Q&A WITH COACH VERMEIL - Nov. 9th

Rukdafaidas · 11-09-2005, 02:26 PM

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2005/11..._vermeilbuff1/

BUFFALO CONFERENCE CALL

Q: Can you comment on the condition of Priest Holmes?

VERMEIL: “I think everything will be cleared up sometime this afternoon. I’ll get my official medical report, probably post-practice, but he is not practicing today.”

“I think it’ll all be decided when the medical staff gets over here this afternoon after 3 o’clock.”

Q: After an emotional win like last week, are you concerned with a letdown this week?

VERMEIL: “My personal belief, especially when it’s the eighth game of the season, is that you should be able to come out and play better with that kind of background rather than have an emotional letdown. You ought to be able to come up and play better. It gives you confidence in doing the difficult things in this game and you’ve got to be able to apply them the next or else what you did last week was a waste of time.”

Q: Is this game more important now and does it carry playoff implications?

VERMEIL: “They all are from here on out. If you are going into game number nine and you are still in the hunt, every week is a playoff game. Those that survive will be in the playoffs and those that don’t won’t. They’ll probably be one, maybe two, come out of nowhere like (Buffalo) did last year and win seven of the last nine. It surprises, but we’re going to strive like I suppose the Bills are going to strive to keep winning.”

Q: What’s the problem with your offense?

VERMEIL: “Well, we’re not running the ball like we have in the past. We don’t have Willie Roaf; we don’t have our starting right tackle. We’ve got a right tackle playing now that started some last year the first part of the season. But the true decided right tackle has been out. Maybe he’ll be back in another week or so. But we always plan on running the football. It’s part of our philosophy. We mix the run and pass. It’s the old cliché but it’s how we play football and we’re a better football team when we can do that.

“I have tremendous respect for the Buffalo defense, especially how hard they play and how hard they run and chase and create turnovers. They’ve created multiple turnovers in five games that they’ve played this year. It’ll be tough. And, sometimes when a team is good on pass defense a team runs more. We’re pretty good against the run so they throw the ball more. So, it distorts your ranking. We know it’ll take a very good football game to win.

“I truly think (our) defense is getting better. Some kids have played better than we thought they would. Some kids have improved. With the injury factor we have developed depth. Our schedule has been very demanding and we have played very good teams on the road on Monday night and so on. We’re 5-3 and we’ll take it. If we play smart football we’ve got a chance, but we can’t lose many more football games.

“A playoff defense just doesn’t happen over night. We’ve come to the conclusion that young defensive players it takes into their third year before they play at a playoff caliber level.”

Q: The offensive line of the Bills has struggled…..

VERMEIL: “Welcome to the club. I have a hard time feeling sorry for people having trouble within their offensive line. I was so spoiled here for a few years. Our guys started so many games, so many complete games, just played the whole time. But this year we have never started our offensive line, never played together with our true starting lines. It’s been a problem and you’ve got one of the finest (Buffalo) line coaches in football. He solves a lot of problems because of the quality of his coaching.”

Q: Why did you go for the win and not the tie vs. the Raiders last week?

VERMEIL: “First, I thought we could do that. Secondly, I felt if I kicked the field goal and tied that the Raiders had already scored twice in the fourth quarter and maintained ball control. If we lose the toss for the overtime and they get the ball, they have a great field goal kicker and I may not even get a chance. If we win the toss it’s going to take me 10 or 11 plays to get down to where we were sitting with a foot and a half to go. So I said, why waste the time.”

Q: On the differences in you as a coach.

VERMEIL: “I think we wear out a little faster. There’s no question that certain wines get better with age. I think with me at my age of 69 years old, I think I better understand things today sometimes. I better control my own highs and lows and have taught myself not to blame myself if we don’t win. I’ve taught myself not to let it affect my confidence or my self-esteem if we lose. I don’t base my coaching anymore on just winning and losing. I base it on the big picture of everything I’m doing as a teacher and a leader. All those things come with age. I failed the first time doing it and had to leave coaching because my own ego and confidence was all dependent on winning. Heck, you end up eight-and-eight on the average. Half the time you feel good and half the time you feel bad.”

