Bills determined to fix what's broke
By: John Kucko
Updated: October 23, 2012
Monday comments from the Bills beginning with head coach Chan Gailey:
On DE Chris Kelsay questioning the team's lack of
effort:
We all fall into that category. Is there more everybody
can do? Yes. And that is a challenge for each of us to do the very best that we
can every time we walk out there. Everybody can do a little bit better. You say
you are doing your best but you have to find a little bit more because we are
not where we want to be. I think we can be where we want to be still. But we are
not there yet.
On if it is disturbing that effort is a concern seven
games into the season:
I think we are playing hard. It is not that I do not
think we are playing hard. I think we play hard. Can we play better? That is the
key--being consistent. That is the term I used with the players this morning:
being consistent and everybody being where they are supposed to be when they are
supposed to be there. Being more consistent--that is the key to the whole thing.
You walk out onto our practice field, guys are working hard. To me, I watch the
film and everybody is playing hard. Can we play harder every snap? Yeah, we can.
Everybody falls in that category a little bit. You have to do more. When you are
losing, you have to do more.
On if the effort is acceptable to
him:
Are there plays that guys do not do 100-percent every
snap? Yeah, there are plays that happens. You have to correct that.
On how disturbing it is that some guys do not go
100-percent on every play:
Sure, it is disturbing every time you look at it. It
goes on for every time, on every level of football. It really does. You have to
squelch it. You have to get everybody playing to the top 100-percent every snap.
You just cannot take plays off. I am not saying guys are taking plays off, I am
just saying I think we can lay out, for lack of a better term, a little bit
better at times.
On Kelsay saying players were taking plays
off:
Kelsay is entitled to his opinion. That is
true.
On if he knows how much DE Mario Williams' wrist is
bothering him:
No I do not. I cannot speak for him. I cannot tell you
whether he is being affected by it at all, a little bit or what it is. I cannot
tell.
On if Williams has those conversations with
him:
No. I ask him how it is going and he says it is
alright.
On if Williams' play is where he wants it to
be:
I wish everybody was doing a little bit more right now.
Not just him, but everybody was doing a little bit more.
On how DE Kyle Moore seemed to produce more at left
end yesterday than Williams:
I cannot answer that question other than I know at times
(the other team) will chip when Mario is over there. They do not feel like they
have to chip right now on Kyle Moore. They may in the future, but they do not
feel like they have to right now. When Mario is on one side or the other, people
tend to find an extra blocker, find a chip, a tight end on that side or
something. They tend to do that.
On if better players normally find a way through what
the other team presents:
We have to put together a defense that works. Everybody
has to do their very best. I think (Williams) is working hard. I think he is
playing hard, but we have to get production out of everybody. We have to be more
productive.
On how to fix the
defense:
Well, that goes back to the consistency I was talking
about. We have to get everybody in the right gap at the right time. That is
going to be key. That is where we are lacking right now, the consistency factor.
We will stop the same play twice and the third time it gets out of there. I
think there were four runs yesterday that accounted for about 140 yards of the
190 yards rushing. The big plays are what are hurting us right now and it is
happening in the running game.
On if changes can be expected during the bye week due
to poor effort:
I hope that everybody gives the best that they have got.
That includes all of us as coaches. Everybody has to give their best effort to
have a chance to win in this league. That is part of it. It is not easy and it
is not fun when you lose. You have to get better, and right now we are not where
we need to be. We are not close to where we need to be. Hopefully we will get
some of that straight this week.
On if Defensive Coordinator Dave Wannstedt will be
reevaluated over the bye week:
There is no question about that. There is no discussion
there. He is it and is going to be it.
On if the problem is a lack of talent or a lack of
effort:
I go back to consistency. Everybody has to do the right
thing on every snap. Right now we are not doing the right thing on every snap.
If it falls back on anybody, it falls back on me making sure everybody is doing
the right thing at the right time because that is what coaches are supposed to
do--get people in the right place at the right time is what they are supposed to
do.
On why Wannstedt is the right man for the
job:
His wealth of experience coaching defenses, being around
great defenses and I have known him for a long time. I've worked with him. I
know his knowledge of defense and what people are supposed to do. I have a great
deal of confidence that he can do the job.
