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BB: Good morning. We're into Buffalo. It's full speed ahead here. They
are, as we know, they are a very fast-starting team. They probably have the
biggest point differential in the league in the first quarter. They've been
able to get on top. I think, in a lot of ways, this team is starting to be
reminiscent of Pittsburgh, with the way Mike [Mularkey] has built it.
Defensively, they are a pressure-oriented team. Offensively, they do a lot
of the same things Pittsburgh does in terms of running the ball and
establishing a power running game, a four or five wide receiver type of
passing game. Again, a lot of similarities to what you see with the
Steelers. [They are] outstanding on special teams. They led the league on
special teams last year and they're right there again. They can kick it.
They can cover it. They can return it. So they're pretty strong in all
phases of the game. With [Kelly] Holcomb in there, he's given them a very
high completion percentage. They've been able to move the ball. They've had
a lot of long drives. They lead the league in drives over 10 plays. They've
been able to take the ball and move it the length of the field. They're
consistent. They convert third downs. They run the ball and keep it away
from the other team. I think they've played well in recent weeks. It's a
division game, so it's a big week for us to have our best week of
preparation and be ready to go against a good, physical football team that's
playing well in all three areas of the game right now.
Q: What are some of the positives that you got out of the bye week?
BB: We just addressed some things in all three phases of the game that we
feel like either we need to do better or we feel like it will help us going
forward. We'll see how all of that plays out. But we certainly put a lot of
time and effort into improving our football team and hopefully we can do
that.
Q: Buffalo has been a little inconsistent over the past few weeks. Why is
that? Is it because of the quarterback situation?
BB: I think their last games against Miami, the Jets, even in the Oakland
game, there were a couple of plays in there, in the second quarter against
Oakland, they had a nice goal line stand. They stopped them in the red area.
I think Buffalo had the ball on about the 35-yard line or whatever it was,
first down and they held them to a field goal after the goal line stand. As
usual, a few key plays in any game can swing it. I think they've played very
well, as I've said, in all three phases of the game in recent weeks and
that's the team we're facing, is what they have going now. So, like I said,
they can run it, they put a lot of pressure on you defensively, [they have]
an excellent group of receivers. Holcomb is throwing the ball well. They're
very good in the kicking game. They're tough all the way around. I thought
that Oakland game, don't be deceived by the score. They were in pretty good
shape on that one. Like I said, it was a couple of big plays in the second
quarter and then Oakland came back and had the lead 17-10 at the half. That
game could have gone a lot differently if it wasn't for that fourth-and-one
and that red area stop.
Q: Has their passing game changed at all with Holcomb in there?
BB: I think the big difference is when the patterns don't come open as
cleanly down the field, that [JP] Losman is more apt to scramble and turn it
into a loose play or a scrambling type of situation, run or pass. Whereas
Holcomb has been going more to his outlet receivers. He had a lot of check
downs. He used [Willis] McGahee and [Shaud] Williams in some sub situations.
He's probably moved the ball around a little bit more. He has a high
completion percentage and is getting the ball to somebody in the passing
game that is open.
Q: How would you assess their offensive line?
BB: They're big. They're physical. They had a couple of guys go in and
out a little bit, but they're a big physical group. Their tight ends are
big. [Jason] Peters is probably the biggest tight end in the league. [Mark]
Campbell. They have a lot of skill players. They have five backs, four tight
ends, and several receivers on the roster. A lot of skill players that are
fast, athletic, can make plays and a big offensive line.
Q: What has allowed them to have success in the kick return game?
BB: I think it starts with [Terrence] McGee. They return punts well. They
returned a punt for a touchdown against us last year. They make big plays on
punt returns. It always starts with the returners. You can't be really good
on special teams without good specialists, returners, kickers, and snappers.
Those are the key guys. McGee has been tough. He went to the Pro Bowl last
year. It seems like he has a long return every single game, sometimes two of
them. He's had big plays right before the half. Against the Jets, that was a
key play. He got them three points. He had a big return after Miami had come
back to make it a tight game. After [Randy] McMichael caught the touchdown,
he ran it back 50-something yards and set up points for the offense. He's
fast. He's quick. He almost scored on that last kickoff before the half
against New Orleans. That was one of the best runs. I don't think Gayle
Sayers could have done it any better than that. He reversed his field about
three times. He ran through the team twice. So it starts with them, but they
have a good, solid core group of guys and maybe a few more offensive players
than some teams have just because of their roster numbers. [Josh] Stamer is
tough. [Sam] Aiken covers well. They get a lot of production out of their
tight ends, linebackers and some of their receivers. They're well coached.
