Buffalo Bills Head Coach Sean McDermott
Monday, September 2nd, 2019
Opening Statement: Alright, good afternoon, we’ll go ahead and get started. Just injury update, as far as practice goes, the only guy that will not practice will be Tyler [Kroft]. And with that we’ll open up for questions.
Q: What’s the hope for when Tyler will be back on the field?
A: Yeah, I mean, I think this, the information we’re getting from our medical staff is, it’s been very positive. He’s worked extremely hard. And he’s making a lot of progress. In terms of when, I couldn’t tell you that at this point. But we’re hopeful for some time in the first couple of games here.
Q: So going into this game, you have a lot of young people playing tight end. How much of that factors into how you utilize them? You have two rookies and a blocker.
A: Yeah, no, I think that’s true. When you look at their team, they’re an experienced team and we look at our team and we’re a younger team than they are. So, they’ve got a lot of experience and we don’t in particular at this position. So we’ve got to have a good game plan and a good week of practice.
Q: This will be the first time that you have Quinton Spain back on the practice field. How much are you going to put on his plate today?
A: Yeah, we’ll just see how practice goes, see how he feels out there and just kind of take it one rep at a time.
Q: Now that Mitch Morse is out of concussion protocol and you can talk about him, what level of concern or confidence do you have of him having missed all this time? You know, preparing for the start of the season?
A: We’re a go at this point. So, we have full confidence in Mitch and full confidence in our medical staff and that he’s been cleared. He was in meetings, digesting the game plan this morning. And I’m sure, as he’ll tell you, he’s ready to go.
Q: How much does it mean to have him back as your anchor, all that that position is and certainly what drove you to spend the money to get him here?
A: Yeah, I mean, I feel good about Mitch. I feel good about the other members of the offensive line as well. So he’s one piece of that group. It’s an important group to our success and as you’ve seen, we’ve had people move around up front. That’s been good for us, I think it’s developed some resiliency and some toughness.
Q: We haven’t had a chance to speak since [LeSean] McCoy has been released, if you could share some thoughts on that? And then, Brandon [Beane] insinuated the other day that it’s going to be running back by committee, at least early in the year. Could you share a few thoughts on what the plan is there?
A: Yeah, I mean, those are tough decisions. That was a tough decision. And LeSean is a real good football player. I know myself, along with everyone in the building, wishes him nothing but the best and we’ll always root for him. Like I said, whether it’s that decision or other decisions we make, we’re always going to try and make the decision that we feel is best for our team. As it relates to the running back position, we feel confident in the guys that we have, that they can execute what we’re trying to get done.
Q: You’re confident in the skills and ability, but you mentioned experience a couple of times. That isn’t what you have, obviously, with Devin Singletary. How do you get past that? Do you believe he has wisdom beyond his years? What’s your mindset?
A: A little bit of both. You know, when you watch what he’s been able to do in preseason, whether it’s practice, or the preseason games. And it’s preseason, so we have to take that with a little bit of a grain of salt. There’s also a projection of showing our confidence in a young player that we believe he can ascend and develop and that’s what we do as coaches and that’s what our players and the DNA of our players, these guys take a lot of pride in what they do.
Q: Any spot for Cody Ford this week?
A: We’ll just take it one practice at a time. He’s played both guard and tackle. We feel good about both positions with Cody. So, it’ll just be one practice at a time right now.
Q: It’s kind of a unique situation that you have, playing against a coach that you have faced for the last couple of years but he is with a different team. Now he has this roster that you have faced but with different coaches. Does that make it more challenging to blend the two together and gameplan for this?
A: No, I mean, we try and we try and simplify best we can. I mean, there are different, I guess, dimensions and layers, if you will. You got to go watch the Jets preseason, but then you’ve, we have young players that say, “hey, why is this team showing up and we’re not playing them?” Well, it’s because of, obviously, Adam [Gase] was with a different team last year and so was Gregg [Williams]. Both very good, very, very good, offensive and defensive coordinators. And as well as their special teams coordinator, I think Brant [Boyer] does a really good job at what he does. And so we’ve got to have a really good week of preparation.
Q: Would it be fair to say that Davis Webb is going to get a lot of attention this week from your coaching staff?
A: You know, it’s good to have him. I mean, we don’t do that. Other people sometimes do that out there. We do it for the player, and a chance to add good players to our team. So we’re happy to have him.
Q: Going back to Frank [Gore] and Devin, they almost have a big brother, little brother relationship. Do you see any Frank Gore in Devin Singletary at this stage in his career?
A: Man, Devin’s a good player, Frank’s a good player. I don’t ever want to; I think that’d be unfair to both to try and blend the two of them. But, I think it is nice to have Frank to mentor Devin and some of the other younger players on our team for sure. Yeah.
Q: You brought back Cam Lewis to the practice squad. Can you talk about what you saw from him this summer and how much confidence do you have in him if he ever ends up in a situation where he has to contribute?
A: Yeah, we feel good about Cam. I mean, it’s unfortunate that he had the concussion he did and he missed the amount of time that he did and that’s part of his development here with us is trying to get him, he’s a couple weeks behind. So he’s got some work to do. And this will be his first week of real football and taste of what the first regular season game and regular season games are all about overall. We’ll just take it one step at a time right now.
Q: What’s different about Sam Darnold now, compared to when you last saw him?
A: Yeah, he looks like he’s composed. I don’t think that’s different. I think we’re seeing a good solid quarterback that’s young but progressing and developing. We’ll have our work cut out for us defensively because of what he does and what he does in between plays and with the no huddle that they run and things like that. They’ve got a good offense with weapons. You know, they went out and got some weapons this offseason with Le’veon [Bell] and obviously [Jamison] Crowder and everything, in addition to Robby Anderson there who we have a lot of respect for so they’re very formidable offense.
Q: What do you expect to see from Le’veon? He hasn’t been on the field in a long time. Are you going all the way back to when he played in Pittsburgh?
A: Yeah, he’s one of the best backs around the league. And he hasn’t played for some time, to your point. That said, it probably helps him. He’s elusive, tough to bring down and one of the best backs in my opinion in the game.
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