The New York Jets' offensive formations and personnel groupings are like snowflakes. Nothing ever appears the same. That challenge can pose a lot of problems for a young defense.
"It poses problems for you - some preparation problems particularly with a young team, which we are," said Buffalo Bills head coach Dick Jauron via conference call. "There is a lot of personnel or formation adjustments, a lot of shifting from no huddle to two in the backfield, or going the opposite way to shifting from two and emptying. They do about everything. We have to be ready or as ready as we can be, but it is difficult. It can definitely pose a problem."
*Read below for Jauron's complete conference call transcript
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Buffalo Bills Head Coach Dick Jauron, 12.6.06
On the rematch with the Jets…
When you play games this far apart, you look at the most recent games, at least I like to. I look at the most recent games to get a feel for what they are doing and then you go back and look at the other game. At least then you can get some match -ups and how it worked, and see if there is anything different from the first time to the second time. They are a very good football team, a well disciplined team, coming off of a huge game. They played very well in Green Bay, which is not an easy thing to do at Lambeau Field. I am very impressed by them. We are going to have to play our very best to stay in the game with them.
On the Jets reinventing themselves week-to-week…
It poses problems for you, some preparation problems particularly with a young team, which we are. There is a lot of personnel or formations adjustments, a lot of shifting, from no huddle to two in the backfield, or going the opposite way to shifting from two and emptying, they do about everything. We have got to be ready or as ready as we can be, but it is difficult. It can definitely pose a problem.
On Willis McGahee…
This is a really good football player, and I think he understands that. Every week, we try to prepare the best that we can, and try to put our best out on the field on Sunday. We haven't done it consistently, but we will try to get there this week. Willis prepares every week. I don't know if you have had the chance to meet him in the past, but he is a very hard working guy who likes to play.
On McGahee's success when playing the Jets…
I would start with the fact that Willis is a good player. He is a solid player and he is not he easiest man to tackle. He really enjoys playing a football game and the competition that all of that entails. He is a hard guy to tackle.
On dividing carries between running backs or using a premier back…
I really do like Willis. As a back, I like the size of him. Before his injuries, he was playing very well and quick. Quicker than I had anticipated, I had never been around him and we had not played them very often. I would think you would do whatever you think is the best with what you have, who you have and however it fit your offense. I am happy with Willis.
On McGahee's injuries slowing him down…
He obviously could not play for a few weeks, then he came back and played a strong game. Then last week he slowed down a bit, we didn't run the ball very well in our recent loss at San Diego, and they played a part; no doubt about it, that are a good football team. We need to a better job in all areas in terms of the run game.
On addressing problems with the run game…
Certainly we can improve on a daily basis just by working at it and concentrating at it. Part of it is, you have to get a few breaks in a football game. Part of our failure not to run as well as we wanted was certainly San Diego, I'm not saying that they didn't pay a big part of it because they did. The Jets are certainly capable of doing that too. We have to improve ourselves and work at it, be patient and stick with it. We need to get more from our run game to give us the chance to win.
On the Bills' injury situation…
Terrence (McGee) will be listed as questionable, and he did not practice today. Our injury situation is pretty similar to most teams in the league, you run through periods where you are unlucky and you lose a few people, and we have lost a few people. The guys who we have plugged in, it is a great opportunity to perform, and they have to stand in a perform at a high level.
On replacing Angelo Crowell...
We have a couple of options; we have Keith Ellison who is a rookie, we have Coy Wire, who has played linebacker before but we have used him mainly in the secondary. We have Mario Haggan, so there is a number of way that we can go in terms of back up.
On JP Losman…
J.P. is a young quarterback and he has done a really nice job of getting better on a daily basis and on a game-by-game basis. As I say that, I in no way mean that he has performed at a high level in every game, but even when he makes mistakes he learns from those mistakes and takes it to the next game. That is really what we are banking on from him, managing the game better, recognizing situations better, handle those situations better. There are certain things happening from him that are first time or second time, and it takes time in our business. I think he has done a nice job.
On numbers against the Jets in Week Three…
I think it is pretty clear how games are won and lost. The first this is that you can't turn the ball over. You can't expect to lose the give-away take-away battle in football. The rest of the statistics, points scores, points allowed, give-away take-away, and after that, the rest of them are window dressing; they are nice to look at and nice for people to read, but they certainly don't do much to help you win the football game.
Wednesday Injury ReportJets
Questionable: FB B.J. Askew (foot), CB David Barrett (hip), LB Matt Chatham (foot), Eric Smith (foot) LB Bryan Thomas (shoulder) & S Rashad Washington (illness)
Probable:*RB Kevan Barlow (calf), *CB Andre Dyson (neck), *DE Shaun Ellis (ankle), *RB Cedric Houston (knee), DB *OL Pete Kendall (knee), *WR Justin McCareins (foot), *DL Rashad Moore (hand), *QB Chad Pennington (calf) & *WR Brad Smith (shoulder)
Bills Out: LB Angelo Crowell (fibula)
Questionable: LB John DiGiorgio (ankle), RB Willis McGahee (ankle) & CB Terrence McGee
*Denotes players who participated in practice
