Gailey looks ahead to NFL Combine
By: John Kucko
Updated: February 23, 2012
Bills head coach Chan Gailey is in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine this weekend. Here's a transcript from today's news conference there.
On if the wide receiver and cornerback positions are deep in this year's draft class:
Looking
at it, and I really have had one pre-Combine meeting about all of these
guys so I'm
not as well versed on as many of them as I'd like to be at this point,
but they're a lot of big wide receivers in this draft. There's
obliviously some very good corners in this draft. It'd be fun to watch
them go one-on-one out there a little bit. I don't think
I can get that done but that'd be fun to do.
On how much more difficult it will be to predict the top three players to be available at
the No. 10 selection vs. last year's third overall pick:
Yea,
it gets harder and harder every year the further down you go. You just
have to wait and
see. And then you start to prepare once you get to about pick seven or
eight. Then you start to narrow it down and see what's there and where
your pick may be or who'll you pick may be. But I think you'll have an
idea on draft day of who probably the top four
or five will be so you can take it from there.
On if the type of defensive pass rusher they're looking for will need to play with a hand
on the ground in a 4-3 and drop back in coverage in 3-4:
That would not be the priority. The priority would be pass rush and set the edge in the run
game. Dropping would be a once in a blue moon type deal. That wouldn't be a lot.
On the so-called draft experts saying there isn't a large group at defensive ends this year
and how you guard from reaching for one:
That's
the biggest problem you have is trying to elevate someone because of
need. I think anytime
you try to do that you put yourself in a position to be in trouble down
the line. It may not be an issue right there but down the line it
creates a problem for yourself because you passed up a player that you
may have had graded - not at the position of need
- but that's a really good football player that'll help your team down
the line.
On assessing the AFC East with some of the coaching changes that have taken place - a new
head coach in Miami and new offensive coordinator in New York:
I
don't know how to assess this time of year. New England's the defending
AFC Champion and
they're there until somebody knocks them off. The rest of us are trying
to fight to get there. That's just the way it is. I think it's a tough
division, but they're all tough. Everybody's got a tough division so I
don't see how I can make any kind of special
determination about who sits where or does what before the season
starts.
On if RB C.J. Spiller is an every down back, and if not, what he needs to work on:
He
could be an every down back. I don't see any reason that he couldn't
carry it 20 or 25 (times
per game) if he needed to. But he's a valuable, versatile player; he can
play wideout. We're fortunate enough to have two very good backs so I'm
going to try to make sure we keep them fresh and wear them out at the
same time - does that make sense? But you
want them to be on the field doing something; running routes, creating
threats for the defense but not each one of them taking a pounding and
both of them carrying it a lot of times every game. You want to create
the diversity by this guy carries it one time
and that guy carries it one time, he's out for a pass and then he's out
for a pass. So that being said, am I saying they're going to be in the
game at the same time? I'm sure they will be. Now don't hold me to what
percentage but they will be.
On reports that Spiller wants to be the starting running back:
If
every guy that I have on the team doesn't want to be a starter then
I've got the wrong guys.
I want everybody to want to be a starter but everybody's not. There are
11 of them. You have to learn to handle that, whoever it is. You have to
learn to handle that.
On an injury update on RB Fred Jackson, C Eric Wood, and DT Kyle Williams:
Fred
Jackson's been completely cleared at this point. I think he's been
given a clean bill of
health a week or two ago. Eric's (Wood) still in rehab. Kyle (Williams),
he's not been given 100% clear yet but he's getting closer and closer.
He's been around the facility a couple weeks ago and it all looked good.
He's very happy about it, I know that. He
feels a lot better about it.
On how important WR Stevie Johnson is to the Bills and how important it is to get a deal done:
He's
very important to us and we'd love to have him. The thing you learn to
say in this business,
you don't ever want to say you can't live without somebody. As soon as
you say that you learn to live without him. We would like to have him.
He's very important to our football team. He made a bunch of big plays
for us and hopefully it works out but it's a
business.
On the scheduled meeting the team has with Johnson's representatives this week:
I'm not (meeting). I read it that they're scheduled to meet.
On how he envisions DT Williams and DT Marcell Dareus rotating:
The
question is, do you let one be the shade and one be the three all the
time or do you just
play right and left and let the formation dictate it? I don't think
we're to that point yet of where we're saying this is exactly how it's
going to be. If they made that decision defensively it was recently and I
wasn't in that meeting. Last I heard we hadn't
made that decision yet.
On offenses taking over the league this season and if he feels the need to implement more into
his offense because of that:
I
think that's a good question and you have to ask how much is too much.
You want to incorporate
things that fit into your philosophy and what you're trying to get done
and what your players can do. Just because it's being done and being
done successfully doesn't mean it fits your team. I think that's the
fine line you try to draw offensively for your
football team is how much is enough and how much is too much. That's the
line you walk every year during the offseason. More is not always
better. Better is better. You're trying to find out what makes you
better. We were fortunate enough to make a significant
jump this year offensively. We just need to build on that, eliminate
some turnovers and build on our offense that we incorporated this year.
On the reports that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was playing with broken ribs:
I
knew he'd taken a shot. It was more in the chest I thought than it was
in the ribs. In the Washington
game he took that shot. He didn't miss practice. He was nursing it but
he really didn't miss practice. I don't know if it was that but we
started getting receivers hurt and we started getting linemen hurt. I
think that had something to do with it. Scott Chandler
got hurt late in the year. I think that had as much to do with it as
anything. I knew he had taken that shot. I didn't know anything about
the broken part.
On if his beard is getting him through the Buffalo winter:
Fitz
can have it during the season and I'll have it in the offseason. I've
never done this. I'm
just going to see what it looks like. If I like, it I'll keep it. And if
not I'll shave it off or if not before my wife tells me.
