BILLS HEAD COACH REX RYAN
OPENING COMMENTS: Well, I'm gonna tell you exactly how I told our team. First off this loss is squarely on one man's shoulders. It's on my shoulders. You know, yeah we gotta get better as a team there's no question. But I have to get better. You know (Bill) Belichick out coached me. No question about it and that's where the game…that's how it ended up and it's unfortunate. The plan has to be better on defense. Can't give up 500 yards and beat anybody, and then we turn it over three times. But uh…You know we did a horse shit job and it's my responsibility. Our team will get better, but it starts with me getting better and looking forward to next week. With that I'll open it up for questions.
Q: Can you discuss the penalties?
A: Yeah absolutely and discuss I think is right. I mean sometimes you know it's an emotional game, you should play with emotion. But sometimes you let your emotions get the better of you and it went to our detriment and it starts with me. I obviously have to control my emotions a little better regardless of how bad things were going.
Q: Any updates on Aaron Williams?
A: The only thing it's…You know Aaron injured his neck. I'm reading this right off of here. He was taken to the hospital for cervical precaution. There's no further update.
Q: Any indication on movement?
A: [Scott Berchtold] We don't know. They didn't tell us.
Q: Were you surprised that Bill Belichick kept throwing the ball?
A: Well you kind of hope that's what happens. Anything else held it. I mean (Tom) Brady was…you know threw for 500 yards so I guess…can't argue that I guess.
Q: Even when he's up 24 points?
A: Gave us a chance in the game. So I was happy with it, that's what we wanted them to do. You know put them all in there, play base defense and they kept throwing it. But you know they're getting penalties and other stuff. They converted a lot. Obviously you get Brady on a day when he's hot – that's ugly and you know I'll do a better job you know…we turned some guys loose and obviously that was…he doesn't need any help that's for damn sure.
Q: You mentioned Bill Belichick outcoached you. How so?
A: Hey man, I just know his team won. Again.
Q: So nothing stands out?
A: No, what stands out I mean is all the penalties. They only had 11, we had 14. I guess the refs thought they came to see them today.
Q: Any chance to put a defensive back on Dion Lewis, a running back versus putting a linebacker, like Nigel Bradham, on him?
A: Well what was I gonna do play 50 of them and then they can run the ball down your throat? So, nah, we'll save that adjustment for some other genius.
Q: Your offensive line clearly struggled. What can you do to regroup?
A: Oh nothing I mean we got…that's what happens. You fall behind like that and sacks and turnovers happen and that's what happened today.
Q: Do you regret punting on 4th and one? It seemed out of character.
A: No idea. I mean we do go for it a lot of times and things but we thought we'd pin them deep. I think at that time of the game it was the right call.
Q: Do you regret not knowing Dion Lewis' name earlier this week?
A: Uh, that's the reason we lost. Go ahead, I still don't know his name. Next time run the ball. Next.
Q: Was it possible the offense didn't see all the schemes Bill Belichick did and made it more difficult?
A: I have no idea. You score 32 points that should be enough to win.
Q: What was your assessment on special teams play?
A: Way too many penalties. I think that was it. You know, (Dan) Carpenter will go down as a missed extra point but the hold we dropped on the…we had a poor spot on the hold and that's why he missed.
Q: There was a lot of talk this week. Looking back do you have an issue on the mindset of the team?
A: Yeah, I got an issue we never won. I mean that's it. You can blame it any way you want, I don't care. It's my fault we talk too much. That's why we lost.
Q: Are you taking it personal?
A: Hell yeah I'm taking it personal. And I'm gonna take the rest of them personal too.
Q: Most yards ever allowed on the Bills passing in a game in 60 years.
A: I believe it. How many they throw for? 500? I mean they rushed for probably 50, they got 550 yards or whatever it is. So hell yeah I take it personal.
Q: Was your plan on defense to play more coverage than attack?
