Archives for July 2013

‘Last year’s disappointing 6-10 finish coupled with that appealing start only adds pressure on Marrone to make the right choice at QB. The AFC appears to be less top-heavy than the NFC, meaning that a wild-card spot or two – plus the AFC East, should the Patriots falter – might be there for the taking.’

‘”You can tell the situation isn’t too big for him,” Whaley said.’

‘The Jairus Byrd storyline has officially taken a backseat for now. At this point, it’s the Mario Williams foot saga.’

‘”He’s obviously learning but you don’t see that rookie ‘doe in the headlights’ look” the former Wisconsin Badger said. “He also takes charge of the huddle(like Kevin Kolb), gets us lined up and lets us know where we’re going. From the first day he walked in he was a very confident player, very sure of himself and you see it in the field.”‘

‘Marrone has been very vague about this injury. He said, “I tend to get a little nervous about what I’m allowed to say, so I’ll give you guys as much information as I possibly can. It’s the same thing, his foot was sore, we’re not going to make any mistakes about it, we’re going to make sure that everything’s fine and where he is and where he goes, I’m not going to talk about that.”‘

‘Brandon was asked if he’s concerned Byrd might actually miss some regular season games. “That’s his right, what he’d like to do. Hopefully we get him much sooner than that” Brandon said. He added that lines of communication remain open through Head Coach Doug Marrone and Byrd’s teammates.’

‘”It wasn’t something I could control like most injuries out here. It’s just something that happened, something you’ve got to go through,” he said. “You’ve got to deal with it, push through and get ready for this camp.”‘

‘You’re going to see a big play, but you’re also going to see a big play on defense. It’s very difficult to say who had the better day, or who didn’t, when you’re looking at things. I think that today was probably pretty close.’

‘”Kevin (Kolb) is seeing more of the exotic stuff from our defense,” said Marrone. “We brought in EJ (Manuel) and gave him a little more reps, but we’re careful with what we’re showing him. EJ is in a pretty decent position. We throw Kevin out there and Kevin’s going in there and seeing everything for the first time. And EJ is able to sit back there and look at it.”‘

‘”I tend to get a little nervous with what I’m allowed to say,” said Marrone. “His foot was sore. We’re not going to make any mistakes about it. We’re going to make sure that everything is fine and our doctors are evaluating him. Where he is and where he goes I’m not going to talk about that.”‘

‘”I can’t wait for Jairus to get in here. Obviously he’s a great player and a guy we have a lot of respect for,” said Brandon. “Once he’s here and we get through this year we want to try to continue the discussions and negotiations with (his agent) Eugene (Parker) and get him locked in long term.”‘

‘I’m going to make a bold prediction after only one day of practice. This defense will be a lot better than last year’s unit. Last year’s defense was very passive. Expect this year’s unit to be very aggressive. The unit registered a couple of takeaways and got good pressure on the quarterbacks. I have a lot of faith in defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. I think he will be able to turn the defense around.’

‘”Our philosophy is, once it turns to football season, myself and our personnel staff, we’re support staff. We are supporting Coach in whatever he needs. Any type of tools that we can give him to go out and win games — that’s what we try to service him with.”‘

‘”We’re working EJ in,” said coach Doug Marrone. “We’ll get the reps to 50-50. … I don’t mean to be cliche about it, but there were some good things in it. Again, this is our first time throwing to receivers in a long period of time. We have to work on our timing. We had a lot of work pre-practice before we got into the team work. But again, we’re going to have to do a better job, receiving, throwing, protecting, and just work to get better.”‘

‘Faced with that sort of unbending optimism, how could anyone suggest a losing record? It’s late July, and anything is possible. In the great, democratic NFL monolith, everyone has a chance at glory when the teams arrive in camp.’