Bills rookie camp in Orchard Park
By: John Kucko
Updated: May 11, 2012
The Bills began a rookie camp today in Orchard Park. GM Buddy Nix addressed the media, as did others. Here is a transcript of their comments:
On why they signed free agent QB Vince Young:
On why they signed free agent QB Vince Young:
We're always looking to try to improve our team, to get
deeper and to get more competition. That's what this is. It's a competition for
the backup quarterback job. Not the starter. Obviously I've said that 100 times.
He knows it. That's the way it is. It's just to try to get us
better.
On where he sees Young now given his lack of
production last year:
Let me just say this to start with: He won't be a
distraction here and neither will anybody else. It may start out but it won't
last. I promise you. That's not a problem. I think he is a guy that with our -
we've got two of the best quarterback coaches in the business starting with
Coach Gailey and then David Lee - those guys are good teachers. They will (have
him) do what he can do best and trust me he's a big, good athlete. You know he
can do a lot of things for you.
On what was attractive about
Young:
The guy's been to two Pro Bowls and he's 31-19 as a
starter in this league. We think he can do that again. If he has to play he can
give us a chance to win the game or at least this, he will make Tyler (Thigpen)
better. One of them will be better. So that will make our team
better.
On if he has any concerns about bringing in a high
profile No. 2 quarterback:
If I did, I wouldn't have done
it.
On how his meetings went when he came for his
visit:
He was very good. I remember I saw Vince practice as a
freshman at Texas so it goes way back. But I've always admired his ability and
the things he can do. I think our guys will get him more accurate and help him
as far as not turning the ball over.
On if this decision speaks at all to his confidence
in QB Tyler Thigpen:
No, it doesn't. We do that at every position and not any
more than it speaks for Chris Hairston at LT. I mean, if we can put, if we can
have competition at every position we'll do
it.
On if QB Ryan Fitzpatrick doesn't play well the first
few games, will Young will play in his
place:
Don't even start that. Our second quarterback will play
if something happens to Ryan, whoever that is.
Head Coach Chan
Gailey
Friday, May 11, 2012
On what he likes about QB Vince
Young:
Buddy (Nix) does all the evaluations. I didn't look at
him to be honest with you. I watched him play earlier in his career and he had
done some great things. He thought that was a great guy for us to bring in
because we've talked all along of wanting to continually try to bring in guys
that can compete for jobs. And he can compete for a job. I'm looking forward to
working with him.
On what he sees as Young's best
strength:
He's got a great arm. When he worked out here he threw
it very well. Everybody knows his mobility. He brings you that and he's won
football games in the NFL, that's another
positive.
On how he can keep Young on a straight line and how
they know that that can happen:
If anybody, not just him, if anybody doesn't want to get
in to the system and work like our guys work and pay attention like our guys pay
attention, if you're a distraction, you're a distraction all the time. You can't
play. It doesn't matter who you are. If you're a distraction, you can't
play.
On how Young fits in to what they do on
offense:
We tend to fit the offense around what people do. We
don't make people fit in to our offense. If he ends up, if we get an injury to
Fitz (Ryan Fitzpatrick) and he ends up playing we'll tailor some things to do
what he does using his movement skills.
On if he sees Young playing in the
Wildcat:
Right now, I haven't even had him here. It's hard to say
what a guy might do. When he gets here we'll teach him the basics and go from
there. There's no telling what he can do.
On what he remembers about Young when he was coming
out of Texas:
Oh sure. I think everybody was (fascinated). I think
everybody thought that.
On if he's surprised Young's career hasn't gone the
way people thought it would:
I don't know. I don't know any of the circumstances
surrounding what happened. All I know is he's a talented guy that said all the
right things when he was here. So I'm looking forward to working with
him.
On his initial impressions on rookie WR T.J.
Graham:
He caught the ball well. To be honest with you he's
exactly what we thought. He's a raw route runner. He can run fast. He can catch
a football. I'm anxious to see how he can develop as time goes
on.
On if he got a chance to see the offensive linemen he
took in the draft:
We look better in the huddle. They are big men. They can
move. I didn't watch them. I watched everybody piecemeal. I probably watched
T.J. more than anybody just because I hang around the quarterback and hang
around the receivers more than anybody else. But I tried to watch all the guys a
little bit today and the little I saw it looked like they can move pretty well.
We'll go upstairs, watch film and evaluate through the weekend. And we'll see
how much they can retain because knowledge is a big part of this thing. How much
can they learn and how fast they can get it.
