Head Coach Dick Jauron
AM Practice – August 2, 2008
On Alvin Bowen's injury
I am still not optimistic. Our doctor saw him immediately and he was standing right there watching the practice so he got to him immediately. It is probably an anterior cruciate and it will take its coarse. But no I do not have any update on him or an official word on him yet.
On signing free agent LB Donnie Spragan
We signed Donnie Spragan and he will be here through the weekend looking at our stuff and then he will be ready to go on Monday. We met with him during the free agency period as a matter of fact. We were all impressed with him, we know a good deal about him so it is a real good signing for us, probably a little bit fortunate that he was available and hopefully it will work out really well for everybody.
On J.P. Losman not practicing today
J.P.'s [Losman] thumb swelled up again so because we have this next day off we are going to rest it today and give him two days in a row and hopefully put it behind him for good.
On Bowen's injury putting the Bills over the top to sign Spragan
We talked about signing him actually. We talked about it a good deal and we talked about it earlier in the week about it maybe being a good idea. As soon as Alvin [Bowen] suffered the injury we knew it was more than a good idea, it was a necessity.
On seeing rookies in live action today
Always the same this time a year, a little sluggish, some real good things and some things you know that you have to clean up. This will give us a chance to study the tape of it and learn a lot more about our younger guys, some of them who we don't know a lot and this is the first time we have seen them other than in their college tapes and live action. So it will be a good thing, some people did stand out and it was interesting.
On two minute drills
A lot of the two minute [drill] is communication, so the more we can work on it the better off we are. I thought the guys communicated well on both sides of the ball not just offensively. It takes a lot of communication on the defensive side to so it was good. A lot of plusses, not necessarily like the game because the rush is not live but it is as close as we can come, so it works out well. I love the two minute [drill] in its various forms.
On the incident at Panthers training camp and if there is an emphases on keeping tempers down
First of all, I would never want to be in a position to say that things we do can head off all of those issues because they can't. I am sure that they do have rules concerning fighting. We do have rules and we talk about it a good deal before camp starts and in our OTA's. That doesn't always stop it though. These guys are so competitive and they are volatile. There are reasons why they play this game and play it well and if they don't keep it under control all the time it can lead to that. It is very hard, there is hot weather and they are tired and words are always spoken on the field. It is difficult to keep it under control.
On if he is surprised that a fight in camp can escalate to the Panthers incident
No I am not. I have been around it long enough to know that it can escalate fast and sometimes you just have to be lucky to head it off. They do come up fast.
On Spencer Johnson and why targeted him in off-season
He is a proven player for one thing, a proven back-up. He has playing time and experience and knows how to play the game. We knew him from his college reports also. He has always been a player who has a very high motor and that is something we really value here. We want those great effort players. They have to be highly skilled too though obviously. He is good enough to play in the NFL, he is skilled enough and then we loved his attitude.
On having the day off tomorrow
It is great to give them a day off, and quite honestly you have to give them a day off. It is collectively bargained, so we love giving them the day off and they deserve it and we are required to give it. All of those things combined make for a wonderful day to have off.
On not giving a day off if you didn't have to
We would definitely do it, even if we didn't have to. They need the rest.
