Todd Bowles & Baker Mayfield Speak on Bucs vs. Bills | Press Conference Live Stream

Todd Bowles & Baker Mayfield Speak on Bucs vs. Bills | Press Conference Live Stream

Morning. Was practice just sort of, you know, what was his status and what is it like to have him back out there with you guys? Again, it was a walk through. Uh he limited today. We’ll see what he does tomorrow and and does Friday. So, but it’s good to have him back out there and it’s the first steps to him becoming positive and starting to work his way back. Are you going to be in full pads at all this week where you could test that shoulder? No, we’re not going to be in full pads. Would you need to have that to to put him back in the game? Is that something you think you would need? He’s going to have to hit at some point. Yeah. I mean, he’s lifting and everything and he’s running, but it’s a progression and we’ll see how he does. We saw Bren as well. I know it’s unusual to have a hamster injury play the next week, but obviously was able to just do that. Is that possible for him this week? It’s possible, but highly unlikely. With the MRI results, nothing that was too concerning for for Ben. No sprain. I mean, just tight. Any update on what God’s dealing with as far as the fibula goes? The fibula, he’s working his way back. He’s making good strides and we’ll continue to work with him and see how he goes. Is he running regularly or just He’s running. Yes, he’s definitely running. Is that just a pain tolerance thing? Is that is it the pain radiating up radiating up the the fibula or is was there I wish I could tell you Scott. I really do. With Bucky, what would you what would be the you know the go sign? What would you have to know? Is there any chance this week? Would you test somebody on Saturday? How would you the shoulder. You’re not going to go out there. Again, I would like to see him practice and run tomorrow before I make any of those decisions. It was a walk through, so I can’t really say he looked like this or he looked like that. What have you seen out of Buffalo over the past few weeks? They look great against Kansas City and they play they struggled last week against Miami. How much do you take out of that? You don’t take much out of it. We expect to see the best version of Buffalo. They won the division so many times in a row. They got a great quarterback. They got a great team. Sean does a great job with those guys. We’re trying to bounce back and they’re trying to bounce back. So, it should be a hard fought game. How did they think struggle against the run this year? Do you write that off just to injuries and being short-handed there or other things? Everybody’s short-handed in this league. I mean, they’re making adjustments just like we’re making adjustments. We got to adjust. They got to adjust. And we got to find the right formula and the right people. And we got to play a heck of a ball game. And I’m sure they feel the same way. Speaking of the run, Tada, are you still upset? I know you take a lot of pride in your run defense about those two breakaway runs from Henderson and and then also with James Cook this week. It doesn’t get any easier. As a coach or or a player, you always take the negative plays and you remember everything in life. So I’ll remember these I remember those plays for the rest of my life. But not upset, moved on. I understand it. A learning teaching point you can go back on and say I remember when and you just never get over it. You just move on from it. But James Cook though, second leading rusher. He’s dangerous. He’s very dangerous. He can do a lot of things. Running and catching the football. If you were half a step late, I mean, he’s going to take it to the house. The passing game has uh the downfield shots have become less and less and I think the attempts are shorter and shorter with Baker. How much of that is just, you know, the guys are missing obviously on offense, but also his his physical situation with his injuries? I don’t think it affects us throwing. Obviously, linemen getting shuffled around and receivers getting shuffled in and out kind of hurts a lot of things we want to do. And obviously the as good as a Mecca is, they start paying more attention to them and you start breaking things down. We just got to find different ways to get big plays down the field. So, we just got to continue to work at it and make sure the guys are playing doing what they’re supposed to do to make them effective in the ball game. Can you talk about Tez Johnson’s progression as a rookie receiver, you know, being kind of forced to play and playing well, not just in the red zone for you guys, but I mean, he’s on pace right now to to kind of do statistically speaking what Jaylen McMillan was able to do for you last year. I mean, he’s progressed obviously by force obviously and by need. And we’re playing with two rookie receivers right now, but they don’t play like rookies. Tez has been thrown into a lot of things and offensively from a route standpoint, it’s very complicated to learn all the things that he has to learn, but he’s getting very comfortable that way. He’s a heck of a competitor. He’s not going to turn anything down and he’s really coming into his own, finding his place in this offense. Todd, obviously, no easy weeks in this league, but you know, after Patriots coming off the buy, now you got the Bills and the Rams, obviously. Was there something you wanted to see from your guys through this kind of stretch of a gauntlet? just want to eliminate the mistakes and