Bills begin three day mini-camp
By: John Kucko
Updated: June 19, 2012
The Bills began a three day mini-camp today in Orchard Park. Below are comments beginning with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick:
On how the offense can become more
consistent:
Keeping everybody healthy, that is a big one. That is
something a lot of times that you cannot control. I think consistency happens in
the offseason when we are out here with the 10 OTA sessions and the mini-camp,
being able to build on what we did last year, knowing how David Nelson runs his
routes and then just building the rapport with the guys. Me as a quarterback I
cannot have enough practice. To get out there against a live defense, especially
our guys, the number one (unit) defense out there flying around and getting a
look versus them. It is good competition. That is something that I cannot get
enough of.
On what he took away from the second half of last
season:
I think the biggest thing is you always go back and talk
about those previous experiences. We have a lot of guys who went through that
together. We do not have a ton of new players on our side of the ball. Being
able to draw on some of the positive and negatives of last year, being able to
draw on those experiences allows you to get better. David Nelson and I were
talking about a route that he ran two years ago versus New England and cover
zero. Being able to pinpoint certain plays versus certain coverages that you ran
together is a big thing.
On how WR Stevie Johnson
looked:
"I did not get to see a ton of him. I'm trying not to
stare down my receivers. He did not have a ton of balls thrown his way today.
Some of that is just the way they are playing coverage. I talked to him during
and after practice to ask him stuff. I think it is good for him to get out there
just to get his confidence back in his groin and get his legs under him. I
thought he did fine and we had a lot of discussion out
there.
On if it was good to see Johnson out
there:
Great to see him out there. He is a special player and
he is obviously a guy that we need out there.
On if this offense is capable of being a top-10
offense in the NFL:
I think that is what we want to be. And I think
statistics lie sometimes. There are a lot of things that go into being a
successful offense. That is something we look at though. We see ourselves
getting better every year and that is one of those stats that we have continued
to improve. Again we are looking for improvement on that end and then taking out
some of the turnovers. Better third-down efficiency, better red zone
efficiency--that kind of stuff. We are excited with a lot of the things that
happened last year and obviously trying to build on those and eliminate the
negative ones.
On if he will have a passing camp in Arizona with his
teammates:
We have been here so there has not really been the need
to get everybody out there. At this point of the year, I do not know if we will
do it in July or not. That is still something that I guess I am trying to figure
out. I will be around here a little bit too so we will get plenty of work with
the offseason stuff. I think last year it was a necessity to get that stuff in
and get together. This year not so much. I do not know if we will do it or
not.
WR Stevie
Johnson
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
On if today's practice was another step
forward:
Definitely, today was a big step. Still a lot of work to
do. Mentally I feel (ok), everything else I think I am pretty good. My groin
felt good. I still have to get over the mental aspect of
it.
On if he is 100 percent
health-wise:
I feel like I am there. I feel like I am about high
90's. I cannot say 100 percent because I am not feeling all the way but I am
feeling about 90 percent. I am good.
On getting a chance to test his groin during
mini-camp:
That is why I wanted to come out for this mini-camp. I
can get acquainted to running routes and try to get over the mental aspect of
being out there, cutting on my left leg and trying to trust it. I think this is
big. I do not want to go into training camp thinking how I am thinking now out
there. I think this is a big step.
On if he would be worried about it at training camp
if he was not working out now:
Exactly. That is why I decided to come out and do this
mini-camp.
On how well he was able to
cut:
They say it looked good. I feel like I was a bit slow.
Cutting in and coming to the right it felt like it was heavy. It is just a
mental thing. I did not feel any sharp pain like I did all last year. I feel
like I am good so tomorrow, hopefully, I will be able to go out there and just
focus on plays, who is lined up across from me, the defense and all that other
stuff. Today was more of, if I cut right here will it pop or what is going to
happen next? If I get a few more plays I will be
good.
On how many snaps he
took:
They took care of me. I had 10 plays but as a competitor
I want to go out there and do more. I do not want to be selfish because they are
doing a good job with me. But at the same time, I want to be selfish. I need
more so I can get better and get over this mental part. I believe in what they
are doing. They have given me the right steps since the surgery so I am going to
go with what they are doing now. I believe in
it.
On how the offense can become more
consistent:
Just working with each other. From what I have seen from
watching the guys, a lot of guys are looking good on the offensive side. Say for
receiver, we have guys that have been looking like they have been in the league
for four or five years already. Just us working off of each other, that will
help us compete more and be more consistent. It is bigger than just one person.
It is bigger than me just going out there and trying to continuously get this
many yards or this many touchdowns. Working off of each other will help me out
more too. The teamwork will make consistency work even more this
season.