On what the coaches' objectives are for this
weekend:
You try to see the effort that a guy gives. You want to
see if a guy is a lazy guy or if he is a worker. You're trying to figure that
out. You try to figure out does a guy retain what you teach him. Can he hold own
from day one to day two what you taught him day one and add on day two, so
you're looking at that. And those are the two main tings. They're talented guys
or they wouldn't be here to start with. So they've got talent. It's a matter of
trying to evaluate right off the bat. What level of talent a little bit, but
really work ethic and retention.
On if he wants to get the players up to a certain
speed for OTA's:
A lot of it is installation but we've got a quite a
while till OTA's. We've got two and half more weeks till OTA's. I'm not worried
about getting them ready for that right now. I'm just worried about seeing what
they can handle in this short period of time.
On how tryout QB Alex Tanney
looked:
He did some good things. First day for any quarterback
is hard. I don't care who you are, but he did some good things. I like his quick
throwing motion. He seems to have a strong arm. He seemed to pick up things
fairly well. We'll see how the rest of the weekend
goes.
On what interested him in
Tanney:
I had never seen the video, still haven't by the way.
The video I saw was football and that I heard about was football. Then we had
some reports from when he was working out after his year. The things that he was
doing and we liked what we heard so see if we can get him in here and let him
compete.
On rookie QB Aaron
Corp:
Same thing. I'll be honest with you I didn't watch him
on film a lot. You go on the scout's words that, "Hey this is the best guy to
come in here and compete." He looked like he's got some talent. He's got some
size and he's got some talent. He picked it up as well, too. Those two guys are
pretty even walking off the field today in my mind, but I'll go watch film and I
may change my mind.
CB Stephon
Gilmore
Friday, May 11, 2012
On how his first day
went:
It went pretty good. I'm learning most of my plays and
just trying to work on my technique. But today went pretty
good.
On if he felt
comfortable:
Yea, I felt pretty good. It was my first day back on the
field actually guarding people since probably my Bowl game, so I felt pretty
good. I'm just trying to get my feet wet and
compete.
On getting his hands on the
receivers:
Most of the time, I tried to use my speed and run with
receivers. But if I get my hands on him I think I'll be a better
player.
On if using his hands is a new
technique:
Yes, sir.
On the physical side of the game and using his
strength:
I'm a physical player and I like to play physical. Like
you said, I have to keep reminding myself to be physical with receivers and I'll
be alright.
On how challenging it is to digest the
playbook:
It isn't challenging. It's like school. You have to keep going over it, keep writing down and studying in the room. I think I'll be alright if I keep doing that.
It isn't challenging. It's like school. You have to keep going over it, keep writing down and studying in the room. I think I'll be alright if I keep doing that.
On if it's hard to keep reminding himself to use his
strength:
No, it's not difficult because if you want to be good
you'll keep reminding yourself. I think I'm going to keep reminding myself and
get better every day.
On if he feels all the eyes are on him being the
first-round pick:
I feel like I'm in the same boat as them. I have to go
out there, compete and try to get on the field. So I think I'm in the same boat
and that's what I'm going to do.
On getting his hands on the ball and making an
interception today:
It felt good. I just try to go out, compete every day,
try to get my hands on the ball and learn stuff from the coaches and go from
there.
On if he was nervous being out on the field
today:
I'm not nervous. You still have to go out there and play
football. I've been doing it all my life, so it's not really nerves. I'm just
trying to get to know my teammates and coaches a little bit more and study film.
I think I'm adjusting pretty well and I'm going to keep working
hard.
On the first time putting on a Bills
helmet:
It sunk in a lot with the blue and red on. It felt good
and I'm happy to be a Bill.
On his goals for this
weekend:
Keep learning my plays, working on technique and that's
about it.
On what things he wants coaches to see about his game
this weekend and if it feels good to being with the rookies for first time
here:
I haven't been actually guarding people since my Bowl
game so being out there with the rookies, getting my feet wet and working on my
technique is going to help against the vets. I'm going to learn from the vets
and try to get better that way.
On what he hops his role will be in
September:
On the field competing. That's what I'm going to do and
whatever I can do to help the defense win and try to make
plays.
T Cordy Glenn
Friday, May 11, 2011
On his first exposure to OL coach Joe D'Alessandris
on the field:
He's an o-line coach so it wasn't anything like I never
seen. I just went out there, tried to compete and take care of everything he
tried to teach me how to do.
On the 'sit'
commands:
It's just to keep good muscle memory in your head as
good habits.
On getting snaps at left
tackle:
Honestly I'm just out here trying to help this team out
and compete. I wouldn't put anything into it.