do the fundamental things right. You know, in a first place schedule, you get it all the time. We welcome it. It’s exciting to play. You get to test how good you are every week, but we got to pull out those ball games and make less mistakes. Ty Baker, I don’t want to say called out his teammates, but certainly, you know, said there were some things during the week last week and guys got to take pride. What’s your reaction to that and what kind of reaction did you see from this the team today from a mental standpoint? When you’re one of the captains of the team, you know what it looks like. You know, we encourage accountability here. We don’t pull any wooden nickels out of here. So, we talk about when we do good and when we do bad and what we need to do better as a team. Uh he spoke and everybody took it the right way. You know, we’re not getting on anybody in a bad way, but leadership counts on this team. So, when certain people talk, you know, everybody takes heat for it. So, I’m I’m perfectly fine with it. Tom, you look at a big, physical, fast, elusive quarterback like Josh Allen, when you do have the chance, whether it’s it’s one of your front four rushers or a blitzer that’s that’s coming into the back field. Just how important is it to when you have that shot to get him on the ground? Because if not, maybe it creates like an escape lane and he can become that dual threat guy. But just can you speak to the importance of when you have that shot, you got to got to get him down? I mean, you got to take it, but he’s he’s a big guy, like you said, and you got to wrap him up. Then you got to try to get him to the ground. Even with you hanging on him, he can still throw the football. So, it’s going to be important that we try to rally and get as many people to the ball as possible and not let him out the pocket and try to make it hard for him. With Tiki Smith emerging as a playmaker, we saw the interception. He’s been involved in in your your blitzes, getting some sacks this year. You’ve used the term chess piece before and now obviously Winfield might be your ultimate chess piece but is Taik Smith kind of becoming a chess piece for you too where those playmaking safeties you have now are they interchangeable in your mind? Yeah, I believe so because both can blitz, both can cover, both can tackle and both make plays. So, you know, we have a few chess pieces on defense that we use, but with Tai and Win, uh, they get they get along so well together with the communication and understanding which one is coming and which one is not. They help each other out a great deal. I like the combination of the two. Looks like a wonderful cold, wet day ahead in Buffalo, maybe rain, temperatures in the 30s. How do you get your team’s mindset ready for something like that? It’s it’s a it’s a tough atmosphere, man. You go you go to Buffalo in November, you’re going to get that weather. You come to Florida in the summer, you’re going to get heat. I mean, if we worried about the weather, we’re not going to win the ball game. We know we got to go play. How dynamic is for your offense? How does he change what you guys are able to do? He’s a change of pace back. You know, he’s a change of pace back. I don’t know how much he changes us with our front five hurting. So, you know, that’ll be tough. But, he’s a different pace. He’s a different type of back than Rashad and Shawn obviously, but he gives us some juice. Not that they don’t, they all give us juice in certain areas, but if we can have some of our starters back, it always helps. You guys had Haggard inactive on Sunday and I think he’s been a full participant during the week. Is he limited by injury right now or is that just a healthy scratch? That was a healthy scratch. He was just getting back and obviously other guys have taken a lot more reps. He’ll take a lot more this week. Todd, what did you think of of Luke in his first game back and, you know, especially in the the running attack? Because, you know, against the league’s best rushing defense, you guys had some success in that area. I was very pleased the way he played, you know, the way he fought and battled and he came out okay after the ball game, which was more important than anything else. So, you know, for his first game back, I thought he did a very good job. Bucky had eight runs of 20 yards or more last year and Sean Tucker has your longest run by a running back that came last Sunday. Uh 18 yards against the Patriots. Has that really been the missing thing that you guys have have not had is that explosive run this year to to help your your running game? Yeah, but at the same time, we haven’t been healthy with all five at the same time either. We’ve been playing with guys in different positions and doing things and we just got to create runs differently. They might be the 18 to 20 plus yard runs, but we got to be able to get five and six and seven yards consistently. Coach Joshua Williams just suspended six games for peeds. What’s your reaction to that and and what will be the fallout for your roster on that? I mean, it’s unfortunate. You know, a lot of these guys have trainers and probably don’t know what they’re taking or anything else like that. I don’t know what he did or didn’t. You know, I know the kid and he’s he’s a good young man. He’s very honest young man and forthright and wish him the best. Obviously, the next man up will be Owen. So, Owen will probably come up and then we’ll go from there and keep it moving. How you feeling physically this week and uh maybe take us