A: Yeah, we were going to put it on our front four. We thought we had an advantage there. Ball came out a lot of times and if you turn some people loose…Regardless of the coverage. We were mixing in two man, a bunch of different things. But shoot it's to their credit. You know I've been on the wrong end of it a few times when the kid gets hot and Brady was hot and if you make a mistake on top of it he kills you.
Q: Because of how quick he throws it?
A: Well no I mean sometimes you blitz and things like that. But we thought we had…going in we thought we had decent match ups but obviously it never panned out that way.
Q: What happened on the personal foul on the bench?
A: That was mine. The guys got rabbit ears. I don't know what to tell you.
Q: Do you remember what you said?
A: I don't recall.
BILLS QUARTERBACK TYROD TAYLOR
Q: What was the level of frustration you had when they ripped off three straight touchdowns in the second quarter?
A: It was definitely tough. Like I said earlier in the week, every time you get a possession against this team, you have to maximize it and we weren't able to do that. It was definitely tough. We fought hard but didn't put up enough points to win.
Q: Did their looks defensively change dramatically after they went up 14 there?
A: They definitely adjusted throughout the game to try and keep us on our toes. We were able to find our groove later in the game, but we wanted it to happen earlier on in the game. Like I said, we kept battling but just not early enough as far as execution.
Q: Should 32 points be enough to win a game?
A: It wasn't enough to win today's game and you have to score enough to win the game and we didn't do that today. On the offensive side we killed ourselves. We have to protect the ball more, or better. And penalties--we can't have as many penalties as a team and on the offensive side.
Q: Were there things they did that weren't on film that you could share with us?
A: They changed up some of their scheming, but for the most part it was a lot of things we had seen on film. Like I said, the execution just wasn't as good as we wanted it to be early on in the game. We have to clean that up and learn from it, but at the same time we did some things that we can take from this game. It wasn't a winning performance in all phases but it starts of course with me and we have to clean it up and get better.
Q: How would you critique your performance personally?
A: Of course I need to take care of the ball. You can't end the game with three turnovers, that's the real deal. Of course one of them came in our two-minute drill. Well two of them came in a two-minute drill, one before the half. I tried to make a play, but you just can't turn the ball over. It kills us as a team and it kills us as an offense as far as momentum.
Q: You mentioned that you take inspiration from Tom Brady. What did you see out there from him today?
A: He managed the game well and got his team to a winning performance. He was able to execute, but looking back at the game now, it was more about us executing. But hats off to them, they won the game.
Q: What was the talk in the room after the game? What was the general feeling?
A: We can't hurt ourselves. We have 14 penalties and three turnovers so we have to clean those up moving forward. I still believe in this team and we all have tremendous belief in the things that we can do but moving forward we have to play cleaner football.
Q: How much do you think this game was built up more than it should have been judging by how, specifically, the defense played?
A: I think it had the right amount of hype, I guess you would call it. As a division game, it was very important for our season. But it's still a long season and we still have to continue to keep playing and continue to get better. As a team we have to learn from this game and move forward. We need to put it behind us and look forward to getting better next week.
Q: Rex said that this loss is solely on his shoulders. How do you react to something like that?
A: It's a collective loss. We lost as a team. He did say that he was going to take the blame but we can't put the blame on him. As an offense, like I said, there are some things we can clean up and I'm sure defensively as well. But we're going to learn from this definitely and continue to get better.
Q: Was the team playing at too emotional of a level based on all the build up?
A: I think everyone dialed in ready for the game play. We just didn't go out and execute as well as we would've liked to
Q: What did you see on the last pass that was intercepted?
A: I just tried to hit Sammy on a dig route, but wasn't able to connect on it.
Q: Have you heard anything about Aaron [Williams]?
A: I haven't. I actually didn't even get a chance to see the play but prayers up to him and I'll definitely keep him in my prayers.
BILLS DEFENSIVE TACKLE KYLE WILLIAMS
Q: Eric Wood said that one of the things that they do best is allow you to beat yourself. It was a classic case today wasn't it.
