Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott addresses the media ahead of Monday's practice, as his group gets ready to face the Miami Dolphins on "Thursday Night Football" in South Florida. (Courtesy of the Buffalo Bills)
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00:00Okay, all right, I'll give you guys an injury report here.
00:02So I'll start with Josh.
00:04As you guys are aware, Josh was injured in the fourth quarter there.
00:09They looked at his hand.
00:10He went back in and functioned, and then he was looked at after the game again.
00:15And he's been cleared to practice today and cleared to play in the game.
00:21Next up is Taron Johnson.
00:24He obviously did not return from the game or in the game.
00:28And he'll be ruled out for this week.
00:32DeJuan Smoot will not practice today.
00:35And it's looking like he'll be ruled out as well for this game.
00:39Javon Solomon will be limited, as well as Ty Johnson today.
00:42Both will be, at this point, day to day.
00:48Trubisky, Quentin Morris, I think that should round it out, will be full today.
00:53Both of those guys will be full today.
00:55So with that, I'll take your questions.
00:57With Taron, do you have a long-term prognosis on that?
01:00Yeah, I don't.
01:00And really, with all of Josh, Taron, I don't have much more information.
01:07With Taron, I don't know his timeline on when he'll be back.
01:11So we're still doing some further research on that.
01:17So, but as far as other questions go related to injuries,
01:21I'm not gonna go any further than I've already gone.
01:24Sean, on Josh, will there be any limitations on him taking a snap from under center?
01:29Yeah, I don't think so.
01:32He was able to do it.
01:34And so we'll just see how it goes today more than anything, so.
01:37With Taron not playing Thursday,
01:39just what did you see from Cam Lewis in yesterday's game?
01:41Yeah, I thought Cam really did a great job.
01:43Another guy that stepped in to a role that he was not in to begin with,
01:47in the starting role there.
01:48And Jamarcus, as I mentioned after the game, I thought did a great job.
01:53Cam Lewis did a great job.
01:54And there's several others that did the same thing.
01:57So I'm really impressed with how hard the guys prepared during the week,
02:01and then they stepped in when they were called.
02:04I know the schedule's a schedule, but what are the challenges in having
02:09a short week in your week two with a team that still looks like it's gelling?
02:15And now with all these injuries compounded, what do pieces have to be back today?
02:18Yeah, it's just another challenge.
02:20Our guys are, we're kind of used to that.
02:22And our guys, it's important that the best thing we can do is control what we
02:26can control right now, and that's who's playing where and in what spots.
02:30And then getting ourselves as ready to go as we can for
02:34a divisional matchup in Miami against a really good football team.
02:38How important were the halftime adjustments that you made?
02:46How encouraging was it that you were able to get the answer,
02:49you probably wanna get the answers in the second quarter, but
02:52to get to the answers on defense to affect the game that much in the second half?
02:57Yeah, like I said, part of a new team is also part of a new staff in some ways.
03:03And you wanna be able to say, hey, we've been able to answer some of the questions
03:07or grow through some moments that come up like that.
03:11And to be able to make adjustments in our first game, I think was big for
03:17us as a staff and for those adjustments to work.
03:19And then also for the team as a whole to be in a close game,
03:25which most games in the NFL are.
03:27And then obviously we fell behind early, but to keep our poise and
03:32to just really trust that we'll find our way back.
03:36And the players did a phenomenal job of doing that.
03:39Shawn, you go up 31 to 20, I think it was, after that touchdown.
03:43And feeling maybe pretty good there, and then that kick return happens.
03:47I know you said you wanted to watch it on film to identify it a little bit more.
03:50But that kind of error on special teams really opened it up to being a game again.
03:55What went wrong and how troubling is that?
03:59Well, I thought that there was too much return yardage to begin with before
04:05the returner was met with any type of confrontation, let's call it, right?
04:11For lack of a better word.
04:12And then we had three or four guys right there to make the play, and
04:16we didn't make the play.
04:17And so we gotta do a better job.
04:19I gotta do a better job putting them in position.
04:21And then when they're there, we gotta make the play.
04:25So we looked hard at that this morning, and it's an area of concern.
04:31And it's an area that we have to make sure that we sure up between now and
04:36the game here coming Thursday.
04:37So there's four plays right now, and
04:42four plays on special teams that are big time factors.
04:45Punt, punt return, and now kick off and kick off return.
04:48So that was a pivotal moment in the game for us.
04:51The first three quarters were probably pretty clean in that regard in
04:53special teams.
04:54But then the kick return happens, the kick goes out of bounds at the end,
04:58which gives them really good field position.
05:00Does that just kind of underscore that that phase of the game has gotta be clean
05:04for you guys?
05:06Absolutely.
05:07Yeah, I mean, I don't know what the research is, Jay,
05:10on around the league from week one yet.
05:12We're still kind of gathering that, and I'm trying to sort through right now
05:16the other important information I'm dealing with.