through the last few weeks and you been like 50%. What have you been dealing with and how’s it affected your game? Uh I mean it’s middle of the season in the NFL. Nobody nobody feels good. Um, it’s not an excuse. You know, you as a professional, you do everything you can to try and get as close to 100% and go from there. And, you know, I didn’t only got hit a couple times. Nothing that, you know, no setbacks or anything like that. So, looking to stack a couple of weeks like that personally for me in a row to to be able to continue to improve and um as as the team gets more healthy. Likewise, trying to trying to get myself more healthy, too. You had such a great start in terms of running the ball. We were comparing you to Lamar and Josh Allen and all those things. The last three weeks, last three games, you haven’t had a single rushing yard. Is that due to, you know, escape lanes? Uh, is it is it due to you just not not feeling like running? What the thought process there? I think first it schematically, you know, obviously starting in Detroit, they started with the spy defense on third down, some of that stuff. And yeah, just disciplined in the rush lanes. Um, and you know, for me, uh, not feeling like I was able to get up to to full speed, uh, scrambling to throw, uh, which is what I try and do every time. Uh, but sometimes, you know, earlier in the season, the run lanes were there. So, looking to throw and, uh, as I, as I get healthier, still trying to take advantage of whatever they’re giving me. We saw Bucky Irving out there today in practice. What was it like at least just being out there with him going through the motions? Uh, good. Had to tell him slow down a little bit. Um, I know he’s uh, you know, obviously fighting to get back. You know, it’s a guy that loves to be on the football field. Uh, we love having him out there, but um, you know, whenever he’s ready, we’ll we’ll get him in there. But, um, yeah, he looked good today, but just good to have Buckyy’s energy out there again. And, uh, employee number seven back on the field. You guys had some some good rushing performances this year, but Bucky had eight runs of 20 yards or more, and you’ve got the longest run this year at 33. Sean had an 18 yard run. That’s the longest run of a running back. How much of those big runs, the 20, the 30, the 50 yard runs have you guys missed this year in the running game? Yeah, big time. You know, and it’s it’s just, you know, you can’t scheme up a perfect run. You know, defenses get paid to, coaches get paid to, you know, know what you’re doing. It’s it’s it’s about everybody, not just the running backs um straining to finish, getting that last differencemaking block, whether it’s me carrying out my fake, receivers, making sure they’re fit up on the right shoulder, O line, getting on their track, and making sure they get the last touch. It’s it it’s everybody. So, and that’s, you know, talking about the postgame comments about everybody, you know, taking accountability, responsibility, where we want to go as an offense. The run game’s included in that. It doesn’t matter. You have to be detail- oriented in everything we do. Um, so, and if guys do that, we’ll start to, you know, pick up the pieces. He helped you in the passing game before he got hurt, too, as well. A couple touchdowns. What has he What has he done there to prove that side of a buck? Yeah, he just um just a good athlete, you I mean, you guys saw that just as many times as you can try and get these guys, the running backs, the ball in space to to make people miss, break a couple tackles. It can be a simple check down uh that they they turn into an explosive play that um you don’t exactly imagine going that way, but it definitely helps you out and sparks sparks the team. So, um yeah, and it’s like I said, continuing to get these guys in space. Um I thought we, you know, ran the ball pretty decent against a very tough rush defense. So, you know, like I said, after the game, you look at what we did well. We were very physical when we ran the ball well and so we got to continue that uh and just execute. When you’re playing in a rainy wet Buffalo, which it seems to be one way or the other this time of year, you have to find a way to run the football, right? Yeah, got to find a way to run the football. Um especially down in the red zone when it’s when it’s tough, there’s not a whole lot of room to spread them out in the pass concept. So, good teams always run the ball well. Uh and we have to continue to improve in that. And uh obviously you guys know it’s it’s been different with with the O line shuffling around, but um I thought guys were on the same page even when Ben went out after the first drive. And so to be able to execute like that, looking to just stack on that and improve and continually. What do you see from this couple of those defense teams? Yeah. Um obviously a very well coached team. Sean McDermott, somebody that’s uh one of the best defensive minds in football. um knows your tendencies, c can really call out plays from the sideline, can recognize formations, uh personnel, all that. So, he he coaches those DBs really well on how to show you one look and give you another. Um not not giving anything away. Um you know, they’ve been dealing with injuries up front, so uh we know how that goes. But yeah, secondary as a whole has been playing really well. Um and starts with the safeties, but also their backers have been able to to really really help out in pass coverage. And a lot of it they’re forcing the