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BILLS HEAD COACH CHAN GAILEY
On the job that WR Stevie Johnson did against DB Darrelle Revis:
I thought he went out and did a good job winning several one on ones when you get the opportunity, and that's what he did. I thought Fitz (Ryan Fitzpatrick) threw it in the right spot.
On what past teams have done to limit Johnson this season:
He didn't practice, those two weeks he didn't practice during the course of the week. We didn't have him hardly at all. He got back on Friday of the Dallas game and maybe Thursday or Friday for the Miami game. That seemed to be the case anyway. Just like anybody else, you've got to go practice and get the timing down to have a chance to be successful.
On what have been some of the biggest reasons for the four game losing streak:
Lack of execution in all phases. We've done some good things in spurts but we haven't put any consistent efforts for an entire ball game. You can't play in spurts in this league, you'll get beat.
On how troubling it is that their winning ways have just stopped:
It's very troubling. Anytime you don't have the opportunity to continue success like you had it, you're always searching for the answers and what's going on. I wish I had the answers. I don't have the answers but you're always looking to see what you can tweak and what you can change to help make your team become successful.
On if this upcoming game is like a playoff game:
I don't know about them but it is for us. That's the way I look at it. I told the players that very same thing this morning in the team meeting. This is big for us.
On how hard it has been to adjust after losing RB Fred Jackson:
Nobody can lose a great player like Fred Jackson, especially in the year that he was having and expect it to keep rolling along. It just doesn't happen. I thought our guys did a good job of adjusting last week and we're still in the adjustment mode as staff and as players, to what the strength of the guys are now. What does CJ (Spiller) have as a strength? How do we use that and how do we adjust what we're doing to his abilities.
On if he's confident that RB CJ Spiller can help this team down the stretch:
Yeah, I am confident he can do that. He's an explosive player. Two things we said he had to work on in the offseason were ball security and blocking. He got better at both of them in the ball game. That was a positive coming out of the game. He hadn't played a lot of running back in the last two years really. He's getting back into the flow of things. I expect him to get better and better as the season rolls along.
On if he's looked at the Titans young linebackers on film:
I haven't seen a little bit, I've seen a lot. They are extremely active. They seem to be very knowledgeable. That's been really a surprise for young linebackers how knowledgeable they are. They're making a bunch of plays, they rush the passers. Colin (McCarthy) seems to be direct on a lot of stuff on defense. They've done a good job.
On if he watched LB Colin McCarthy for the draft:
Oh yeah, we sure did. We sure did. And I saw him up close and personal for three years.
On what stands out about McCarthy as a player:
He's very intelligent. He's faster than people give him credit for. He's very enthusiastic. He wants to make every play. You look up and there's his number on the ball. If he's not in the tackle he's around it all the time. That's what you like for a LB. That's what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to be around the ball.
On if he talked to Stevie Johnson about his TD celebration:
Sure I did. I just talked to him about what's right and what's wrong. We just can't hurt the team. You've got to do what's right. That's true for everybody. That's true for all of us.
On if the celebration can be a learning lesson to keep it from happening again:
Yeah that's what you hope. You hope that things like that don't ever happen. When you do you have to use them the way you have to use them. I don't have to do that very often with this football team. This is one time I did.
On what's acceptable to him for a TD celebration:
It doesn't matter what I like or don't like. It's what the league accepts. I can't put anything more on them than what the league and the NFLPA and all those people agree on. As long as when it starts creating penalties, that's when it affects the team and that's where I step in. What would be acceptable to be personally, as a 59 year old guy who grew up in a different era, not a lot of this stuff is acceptable. It's what it is.
On how much the loss of C Eric Wood hurts the team:
It's hurt us. Again it's like losing Fred, you lose a great player. Eric was having a great year. He was playing really well at center, back at his natural position. You lose a guy like him, you lose a guy like Fred, we lost Kyle Williams early in the year. Everybody loses people don't get me wrong, but those are very good players for us. You've got to keep going. It gives somebody else an opportunity to see if they can play. See if they can do the job. A lot of people got opportunities because somebody got hurt and ended up making a career for them because of an opportunity and that's what you hope happens.