They have good schemes. They've had good players. That return group, between
[Nate] Clements, it looks like [Roscoe] Parrish is coming back now,
[Jonathan] Smith, McGee, they've all made big plays. You can go back to the
preseason and look at those games too. They're running them back in
preseason with guys who aren't even on their roster. They've been very
productive and they get them every week.
Q: Is McGahee the best back in football?
BB: He's a good back. He's a good back. He runs hard. He has good power.
He has good speed. He has a bunch of long runs this year already, a bunch of
50 yarders. So, when he hits the secondary and get through the line of
scrimmage, he eats up a lot of ground.
Q: As far as ranking him though...
BB: Well, we play him and we play Williams this week. They're both tough.
I hope we can do a good job in trying to contain them. That's really what we
have to deal with this week, behind a big offensive line with, like I said,
basically a tackle playing tight end, and a really good blocking fullback.
Their receivers are big. They block. So, they do a good job in the running
game all the way around. It's not just McGahee. But he is good too. He
breaks tackles and catches the ball out of the backfield and bounces plays
out and runs up inside. He's a good all-around back.
Q: Based on the last week how would you assess Tedy [Bruschi's] progress?
BB: No setbacks. It's moving along.
Q: How game ready is he?
BB: I don't know.
Q: Was Monday a full contact practice?
BB: It was.
Q: So his contact was...
BB: Yeah, I think overall from a team standpoint, we got some things done
in the running game, first and second down type of things. I thought we made
a little bit of progress in terms of preparation for Buffalo and getting
some of the things ready that we want to get ready for this weekend.
Q: How has Lawyer Milloy been playing?
BB: He was injured earlier, although he stayed in there and continued to
play. Lawyer is Lawyer. He plays about the way usually we've seen him play.
They have a very specific role for him. They use him in that role. They have
for the last three years. He is more of the in the box, down safety. [Troy]
Vincent is usually the deeper guy. Then when they go to their dime package,
they move him down to the kind of linebacker level where he blitzes a lot
and covers the backs and the tight ends and gets involved in the running
game and stuff like that. Lawyer is Lawyer.
Q: They've struggled against the run. Are the numbers indicative of their
actual run stopping ability?
BB: No, I wouldn't say so. They've given up a couple of big plays, which
always skew the numbers. I think Curtis had a couple of 50-yard runs against
them. He had a bunch of runs where he barely got back to the line of
scrimmage. So they've had a couple of things where you could break down on
one play and give up a long run and that throws a lot of things off. It
starts with [Sam] Adams. You have to block him. He's a tough guy to block.
One of the best in the league. This is three weeks in a row that we've seen,
I'd say, one of the top defensive lineman in the league with [Rod] Coleman,
[Trevor] Pryce and now Adams. [London] Fletcher makes a lot of plays. He is
a very productive tackler. [Jeff] Posey. They have a lot of good run
players. They have a good scheme. Again, it's a pressure scheme. They do a
lot of zone blitzing. A lot of man blitzing. They bring a lot of guys down
and try to disrupt the offense. Every once in awhile they get hit on
something or get split on a play and it goes for little bit. But, they have
a lot of negative plays, and they can be very disruptive, especially Adams.
Adams is really a hard guy to block.
Q: Is that one of the keys against a team that likes to pressure and come
up there so much that you want to make them pay for it with hitting them
deep?
BB: Well, you just have to be able to sort it out and find something in
there. It's not all hitting them deep, but finding something there in the
running game and try to separate the front and get through there. Again,
it's not all blitzing, but there's plenty of it. They can sit there and play
their base defense too and they do that. They do it pretty well.
Q: When you deem Tedy ready to handle his normal load, will you use him
in all of the roles that we are accustomed to seeing him in?
BB: I don't know. We'll take it day-to-day and see where it goes. I don't
know.
Q: Can you tell in a practice setting if Tedy has any rust on him or does
that come in game conditions?
BB: I think practice preparation is always an indicator of game
performance, not necessarily 100 percent, because there are still a lot of
variables there, but it's somewhat of an indicator. I think any player that
hasn't played football for a while, and then comes back and tries to catch
up to a lot of guys who have been playing on a regular basis, they're
behind. They have to be. If they weren't then we should cancel all the
practices and just show up for the game. He's an experienced player, so it's
not like we're starting from scratch. He has a pretty good background and is
a good fundamental player, so he has a lot of things that he can fall back
on, to build off a base.
