(C Daniel Kilgore and S Reshad Jones – are they going to be out?) – “Yeah, both guys will be out this week. They did everything they could to get ready for this one; but yeah, both guys will be out.”
(Where is your comfort level with CB Xavien Howard and the injury that he’s been working back from?) – “He’s doing everything he can to get back. I feel like I say that every day and it’s something that he tells me every day. Treatment, rehab – we can get into cryos and ARTs (active release techniques) and massages – he’s doing everything possible to get back. His desire to play is high and hopefully we’ll get him out there.”
(Is this a concern that if you rush CB Xavien Howard back it could lead to a prolonged injury or something?) – “That’s always (a concern). With any injury, we take that into consideration. ‘X’ (Xavien Howard), (Daniel) Kilgore, Reshad (Jones) – every injury, that comes into consideration. We’ll do what’s best for the player always and there’s always a long vision here. It’s a long season. We’ve got a lot of games left to play, so to have – we wouldn’t want to have a setback that would lead to instead of one game, it could be seven or eight games. You never want to do that, so that’s always the case any time we bring a guy back; and the idea is that he’ll be back for the long haul when he is back.”
(I wanted to ask you – with S Reshad Jones going down, I know S Steven Parker has been in there working with the safeties as well. Is that just the person who’s going to fill that void?) – “We’ve got a few guys who have played the safety-type of roles – Bobby (McCain) obviously, (Jomal) Wiltz has played in some safety roles. (Steven) Parker. (Eric) Rowe – he’s even played in some safety-type of roles. Walt Aikens obviously – he’s Reshad’s backup. We’ve had a few different guys. Reshad is a really good player. He plays a lot of different positions for us. It’s kind of ‘replace Reshad by committee’ in a lot of ways.”
(I noticed something in the last game that I haven’t gotten to ask you about yet. There were three third downs where the team got off the field. Third-and-7 incomplete, third-and-10 gain of one, third-and-6 incomplete; there was one defensive linemen and a bunch of linebackers and defensive backs moving around. I know that that’s been used in other places. When you guys do that, what are some good things about it? What opportunities does it create?) – “It gets speed on the field, first and foremost. We want to be as fast and athletic and aggressive as we can, so I would say it starts right there. It’s a hard look for an offensive lineman or a quarterback; but it’s hard for us to kind of get it and get in the right spots defensively, as well. At the end of the day, we want to disguise, we want to give them different looks, but you’re never disguised to the point where you can’t execute. That’s something we talk to the players about. We’ll continue to try to disguise and find different ways to do that. That was one grouping. We may show a different one this week, but disguise is only good if you can execute. At the end of the day, this guy, these few guys in these spots and these guys covering these guys – however we scheme it up – we’ll try to disguise. Buffalo’s a good team. They do a good job as far as diagnosing what you’re doing and finding ways to get things blocked or get things covered or get things really executed on their end based on what their opponent’s doing. It’ll be a tough test.”
(CB Ryan Lewis was a recent addition. With the first full week of practice, is he someone that you foresee some playing time for going into this game?) – “Ryan, he came in, he’s in good shape, he’s smart. He’s a tough kid. I’ve spent some time with him. We’ll see. It’s hard to come in one week in and jump out there. We’ve had a couple guys do it this year. If Ryan’s – he’s put the work in, I know that, I’ll tell you that – but we’ll just see how this shakes out. He may be in there. It may be defensively. It may be in the kicking game; but he’s definitely eager to play. Hopefully we can get him out there, but you can only have 46 guys up in the game. You’ve got to have some inactives.”
(I wanted to ask you about DE Charles Harris. He’s had reduced playing time the last two weeks. A lot of it coincides with DE Taco Charlton’s emergence. How do you keep a guy’s confidence lifted up in that situation where he’s kind of been moved out of a starting role?) – “I think each individual player – I don’t think there’s a confidence situation here with Charles or really anyone else on this team. I think if you work hard, you put the team first, you do everything possible; I think there’s a peace with that. Charles has done that. I think every week is different in this league, so I think what you need to do – as players, as coaches, as an organization – is move onto the next challenge, which is whatever meeting the next meeting is, whatever walkthrough, whatever practice and then obviously the game, and do everything you can to be productive within your next challenge. I think that’s – I know that’s – the case with Charles. That’s the conversation I’ve had with him. He’s a talented guy. We think he’ll have some opportunities to make some plays for us.”
(I wanted to ask you about DE Charles Harris’ wrist injury because it’s been lingering since the spring. Is it an actual injury or is just something that he just plays with a brace?) – “He’s got the brace on, so it’s something that he deals with on a daily, weekly basis. I think we’ve got a lot of players dealing with things that have lingered or wear a knee brace or a wrist brace or a shoulder harness or whatever the case may be. It’s a tough game. Guys get dinged and it’s just something he’s dealt with. He hasn’t complained about it once to be honest. That’s a good thing. Honestly that’s the first time I’ve even thought about it because he doesn’t complain about it; but it’s there obviously.”