On how he would compare Wood to G/C Kraig Urbik:
First of all, Eric's played the position a lot longer. He's got more natural feel for the position about what to do. Urbik's a big strong guy. He's able to really push people. The little subtleties of playing the position, he doesn't have them. He just hasn't played the position.
On how the team has been able to create so many interceptions this season:
More so early in the year than here lately. We were attacking the ball. When the ball went in the air it was ours. We were getting a little bit more pressure early in the year. We got some tipped balls and we got some aired throws. They hit us in the chest and we were able to make plays that way. Fortunately we caught every ball there for a while that was going in the air, that was a jump ball, that was a toss up to who was going to get it, we got it. Lately we haven't gotten any of them. We've just got to get back to where we're competing in the air for the ball.
On if the music city miracle is mentioned whenever the Titans play the Bills:
To be honest with you it's the first time I've heard it mentioned.
On what he saw in QB Ryan Fitzpatrick to give him a contract extension and be the Bills quarterback of the future:
He's going to be a very good quarterback for us. He's highly intelligent, he's accurate passer, he understands what we're trying to do with personnel, he knows how we're trying to attack defenses, and he understands defenses. He was fortunate when we got an opportunity. Again, he got an opportunity at the right place at the right time and he took advantage of it. He's been very good at adjusting as we needed things adjusting in the course of the game and the course of the season.
On a lot of guys being injured this season and being on IR:
We put NT Torell Troup on IR today who was the backup NT. It's a tough year, but it's a tough game and I tell people it's a tough game for tough people. Next guy's got to step up and go make things happen. Nobody feels sorry for you in this league. They don't change or alter the schedule because you've got injuries. You have to line up and play. Everybody's supposed to be an NFL player. Let's get those guys out there ready to play and give them an opportunity to be successful:
On the likeliness of S George Wilson returning this week:
Right now he's not going to be able to practice today and we're waiting to see for tomorrow whether he'll be able to practice. It's coming back slowly.
On the biggest factors for going for it on fourth down:
The feel of the game is the biggest thing. How do you feel the game is going? Are you in control, are you not in control, are you stopping them on defense, are you not stopping them on defense. What the situation of the game is; is it late, is it early. What's the likelihood of punting the ball in the end zone? What do you gain or lose if you don't down it inside the 10 yard line. There are so many things that go on in a decision like that. There are a lot of factors and you have to make a decision. You have to make the best decision you can with the information you have.
On the biggest fourth down call they had to make this season:
The biggest one we had was against Philadelphia when we didn't even snap it. They jumped offside's late in the game and we were able to run the clock out because we got a first down when they jumped offside's. That was the biggest one; we didn't even have to run a play.
On what has impressed him about the Titans on film:
Their pass rush is very good and they started to get the feel for their running game last week and then of course their special teams have been playing good, they had the big play last week. They're overall starting to play better as a football team.
On what he has taken from QB Matt Hasselback's play:
He's such a mature quarterback. A lot of times when you call somebody mature, that's a back handed compliment. I don't mean that in any way shape or form. He does not get rattled. He understands the game, he doesn't take sacks. He's really a very mature quarterback that helps calm down, I think, a young and learning football team.
On how critical was it to move WR Brad Smith to the number two receiver and have WR David Nelson back in the slot:
That was big to Brad to come in and do that. We didn't know if he could or not. He certainly went out and improved himself.
On recruiting and coaching DE Derrick Morgan to Georgia Tech and what he sees in him moving forward:
I hope after this week he ends up having the career I thought he would have. He's a great young man. He's an explosive player. He really is an explosive. Probably people don't realize what a smart football player he is too. He understands blocking schemes; he understands offensive football, what people are trying to do. I think he'll have a very good career in this league.
On the adjustment from college football to the NFL has gone for him:
It's fine. The game is the game. The objective is to keep them out of the end zone and put the ball in the end zone when you've got it. That objective never changes. I don't care if you're playing pee wee football or if you're playing in the NFL. The competition is just so much better here. Everybody's a lot more even. Everybody can beat everybody on any given day.