Q: What are the indicators telling you now?
BB: It's day-to-day. We'll go out there today and hopefully today is
better than Monday. Hopefully tomorrow is better than today. Hopefully
Friday is better than Thursday. We'll just take it day-to-day.
Q: How did Tedy spend the bye?
BB: How did he? He did everything the team did. I don't know what he did
on his own, you'd have to ask him that — if he
went to the movies. I don't know. He did what the team did. All the team
did. All the players on the team did what the team did during those days.
Q: He didn't have to be held back at all?
BB: He did what everybody else did. Let's put it that way.
Q: Did he do anything extra than anybody else did?
BB: Are you talking about on the field or off the field?
Q: Did he come in while the guys were off?
BB: I'm sure he probably did. You think we have one of those bracelets on
him that tracks him through the building? I don't know. If he wanted to come
in and look at extra film, again, we make the tapes. They can take them home
and look at them. I don't know where they look at them. Some guys stay here
and watch film. Some guys take it home. Some guys do both.
Q: How did your team's health improve during the bye? Are you guys making
some progress?
BB: Yes. Well, I think we're better now than we were four or five days
ago. But, we weren't out on the field yesterday. Some of those guys we'll
take them out there like we normally do on Wednesday and get them ready to
go for practice and see what they're able to do and give you a report on
that after practice.
Q: What are some of your memories of Wellington Mara?
BB: Well, you know I worked there for 12 years. It was a great
opportunity that the Giants gave me at that point in my career. There were a
couple a personal things that he personally was very helpful with. He gave
me a great opportunity in terms of just relocating to New York and going
through that whole process. He was very supportive and generous financially
in helping me with relocation with housing and that type of thing. He was at
practice every day. So, you always saw him out there. He would walk the
fields. He didn't say a lot, but he was always out there and was very
supportive. I think the whole time I was there, 12 years, he maybe talked to
the team twice. That was very unusual. He was always around, but not that
vocal with the group. On a personal level, he was very, very good with
everybody. He always kind of knew the right thing to say. He was, in his own
way, very eloquent, not necessarily with long, flowering speeches, but even
if it was just, 'Hang in there. How are you doing? Tough one last week,' it
could be short and sweet, but it was always very appropriate and he always
kind of said the right thing at the right time. I thought he was very
perceptive, not only on where the team was, but kind of where each
individual was. Maybe if a guy had a good game or a bad game or was injured,
whatever the situation was, he always seemed to kind of say and do the right
thing. That's a big loss for this league right there. You don't go back any
further than that. He was there at the beginning. There's not too many
people in this league that can say that anymore. A lot of guys have been
around for a long time or maybe back from the start of the AFL, but not
going back to where he goes back. He was always very loyal and supportive of
anyone with the Giants. As he used to say there were no ex-Giants. They're
just old Giants. Whether it was players, coaches or whoever it was. It was kind of like once you were in that family you never left it, even if you
left it like I did, or people that went to other teams or weren't with them
forever. He always, I think, considered people who were there in whatever
their role or capacity was, as a part of his family and he maintained that
feeling even, like I said, when you left. In his own quiet way, he was very
competitive.
Q: Had you touched base with him at all recently during the past few
weeks or months?
BB: More with his family. He has three sons that are pretty involved with
the team, John, Frank and Chris, more through them than directly with him.
He's been sick here for the last six months or so. And Ernie Accorsi. Not
that he's family, but I think he's pretty close to the situation.
Q: How did the Giants, as a franchise, benefit from the stability of
having an owner like that?
