BILLS COACH DICK JAURON
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Opening statement
The injury report for us Marshawn of course did not practice with that ankle and Donte did not practice today. He had a blow to the head in the game and so we kept him out today. Kind of followed the same procedure that we have the last couple of weeks with John DiGiorgio and Robert Royal. Limited were Angelo Crowell with the foot and Terrence McGee was a little sore in the ankle area and Jerametrius Butler with his calf. So they practiced on a limited basis and that's where we are there.
On Donte Whitner's injury and him staying in the game last week
Yes he did. Any blow to the head we take very seriously like we did with John [DiGiorgio] and Robert [Royal]. And Donte [Whitner] at some point in the game didn't really have a recollection of some things that occurred afterwards so we always take those things very seriously and so we'll follow the same protocol with those guys and move forward. We don't think it'll be a problem, but we'll keep watching it.
On how badly Marshawn Lynch wanted to play last week
He wants to play. He still thinks he should've played last week, but he's just real sore. It's the typical high-ankle and we're not particularly optimistic about this week, but once again he came so far so fast last week. Further than we thought he would and he was so enthused about the possibility of him playing. He really thought he would play and he kind of still feels that he'll make that effort so you don't want to discourage, but I'm not overly optimistic about that.
With all that has happened to this team this year if it makes for a better Thanksgiving
I do think the answer is yes, it does. We are particularly thankful for Kevin's [Everett] progress and we all should be. It's a testament to him and to our medical staff and to everybody that he's come as far as he's come. He's still getting better. That is a real blessing for all of us so yes, I think it does make it a little even more special. We're more thankful.
On not getting sacks and the defensive pass rush
I'll talk about sacks in general. I think they're very overrated for one thing. I think pressure is a much bigger stat for a football team or a defense. I think our pressure has been okay. It's never as good as you want it to be. There's so much emphasis put on sacks that the players are totally focused on them now. And even sometimes they don't think they're performing well if they don't have those numbers. I think that our ends are performing well. I think they are playing well. They play hard. They don't just rush the passer. They play in the defensive scheme, they do what they're supposed to do in that scheme and I believe the sacks will come. Even in this game Sunday night our past game, there were times when our ends had tremendous rush, tremendous pass rushes in situations and the ball is gone. There are other times when he held the ball and they didn't have as good a pass rush, but you're not going to have a great rush every snap of the ball. So I like our defensive ends very much and I wish we had more sacks, but it's not the bottom line for me or for us.
On the perception of this possibly being JP Losman's last opportunity
I certainly don't see it that way. It took a long time to get that question done, but that was a short answer.
On what JP Losman has done to keep the starting job
I don't know there's any reason for me to answer that question now. I think we'll just go and play this game and see where the thing goes.
On if he feels the offense has adjusted without Marshawn Lynch
We've been one game without him and that game got of hand fast so it's hard to tell. There's no way you're not going to miss a player of his caliber. He's really a good football player as you've all seen and I think he's just going to get better and better. I have a lot of confidence in Anthony [Thomas], I have confidence in Dwayne [Wright] and Freddy [Jackson] so we'll just see where it goes. But I don't know how else to answer based on that one game last week.
On not jamming New England's receivers in Sunday's game
Well we did. We played a good deal of cover two. We mixed in a good deal of pressures. We didn't play a lot of man against them, but we did pressure them a good deal. We did play some cover two also which is one of our base coverages.
On if Roscoe Parrish needs to be utilized more
We'd like to get Roscoe the ball more. This past week I believe he played 26 snaps and the week before he played 23 snaps. We're getting a better and better feel all the time of how to get him more involved in our offense. Because as you've seen now he's not only involved in the three-wide packages, but he's involved in our base package too with Lee [Evans] at times. So we're heading in the right direction. We just have to get better at it. We all agree that he's a unique talent. He's very talented. And we're trying to use him in the right ways and his role is growing. It's growing all the time.
On Jacksonville's running game
They run the ball very well. They're a very talented football team overall and their scheme is a real good scheme. They're sound in their scheme. They attack you. They're going to make you make plays. They've done a real nice job of running it against almost everybody and we do definitely have to try to slow them down. They're not one dimensional particularly I've always kind of liked David Garrard. I think he's a very good athlete. He's getting to be a better quarterback all the time, every year and he hasn't played a whole lot of football. When he plays he's usually very effective so they present some problems. There's no doubt about it. If you don't get up and do some things against the run they can really hurt you with the run game and score. And score with the run game. They've proven that they can and will.
On Jacksonville being a team that runs the ball on third and fourth down
You don't blame them. I think it's just faith in their football team, because it's not just their running game. They can throw it. They have talent at the receiver position. They're talented up front, they're talented on defense and I don't think they're fearful of going for it on fourth and not making it. They have a lot of faith in their defensive football team too. It all fits together for them.
On if he would be surprised to know that Roscoe Parrish feels he wasn't a big part of the game
Would it surprise me to know that? No it wouldn't especially coming off that game Sunday night. I think people are disappointed in the loss, disappointed that they didn't do more, disappointed that they probably didn't get a chance to do more, all of those things. So no, you'd like your players to want to do more and be more involved.
On if David Garrard's efficiency jumps out
He has been in the tapes that I've watched. He also gives you problems because he's so mobile. He's able to lengthen any play and certainly make it longer than you're comfortable with on defense. As a general rule you don't want long offensive plays. He can do that. He can just create and then he can run. He's a very effective runner. He's also effective on the quarterback sneak so there are problems that he presents.
On if he would say that this game is bigger than an ordinary game
I wouldn't, but I understand why you would. I just don't know how they get bigger than the first game of the season, because if you don't play them all that way the odds you're not going to make it. You won't be there at the end of it unless you're just better than everybody else. So it is a huge game, but again I don't know what I've said and I've never had anybody tell me that this is not a big game. At least in my experience in the league I've never had a coach, an owner or a general manager tell me this one's not a big one.
