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Head Coach Doug Marrone**
Training Camp Practice – July 28, 2013
Opening Statement:
It was interesting, obviously being here for the first time, it was really an exciting atmosphere. I know this being a night practice, but there were a lot of fans here. Great enthusiasm by them. We got ourselves off to a start. We have a lot of work ahead of us on the football team, that's what I talked to the players about. We just have to concentrate on getting better each and every day.
Q: Did you like what you saw today Coach?
A: Yeah, I do. I like the players. For me to come back and to say "Hey, they're gonna come in here and go 110-percent," it wouldn't be right for me to expect that out of them. We've had two days; we've been sitting around all day, getting out here. Finally to get out here, now we'll get in to a good program with a lot of structure. We'll get used to it, start going out and we'll get better each day.
Q: What was the situation with DE Mario Williams?
A: Mario reported to our athletic training staff he had a sore foot. So what we want to do, we wanted to make sure we decided the hold him out of practice and let our medical staff evaluate him.
Q: What foot is it?
A: I'm not, I apologize, I can't.
Q: Is it disappointing to be ramped up and ready to go and not have a guy go out there?
A: I want to make sure that I use the right word. It is not a disappointment from a standpoint of I wish the player was out here for the rest of the team, it is more of a disappointment for the individual. Mario has put in a lot of hard work and has really went in the playbook, did a lot of work this offseason, so I always have initially the disappointment for the player because I think we tend to forget how much work they put in and you have a player that definitely wants to be out there.
Q: What can you say about what you saw from the quarterbacks?
A: The quarterbacks, we're working EJ (Manuel) in, get the reps to 50-50. I think it's the same as everything else, I don't mean to be cliché about it, but there was some good things in it. Again, this is the first time throwing to receivers in a period of time. We have to work on our timing. We had a lot of work pre-practice before we got in to the teamwork. Again, we're going to have to do a better job, both in our receiving, throwing, protecting. Just work to get better.
Q: From a practical standpoint, when do you feel like you need to have a decision made on that front?
A: Again, you like to sit there as a coach and say you'd like that decision to just come up in front of you. Really if you can get 10-12 days prior to that first game, that's when you're going to get pressed for time and have to make a decision on a quarterback. That's when you're probably going to start preparing 10 days out of the first game.
Q: As an offensive coach with this style of defense, are you going to expect stretches where you take some sacks?
A: There's two things, the catch 22. Our defense is showing us a lot of different things. We're seeing a lot of different things. When you've got to game plan it becomes a little bit easier, so for us to see those things now, it'll just get better and better at picking it up. Do I expect that people will come home and come free? As an offensive coach, absolutely not. I think it's good film to work on and get better at.
Q: What is the status of DT Kyle Williams?
A: Kyle, we're working him back in. He didn't participate, obviously, in the OTA's. SO just from a standpoint of worked individual, we kept him out of team, kept him out of the one-on-one's. You'll see him progress in to the practices as we go.
Q: Did Mario say how he hurt his foot or when it happened?
A: I do not know that.
Q: Is there a timetable of how much time Mario may be out?
A: Our medical staff's going to evaluate him. So I don't know that information.
Q: QB Kevin Kolb got the reps with the first team. Is that something that is going to continue? Are they going to be switching on and off?
A: No. We're going to keep pushing forward, but again we have a young quarterback in EJ and we're bringing him along. At the same time we have a lot of time before we get to the preseason games to get that thing to 50-50. But EJ did take some snaps with the first group today, but you're right Kevin did have more.
Q: What was your reaction to TE Scott Chandler's play today? He looked good out there.
A: He did. Scott, that was another person that we limited today. Again just coming back. He went in there and I was excited for him. He's really put in a lot of hard work to comeback. He's comeback quickly from that injury and you saw it today that he has the ability to make plays. I'm excited because I think when you're coming off that and you get in there you want to make that play and he made a nice play today. A couple of them.
Q: Did you like what you saw today out of the receivers?
A: I do. And I said before the one thing I think we've helped ourselves, as a receiving core is that we have more speed now at that position. Now it is just a matter of people separating themselves, seeing what the best combinations are, seeing who runs the best route concepts to what we want to do.
Q: Would you have liked to see better coverage from your defensive backs?
A: There was a lot of man coverage out there today. I think it's very difficult in the one on one periods. I think you have a lot of space out there to cover and the quarterbacks sit back there, they're not under pressure a lot, so no I wasn't disappointed in the way that our defensive backs covered today. They actually had, I believe, three interceptions or two for the defensive backs, which were nice plays. They were tipped balls that were close and even the ones that they didn't make they were close with.