BB: Well, not to get into a big...we all know what the situation with the
Giants was and even is. That's a very unique situation, when you have truly
50/50 ownership. There is no majority owner there. It's split right down the
middle. When I first got there in '79, it was, at that point and continued
to be, kind of a strange relationship between ownership. It's unique. I
can't think of another situation, certainly in the NFL, even in pro sports
that I'm aware of, where you have that. Then when that didn't go well, which
it didn't, it's a little bit different. From Wellington's standpoint,
regardless of what his relationship with his other owner was, with Tim
[Mara] was, he was always 100 percent supportive of the football team, the
players, the coaches, the scouts, and everything that was going on. He was
always 100 percent supportive. But there was another voice there too. In a
way there was a lot of stability. At the particular time when I was there,
from '79 until really like '82,'83 there was a degree of not instability,
that's not the word. But there was certainly a degree of tension within the
organization. Tim, he was just as supportive as Well was. He was an awesome
guy. He couldn't have been better to me. I don't think anybody there would
really have too much negative to say about him, if anything, but the
relationship between the ownership was pretty well documented. That wasn't
as compatible as maybe some other ones were. So it was kind of a unique
situation. The stability though, you certainly didn't have to worry about
anything happening to the organization. But there was some instability
within the organization. That being said, I think aside from their personal
relationship, I think the way that both men, both Tim and Well, handled it,
from my standpoint, from the team's standpoint, you couldn't ask for them to
be any more supportive than they were in every phase. Whether it was
personally, financially, emotionally, they gave everything that they could
to you whether you asked for it or not. Even if you didn't ask for it, a lot
of times they would just, in their generosity, would just hand it to you and
say, 'Hey here we're just thinking about you. Here take this.' I wasn't
really used to that coming from, I'd say, one year in Baltimore. There
wasn't a lot of that, 'Here, we have some extra money. Why don't you take
it?'
[Laughter]
Q: What kind of challenges do their receiving corps present?
BB: I think it's a very skill group. It looks like Parrish is back in the
mix now. [Lee] Evans has a lot of speed. [Eric] Moulds, he's certainly a
go-to receiver, a big-play receiver. Smith, Reed, Parrish, Aiken, even
[George] Wilson has played. But, I think the one thing about them is they're
all very good with the ball in their hands. They make yards after the catch.
Some of those are as return guys, like Smith for example and Parrish. Reed
was a running back at LSU before he converted to receiver. He is very good
with the ball in his hands. Moulds and Evans can turn a short play a long
run. It's a very skill group of receivers, a very good group of receivers.
They have a lot of depth. There's not many teams in the league that carry
seven receivers. There might not be any. But very few if there are and
they're all good and they're all productive. They show up in the kicking
game. Their return guys, they catch the ball well. They're good with the
ball in their hands. So they primarily get a lot of production in the
passing game from the receivers. The tight ends and the fullback and the
running backs, not that they don't produce in the passing game, but they
just don't produce to the level that the receivers do and their production
comes more in the running game. I'm not saying they're not part of the
passing game, but when they want to throw, they go to a lot of three and
four receiver sets. They're bringing good guys on the field to throw it.
There's good depth there. It's just kind of unusual the way the team is
constructed. But, again, very similar to what we saw from Pittsburgh.
Q: Watching them last week, quite often on first down they go into a lot
of shotgun sets.
BB: Well, they've gone no huddle for the last couple of weeks. They jump
into the no huddle and they'll just, at some point in the game, or maybe
several points in the game, just go into it and try to change the tempo and
make you defend the multiple receiver sets. They kind of force you to play
your sub groups or your nickel groups or whatever it is, but they make you
deal with it on a down after down basis, not just third-down. That's been
part of the offense. I'd say the last few weeks, really since Kelly has come
in there, they've sprinkled that in there and it's just one more thing that
you have to defend and it's just another challenge that you have to face
with a variety of receivers. Sometimes it's Reed. Sometimes it's Aiken. I'm
sure that we'll get Parrish in there at some point. They sprinkle it around.
Q: When you see that, do you guys try to rush your nickel and dime
package in there?
BB: It depends. It depends. We done both in the past and I think it
depends on what you're trying to do and also to a degree to keep them off
balance so they can't always predict a certain matchup that they're going to
get. Sometimes we leave our regular defense out there. Sometimes we bring in
one defensive back and play a nickel type of look. Sometimes we bring in two
defensive backs and play a six db-dime type of look.
Q: When you look at their defense, how good are they in the red zone?
BB: I think they're good. I think they're a good defense all the way
across the board. Again, they continue to mix in a good amount of pressure
in the red area. Not all pressures, so you have to be careful, but they will
bring it there. A lot of times they will max, and bring everybody, and force
you to deal with that and cover it. The corners are good. McGee and Clements
are good. So, not very many people really have been able to do much
one-on-one out there against them. They hold up pretty well against pretty
much everybody. Like last week. Clements was there batting one away from
[Randy] Moss in the endzone. They put him on [Laveranues] Coles against the
Jets and matched him up over there on [Chris] Chambers in the Miami game.
They're not afraid to leave those guys out there one-on-one. Like I said,
they hold up pretty good. Again, they mix in enough other things. They do a
good job. They're good on the goal line. |
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