"My Daily Routine," a new buffalobills.com series presented by Supercuts, goes beyond the football field to give fans a unique glimpse of the Bills.
If there's one word that describes Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, it's "dedicated." The NFL veteran isn't afraid to put his nose to the grindstone when it comes to work, which is evident in his weekly game preparations. In this edition of "My Daily Routine," Frazier gives fans a deeper look into his life as he overviews what a typical Monday following a Bills game entails.
In the morning
What time do you wake up on Monday?
I usually get up around 5:20 a.m.
Do you eat breakfast at home or at the facility?
I wait to eat until I get to work.
What do you eat? Are you regimented with that?
Usually, on Mondays, I'll get an omelet for breakfast. After that, it's usually oatmeal on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then Thursday and Friday I eat grits, which I like, and eggs and sausage.
Do you try and stick to eating healthy foods?
I still watch what I eat, but I don't go crazy about it. I still enjoy eating.
Do you need coffee to wake up?
I don't drink coffee.
At One Bills Drive
Meeting of the minds
6-8:30 a.m.
I try to get in, depending on whether it's a road or a home game, at about 6 o'clock that morning to review the game on my own, watching tape. Then we meet as a defensive coaching staff at 8:30. So, I review the tape on my own, grade it, because I'm grading every player on defense. Then we come together with our defensive staff at 8:30 and we'll watch the tape and critique our performance and go through how we grade the players individually.
10:30 a.m.
Then from there, we'll have an entire staff meeting – offense, defense, special teams at 10:30. Then we do a game review with the head coach, with Sean, and talk about the game at every position – how our guys performed. And when it gets to defense, I'll give a summary of how I think we played on defense.
What do you do after the staff meeting?
After our entire unit meeting, I'll come back for a couple hours before our 1 o'clock meeting. I'll go back and review my notes to decide what I want to talk to the players about because we'll meet with them at 2 o'clock. So, I'll put together what my presentation is with them about the game. It's a game recap. Then I'll have lunch around noon, and then we go down and have an entire team meeting at 1 o'clock.
What comes after the 1 o'clock session?
We'll have our special teams meeting, which I don't attend. At 2 o'clock, we'll have our defensive team meeting where we'll watch the game film with the players and go through their performance and talk about what we accomplished during that game – what goals we accomplished and what goals we didn't accomplish and what we need to do to get better and what we did well. Once we're done with that meeting, then I have a presser with the media. Once I'm done with the media responsibility, I'll come back and maybe get some dinner before our next meeting, which is at 6 o'clock.
Do you eat dinner at One Bills Drive?
Yes, I eat dinner in the cafeteria.
6 p.m.
We meet at 6 o'clock as a defense and we'll go through some preliminary conversation about the next opponent and look at some tape of certain plays by our opponent. So, we'll do that for about an hour or so and after that it's me getting on tape of that next opponent and getting an idea of what we might want to do game plan-wise because the next day is probably our longest day. It's the game plan day. Tuesday is the longest day. So, I just get some initial thoughts and come back on Tuesday and that's when we really get into the game plan.
Do you work out at all during the day?
Not on Mondays. Monday is the day that I take off from working out but the other six days I do.
What time do you head home?
On Monday, I try to leave no later than 9 p.m.
At home
When you go home, do you go right to bed or do you need to unwind?
The drive home helps me to unwind a little bit.
What do you do when you get home?
Well, I've already eaten and I'm pretty tired by then and hopefully the game is out of my mind. I try to get some rest because the next day is the big day. That's the day to put it all together and get ready for the next opponent.
How many hours of sleep do you need every night? Do you need eight hours?
I wish I could get eight hours, seven hours, but during the season, it's just not there.
Do you wake up at 5:20 a.m. on Tuesdays too?
I wake up before 5:20 because we have a coaches Bible study at 6:15 and I try and work out before then. So, I set my alarm at 4:40 on Tuesday mornings.
The why
What would you say the theme of Monday is, reflect and reset?
It is. That's basically what it is. You do a summary of the game but also you reflect on what you did positive and what you did negative and how you can improve. Then you assess the injuries. You know, you go through that in the unit meeting that we have as an entire staff to see how healthy you are. So, that plays into the plans for the next ball game as well. It's a chance to just review.
Why is your Monday routine important?
Every Monday is different because the opponent is different and the way you play it is probably a little bit different as well, but it's important because now you get a chance to evaluate where you are, what you're doing well, what you're not doing well, what you need to improve on. So, it's just a constant evaluation that you're trying to work towards getting better as the year goes on.