On how much the groin problem plagued him last
season:
It only plagued me for the training camp because that is
when it started. It popped in training camp and for a week I was just feeling
like 'dang, is this serious? I have never felt anything like this before.' I end
up going into the season and I was already two or three weeks in to the groin
injury. During the season I was really (plagued by the groin), I was just
getting work done. Right now I think all it is going to take is about a week and
then I'll be back to what I usually do.
On what else he is planning to work on this
offseason:
Routes--straight routes and 101's. Not just against air.
I want to go against defensive backs. I think that is going to help out a lot
and I am going to attack that this offseason.
On playing against rookie CB Stephon
Gilmore:
The couple of plays I was in against Stephon (Gilmore)
he showed great quickness. He is talented. From watching him and then lining up
against him, I am correct when I say he is going to be a good, a great one. I
kind of stuttered over the great because I do not want to put that much pressure
on him. He is going to be a solid defensive back. He is going to win some, I am
going to win some but we are going to make each other better at the end of the
day.
On how limited he was today at
practice:
Today I had 10 or 11 plays. I felt good and my groin
felt good. The only thing that I feel like I need to get over is the mental part
of being able to cut comfortably and calmly. For the most part, I felt good out
there though. They took care of me.
On if he accomplished his goal of getting to talk
trash with the guys:
Definitely not. I thought I was going to be able to but
I did not think I was going to be out there thinking about my groin. It will
come. We have a lot of time to mess around but you see the guys out there
getting back and forth. The offense, the defense (doing that) is only going to
make us better.
On catching passes from QB Ryan
Fitzpatrick:
Fitz is on point. I think he has been on point since I
started playing with him years back. I am not really worried too much about how
Fitz is going to look throwing this route or that route. I know he will be ready
come season time. I will be ready also. I am just ready to be full go, just like
they are.
DE Mario
Williams
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
On after working with his teammates if the talent on
the roster was what he expected when he
signed:
Definitely. We've got a young group of guys, especially
up front. We're definitely out there communicating, executing the plays, just
going hard and working hard.
On how much he wants to get the "prelude" to the
season out of the way:
You've got to crawl before you walk. I'm excited just
like everybody else is but at the same time we've got some things we've got to
fix communication-wise from the front to the back. You take this time and you go
out and you execute what you've got and just fine tune the little things. You've
got to be patient.
On the competition getting more spirited as the
practice went on today:
It's good for us to be out there competing. It's not too
much you can do so it's kind of one of those things you've got to pace yourself
going against each other because you can (get to) a certain amount of tempo but
then some guys have tempo breakers and that but it's ok. It's great for us to be
able to compete still.
On what his plans are after mini-camp wraps up and
before he returns for training camp:
Just getting a lot of massages and workout. I'm not sure
right now. I've got some places I might go workout at. I haven't really decided
yet.
On how he's settling in in
Buffalo:
Good, I haven't gotten a place completely put together
yet so I'm working on that too. That's something I'll be doing in the
meantime.
On how different mini-camp is than the last three
weeks of OTAs:
It's one of those things where now we go back and we go
through things we install faster. We'll get a lot more walk-throughs or even
when we go through our defensive side we'll just get real fast reps as far as
trying to make sure on our p's and q's and we're sharp. At the end of the day
like I said, there's only been so much you can do in OTAs and mini-camp. With
the way it is mini-camp is pretty much the same thing as
OTAs.
On how basic this week will be versus as the season
goes on and getting into training camp:
This is pretty much foundation. We'll definitely add
some things I'm sure once training camp comes and the season. At this point like
I said, we've got to get our foundation together and make sure we can run
through it and be sure about it.
On getting the pads on at training
camp:
I can't wait to get out there for the first game. That's
my biggest thing is being able to come out back here again with these guys at
training camp, run around, compete and then finally get to go out there when the
lights are really on on Sunday with those guys. Any step closer is exciting.
On if he's thought about the reception he's going to
get from fans at training camp:
No I haven't. Right now, I'm sure the fans here are
phenomenal. The biggest thing that we as players have to do is we have to take
care of what we're going to have to do on the field first. Everything is great
even now before we even get to training camp so I'm pretty sure it's going to be
a great atmosphere.
On DE Mark Anderson's approach to pass
rushing:
Well when you're only 210 pounds you can't really do it
like guys like me do (jokingly). Thumbs up to Mark. It's tough for him. He's a
little dude. It works. It definitely worked from last year. As long as he
focuses on the little things that he needs to do as far as cleaning up stuff
that he knows that he needs to work on, it's fine with me. He can do whatever he
wants. He can do back flips if he wants.
On the offensive guys having a hard time reading
Anderson:
It does look, I'm not going to say odd, it's not normal.
(Unconventional) That's what I was looking
for.
On if he ever talks about numbers or what he wants to
do this season with Anderson:
We've talked about it. We've discussed. He knows he's
going to be behind me no matter I get (jokingly). It really doesn't matter, he
knew that coming into this thing. I told him that when I called him before he
signed here and I told him. He understands. He's fine with
it.
