Bills look ahead to opener, support Dareus in time of need
By: John Kucko
Updated: September 17, 2012
The Bills returned to practice on Wednesday looking ahead to Sunday's home opener against Kansas City. DT Marcel Dareus has left the team to be with his family following the murder of his tyounger brother on Sunday. Below are comments beginning with Bills head coach Chan Gailey:
On how DT Marcell Dareus is
doing:
I spoke to Marcell (Dareus) and all of our condolences
do go out to him and his family. He has a lot on his plate, to say the least. I
talked with him this morning and I think he will be back for Sunday's game.
Whether it is tonight, tomorrow or the next day I do not know but I think he
will be here for this week. He wants to be
back.
On if Dareus feels like he should be back because
this is his second family:
I think he understands responsibility everywhere and you
cannot be everywhere all the time. We did not try to pressure him into anything,
but I think he understands responsibility--which is
good.
On when Dareus
left:
I do not know exactly when he
left.
On feeling a burden this week to
win:
Sure it is. I felt responsibility since I walked in this
place. I think everybody understands exactly where we are and what we need to
get accomplished before this season is done. I still believe our football team
is going to be a good football team. It did not start out the way anybody
wanted, but 16 teams are in the same situation we are in right now. We have to
go solve our problems. I cannot worry about those other
15.
On how to not be frustrated by
injuries:
Every time you lose somebody, somebody else gets an
opportunity. That is the way you have to approach it. You can sit around, gripe,
moan and complain about what you do not have or you can get excited about what
you do have. We choose that every day we get up. I choose to get excited about
the guys who are going to get another opportunity right
now.
On how important it was for RB C.J. Spiller to show
his abilities at the end of last season:
What he did, that is the other thing about it because
somebody said 'how is it going to be with him carrying the load?' Well he
carried the load the last part of last season so that is nothing new for him. I
think he will be able to handle that. His confidence level is high and our
confidence in him is extremely high. I wish that was our biggest
problem.
On replacing WR David
Nelson:
You have to make sure you get people in spots that can
do similar things. Nothing will be exactly the same. You try to do some similar
things with people. It may be different people doing it but you try to get
people in spots to do those things.
On what WR Donald Jones can
offer:
He can go inside and play inside. I do not have any
problems with that. I think he proved to us in the offseason and preseason that
he can go do that if need be.
On if it was a tougher challenge than normal to get
the team past the loss to the Jets:
I think it was. Expectations are higher. Our
expectations are higher. So yeah, it was. It was not like 'hey, we will re-group
and play this week.' It hurt me. And that is the honest truth--it hurt more. We
have work to do to get on the field and go win a game.
On if he senses the community is
panicked:
I do not have to sense it, I know it. The fans live and
die with us. I understand that. I understand it but I think that the little I
saw last year, the excitement I saw last year, I would like to see that again.
That is our goal, is to get that back. I know they are disappointed. I am
disappointed. Everyone is.
On if he gets more excited for a home
opener:
Home openers are good, big and exciting, but I have been
in it so long now I know it is the second of
16.
On if the Chiefs' defense does anything different
than the Jets:
They are a different football team. They do what they
do. They are different than the Jets in a lot of respects. It is really two
different for us to go into discussion about.
On his assessment of Chiefs QB Matt
Cassel:
Good quarterback. When he is healthy he plays very well.
He has had a hard time staying healthy over the last few years, but when he has
stayed healthy, and they have stayed healthy around him, he has been a very
productive quarterback.
On why people think of Cassel as a young quarterback
despite him being 30:
I do not know that. I was with him for about four months
and that is all I was with him for. I have a hard time making those kinds of
evaluations about where a guy is.
On if he heard what Rodney Harrison said about DE
Mario Williams:
No.
On Harrison saying why would Williams come to
Buffalo:
Well, he is entitled to his opinion.
QB Ryan
Fitzpatrick
Wednesday, September 12,
2012
On hitting the ground running without WR David
Nelson:
I feel good about it. The one thing we like about Donald
(Jones) is he is so versatile, in terms of being able to play inside and
outside. We worked him a lot this offseason inside, primarily an outside guy in
the preseason with what we have done so far. He is going to do a lot of the same
on the outside, but now we have the flexibility to put him where we want him,
which is nice.
On WR Donald Jones' blocking
ability:
Even when David Nelson was in there, we ask those guys
to lay their body on the line a little bit. Probably a little more than other
teams do, in terms of blocking ends, safeties, linebackers and bigger guys.
Donald is a stout guy. He is thick. We think he can do that. That gives us a
little bit of an advantage in terms of him going up against the safety type
guys, and us thinking he is going to be able to win that more often than not. He
gives us some flexibility.