quarterbacks to get the ball out on time uh and early sometimes. So, u just a sound defense and you know you go on the road for us. Got to be on the same page, communicate well in a in a great environment. We know that we’ve been up there two years ago. So, um yeah, handle the noise and be able to execute our plan. What’s the trick to the trade in uh playing with a wet football, cold conditions? You’ve done this in through your career. Is there anything you do in terms of either gloves or ball prepation or anything to to keep a dry ball and be able to be accurate. They uh I mean they they substitute the balls in and out if they get too wet. Um you know, as as a quarterback, sometimes when the ball’s wet, you try and grip it harder. That actually doesn’t work. Um you got to just I don’t know. It’s not like you’re trying to strangle the ball, but just get it out. Um and make sure that you have good meshes on on the handoffs and stuff like that. That’s that’s really the most important part because once you throw it, it’s in the air. It doesn’t matter. Uh it’s really about, you know, whether it’s a toss, a jet sweep, handoffs with the backs, making sure that they get it. The first three games of the season, also the Seahawks game, right? We we’ve seen you and this offense come back and win it at the end. It looked like that might have been the case against the Bills, two minutes, third and three, I’m sorry, against the Patriots, the third and three at the 27 yard line in New England. Um when you went back and watched the film on third and three and and fourth and three, what are your thoughts on on how that transpired? Yeah. Um like like much like I hit on after the game just doing the little things right. Um routine things you know for me like like I mentioned the play before that putting the ball on Kade so we can actually get the yak we won’t even be in that situation. Then on the third and three um just making sure that we we sit in the zones and stay firm on certain concepts. And then uh also they’ve seen that concept probably four times before that. Um the bench cuts open. So, it’s he can either hammer it to Cade right now, he’s going to get hit or take an extra hitch, throw it to Mech on the sideline, um, and move on. And then the fourth down, just we just got to be able to communicate with the the pass rush, the defensive front and all that. So, it’s it’s the things that we were doing well in the two-minute situations early in the year that were winning us games. We did not execute and did not do that well on Sunday. And that’s when you play a team like that, you’re going to lose. Baker, regarding your comments post game, do you think the message got across to whoever needed to receive it? And what’s what’s been the response? I think I think it uh was received. One of the best walkthrough Wednesdays we’ve had. Um guys are locked in. I mean the the thing is when when I say something like that, it’s not like it’s all of a sudden this brand new idea. Guys know we have to execute. The guys know what our potential is on this offense and in this team. So um the standard is the standard. It’s a cliche thing to say, but um yeah, there was a locked in Wednesday walkthrough and um yeah, looking to stack that and have a good practice tomorrow. Baker, as as a leader on this team throughout the course of a season, how important is it for you to to pick your spots and to speak up when you feel it’s it’s absolutely necessary and and do you have that sort of filter? Have you learned that throughout your career of knowing when to speak up and when things are okay, like everyone’s kind of got it? Yeah. Um there’s there’s definitely a time and place for I guess team speeches, whatever you want to call it, or calling people out, whatever it is. There’s there’s a time and place. And uh you know, for us offensively, like I said, that wasn’t up to our standards. So um our leaders have to be exceptional in those moments. And everybody else has to do their their role, their job, whatever that is, at a very high level. And that’s it’s the NFL. It’s professional football. We expect people to do their job at a high level. And nobody’s perfect, though. Uh but when it’s things that, you know, you’ve consistently seen on tape and we’ve executed, you expect them to do it well. What it would take for you to come out of a game because you’re just that guy, right? But how do you gauge, you know, what you’re able to do with your physical condition? In other words, um, if you give your team the best chance to win, you’re going to play. But what is that what is that back and forth, that mental battle that you have like because there are other guys on this team and you got a long season ahead of you? Um, yeah, I can actually just relate back to 2021 for me, you know, physically not being able to perform as well as I really wanted to. And a lot of times it’s that case, but was I hindering uh myself and the team? probably. So, you evaluate that. You go through the week and you judge it by the end of the week. Are you feeling good enough to go? If not, um just making sure the communication’s there. Baker, what’s your relationship like with Josh Allen and how has that developed over the years? Um, I have to walkie-talkie to him because he’s so damn tall, so I can’t really have a face to face conversation with him. Um, but you know, in Buffalo, it’s cold, it’s rainy, even though he’s 610, his hands are small, so he uh he better wear his gloves. Thanks, guys.

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