On if there will be any changes to the starting
line-up after the bye week:
Who knows? We are going to evaluate everything and
nothing may change. We may just try to get better at what we are doing or there
may be some changes. We just have to evaluate
it.
On the status of OG Chad
Rinehart:
He has a long-term injury. Whether it is season or not,
I think they have further evaluations today and tomorrow where we will know more
probably tomorrow.
On if Rinehart injured his
ankle:
Yeah. Ankle.
On if OL Sam Young stays in the reserve role or if
they need to get OL David Snow up to
speed:
Probably Sam (Young) has to be a jack-of-all-trades
knowing guard and tackle. David (Snow) has been working more at center than he
has at anything else at this point, but he has to start learning the guard spot,
too. It depends on how quickly we get (Kraig) Urbik back and how quickly we get
Cordy (Glenn) back. We expect to have both of them hopefully for this ball game
coming up.
On if the use of RB C.J. Spiller and RB Fred Jackson
was ideal yesterday:
It was good. I am not sure if ideal ever hits. First of
all, nothing is ideal unless you win. There were some opportunities we had to
score more points so it was not ideal. But for them to touch it 35 times between
them and about four, five other times we tried to get the ball to Fred (Jackson)
on some throws and did not connect on them. If we can let them touch it between
30 and 40 times a game, I think that is pretty good for
us.
On when DE Mario Williams needs to step up and make
the impact he is supposed to be making:
I think that it is all subjective to statistics. The
impact that a guy has on a football team in a lot of people's eyes is viewed by
statistics. We do not necessarily view those by statistics. We view them by what
kind of influence and impact a guy has on the game. Right now, Mario is having a
good impact on the game. Is it great at this point? No, it is not great. But he
is having a good impact on the game. Every one of them is doing OK at times, but
nobody is consistently doing it exactly right enough for us to be a productive
defense. And I am going to use that word now because I think that is the word
that we are searching for: creating consistency on our defense throughout the
defense. Not just the defensive line, the defensive backs or the linebackers--all
of them. Every one of them included. We have to be more consistent. Being where
you are supposed to be and when you are supposed to be there that will allow us
to improve our defensive statistics and defensive production.
On if Williams is being unfairly
criticized:
Everybody gets singled out from time to time. Not
everybody, most everybody. High-profile people tend to get singled out more than
anybody else other than quarterbacks. Quarterbacks get singled out every week
one way or the other. Most players that are high-profile players get singled out
one way or the other either positively or negatively each week depending upon
how the team does. And that is the bottom
line.
On if it is possible for guys to quickly become more
consistent:
It better or we are going to be in for a long year if we
do not create consistency.
On if they are getting the bang for their buck for
the defense:
I am not interested in bucks. I am interested in
production. All I am interested in is production and we are not producing like
we need to defensively. There are other areas we need to work on as
well.
On how DT Marcell Dareus is performing on and off the
field:
I cannot speak to off the field. You probably need to
talk to him about off the field. He has had to deal with a lot, but he is coming
to work every day and that is what I see. I do not know how he is handling all
that other stuff. The play on the field is to me in line with the other people
on the football team. Can he play better and can we be better? Yes. Everybody
can step their play up a notch and improve our defense. They all have to. I am
not going to talk about individual play one way or the other. It is a group
thing. Everybody has to do what they are supposed to
do.
On if he thinks it is necessary for players to hold
each other accountable:
I think accountability to each other is vital to any
football team. This is the most unique team sport in the world because of the
numbers of people that are involved that have to do their job on a daily basis.
I think the people that are accountable to each other understand that they are
accountable to each other. If they do not, they need to understand that they
have to be accountable to each other when it gets down to it that is who they
play with and for. That is why you go to championships is because you are
accountable to each other.
QB Ryan
Fitzpatrick
Monday, October 22,
2012
On not looking
happy:
Yeah. Never really happy after a
loss.
On if he thinks everybody on the offensive side of
the ball is giving their all:
Offensively, our issue yesterday was we did not make
plays when we needed to especially down there at the end of the game. We had a
couple of opportunities to close the game out and not have to put it in anybody
else's hands but our own. That was a disappointing thing offensively, having
opportunities to close the game out and we did not do
it.
