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TB: I think [The Bills] played really good. I thought their defense had a good game and had a good scheme against us. But last year, these would be the types of games that we'd lose. We made it interesting there at the end on a bad play by me, but we ended up fighting our way through it and we won the game.
Q: Did it feel good to win even though you didn't have your best game?
TB: It's always good to get the "W." I always say that that's what I'm concerned about. You obviously like to go out and play great every week, but that's not always the case in this league as I'm finding out.
Q: How can you learn from what happened out there today?
TB: With the sacks and that, I'm really going to focus on where I was looking with the ball. Sometimes you're looking in the wrong place and you get sacked, and sometimes you're looking in the right place and they're just doing a good job of covering them. I'll just evaluate that when I look at the tape tomorrow. The things that they did well, you've got to give them credit. The things that we have to do better, those are the things that we have to improve on.
Q: Were any of the miscues attributable to the cold weather?
TB: No, I don't think you can attribute it to the weather.
Q: You could attribute it then to…?
TB: Taking better care of the ball.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about Antowain Smith's performance against his former team? Could he have been just a little bit more motivated than usual?
TB: Yeah, he was very excited. You could tell this morning, he just walked in…you know you were hearing some words out of his mouth, which is good. He really wanted to make an impression. He came out and ran as hard as, well he always runs hard, but even there at the end, he was real excited to break that one off and go 45 yards for a touchdown. So it was a good win, another 100-yard day for him too.
Q: To win a game like this is it important in your development as a starter to win learn that you can win it even when things aren't all going your way?
TB: Yeah, definitely and you've really got to make the plays when they are there to be made. When they are not there to be made you've got to be patient. Sometimes taking a sack is better than forcing it into coverage. Like I said, this is all just part of…I mean this is my seventh game starting. It's a long road and you know you've just got to continue to improve the things that you can improve on and get better and that's what it is going to take if I want to be successful as the starting quarterback.
Q: How would you assess your performance today?
TB: Well, there were some throws I made-good reads. There's other ones that, you know, weren't so good. The sacks, I never like taking sacks and this was probably the most sacks I've ever taken in my life. Like I said, some of it is attributed to playing good defense and some of it maybe holding on to the ball a little too long. As I watch tomorrow I'll just…like I said, where I was looking and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Q: Coach Belichick had said that the Bills had mixed up their coverages and did some stuff that you hadn't been anticipating, he put a lot of the onus himself. Did they throw a lot of different looks at you that you hadn't seen?
TB: I think they just covered well. I think they have two excellent corners. I think their linebackers played well in coverage today. I just thought they played good defense.
Q: You guys are over .500 after an 0-2 start and the first time in the Belichick era. Does that have an impact on the team? Does it change anything?
TB: Yeah, I think so. I think there's more confidence in every guy in that locker room, knowing that we can play like this and still win. And when the defense doesn't play as well the offense has to pick it up and play that much better. It's an all-around team game. Last year we only had five wins through the whole season and this year we've got five right now. We are 5-4 and just really looking to improve and looking to get better. And if we can keep this up, then who knows where we can be at the end of the year?
Q: Is there a feeling on this team that one side of the ball will pick up the other side of the ball on different occasions? Confidence in each other?
TB: I know myself, and I speak for a lot of the other guys on the offense, they have tons of confidence in the defense. And they know, I think the defense has confidence that when the turn the ball over we are going to capitalize. And offensively, we don't like, we'd never like to put them in situations on a short field after a turnover like what happened at the end of the game. Those are the things that you can't allow to happen on offense. So, you know I think our offense would like to play great every week and the defense would like to play great every week and once we put it together, that's going to be scary how good we can be.
Q: Do you say to yourself when things happen like that, 'Just keep us in it?'
TB: Yeah, I think so. I think that is always part…just give us a chance. And that is what they are saying, 'Just give us a chance.' So, I think we made the plays today when we really needed them. Early in the game we got out to a little bit of a lead. You know we had the touchdown there in the second half, that was important and the touchdown there at the end of the game when we needed it. So we are kind of coming through when we need it. We are not playing, we are not executing as well as we should, but when the plays are there to be made we're making them.
Q: You will have to be much better next week, are you looking forward to going against the best team in football?
TB: Yeah, I do think we need to be better on offense, on defense, on special teams. It's going to take a great effort and believe me; we are not backing down from the challenge. We know that if we want to be the best, we've got to beat the best and the Rams have been great for a couple years now. It'll be exciting for us. We are back at home in front of our own crowd and it is going to be a night game and everyone is going to be watching. So we are going to put our best effort out there.
Q: Could you describe two plays: the touchdown pass and your fumble?
TB: The touchdown, I saw Kevin [Faulk] lined up on a linebacker again. I dropped back and gave him a little pump fake and Kevin kind of stemmed inside and came back to the outside. The guy actually had pretty good coverage and I just tried to lead it a little bit behind Kevin so he could reach back, you know where the defender is not expecting and he made a great catch. The last one, we were just…a little bit of a deception play. We faked the handoff to the left and I rolled back to the right. I was looking inside to David [Patten] and I just saw a whole lot of bodies in there. At the last second I saw a guy flash and I think he just got his hand on the ball and that's careless. I mean that's ball in one hand and anytime someone swipes at it the ball is going to come out if it is not secure. And that's the type of situation…those are the things that you pride yourself on, things that I pride myself on, not to make mistakes like that. I think that was probably the most frustrating play of the day for me. I've got to improve on that.
Q: What if Drew [Bledsoe] says he is ready to go? How would you feel about that?
TB: I'm just concerned about how I am playing. I'll let Drew be concerned about how he feels and when he is ready to go. I don't know when he is coming back and all's I know is I am going to keep playing as hard as I can.