A: There's a difference between coming out ready to go, fired up ready to play and coming out and being totally without poise, without focus, and a lot of stupid, idiotic stuff. That plays right in their hands. If you have no poise, no focus you get caught up in all the BS, that's what they do. We did that especially in the first half.
Q: How does the leadership in the room let that happen?
A: It's something obviously that we talk about, we try to get reined in when we can do it and we just have to do a better job of it, no doubt about it. I'm embarrassed, the way that started off was bad. It looks bad on our team, our fans and it is reflected in the way that we played. It's inexcusable, it's terrible.
Q: Were they a little bit arrogant in the fourth quarter though? They let you back in the game because you guys finally made some plays. By continuing to throw it kind of smacked of arrogance at the end of that game.
A: I'd like to say that we're tough to run on, which I think that we are but I think they just stuck to their game plan. They were going to do what they came to do and we were able to get some stops. I think mainly if you're looking for a good thing I think that's a good thing, the way we finished, the way we competed and had an opportunity at the end there to draw back close whether that's through their mistakes or us playing a little bit better I think that would be the only positive.
Q: You have been here for a long time, you're a leader, is it easy or is it hard to come back Monday or Tuesday and get everybody focused after one like this?
A: I don't think so, win lose or draw the sun's going to come up tomorrow and we've got to get ready to play the Dolphins next week. It was the second game of the season. I think today probably more than any other game in my career is as teachable and as much of a learning experience for everybody on our team. Not just the young guys, I'm talking about for older guys. We have some talented guys but we have to be able to compose ourselves, we have to be able to play football with intensity but we have to be able to play with focus too. Honestly, I believe today is one of the bigger learning lessons that we're going to get and we're going to move forward. The tough thing and the great thing at the same time about this league is that there's another game next week. We've got another division game next week on the road so we've got to get ready to go.
Q: (Playing) against the Super Bowl champs, I know you think you can beat them, but if you're going to measure yourself on a bad day maybe that's not the worst thing.
A: The way the game unfolded in the first half is literally the blueprint for how they beat you. Your communication is poor, your composure is bad and we let it get away from us. I honestly do believe today is as big of a learning game as I've really seen and I think that our team especially defensively will take it and grow from it and get ready to move forward.
Q: Kyle, when they go to that no huddle does that take away the ability of the defense to line up and try to disguise things?
A: There are a lot of things they do with shifts and motions and breaking formations. A lot of that is for Tom to see what you're doing, see what you're in. He's been doing that for a long time and we knew that coming in. They out executed, they played really well today, he did a great job and we didn't.
BILLS DEFENSIVE END MARIO WILLIAMS
Q: When they get to get to run that many plays, especially when they throw that many times?
A: Just got to keep doing it, it's a situation that you don't want to be in but if we sit there and give them another opportunity to get points, get yards, we've got to keep doing it.
Q: Mario, were you surprised at all when they continued to go to the pass and they could have potentially tried to milk the clock there? Were you surprised that you had that opportunity? They did kind of leave the door open for you.
A: No, I wasn't surprised because (Brady) was able to know where to go with the ball, keep going with it, I don't think they wanted to run the ball against us in the first place. That's why they didn't. If you dink and dunk down the field and then we give them a football field and a half on top of what he's doing to extend the play, extend the drive--why would you run it?
Q: Were you disappointed in the amount of penalties you guys took on the defensive side of the ball? It was a sloppy game with both sides committing penalties but were you as a defensive leader disappointed in the lack of discipline?
A: We need to be smarter. I'm not going to say I'm disappointed, I don't know what took place. At the end of the day, we had the penalties. We dug ourselves a hole and did our best to get out.
Q: Is it particularly frustrating for you, a veteran guy, you've played against (Brady) a lot, it's hard enough to stop him in normal situations and you see these penalties that keep costing you field position. Is it hard for you as a leader of this team to cope with that and what do you say to these young players?