05:18But we're gonna make sure that we're researching that and
05:23seeing what the trends are.
05:24And I mean, it's a new play, right?
05:26And so right away in week one, it wasn't this way necessarily in the preseason,
05:32I would say, but we're seeing in week one that, hey, this is real.
05:35And in a pivotal moment of the game, that game changed fast, right?
05:42And so we can't let that happen, number one, and
05:44we've gotta have more urgency there.
05:48Sean, what did you think about the way your linebackers and
05:51secondary worked together?
05:53Yeah, I mean, in the first half, I didn't feel like we played very well.
05:56I didn't feel like we coached very well.
05:58And that starts with me, just overall, I felt like we were doing a lot of reacting
06:04and waiting for them to do things instead of us being the aggressors, right?
06:10And so at halftime, again, the coaches did a great job, and
06:13the players came out and played aggressive.
06:15And I think that was shown, I think the first defensive series was three and
06:20out, and finished with a sack, I believe, on third down.
06:23So the crowd got into the game, and we got into a rhythm there,
06:26which was important, we gotta do that earlier in the game, let's say.
06:32So I just felt like we were on our heels too much.
06:34Along that same line,
06:36what was your evaluation of Dorian Williams' performance?
06:39Yeah, I thought he did a good job.
06:41Really, I know he started a little bit last year, I believe,
06:47but really hasn't had a ton of playing time other than preseason this year.
06:54So I thought Dorian was really growing through the course of the game and
06:59getting more and more comfortable as the game went on,
07:03in particular on first and second down.
07:06And then he was on the field in the last drive of the game where we won the game.
07:11Hey, Sean, tough story for Torrance yesterday with the penalties.
07:16How do you think he'll respond to that?
07:17Sybo, yeah, we had multiple penalties that I thought hurt us, really.
07:23You can't beat yourself, it's hard enough to win in this league.
07:26And then when you're beating yourself with especially pre-snap penalties,
07:31those are non-negotiables, you can't do that and expect to win.
07:38Sean, Curtis, Samuel's snaps were a little lower than maybe what we expected.
07:41Was that any residual from his toe injury earlier in, or is that just-
07:46Yeah, just overall how the game was flowing.
07:50So good to get guys involved, multiple guys involved.
07:54So I thought Curtis did a good job.
07:56How did you feel about some of the rush contained issues against the Cardinals?
08:00And how important is it to clean it up against the Dolphins team that likes to
08:04hit the edge?
08:04Yeah, I mean, that's important.
08:06That's what I mentioned earlier about not playing well enough in the first half on
08:10defense.
08:12Again, glad we made those adjustments.
08:14And the players look like they got into a rhythm in the second half.
08:17And some of that comes from just kind of waiting, like I said,
08:22waiting for Kyler maybe to try and get out of the pocket instead of going to get him
08:26in an aggressive fashion.
08:27And so, look, it's first game, so there's a lot of unknowns.
08:33And you haven't been back in the saddle for some of those guys in a while.
08:37So I'm glad we played ourself through it and coached ourself through it.
08:43But we gotta be better overall in terms of affecting the quarterback and
08:47also making sure we keep contained.
08:50Coach, during a short week like this, what's the balance between making sure
08:55your team gets the rest it needs and then also preparing for
08:58a team like Miami who's known for being very fast?
09:02Yeah, no, they got probably the best team speed in the league in all three phases,
09:07quite frankly.
09:08So it'll be a big challenge for us going down there.
09:12And they're a really good team, a lot of talent, well coached.
09:19Good special teams as well, and we know what we're going into down there.
09:25And on a short week in particular, we gotta make sure we get our rest here and
09:28make sure we're ready to go.
09:29Sean, Greg Russo was at almost 80% snaps.
09:32That's rarely seen for you with how much you like to rotate up front.
09:36Is that a reflection of maybe how he was playing in the game?
09:40Yeah, a little bit, just managing that too.
09:43And I'm just trying to be smart with how much he is playing.
09:47And I mean, it's a long season too, right?
09:50So, but Greg's young and he was rolling there.
09:55So the coach did a good job of letting him roll.
09:59Coach, Brandon Covington looked explosive on his first return of the game.
10:04What are your thoughts on the kind of weapon that he can be and
10:06that he is for his team?
10:08Well, right now it's one game and a couple of returns.
10:12So I'm just real proud of him and
10:13the way he handled our environment, number one, and the weather.
10:17I think some people don't realize how hard it is to catch a punt or
10:22a kickoff with the wind blowing the way it was blowing yesterday.
10:25So he put in the work leading up to the game and it showed.
10:31I mean, to have that type of play in your first snap in the NFL is pretty
10:36impressive and he's just a guy that puts in a lot of work,
10:40like I said, and believes in the process.
10:43And I'm sure like all of us,
10:45he's trying to just make the adjustments going into week two.
10:49Good, all right, thanks guys.