Head Coach Mike Martz
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
(Opening statement)
“The Bills, obviously at home, have played very well. Defensively, they are one of the top teams in the league. The defensive line, particularly the two tackles, are very physical guys that are very disruptive. Of course we know what London (Fletcher) is. With his range he is very active and very involved in both the passing game and run game. Offensively, both backs I think are outstanding. (Willis) McGahee has really taken off and done a great job. Any game on the road like this is very difficult in the NFL as you know. As our players learned down in Miami, you have to bring your best every week. I think this is a better football team then Miami obviously, and we know that we are in for a dog fight when we get up there. We will prepare as such.”
(On the players reacting to the tougher practices)
“I don’t know if it was any tougher, we tackled. We went back to basics. I think we’re all upset with ourselves as well as the players in terms of the attitude. Sometimes you let things slip and as I said last week, sometimes what you see is what you coach. So we had to go back to basics, and we will again do that today. We’ve got to block and tackle better we just do, that’s the basis of this game. If you don’t enjoy those things you’re not going to play well. They enjoy it, they had a good time out there on Wednesday. Practice was a lot of fun, they got into it pretty good, and I’m sure they will do it again today. We got better. We’re not where we need to be but we’re making progress and that’s all you can ask. We have a lot of young players on defense who have to learn how to stay at a high level and get off of that roller coaster, and this is probably the best way that you can avoid that.”
(On keeping up his attitude with his team)
“I’ve been with some of these guys for a long time, and I think they understand my frustrations too. Not just with them, but with myself and not realizing what was going on sometimes. I think it really comes down to, more than anything else, is everybody being on the same page to make it right. They know that we are always going to try and do the right thing by them. None of this was ever intended to or meant as any type of punishment. If you get mad at football teams and start taking it out on them, then you’re going to lose your team. You need to get out of coaching and get an attitude readjustment. It was never about that, It’s about going back to basics, getting your feet on the ground, getting physical again, and enjoying that part of the game.”
(On missing LB London Fletcher)
‘There’s no question that we miss London. He was such a good leader on this team and so productive. You go back and look at the years that he was here, he is hard to replace. Guys that didn’t practice at a certain level, he was right there in their face. He demanded it out...
-11-18-2004, 12:28 PM
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