Head Coach Doug Marrone Transcript
Syracuse Football
Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh
Friday, October 5, 2012
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Syracuse Head Coach Doug Marrone
On the physical game tonight:
“Pitt came up with what they thought was the best for our scheme and credit to the players for being able to execute and to the coaches on offense. They did a good job.”
On running back Adonis Ameen-Moore’s increased role tonight:
“I think the offensive coaches did a very good job from a personnel standpoint. They were very pleased with Adonis (Ameen-Moore) and he worked extremely hard to be in that position. It’s a very important position and it’s one where you have to have a high level of trust. The coaches have that and the players have that in Adonis. He’s worked hard and I’m happy for him. I’m proud of him.”
On how excited he was on the outcome of the game:
“I am happy that we won. I do understand that we have a lot of work ahead of us when you look at that game. We left some stuff out there. There are some things we did well, don’t get me wrong. I’m excited for the players. They worked hard. It’s been a long time since we’ve played and we put a lot of work into getting better. Credit to them and the coaches. We can enjoy ourselves tonight but we have a lot to work on and we need to get back to work. We need to have the same type of mentality we’ve had in the past few weeks.”
On the transition of Lewellyn Coker from defense (linebacker) to offense (fullback):
“I think it goes back to the coaches. They did a great job of putting him back there. He did a very good job in that fullback position. I was proud of him.”
On the defense and defensive end Brandon Sharpe:
“Brandon plays very well. We all know that Pittsburgh is very physical team and they are very well coached. You look at what we did today against this Pittsburgh team and the run game. I think that’s difficult to do. Our kids work for that challenge. We challenge them with it. Brandon did a good job. If one player plays very well, that means a lot of other people are doing something well on that defensive line and front seven. Those guys are playing hard. I wish that everyone could have been on that field to get a better feel on how hard those kids were going after it on both teams. I give credit to both teams. When you go out and play this game the way these two teams went out there and played, you have a great appreciation.”
On at the end if he went out onto the field to celebrate:
“No, I wasn’t celebrating. I was getting them ready to get the first down. When I went out there, I was proud of them. I’ve been in that situation before. It hurts when you are not able to run the ball out and not get the ball back. There is a certain type of pride. It’s hard for me to explain unless you’ve been in that position. It is gut wrenching. I didn’t want that. I wanted our kids to be proud and get the first down.”
On if tonight was an example of how every game is different because some people expected it to be high scoring:
“I don’t know who expected it to be a high scoring game. I have no idea. I knew this. I knew it was going to be a hard game. I knew on film. The University of Pittsburgh, I have a great appreciation for that school. I have competed against it. The players who I was playing with after I graduated college who were from that university, they knew how to play football. They would get after your butt. They played hard, physical football. When you play the University of Pittsburgh, at least from my standpoint, you better be ready to play. I thought our kids did a nice job and their kids did a hell of a job. We just made a couple of more plays and came out on the better end of the stick.”
On Pittsburgh’s defense:
“They did a nice job. They did a good job in their coaching with their lineup. It was giving us problems. We tried to get into a formation and we schooled the kids up on the sideline. We were able to get the ball outside, just to get four or five. I give credit to the coaches and the players for making the plays down at the end.”
On the physicality of the football game:
“From my standpoint, I really think you play this game play-by-play. I think it judges who you are. For me to stand up here and say, ‘Hey, I was proud of them at the end,’ I wasn’t proud of them on every single play. They did a nice job but we still have a lot to work on.”
On how important was it that the offense started well:
“Having been successful coming off of bye weeks in a lot of places I’ve been, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be around a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches, you try and look for the reasons why. I think when you come off of a bye week, you want to come out early and have some success. We didn’t maintain it during that game offensively. To come out early and do that, I would have expected more. You work on a bye week. You work on getting the ball and then bang. You want to get it again and keep going. We have a lot of work to do.”
On the defensive line play:
“We made some changes. Coach Schafer did an outstanding job. He made some changes during the bye week. We gave this team we played tonight something different. We knew if we just stood there it would be very difficult. That’s a credit to Coach Schafer, the defensive coaches, and the players for being able to execute it.”
On why running back Ashton Broyld didn’t play:
“Our philosophy is to play the best players that give us the best chance to win. That’s not only Ashton Broyld, that’s a lot of other players on this team.”
On the status of strong safety Shamarko Thomas (who was injured late in the game):
“I just made sure it wasn’t anything drastic. I don’t know how to explain that but something really, really bad. I haven’t talked to the trainers. I knew it was a late game and I’ll be honest. I tried to come out here for you guys because I know you guys have deadlines and things like that.”
On what was the most rewarding thing to see in today’s game:
“That’s a good question. Obviously, not the red zone. Obviously, not the penalties, like I said before. There was some physicality out there. That’s one of the things we talked about quite a bit. I was happy about that. You have a chance to get better if you play this game in a physical nature with the toughness that we had. You can’t win when you have turnovers in the redzone. You can’t win with penalties. I’ve got to do a better job. There’s no doubt about it. I have to put these kids in a better position. We need to keep working. We have to keep working just as hard as we have worked except that we don’t have a bye week. Now we are on but we have an extra day. We can’t afford it. We don’t have any more bye weeks. We don’t have that luxury of sitting back and working.”
Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh
Friday, October 5, 2012
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Syracuse Head Coach Doug Marrone
On the physical game tonight:
“Pitt came up with what they thought was the best for our scheme and credit to the players for being able to execute and to the coaches on offense. They did a good job.”
On running back Adonis Ameen-Moore’s increased role tonight:
“I think the offensive coaches did a very good job from a personnel standpoint. They were very pleased with Adonis (Ameen-Moore) and he worked extremely hard to be in that position. It’s a very important position and it’s one where you have to have a high level of trust. The coaches have that and the players have that in Adonis. He’s worked hard and I’m happy for him. I’m proud of him.”
On how excited he was on the outcome of the game:
“I am happy that we won. I do understand that we have a lot of work ahead of us when you look at that game. We left some stuff out there. There are some things we did well, don’t get me wrong. I’m excited for the players. They worked hard. It’s been a long time since we’ve played and we put a lot of work into getting better. Credit to them and the coaches. We can enjoy ourselves tonight but we have a lot to work on and we need to get back to work. We need to have the same type of mentality we’ve had in the past few weeks.”
On the transition of Lewellyn Coker from defense (linebacker) to offense (fullback):
“I think it goes back to the coaches. They did a great job of putting him back there. He did a very good job in that fullback position. I was proud of him.”
On the defense and defensive end Brandon Sharpe:
“Brandon plays very well. We all know that Pittsburgh is very physical team and they are very well coached. You look at what we did today against this Pittsburgh team and the run game. I think that’s difficult to do. Our kids work for that challenge. We challenge them with it. Brandon did a good job. If one player plays very well, that means a lot of other people are doing something well on that defensive line and front seven. Those guys are playing hard. I wish that everyone could have been on that field to get a better feel on how hard those kids were going after it on both teams. I give credit to both teams. When you go out and play this game the way these two teams went out there and played, you have a great appreciation.”
On at the end if he went out onto the field to celebrate:
“No, I wasn’t celebrating. I was getting them ready to get the first down. When I went out there, I was proud of them. I’ve been in that situation before. It hurts when you are not able to run the ball out and not get the ball back. There is a certain type of pride. It’s hard for me to explain unless you’ve been in that position. It is gut wrenching. I didn’t want that. I wanted our kids to be proud and get the first down.”
On if tonight was an example of how every game is different because some people expected it to be high scoring:
“I don’t know who expected it to be a high scoring game. I have no idea. I knew this. I knew it was going to be a hard game. I knew on film. The University of Pittsburgh, I have a great appreciation for that school. I have competed against it. The players who I was playing with after I graduated college who were from that university, they knew how to play football. They would get after your butt. They played hard, physical football. When you play the University of Pittsburgh, at least from my standpoint, you better be ready to play. I thought our kids did a nice job and their kids did a hell of a job. We just made a couple of more plays and came out on the better end of the stick.”
On Pittsburgh’s defense:
“They did a nice job. They did a good job in their coaching with their lineup. It was giving us problems. We tried to get into a formation and we schooled the kids up on the sideline. We were able to get the ball outside, just to get four or five. I give credit to the coaches and the players for making the plays down at the end.”
On the physicality of the football game:
“From my standpoint, I really think you play this game play-by-play. I think it judges who you are. For me to stand up here and say, ‘Hey, I was proud of them at the end,’ I wasn’t proud of them on every single play. They did a nice job but we still have a lot to work on.”
On how important was it that the offense started well:
“Having been successful coming off of bye weeks in a lot of places I’ve been, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be around a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches, you try and look for the reasons why. I think when you come off of a bye week, you want to come out early and have some success. We didn’t maintain it during that game offensively. To come out early and do that, I would have expected more. You work on a bye week. You work on getting the ball and then bang. You want to get it again and keep going. We have a lot of work to do.”
On the defensive line play:
“We made some changes. Coach Schafer did an outstanding job. He made some changes during the bye week. We gave this team we played tonight something different. We knew if we just stood there it would be very difficult. That’s a credit to Coach Schafer, the defensive coaches, and the players for being able to execute it.”
On why running back Ashton Broyld didn’t play:
“Our philosophy is to play the best players that give us the best chance to win. That’s not only Ashton Broyld, that’s a lot of other players on this team.”
On the status of strong safety Shamarko Thomas (who was injured late in the game):
“I just made sure it wasn’t anything drastic. I don’t know how to explain that but something really, really bad. I haven’t talked to the trainers. I knew it was a late game and I’ll be honest. I tried to come out here for you guys because I know you guys have deadlines and things like that.”
On what was the most rewarding thing to see in today’s game:
“That’s a good question. Obviously, not the red zone. Obviously, not the penalties, like I said before. There was some physicality out there. That’s one of the things we talked about quite a bit. I was happy about that. You have a chance to get better if you play this game in a physical nature with the toughness that we had. You can’t win when you have turnovers in the redzone. You can’t win with penalties. I’ve got to do a better job. There’s no doubt about it. I have to put these kids in a better position. We need to keep working. We have to keep working just as hard as we have worked except that we don’t have a bye week. Now we are on but we have an extra day. We can’t afford it. We don’t have any more bye weeks. We don’t have that luxury of sitting back and working.”
