Friday, September 5, 2014

Marrone: Reports of cursing, arguments 'just not true'

BY DAN BEGNOCHE

In Doug Marrone's mind, expectations are high this season for the Buffalo Bills as the head coach enters his second year at the helm. Seems like tensions could equally as high.

Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com reported Friday that Marrone and Director of Player Personnel Jim Monos recently got into it prior to practice, a screaming match that even GM Doug Whaley and President Russ Brandon allegedly had trouble breaking up. The argument was apparently quite heated, with expletives flying and Marrone yelling "go ahead and fire me" toward the end of the fiasco.

Marrone addressed the issue while talking to reporters Friday, laughing off the allegations and denying it occurred.

"There's a lot of things in that [report] that I think I'll probably catch a lot of heat on from my friends because it's just not true," Marrone said via ESPN.com's Mike Rodak. "Did we have a discussion? I confirm that, absolutely. Are we great? We talk every day, three times a day. We talk about a lot of things, so we're competitive and I couldn't be happier with those guys."

The alleged argument is a concern to Bills fans if only to highlight how it all unfolded out in the open around players, and that Marrone's choices with his roster apparently haven't been well received by top brass.

Coupled with La Canfora's sources saying that there's some friction over personnel decisions this preseason, the blow-up puts a bunch of unneeded attention and added pressure on a team that's attempting to break out of its rut in the very near future and make a run at the playoffs.

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