BILLS HEAD COACH CHAN GAILEY
On his thoughts on the game:"Well, we gave up two touchdowns there early in the ball game and fought back.. I was impressed with a lot of things that happened. The defense stiffened a couple times, not quite enough, but stiffened a couple times. The biggest problem as I looked at it tonightwere the penalties on defense and giving up big plays on third down. Offensively, Tyler had his hand hit twice for interceptions and we can't have that kind of penetration in there on those situations."
On QB Tyler Thigpen's performance:"Tyler played good. He did. He made it tough and it was all on the line. He did a good job. There were some receivers who played well and are going to make it a really tough decision as well."
On the injury to QB Brad Smith:"He pulled his groin. I don't know how bad it is. I don't think it's terribly bad but it's not good anytime you get one of those."
On Smith's injury complicating the quarterback situation:"I don't think so right now. Let's see how bad it is first."
On QB Tyler Thigpen's first interception:"Actually it was a guy in the left gap where he was throwing it to the left. The guy reached right through the gap and hit it."
On WR Marcus Easley's kickoff return:"Yeah, huge. That's a great lesson for our kickoff coverage team. They gave us a second chance and from 5 yards back we returned it all the way. The negative is their offense went right on down the field after that because our defense was dead tired. They played a long series and turned around and had to go play after the kickoff return and had to play another long series. They were dead."
BILLS QB RYAN FITZPATRICK
On ending his preseason with a smooth scoring drive:"Yeah, not much but it's better than going out there and not doing anything I guess. So that was certainly a positive. I think we came out of the game relatively healthy and, you know, in this game just being able to see all those other guys compete with being there last time to get noticed. I was that guy for a long time, you know, trying to go out there and earn a job and a spot and show everybody what I can do. It's always a fun game to see that and how competitive it gets for those guys."
On the competition at wide receiver:"I was really happy to see Marcus (Easley) run that kickoff back. That was great. To be able to have a second chance there after their penalty and he just ran by everybody there. It was really good to see. You know, he's had a lot of things that haven't gone his way the last few years with injuries and to see him make that play and to be running and looking mighty fast, that was good. But those guys did a good job. There are a lot of different quarterbacks that have been in there that they've been working with but I thought they made some good plays today."
On helping QB Tarvaris Jackson get acclimated to the team:"I don't want to bother him, but certainly talking about plays and my thought processes in what we're doing as the game went on. Even with how we call the plays, the formations and what we're trying to get accomplished with the run or the pass. Just talking about those little things I'm sure it helped a little bit."
On finalizing the roster spots at quarterback:"Yeah, I mean, that's the job of a head coach. He's got to make the tough decisions and figure out what's best for our team. But for us, we obviously trust him 100-percent and we're all for him and all behind him with whatever he wants to do."
BILLS QB TYLER THIGPEN
On putting touchdown drives together when down 21 points:"Yeah, for sure. That's the one thing, we came into the locker room and we were down 28-10 or whatever it was. I said to the guys 'They put up 28, we can put up 28.' We came out there as an offense, first drive, and marched it down the field and scored and I think the next drive we scored, so we were right back in it. We knew what we were capable of once we started firing on all cylinders."
On his touchdown throw:"I think it was One-Trip Green 62 Indy Return. I saw press-cover one on the outside and right from the snap the free safety went to the right so I didn't want to go that way. Then I saw the one-on-one with Dorin (Dickerson) with the linebacker and that's a matchup we like and he beat him to the corner. Coach is probably going to say to me 'Throw it a little bit harder, don't take anything off of it.' A lot of guys, when a guy is wide open, you want to take a little off it cause you don't want to overthrow him, but he did a great job of catching it and pulling it down."
On getting hit on both of his interceptions: "Yeah, that's very frustrating. I was telling Coach that. Especially, you go out there and have a good performance and your two interceptions when somebody looks at the statistics and they were batted balls. Those are things that I don't know exactly what happened on the play. It may be my fault, it may not be, but those are things we either need to correct or see what happened."
BILLS CB STEPHON GILMORE
On how it felt to go up against Lions WR Calvin Johnson:"Felt pretty good. Only had about ten plays against him, but it felt pretty good just going out against probably one of the best receivers in the League. I got some plays against him and he's a great receiver."
On if it was his first time going up against Johnson:"Yeah, cause it's my rookie season, so it's my first time going against him."
On what went well for him:"Just getting as much snaps as I can. Just getting used to the game. With the preseason over with, now it's just time to look for the regular season and try to be one of the best corners in the League."
BILLS WR MARCUS EASLEY
Opening statement:"The return team, they did an excellent job with blocking; they made it real easy to read. The hole was there; I just (saw) the hole and I just hit it as hard as I could."
On feeling the pressure to make an impression tonight: "I try to leave it all on the field just like the rest of the receivers. We all made plays today. We knew what was at stake and we know our time was valuable. We just tried to take full advantage of the time and make the most of it while we're out there."
On the two-point conversion:"Tyler (Thigpen), he put his trust in me; gave me the opportunity to make a play and I just tried to fight to get the ball in."
On the kick return: "It was easy for me; the return team did an excellent job blocking. We executed the return just like it was drawn up. The guys opened it up real good. There was a hole and I saw the crease and just hit as hard as I could."
BILLS LB TANK CARDER
On how things went in the game:"I think they went pretty well. You don't ever think I've been that broke playing football. Just going all special teams and defense, so that was definitely… I haven't felt like that in a long time, but as a whole I felt real good with the defense and everything like that and playing with those guys."
On his good plays:"I mean, it can mean all kinds of things. I had a couple good palys but there was a couple mental errors that I had earlier in the game. I mean, it's up to them. I'm not going to play GM. Like I said, it's totally up to them and wherever I go and if I stay here, it's just the way it is and that's how it goes. But, like I said, I felt really good about the game, so whatever happens happens."
On if he has had a good opportunity so far:"I think so. I think so. There's a lot of guys fighting for a position. On all teams, not just ours, there's guys fighting for positions and that's the way it goes. I just do what I can when I can and hopefully impress, like I said, hopefully I can impress who I can when I get the opportunities."