On if he has a good read on the Chiefs since they run
similar packages:
The Falcon stuff is a lot different than us in terms of
the routes and the different things they do. We are going to do what we like to
do best. It was good to see some of the things they do and some of the success
they have had. Every week you try to copy that a little
bit.
On how much of a chance he has had to work with
rookie WR T.J. Graham:
This offseason I got to work with T.J. (Graham) a bunch
and even throughout training camp. Kind of as preseason and the season has
gotten going, I have not worked with him as much. He is a guy that we think
highly of. A lot of it is getting him out there and putting him in those
game-like situations. As a young guy you tend to go crazy sometimes just
thinking about everything and getting caught up in the moment. Getting him out
there, getting him comfortable and getting his feet wet a little bit I think he
is going to do a good job. You saw the playmaking ability he has throughout the
preseason with some nice catch and runs that he had. We will look for him to
step in and I am not going to treat him any different than any other guy. We
have receivers out there who are expected to be in the right spots at the right
time. You do not shy away from throwing to
them.
On how disruptive it is to see guys go down to
injury:
It is obviously not an ideal situation to have either of
those guys out and out for multiple weeks now. I mentioned this the other day,
one of the great things about Chan (Gailey) and what he is able to do is he
takes the pieces that we do have and allows us to play to our strengths. I am
sure it is going to be a little bit different because David (Nelson) is not in
there. It is going to be a little bit different because (Fred Jackson) is not
going to be the one carrying the ball all of the time. That is one of Chan's big
time strengths, is putting us in a very successful position to go out there and
win. He'll move around some of the guys we have and do that, I am sure.
On the overreaction to the loss this
week:
Definitely not players. We are disappointed. We have
talked to great extents about that but we are not discouraged in there at all. I
think that is just the game of football. Monday there is always a big time
overreaction whether it is good or bad. Big time wins sometimes people get
caught up in that as well. We have put that game behind us and hopefully learned
some things from that game. We have already moved onto the Chiefs and ready to
go. We are pretty excited for the home opener.
On what RB C.J. Spiller continues to
do:
It is big time for us. He is a dynamic playmaker. He is
a guy if he gets into open space he is pretty hard to bring down and pretty hard
to catch up to. With C.J. (Spiller) the biggest thing is confidence. Last year
he found that confidence at the end of the year after Fred (Jackson) went down
and he became the man. So you could see in that game versus the Jets, the C.J.
that was there at the end of last year with the swagger and all of that. He is
here to stay. He has gained that confidence. It is maybe something he did not
have his first few years because of limited reps, getting his feet under him,
mentally grasping the game or whatever it was. He has got it now and you have
seen it the last six, seven games he has
played.
On the Chiefs missing players last week who will play
this week:
I think the biggest thing with looking at last week's
game and the difference with this week is 91 (LB Tamba Hali) will be back and he
is a game changer. That is a guy we have seen in the past who is such a dynamic
pass rusher. He can change a game in terms of getting sacks, creating fumbles,
creating quarterbacks to force throws or whatever it is, he is a big time
player. That is definitely something that changes their defense when he is in
the game.
On what Rodney Harrison said about DE Mario
Williams:
Mario (Williams) did not hear it? Oh, I did not either.
(Laughs) A couple of people have brought that up to me. I do not know. It just
went in one ear and out the other.
On the situation with DT Marcell
Dareus:
It is tough because we go through so much and get caught
up so much with the football stuff. Sometimes just overreacting to a loss,
whatever it is, this kind of puts that into perspective. It is a tough thing to
have as teammates, when really we view each other as family since we are
together so much. It is a tough thing to have him going through that right now.
That is what we can do, we offer our support to him and his family. Obviously it
is a situation that nobody wants to get.
DE Mario
Williams
Wednesday, September 12,
2012
On what Rodney Harrison had to say about
him:
I don't watch TV. Never had, never will. I think I have
said that about a million times in my last seven years. Everybody is going to
have something to say regardless, good or bad. I can't control someone else's
opinion, but I will do what I'm supposed to do here, perform and not worry about
that after this first game.
On if he is disappointed in his
performance:
Yea, we definitely (are) as a whole and starting off
with myself. We definitely didn't do what we needed to do to win. The biggest
thing was that we didn't get sacks. We got back there but if we don't get him
down on the ground before he throws the ball, even if you hit him, it doesn't
matter. You have to get him with the ball. Starting with myself we definitely
have to put the quarterback on his back with any means
necessary.