A: You can't get frustrated. That's not going to help us to throw a temper tantrum on the field. The call is the call whether it was right or wrong.
Q: When you look at that, the way you guys committed penalties against this team, you guys have some new personnel, you don't have that same big game experience as a team. Did you get a sense of their poise on the other side and how much of a factor is that?
A: I can't say that because I don't know if they actually did something that could have been flagged as well.
BILLS RUNNING BACK LESEAN MCCOY
Q: Was that (penalties) part of a learning process for a team?
A: I don't think you need to learn that. That's something that, as a professional, that's something you know. We kind of got just too hyped, I think. We put a lot of effort into this game, a lot of talk, and it's a rivalry game and it just is a big one for us knowing that it was a division game.
Q: In hindsight, did it feel like it was confidence, or over emotional, when you were in those moments coming into the game?
A: A little of both, I think guys were really confident, it felt like we could get the job done today. With the matchups we felt good about our approach today, it's just that I think we got overly hyped, and it kind of backfired.
Q: To come back the way you guys did in the second half, moving forward, what do you take from that and use it as a positive?
A: We just got to stick with it. We can learn from this game. When we came together as a group, Rex Ryan and our team, we didn't talk about going undefeated, we talked about winning games, we talked about controlling what we can control each game and then at the end of the year be where we can be and that's to potentially get into the playoffs. I mean this is a game we learn from, you know you can't get too high on wins and you can't get too low on losses. Just got to keep pushing away and getting at it.
Q: Is part of that putting this in perspective, you beat the Colts in week one, you lose to New England in week one. You know, there's some good and some bad?
A: For sure. I mean even with the win last week there was some bad. But you learn from it, you learn from last week, you learn from this week and you move on. The best thing about this type of game is you learn from it and then you go next week and you get a W, and you put it in the past. Then you're 2-1.
Q: Rex has been pretty harsh about Dion Lewis this week. He said he didn't know his name and said LaGarrette Blount was going to be the guy. Dion had a pretty good game today, I know your friends with Dion, so?
A: We're really good friends and he's a hell of a player. He's a Pitt product so that tells you a lot about him already. But he did good. They worked their schemes, they did the usual, which we stopped some of them. Sometimes the offense helped them out, you know we had a period where we couldn't move the ball. You know it's hard when you got a top defense like we do. They're tired. We need to help them out.
Q: Just knowing Dion, though, do you think he deserves a little more respect around the league based on his first few games this year?
A: I just told you Dion is a heck of a player. A good friend of mine, we talked all last night, through the week, so I knew he would have a good game. I think you go out and earn your respect. One game can't make you who you are. He's going to be good, he's had two good games back-to-back, so good luck to him. I'm just trying to win games for the Bills, I'm not worried about what my boy is doing on the other side of the field.
Q: You guys come up short, but do you take anything, momentum, from being able to come back a little bit there and being able to put together a little bit of a run?
A: Yeah. We showed our true fight, even when the game got out of reach for a while. We fought back. We made scores, the defense made stops, you know we kept tugging at it. It's a learning process, like I said before, you lose this game today, you come back next week, get a W, and get that bad taste out of our mouth.
Q: LeSean, from an emotional standpoint, there was a lot of hype coming into this game all week. Do you think some of that emotion, maybe, carried too much onto the field?
A: Yeah. I just felt like, obviously we're confident, we had a great plan today, just that we got too hyped, certain plays we had stops, we got turnovers, and then we got a flag, we made a good play, we got a flag. So you just got to calm it down. You got to go out there and play football. I mean there is no reason to fight, cause you're not going to fight on the field, you're not going to fight after the game, so let's just play ball. That's the biggest thing we can really work on.
Q: Were you operating at 100% with your hamstring?
A: No, I wasn't 100%, but each week I just got to keep pushing. And the coaching staff is doing a great job of rotating me in and out. So I'll be there.