On if there is a feeling the team has squandered away
too many opportunities to get back into
it:
This was a tough loss for us. You always try to look at
the bright side, put things into perspective and all of that. But 4-3 would have
been a lot better than 3-4, especially with a bye week. You always want to go
into the bye week with a win because this loss will linger a little bit longer.
It was a tough loss, a game that we were in, a game that we were winning and a
game that we could not pull out. That makes it difficult. You always look
forward to working against the next opponent, working against the scout team,
getting out there and figuring out the new game plan. That is how you kind of
forget about some of these tough losses. We have a week now where will be off to
let this thing kind of sink in and then we will have to get back to
work.
On if there is a chance the locker room might
fracture:
We are fine in terms of guys pulling together and guys
taking blame for what happened. I think that is something where there is going
to be no finger pointing in this locker room. I think guys are going to
challenge each other and a lot of that is going to be in-house. You do not do
that stuff through the media. You do not point fingers, blame and single out
guys through the media. You challenge each other behind closed doors and I think
that is what will happen more than anything. The fracturing of the locker room
is just not going to happen.
On if the leaders need to challenge each other
more:
As competitors you do. You challenge yourself. You
challenge each other. There are certain guys that will be able to accept a
challenge. There are certain guys that are going to be able to be heard. I am
always going to accept Stevie (Johnson) challenging me or Fred (Jackson)
challenging me. You accept the challenges from the guys that you respect. I
think those are the guys that will have to do the
speaking.
On if he is surprised some players have not been
better this season:
When you ask that question the first person that popped
in my head was myself. I have not had a good year and it has been for a number
of reasons, but it is something that you just have to continue to work at. This
season has been a disappointment. I think nobody expected us to be 3-4. I think
it is good that we are disappointed. It just sucks that this is now another
season that we feel that disappointment. Right now I think we feel urgency that
we have to get this thing going before it is
lost.
On if all he accomplished yesterday was erased by the
interception:
I touched on earlier, having a chance to close the game
out there in the fourth quarter and not being able to do it. Whether it was the
series before that, whether it was that series with the third-down interception
or when we got the ball back and were not able to get any yards and get it down
to at least have the chance to attempt a field goal. That is tough. As a
quarterback, and as a leader of the offense, a lot of that falls on me.
Certainly that interception falls on me. That is something that we have to be
able to do. We have to be able to close out games on offense. We paid for it
yesterday.
On if the team can still accomplish its goals for the
season:
The interesting thing in the NFL is you never know what
is going to happen. You have to continue to adjust and manage your goals. We
wanted to go undefeated in our division, we wanted to go undefeated at home and
all of that stuff. Well, that is not going to happen. That is not possible
anymore. We have to reassess where we are at. The bye week is a perfect week to
do that, look and evaluate what we are doing. Set new goals of how we are going
to get to the playoffs and go from there.
On talking about the same problems this year that
have plagued the team in the past:
It is frustrating in general to lose games, especially
the close ones you feel like you had a really good shot at winning and you kind
of let slip out of your hands.
On if there is a time when a team leader needs to
call the team out:
Chris (Kelsay) is a guy who has been here for a long
time. He has been around for a long time and he is a respected guy in our locker
room. For him to lay out a challenge, I do not think it is just the defensive
guys--I think he is laying out a challenge to the team. It is something we pride
ourselves on, hustle and outworking people. If that is something he saw then he
threw out a challenge to the whole team there. I think at time that is
important. I also think it is important when there are things, especially with
specific people that we address those in-house and not through the media. But
that is a challenge he issues through the media and that will be one that
resonates through the locker room.
On Kelsay not calling out anyone
specific:
What Chris is doing, and Chris is going to be the first
one to point a finger at himself, he is challenging their unit as a whole. I
think that is important. That is something you can do and it will resonate
through the locker room. I guess what I am trying to say is if you are going to
point specific fingers at something, you do it in-house and you talk to guys
about it. That is not something you do through the media.
RB Fred Jackson
Monday, October 22,
2012
On players being held
accountable:
Everybody has to be held accountable for what they are
doing on the field and we all know that. (The defense) has come in and said that
they want to do better, but at the same time we had chances on offense to end
the game as well. It is a sick feeling right now, but at the same time we cannot
go in the tank. We got the film, watched that and saw what we can improve on.
Right now, it is put up or shut up. We have put ourselves in a difficult
situation right now, but it is not a situation where we can go in the tank and
forget about the whole season.