On if he was placing blame on the replacement
referees for his play:
No, I mean I was just saying in general like I said I
put that in a whole different category than what (I said) in my interview I
guess you want to call it. I was just directing that to one instance. I wasn't
saying that about holding anything back. I was just letting it known that if it
is going to be like that then we will find different ways to do things. It
wasn't about me and my play. I was just talking directly to the officials.
That's all I was doing. It had nothing to do with my playing. I was just trying
to get my point across... Like I said I have to do better than that. I have to
make a hit. If I get back there once, and hit him, it has to be a sack. If I get
back there twice it has to be a sack. If I get close it has to be a sack. It
doesn't matter.
On what he feels he has to do better to get pressure
on the quarterback:
It's nothing new. Like I said I have to go out there and
put everything to the side; bumps and bruises and just play
ball.
On if his wrist has affected his
play:
I had a little freak deal a couple weeks ago.
Unfortunately, it was right before the regular season. But it is something like
I said by any means I have to take care of it and put everything aside and get
to the quarterback.
On if he is eager to make a statement in the home
opener:
We are going to take it to it. No matter what we have to
do to go out there and get a victory, to get sacks to get that quarterback
moving, to stop the run, especially with the running game we have coming in this
week we are going to do it
On his support for teammate DT Marcell
Dareus:
My heart goes out to Marcell (Dareus). I texted him, I
wasn't going to call him. He has a lot going on. I wish him the very best, take
his time and take care of that. It is detrimental not to just him, but for us
with our hearts being with him and thinking about his
situation.
WR Stevie
Johnson
Wednesday, September 12,
2012
On getting over the groin
injury:
It really does not matter to me. Right now, the way I
feel I really do not care if it lingers or if it goes away today or tomorrow. I
am going to be ready to play.
On what the team needs to
do:
We need to have more fun together. We are playing kind
of uptight. Not uptight, but we are playing tight. I feel like we can be looser
than that. We have the players to do that.
On how deflating the loss to the Jets
was:
It was tough. It was tough first and foremost to lose
those guys (Fred Jackson and David Nelson) because those are our brothers. To
lose the game it was also tough. To lose anything, nobody likes to lose. We just
have to shake back and play better.
On how confident he is the team can rebound from the
loss:
I am always confident in our guys. If we were to lose
two, three or four straight, I would still feel confident in this group and
these guys I have been working with. And I think we will shake
back.
On facing Chiefs S Eric
Berry:
It is going to be fun. It is going to be interesting. We
will see what happens. However he feels is however he feels. I already said it
before that I have never been a dirty player and I never try to take somebody
out. I know the work put in to get where he is and where I am. I have said it
before but it is enough already. We will meet up on
Sunday.
On getting into incidents with other plays not being
typical of him:
Not at all. Not at all. I came from the bottom so I know
the grind and the struggle to get to where I am now. Everything that has been
said and everything that happened, it happened. I am not even tripping. We will
see what happens on Sunday if we get that W or
not.
On if he feels a burden to really step up after
losing WR David Nelson:
Yeah, it is tough because you have a guy in David who
has played well. He goes down. Then you have your stud back in (Fred Jackson)
and he goes down. So it is like 'come on Stevie, let's do something. Let's put
some points up and turn things around. Let's get back to the old
you.'
On how he feels about his
groin:
I am not even thinking about my groin anymore. It is
what it is. Whether it is hurting or not, I do not even care anymore. I am just
going to go play football.
RB C.J. Spiller
Wednesday, September 12,
2012
On the passing game counting on the running game to
open things up:
Whatever they need. I am going to be ready. We have a
lot of playmakers so I am not going to worry about our passing game. We have a
great quarterback that can get the job done. One game is not going to say our
passing game is not effective. We have to have everybody in this thing to get
where we want to go. We have the guys on this team that can do
it.
On how much better equipped he is to handle this load
than two years ago:
Two years ago I was a rookie. (Laughs) I have learned a
lot over the past couple of years being a part of this offense and being
patient. Trying to figure out how defenses are going to play me. Then taking
that mindset that anything between three to eight yards is a good run. I think
that was probably my biggest adjustment, just because of the success that I had
on the college level. I tried to translate it over. Once I realized that, I
think that kind of helped in my advantage.
On how unprepared he was as a
rookie:
Just like a newborn baby. I was a rookie coming into the
NFL and you of course, you have a top 10 pick there are high expectations. I
have high expectations every year I play the game. I was still trying to learn
and figure things out. Trying to get a feel for how teams are going to play me.
Once I got used to it I thought I got better. And I am still learning. You can
never get complacent or say you just arrived and know everything. Every day I am
trying to learn something new and figure out how I can better myself as a player
and as a person. That is the beauty of playing the
game.