On how difficult this weekend is to absorb
information:
It's a Rookie camp. Nobody here knows anything really so
everybody is in the same boat right now.
On what he's trying to accomplish this
weekend:
Let the coaches get a good evaluation and see where I'm
at so far, what I need to work on and where they need to help
me.
On if he feels more experienced than some of the
other rookies considering the number of college games he played
in:
That was college. This is another level. It's good to
have all of that experience. But it's still another step, a new process and I'm
just trying to learn as much as I can to help out this
team.
On the team targeting him as a potential left
tackle:
I'm not upstairs. I'm just out here playing
football.
On how comfortable he was on the field
today:
It's been awhile since I played football, so I'm trying
to get a little rust off. But I felt pretty good out there.
WR T.J. Graham
Friday, May 11, 2012
On what his impression is after Day 1 in the
NFL:
It's pretty fun. I had a lot of fun competing, putting
on a uniform, coming out and playing. The hardest thing today was kind of
figuring out the concepts. There are really a lot of different playbooks. Coming
out trying to learn on the fly was pretty tough but it was pretty fun just
getting out and finally playing football because the last couple of months have
been kind of tough just training, training and training. So it's fun to finally
get to football; the game that you love.
On if it was tough being tentative out at
practice:
Of course. It's the first time you're playing in front
of coaches. You're trying to make a good impression amongst your coaches and
your peers. Just doing all that and trying to satisfy yourself, your standards
that you set up. It's just fun. You've got to take advantage of
everything.
On working on his route running and how to approach
that:
It was similar the same way going into college but I
worked at it. I used the offseason to get better, to I guess improve my craft,
so I have some work to do.
On WR Coach Bob Bicknell's approach with them to not
overload them:
He's kept it simple. He hasn't tried to give us too
much. He's gone a little in depth a couple times but he's not trying to confuse
us. He's given us a simple game plan so we could figure it out and build off of
that. He's used lots of examples of the veteran guys and guys that we've seen
play. And he's given us those examples and we feed off of that and build off of
that. We're going to view it tomorrow and we'll work off of
that.
On how fun it is being the fastest guy on the field
usually:
Sometimes I'm tired so sometimes I might not be the
fastest guy. But it's pretty fun. But I'm not the only one that knows that so
sometimes you have to work a little hard because the defense is going to play
you a little differently and they're going to play deeper and faster every time
you step on the field. So times when I have raw routes, I have to improve those
and make them crisp and really nice because they're going to bring their 'A'
game.
On if he ever has to slow himself
down:
Yeah when we have zone reads. I can't run through the
zone too fast because the quarterback can't read it.
On the kinds of goals he has set for himself this
weekend:
Learn the playbook. I'm a perfectionist so I like to be
perfect. I'm harder on myself more than anybody else. Learn the plays. I know I
can run and do everything else so learning the plays would be the toughest thing
so that's my goal.
QB Alex Tanney
Friday, May 11, 2012
On how he felt out at
practice:
It was fun to strap on the helmet and get back out
there. It seems like the past few months have just been all training. It was
good. Just trying to pick up as much as I can and learn the
offense.
On coming from a Division III school and seeing those
kinds of guys succeed on the Bills roster:
Not only him (Fred Jackson), but you look at the other
guys that have had success recently; Pierre Garcon, Cecil Shorts, Andy
Studebaker, those types of guys; they're starting to look at those lower level
guys. You really do have a chance. That's all I wanted was an opportunity to
come to camp and I've been given that.
On if working out with QB Chad Pennington, who was
coached by Bills QB coach David Lee, had any influence on his decision to tryout
in Buffalo:
Coach Pennington's really helped me out during the
process. He kind of teaches the same things that Coach Lee preaches. That was
kind of a jump start. He's really helped me out and I've been in contact with
him throughout the entire process so yes,
definitely.
On if he's frustrated that he's known as the viral
video guy and not for his college breaking
records:
Yeah, but that's expected coming from a small school.
We're not on ESPN every week so people really aren't going to know those types
of things. Everybody gives me grief about the video but I just accept it I guess
since I posted it. It went viral and there's nothing I can do. I'm here to play
football not throw trick shots.
On if he initially made the video to get recognized
by NFL teams:
That was not the intention one bit. We didn't expect it
to blow up. It was just me and my buddies having some fun after working out. It
was not my intention.
On if anyone taught him how to do the tricks from the
video:
I've been a coach's son. I grew up around the game. I've
been playing quarterback since a little kid so I've never done stuff like that
before. It was just spur of the moment and it took
off.