On DE Chris Kelsay saying players have to push each
other to give effort consistently:
You have to be able to depend on the guy next to you,
but while you are doing that you have to be able to tell them what you expect
from them. If they are not getting the job done, you have to let them know. To
do that, you have to look at what you are doing as well. I think guys are going
to start pointing out things that need to be done right. That is just what needs
to be done. We have to go out and make plays. We have to be consistent. We are
not consistent in everything we are doing, so it is going to be a tough sled
from here on out. But to do what we need to do, guys are going to have to step
up and make plays.
On if yesterday is as good as he has felt this season
on the field:
Without a doubt. I have not felt as well as I did
yesterday in a long time. I was able to go out and make a few plays, but did not
make enough. We still got the loss. I did feel good and hopefully I can go out
and continue to play well.
RB C.J. Spiller
Monday, October 22,
2012
On how hard the bye week will be coming off of a
loss:
You definitely want to go into the bye with a win, but
unfortunately it did not happen. I guess this bye is pretty much for us to get
as many guys healthy as possible so we can make this run for the long-term. Just
reevaluate everything from what we are trying to do offensively to how we can be
successful to finish games and to win those close
ones.
On if it is important to remind people to give
everything they have got:
I do not really sit down and watch how individuals play
and if he is giving effort. If I have to do that, week-in and week-out, try to
question a guy's effort then I would not want to play with that guy. In this
league, and this level, you should pretty much give your best effort every time
you go out there on Sunday to help the team win. If a guy is not giving it his
all, then you cannot really trust him to be out there because you never know
what play he might take off. Offensively, I trust every guy out there because I
am able to see the film and see the type of guys that are running around and
making plays. I do not know if it is just talking defensive-wise or what, but on
offense I think guys are giving a great
effort.
On if the team needs a mental
break:
It just depends. Of course you want to rest your body.
We have been going at it for a long time now so you have a lot of guys probably
banged up. I guess the bye came at a good time to let guys get healthy,
reevaluate everything and see what type of season we want to have. Do we want to
end this drought of not making the playoffs or do we want to be the same old
guys and have an early post season?
DE Chris Kelsay
Monday, October 22,
2012
On if this is a good time for the team's bye
week:
Myself personally I would rather just get back at it. We
do not like sitting around with this taste in our mouth. You want to get another
opportunity and I think some guys need the rest, whether it is physically,
mentally or both. I know after a loss you always want to have a chance that next
weekend to get a win, so it is going to be a frustrating off
week.
On if it is just a matter of
regrouping:
Yeah I think so. We just need to refocus and stress
consistency. We have played really well at times and we have played really,
really poorly at times--a lot of the time. It is just more of what we are not
doing than what other teams are doing to us. I know you guys are tired of
hearing that. We are tired of saying it, obviously. Some way, somehow we have to
understand what accountability means across the board, playing hard every play.
You watch the film and not everybody was playing hard every snap. That is
unacceptable.
On how maddening it can be to see teammates not
giving it their all:
There is no excuse for it. We put in way too much time
and effort during the week. I thought we practiced really well throughout the
week, but if you do not play on Sunday and you cannot translate it to the game
field then it is all for naught. Coaches put in a ton of time and a lot of
effort. We are all away from our families, we make this what it is and it is our
livelihood. It is a blessing to be in this league. To go out there and lay an
egg, there is no excuse for it.
On if players need to hold themselves more
accountable:
Absolutely. You are going to see it from a lot of guys.
Maybe as leaders some of us have let certain things slide. Cannot do that. We
are not going to allow it.
On if effort has been a problem before on the
team:
No, I do not believe so. Coaches call you out.... We grade
hard when guys are not playing hard. Coaches point it out, but maybe it will
mean more coming from the players.
On if the problem is not focusing or not finishing a
play all the way through:
I think it is both. Relying on your technique and your
fundamentals, playing with your hands, running to the football, the ball is
thrown down the field, turning, chasing and running. You never know what is
going to happen. Fumbles occur. The team with more guys around, more often than
is going to come away with the ball. The quick screens and draws, retrace.
Whatever it takes to get to the football. Play with all out energy. At the end
of the day that is basically how I grade somebody. Is he going to play as hard
as he can?
