Head Coach Doug Marrone
Training Camp — August 7, 2013
Opening Statement:
Obviously the other night, we had a pretty long scrimmage. We went over 100 plays in that scrimmage which is, from my experience in this league, is pretty long. And the one thing I was looking at to see is how the players came back from a day off. I thought today we came back in a morning practice, just got right back to work. I give the players credit. I told them that afterwards. I said I was proud of them with the way they came back. And I think that's important, get ourselves into a good week and continue moving forward. One of the things we tried to do today, and some of you may have noticed it, from an offensive perspective, we took Cordy Glenn and moved him inside. And the reason why is…we're not experimenting with him being, not being the left tackle. We know that down the road from now, when we're dressing seven linemen, we'll have a swing inside player and a swing outside player, swing tackle and a swing center guard. And what we want to make sure of is if something does occur with an injury, and one of the inside players are injured, then the swing player goes in there, which one of our tackles is best suited to go in there next. That's why we wanted to work him today and I'm pleased with that. I saw what I needed to see, meaning that he can do that and make that transition. Now you'll see him just back there, getting comfortable and ready to play. I didn't want to do it later on once we started working the pre-season games.
Q: What about Thomas Welch? He played some guard today to.
A: We have to move somebody. I think from what we saw today, depending on where we're going to be better on who that swing tackle is, I think we'll make a decision once we see how the preseason goes. And I think at least we know now in the back pocket, we can always move Cordy in there. With the swing tackle, we know he has to be able to play both tackles.
Q: How are you looking at Thomas?
A: We're looking at him as obviously competing for a starting position. If not, then if you're not the starter, then you have to be able to swing.
Q: How common is it to have a swing guy as a starter, as opposed to a backup guy who plays the utility role?
A: A lot of times you use the philosophy you don't want to make two moves for one. But if the two moves for one makes you a better offensive line, I think you go ahead and do that. That's my philosophy on it. Do you like to do that? No. You hope that, hey, if a tackle is injured in the course of a game, whoever you have, is your swing tackle better than your guard tackle, which some teams have. If that's the case, then the swing tackle, if he's better than the swing guard, then he goes in there next. If not, and then the swing starter is a better player, then you go that. So you have multiple ways to do it. But I like to have that process kind of set before we go into a season.
Q: Was Kevin Kolb not there today because of injury or personal reasons?
A: Kevin contacted me. We've communicated yesterday. Right now, barring any transportation delays, we expect him in late Thursday night, coming back here sometime in the morning, which helps us for the evening practice. And we expect him back and ready to go after he sees the doctor and the doctor says yes.
Q: Have you established how the quarterbacks will be used in this first pre-season game?
A: No, I think I'm going to wait to see how the practices go. Things could come up with that situation. We'll probably talk about that Friday evening, once we know we're going into a Saturday where nothing should happen, barring a sickness--a cold or a flu. I'll have a plan set in place for that then. We haven't had discussions about that.
Q: Given the amount of time Kevin has missed, is it too early to say whether you might hold him out for Sunday's game?
A: Oh, absolutely. It's too early to say that. Right now, approximately, EJ has about 100 more snaps. And then where you get caught up as a player is really on Kevin's last day was probably his best day. Obviously you want to see it coming back. And a veteran player, having these days off, we expect him to come back in better shape than if he was a rookie.
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Q: Is there a chance the injury could keep him out?
A: Absolutely. It's not going to go by time missed because we're still in competition. And our goal is to be equal and fair. And there are a lot of things that go into that. And I think sometimes it depends on what our thoughts are with the people around them too, to make sure that when we look at things, we're looking at it in a fair manner when we make those evaluations.
Q: One of the things you said is that Thomas Welch is competing for a starting job. Is that at left tackle?
A: I'm kind of wired where if I tell a player, hey, you're competing for the backup job, I don't think you get everything out of that player. No different than a coach that says, 'Well, you know what, I'm going to coach my starter like a starter and coach my backup like a backup.' I'm kind of wired that every player we're coaching as a starter and every player on that field is competing for a starting role. That's my more of a philosophy of how I coach and how I view things.
Q: Did Marquise Goodwin get overheated on the field?
A: Yeah, he was just short of breath. He got his breath back and he was fine.
Q: How does Kolb's absence affect when you would make a decision on a starting quarterback?
A: I would think when he comes back how he is. In other words, we evaluate how he is when he comes back and then obviously if it's going to take a couple days, then you look at it and maybe that's a little bit of concern. But I expect him to come back and really pick up (where he left off). Let's go with that competition. And if anything, the extra 100 reps for EJ should probably help him a little bit more in being prepared.
Q: In terms of naming your starter for the regular season, is it going to push the time back for when you were initially planning to name a starter?
A: I can't answer that question until I see how Kevin comes back and performs. If he comes back and things are still lingering, then that puts some pressure on that decision process. We know what the end time is for it, we just want that time as coaches to work itself out between the two players as early as it possibly can, knowing that it probably wasn't going to happen until we started playing pre-season games.
Q: How significant is the injury to Leodis McKelvin?
A: Probably just soreness. That's what it was. He was sore after the game. We kept him yesterday on the day off. He received treatment and again we're just trying to be smart. He's a player who…you saw Chandler come back and limit himself. Kyle came back. You kind of saw Leodis go the other way. Came back from injury and, boom, jump right back in there and took all the reps. There's that point where a little soreness comes in, but we're very happy because we have gotten a lot of snaps out of him in camp.
Q: Crezdon Butler and Chris Hogan stepped out for a little bit. Are they okay?
A: Yeah, Butler's been playing, he got a shot on the nose. So every once in a while when that helmet comes down, you just got to take a step back. And then with Chris, he just got the wind knocked out of him.
Q: Mana Silva, has he been released?
A: I'm going to rely on Scott [Berchtold] for this so I don't say anything wrong. He's on the (Exempt/Left Squad) list.
Bills Senior VP of Communications Scott Berchtold:
The deal is (Mana Silva) left camp. There's a procedure through the NFL that you have to go through on that if a guy leaves camp. That's where he is right now. We were granted the exemption from it. Is what it is.
Marrone:
I just don't know what it's called. I found out, really, when I was on the field, I had to go speak to the quarterback club. I had to go speak to the veterans. I found out in transition there. He did not contact me or speak to me about the decision. Why or what. Again, I'm concentrating on the guys that are here.
Q: In a situation like this, could you see yourself welcoming him back?
A: I'll be honest with you. I think it's tough when someone makes a decision, depending on what it is. Obviously, if it's something that's a personal thing, I would like to expect the players to come to me and say, 'Hey, I have this going on. Can I be excused?' But I don't know his situation. 99-percent of the time, I'd be like 'Yeah, let's clear that up, move on and go.' But if it's a case of, I don't know if I want to be on a team or compete or anything like that, in my experience, I think it's been very hard to try to talk somebody into playing.
Q: Colin Brown at right guard today. Can we expect him to be moved there?
A: If you see what we're doing, before we get into the pre-season, we're just trying to look down the road to see what that seven is.
Q: Is Duke Williams medically cleared now?
A: Cleared.