11-09-2005, 02:26 PM	Topic Starter
Rukdafaidas lifelong Chiefs survivor Join Date: Mar 2003 Casino cash: $3849900	Q&A WITH COACH VERMEIL - Nov. 9th http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2005/11..._vermeilbuff1/ BUFFALO CONFERENCE CALL Q: Can you comment on the condition of Priest Holmes? VERMEIL: “I think everything will be cleared up sometime this afternoon. I’ll get my official medical report, probably post-practice, but he is not practicing today.” “I think it’ll all be decided when the medical staff gets over here this afternoon after 3 o’clock.” Q: After an emotional win like last week, are you concerned with a letdown this week? VERMEIL: “My personal belief, especially when it’s the eighth game of the season, is that you should be able to come out and play better with that kind of background rather than have an emotional letdown. You ought to be able to come up and play better. It gives you confidence in doing the difficult things in this game and you’ve got to be able to apply them the next or else what you did last week was a waste of time.” Q: Is this game more important now and does it carry playoff implications? VERMEIL: “They all are from here on out. If you are going into game number nine and you are still in the hunt, every week is a playoff game. Those that survive will be in the playoffs and those that don’t won’t. They’ll probably be one, maybe two, come out of nowhere like (Buffalo) did last year and win seven of the last nine. It surprises, but we’re going to strive like I suppose the Bills are going to strive to keep winning.” Q: What’s the problem with your offense? VERMEIL: “Well, we’re not running the ball like we have in the past. We don’t have Willie Roaf; we don’t have our starting right tackle. We’ve got a right tackle playing now that started some last year the first part of the season. But the true decided right tackle has been out. Maybe he’ll be back in another week or so. But we always plan on running the football. It’s part of our philosophy. We mix the run and pass. It’s the old cliché but it’s how we play football and we’re a better football team when we can do that. “I have tremendous respect for the Buffalo defense, especially how hard they play and how hard they run and chase and create turnovers. They’ve created multiple turnovers in five games that they’ve played this year. It’ll be tough. And, sometimes when a team is good on pass defense a team runs more. We’re pretty good against the run so they throw the ball more. So, it distorts your ranking. We know it’ll take a very good football game to win. “I truly think (our) defense is getting better. Some kids have played better than we thought they would. Some kids have improved. With the injury factor we have developed depth. Our schedule has been very demanding and we have played very good teams on the road on Monday night and so on. We’re 5-3 and we’ll take it. If we play smart football we’ve got a chance, but we can’t lose many more football games. “A playoff defense just doesn’t happen over night. We’ve come to the conclusion that young defensive players it takes into their third year before they play at a playoff caliber level.” Q: The offensive line of the Bills has struggled….. VERMEIL: “Welcome to the club. I have a hard time feeling sorry for people having trouble within their offensive line. I was so spoiled here for a few years. Our guys started so many games, so many complete games, just played the whole time. But this year we have never started our offensive line, never played together with our true starting lines. It’s been a problem and you’ve got one of the finest (Buffalo) line coaches in football. He solves a lot of problems because of the quality of his coaching.” Q: Why did you go for the win and not the tie vs. the Raiders last week? VERMEIL: “First, I thought we could do that. Secondly, I felt if I kicked the field goal and tied that the Raiders had already scored twice in the fourth quarter and maintained ball control. If we lose the toss for the overtime and they get the ball, they have a great field goal kicker and I may not even get a chance. If we win the toss it’s going to take me 10 or 11 plays to get down to where we were sitting with a foot and a half to go. So I said, why waste the time.” Q: On the differences in you as a coach. VERMEIL: “I think we wear out a little faster. There’s no question that certain wines get better with age. I think with me at my age of 69 years old, I think I better understand things today sometimes. I better control my own highs and lows and have taught myself not to blame myself if we don’t win. I’ve taught myself not to let it affect my confidence or my self-esteem if we lose. I don’t base my coaching anymore on just winning and losing. I base it on the big picture of everything I’m doing as a teacher and a leader. All those things come with age. I failed the first time doing it and had to leave coaching because my own ego and confidence was all dependent on winning. Heck, you end up eight-and-eight on the average. Half the time you feel good and half the time you feel bad.”
Posts: 2,673