On what it means to be living up to the
expectations:
I think everybody in this building and hopefully my
teammates knew what type of player I was. It was just the opportunity. Like I
said, it was having a guy playing last year at an unbelievable level and we went
with the hot hand. I do not think anybody was discouraged with the way I can
play. Those guys they are on the practice field with me and see what I can do
out there. From the outside, yeah they are probably going to have to say so but
I never let those outside people affect me. Never did and never will. I just
come to work every day and try to get better.
RB Fred Jackson
Wednesday, September 12,
2012
On how he is
feeling:
I feel good, obviously not where I want to be. But I
feel good from looking at the film and getting evaluated. Hopefully things
happen sooner and better than later.
On the hit looking worse than it really
was:
Yea definitely, I know just from talking to some of my
teammates initially it looked a lot worse than what it really is and even from
talking to everyone who saw it on TV. I was blessed that I came out of it with
what I did come out of it with.
On if he thought it was a bad
hit:
I don't know, I don't have any problem with it. It's
just how you get hit sometimes. You get hit low, I got hit low. He did what he
felt he had to do to bring me down. I'm not going to tell him how he is supposed
to tackle.
On his leg injury from the Jets
game:
I was able to get my left leg out from under me so that
saved my left leg and my right leg took the brunt of it. I was blessed to be
able to come away from it with a minor injury that I did
get.
On if he will be back in four
weeks:
Without a doubt, hopefully sooner. I will definitely be
back within four weeks.
WR Donald Jones
Wednesday, September 12,
2012
On the interceptions in the Jets
game:
In this offense you can't really go the wrong way
because the quarterback is throwing on anticipation. You and him have to be on
the same page. You have to see the same things that he sees and if you don't
something like that can happen. It really is just how this offense is and we
work on that every day in practice.
On if getting reps in the slot position in the
preseason will help him now:
Yea definitely, getting those reps on the inside in the spring and summer, they definitely have helped out on what I am going to have to do now. Nothing has changed. I am used to it I have been doing it. Even though I played outside last year and I played in the slot my first year, I have done it in the spring, so nothing has changed and we will get the job change.
Yea definitely, getting those reps on the inside in the spring and summer, they definitely have helped out on what I am going to have to do now. Nothing has changed. I am used to it I have been doing it. Even though I played outside last year and I played in the slot my first year, I have done it in the spring, so nothing has changed and we will get the job change.
On if he feels in sync with QB Ryan
Fitzpatrick:
I feel like we are good. Having that preseason
definitely helped out. Last year, we didn't have that preseason so being able to
have those OTAs and training camp definitely helped out with the chemistry. We
are good.
On how versatile he feels he can make the slot
position:
I can do everything that they ask of a slot receiver to
do whether that is block or being down in the end blocking a linebacker.
Anything they want from screens to any type of routes in the field I can do it
all. Whatever they ask me to do I'll do it and I'll be good at
it.
DT Kyle
Williams
Wednesday, September 12,
2012
On how to not
overreact:
I think this game and the business of it is that you are
only as good as your last performance. Good or bad, outside of locker room and
as you view it from the outside in it is easy to say 'oh, OK they are bad. End
of story.' Next week if we play well and we win, it is 'oh, maybe it is not as
bad as we thought. Maybe it is one of those things.' I think in here we view it
as one of those things. We laid an egg. There is nothing we can do about it. We
turned the ball over and we did not get any turnovers--all kinds of things
happened in the game that just piled up on us.
I think we did the same thing to Kansas City last year
first game of the year. They turned the ball over and we scored off of their
turnovers. They did not play well enough on defense and boom we blew them out.
Then they come back and finish 8-8 last year. Obviously we want to do better
than that, but one game does not end the world.
On what Chiefs RB Peyton Hillis can
do:
I think he gives them a little bit of physical change
up. He is a guy that can press the running game, make one cut and be a physical
runner. Press the ball downhill. Whereas (Jamaal) Charles, he can hit it
anywhere. Tons of speed. I think what (Hillis) does is he brings more of a
physical aspect in the running game than Charles--he is a little different. More
elusive and more speed.
On Chiefs QB Matt Cassel running with the
ball:
Yeah, he will pull it down and run with it if you get
some kind of man coverage. If your rushers get behind him he will tuck it and
run. He can make some plays with his feet too.
SS George
Wilson
Wednesday, September 12,
2012
On moving forward after Sunday's
game:
Move past it, move forward. We have to look at the film,
we have to correct the mistakes and the focus is 100-percent on the Kansas City
Chiefs.
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