progress is moving forward.
Q: How can you effectively gauge what you can do on Sundays if you don’t really simulate in practice?
A: You really don’t know, you don’t know. If it happens it happens this Sunday. If not, if not. You got to wait another week, and come back prepared to play the next opponent. It goes day by day. Today was a very good day for me, I felt really, really good. Like I said before after running and bumping it a couple times. Working with Boobie [Dixon] on punt returns, and punt team. You know definitely you can feel it, soreness in it, you know its really tender but when adrenaline is pumping and you want to go out there, you want to perform at high level. You are going to get bumped and bruised you are going to feel those pains and so its just a part of the game. But today it felt, it felt better, a lot better than it has been the past couple of weeks. We are still trying to do a lot of treatment, still got a ways to go before I get back out on the field. Hopefully it is this week, if not this week then the next.
Q: With that in mind how important is it to how you feel tomorrow morning when you roll out of bed?
A: Definitely, it’s big. Definitely big. But our training staff does a great job of making sure I am in there early in the morning, making sure they are on top of things, make sure I get treatment three, four times a day. Make sure my shoulder is feeling the best it possibly can feel before I step out on the practice field, let alone on a game field. When it is going to be high impact and know butts are going to be flying out there.
C Eric Wood
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Q: The thing we keep hearing about Washington is how physical they are but you guys have taking play to the opponent?
A: Yeah, it will be a challenge for us. They got a really talented front seven, really physical that has been noted this week. I have gone against [Terrance] Knighton in the past and I have a lot of respect for him. He is really tough to move and he can make plays as well. They have assembled that defense with some talented players that is for sure.
Q: With respect to aggressiveness coming out of your stance how do you do that without falling into the trap of falling out of your technique?
A: A lot of times with combination blocks a guy like Terrance Knighton you are not going to crush him off the ball one on one. You have to be sound on your technique, on your combination blocks and then when you get a chance to get him rolling you have to take advantage of it without over extending yourself because he is really good at swiping guys by. Because he doesn’t necessarily have to play over extended to hold his ground. So if you get over extended he will swipe you to the ground.
Q: How hard is it for you guys to be here again, almost out of the playoffs?
A: You know we wish we had a better record obviously but you can’t go backwards. Honestly we are just focused on this week and I am not thinking down the road negatively like that.
Q: Tyrod mentioned you as one the leaders to make sure guys don’t give up?
A: Well you kind of feel and I haven’t felt it at all this week. So I haven’t even felt the need to say anything. I think we had one of our best practices of the year, tempo was great, enthusiasm was up and that is what you are looking for. So I am happy with the way we have responded after a really tough loss.
DT Corbin Bryant
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Q: Has it been hard to adjust to?
A: A big thing in this league is continuity and, you know, we’ve had a lot of changes going on here in Buffalo the last few years and when you don’t have that continuity and you haven’t been doing the same thing for years and years, sometimes it’s tough for teams to grasp it immediately. When you look at teams that have been doing the same thing year after year after year, I don’t want to name any teams but you know who they are, they’re better because they’ve had guys in the system for three or four years and they’re not learning something new. I feel that once the continuity comes into place, we’re going to be fine.
Q: The last two years though you’ve had different defensive coordinators each year…
A: That’s what I’m saying
Q: Do we get kind of fooled by the success of those two years?
A: We play on different teams every year in different circumstances so, you know, you have penalties, you have turnovers, they’re just different games and I don’t think you can compare from year to year. Like every year has different circumstances.
Q: Has it been frustrating for you that the circumstances of this year haven’t been like the last two?
A: I mean of course. I’d be lying to you if I said it wasn’t frustrating but the thing is, it’s fixable. Like the biggest thing is the penalties. We’ve lost three or four games due to just different penalties that we’ve had. It’s not like we’ve been blown out and just beat down to the ground, we’ve been in every game this season. If we just fix the little things, we’ll be fine. Like I was saying before, we’re still in this thing until we’re mathematically out of it. We’re still going to go out there, we’re still going to play our game and try to put on a show.
DE Jerry Hughes
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Q: With Washington how do you work against there big offensive line?
A: I mean you got to go out there and just play physical football. Play smart, play within the game, and just go out there and try to get the win on the road.
Q: What have you seen from Kirk Cousins and his development this year?
A: He has gotten better as the year got longer. He has learned from some of his mistakes early on and he is battling. Week in and week out he is going out there he is battling for those guys. So we have to do a good job up front and just put in a lot more pressure.
Q: The problems with the scheme are they closed to being figured out or are you still searching for answers?
A: We just got to fix those wrinkles. Those wrinkles can get you beat, get you exposed in a lot of different ways. Once we iron those out we will be fine.
G Richie Incognito
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Q: Is it fair, Richie, that fans want to pin penalties on coaching. Is that fair?
A: Uh, no. Penalties aren’t coaching. I don’t know how you coach up penalties. I think there’s a lot of factors in penalties, there’s sloppy technique, sometimes its selfish, sometimes its times you just have holding calls and stuff like that and sometimes it’s honestly how the zebras are feeling that day, if they’re letting you play or if they’re calling it tight. It’s disheartening because we’ve gotten over the penalties. We’ve come so far from where we started the season so to have them crop up in a big game like that, it’s tough. It’s something that makes us all kind of go back to the basics and go back to where we were and to improve on it.
Q: Is there enough urgency getting plays called, getting to the line of scrimmage, being aware of the clock in end of game situations? Is that something that you need polishing up moving forward?
A: I don’t know. I think our sense of urgency has to come out starting at halftime. We have to recognize that we haven’t played well in the second half. We may go put that first drive in for a touchdown but the third and fourth quarters are when we need to win football games. We come out in the first half and we go up and down the field against Kansas City. New England, go up and down the field the first game. Go up and down the field the first couple of possessions and then hit the wall. It’s something we got to get figured out because when we are hitting on all cylinders and playing complimentary football, we’re a very hard team to beat. Unfortunately, we haven’t done that at all times this year so that’s something we’ve got to get figured out here in the last couple of weeks and moving forward into the offseason.
Q: On Washington’s defensive line, including the one they call ‘Pot-Roast,’ you’ve got to work against them. What do you think of him, what do you think of that group as a whole?
A: They’re big. They’re massive. Pot-Roast (Terrance Knighton) is a big, talented, big athletic guy. (Jason) Hatcher is a good ballplayer playing at a high level for a very long time in this league, two guys on the outside, (Trent) Murphy and ((Ryan) Kerrigan, and they’re a good group. They’re your typical NFC East defensive line: big, tall, physical. We know going into this game we’re going to have to out physical them.
Filed under: Buffalo Bills
Tagged with: Buffalo Bills, LeSean McCoy, Ritchie Incognito, Tyrod Taylor
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