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Bills Head Coach Doug Marrone **
Opening statement"I thought the guys went out there and fought hard. When you look at the game we gave up big plays. We gave up the big play on special teams, we gave up some big pass plays and we didn't make any big plays on offense. I think C.J.'s (Spiller) run was a big play that was good, but vertically, down the field we needed to make some plays and convert some of those third downs. We'd go ahead and put yardage up, but we've got to put more points than the other team up. We had a couple of injuries. E.J. (Manuel) has a sprained knee so we'll look at that and then, obviously, Stevie (Johnson) getting his back. When you lose those two guys it's difficult. Jeff (Tuel) went in the game, it was a short week, and he really didn't have a lot of reps. We got a chance to win the game at the end with a two minute drive down by six. They played three-buzz, buzzed the safety down before the snap and we throw a pick-six. Those are the things that happen. Unfortunately, it didn't go our way, but we've got some time now to rest. A lot of guys went ahead and played today that worked extremely hard to get back. Jairus Byrd told me right before the game that he was ready to go, but it was a coach's decision, my decision, to hold him out. So that's encouraging moving forward with him. Our guys all will have a chance to rest up and then we'll regroup and then get ready to play at home"
On E.J. Manuel's injury situation and his injury being determined a sprain"That's what the doctor told me. I was under the same impression as you. I saw him working out on the sideline (and) thought we probably could get him back and then they shut him down and said, 'Hey, listen. We're not going to put him back in there.' We're going to take a good look at it when we get back to Buffalo."
On if there is a time-frame for Manuel's injury"I don't know. Like I said, I was out there trying to hope to get him back and then they said it was a sprain and they've got to look at it. So as soon as I get the information, I'm sure you guys will get that information."
On the special teams breakdowns"I think it starts out (with) hang-time, direction, and then we got out-leveraged. So, it all starts at the beginning, how it goes and you just can't have that against a good punt returner with speed. You saw that and we knew that going in. After the big return, the two returns, then we tried to make a strategic decision to try to make sure we kick the ball out of bounds. We didn't want to give him another opportunity.
On how much the short week hurt Jeff Tuel's preparation and if that was evident tonight"I'm not going to stand here and say it didn't. Obviously, on a short week, it's very difficult to get guys reps. We had two rookies. Jeff's a rookie and E.J. getting ready to play fifth game, but they went through the same thing. They lost a starter. I'm sure the second team guy didn't get reps, but he'd been playing. Did it hurt Jeff? Yeah, I mean I think that hurt him."
On how much it hurt not having Stevie Johnson in with an inexperienced quarterback playing"I don't know about the experience standpoint. We had a lot of things in for Stevie in this game that we wanted to go to especially putting him in the slot. I thought that he started off well. He tried to push through it which I appreciate from him and we were going to get him some plays. He fought down the field to get the pass interference call. We had some shots to him and we really worked on it. I think when you work on something with a player during the week and you're taking limited reps on the short week, those things come into play, but I'm not going to stand up here and make excuses."
On what his view was of the play where E.J. Manuel got injured and if he would have liked to have seen him step out of bounds"No, I'm sure the kid wanted to score a touchdown."
On if it is alright with him that E.J. was trying to score a touchdown instead of going out of bounds"I don't think I'm ever going to tell someone not to score a touchdown."
On if having only one backup quarterback gives him any hesitation to Manuel not going out of bounds"E.J.'s a tough kid. He took a shot, he scrambled, he made a first down (and) he was trying to score a touchdown. What do you say? 'Don't scramble, don't score touchdowns.' What do you think?"
Reporter"Go out of bounds"
Marrone"Go out of bounds? I'm sure he was working his way to the sideline."
On the job that C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson did to bounce back from injuries on a short week"I thought they did a great job. Both players did a lot of extra treatment. We really didn't know. I told you guys before it was going to be a day-to-day thing, but it just started getting better and better and both players were coming in every day saying, 'I feel good. I think I'm going to be ready. I think I'm going to be ready.' Fred was a little bit earlier in his decision to play and then C.J. felt good and helped us tonight. He had that big run."
On his decision to hold Jairus Byrd out tonight"Yeah, coach's decision. I think that I was happy the first time really that he did some things full speed. He practiced a little bit this week. I think it's my responsibility to make sure that we put a player out there that goes full speed for a full week. If it was a Sunday game I think it could have been different for us, but on the short week right before I was happy that he could do it and I appreciate that and now we'll get him in there and get him practicing and get him ready to go."
On how much Jeff Tuel's inexperience played a part in tonight"Jeff played a lot in the preseason and during the week, a normal week, we get him snaps in practice and he prepares just like E.J. for the game. So again, he's the backup quarterback and his responsibility is to be ready to go in. Like I said before, with E.J. we have high expectations and with Jeff we have high expectations. Right at the end they buzzed down three right before the snap and for some reason he wasn't able to see it and wound up throwing the interception for a touchdown."
On if he felt that Jeff Tuel was ready to go in"Yeah, that's his job."
On if he has the sense that the team will have to look at other quarterbacks just in case"You guys are way ahead of me right now. I'm going to look at that. We'll talk, we've got some time. We'll get on this plane and go back. We'll talk in the morning and see what the doctors say. We'll go through that process first before we start going the other way."
On if E.J. Manuel is going to have an MRI when he gets back to Buffalo
"I would probably assume so, but no one has really told me that. I would assume yes, but I don't know."
