BUFFALO BILLS HEAD COACH CHAN GAILEY
Opening statement:
What I told the players after the game was two things that probably stuck in my craw a little bit more than anything else in the ball game was you cannot turn the ball over and I thought when they came off their own goal line, right before half, and completed that long pass. We got a little bit rattled. We have to hold our composure better than we did. If you do not turn it over and you do not lose your composure there, we are right in the middle of it.
We had a couple of missed assignments by different guys, it was not the same guy. Missed assignments that cost us offensively from scoring more points. We just did not take advantage of some field position early in the game. (Ryan Fitzpatrick) had a couple passes, great reads, threw it to the right guy but it got batted. You cannot let that happen, but it happens.
I am not disappointed. I thought we did some good things. Our backup crews played horrible tonight.
On QB Ryan Fitzpatrick not executing:
I am going to look at the film and I think I am going to see the same thing on the film that I saw out there. Some guys did not go to the right places for him. We have to make sure that we get guys going in the right places for him. He saw it and I thought that he was going to the right place. We just have to keep working on the little things that we were doing well last year. If we can keep people off of him, I think we will be fine. He got hit too much tonight. There were too many people around him.
On if CB Stephon Gilmore just cramped up:
Yeah, he cramped up.
On if the problem with receivers was miscommunication on option routes:
We had somebody stop on a route. We had somebody think that it was going to be down the field when it was a back shoulder, stop throw. We have to keep working on getting on the same page on those things like that.
On how the offensive line held up against the defensive pressure:
I think that we did average. I thought the line blocked pass protection average. Run game (blocking) was not bad. I thought we were average in the pass protection area tonight.
On the defense shutting down the Steelers' run game:
Yeah. We had great field position and that helped. I think that there is some negatives, some things that we need to work on but there are some positives too, that I take out of this ball game.
On if he is at all concerned about Fitzpatrick:
No. No, not at all.
On the second and third team's not performing well:
There are some individuals that are playing OK. It is just as a group they are not executing the way that we need to. There is half of this football team that will not be here when we get to that first ball game. Almost half.
On preventing the defense from becoming rattled:
Hopefully you learn from it. You cannot simulate that in practice. You cannot do it. You can talk about it and you can make a big deal about it. You have got to find ways to help them a little bit.
On getting good inside pressure from DT Kyle Williams and DT Marcell Dareus:
Yeah. We made him move around a little bit and if you make him move around, like every other quarterback, he becomes a less effective quarterback. We were making (the QB) move early in the ball game and that is what you try to do. Not let him sit back there comfortably in the pocket.
We had a stunt on the long pass coming off their own goal line. We had a stunt on and they kept both tight ends in to block and the stunt went right into it. That is why we did not have any pressure and he could stand back and look at it for as long as he did there.
On the special team's performance being very consistent:
(They are) playing well. Yeah, they have. They have done a great job. The punters have done a good job, had another good punt return or two tonight. They have done some good things. They really have. I was glad to see Brad (Smith) with the kickoff return. That was great. There were some positives out of this game, like I said.
BUFFALO BILLS QUARTERBACK RYAN FITZPATRICK
On building upon the touchdown drive:
It was good. We had good field position right away and then on that drive as well. (WR) David Nelson made a good catch. We got some goal line work and Freddie (Fred Jackson) made a nice little run to get us into the end zone. This was a good team for us to play because up front they do a lot of different things, run a lot of different schemes and to be able to feel comfortable in the game. I think the first two games with me and with a lot of guys part of it is not game planned. It is hard to get comfortable especially when you're not getting extended amount of time. We weren't clicking on all cylinders by any means. I think in the first half, there was more of a comfort level in terms of what we were seeing with the schemes they were running and what we were trying to do to counter that and that was good. That was a positive that came out of the game. I think that at this point we are not desperate. We are not worried about, well we didn't score 50 points every preseason game so it's not like we are trying to nit-pick and find some positives out of these games. There are a lot of positives and good things going on. The guys in our locker room know when it all matters and when it all counts and we are looking forward to that.
On his errors throwing:
I mean I could probably sit here and tell you about every single one of them. A lot of different things go into it. For me, like I said earlier, to be out there and to feel like we knew what they were doing. There are some unfortunate ones getting batted down at the line. There were some that were high. We had a good feel going into the game. I think at times we didn't execute. We were never lost out there which I think when you do not game plan sometimes you are not sure what is going on.
On feeling confident going into the regular season come September 9th:
Yes, I feel really confident. I feel confident in the guys we have out there. I feel confident in what we have done at this point in the off season. Unfortunately, I don't know that preseason games are always an indication of where the team is in terms of confidence and those things. I feel good about it and I know our guys feel good about it. We are 0-3 in the preseason, but again we are 0-0 with the stuff that matters and for us we are looking forward to getting out there against the Jets.
On if he felt hurried on some of his passes:
Again, this game was good in terms of looking at where the timing of where our passing game was, too, because a lot of time I had to throw in rhythm. I was having to get the ball out knowing that there were going to be defenders that were going to be coming there taking their shots and hitting me; so there was some stuff that we missed on because the timing was not as precise at it needed to be. I think it is going to be a good film to look at and just continue to get better.
On if he felt rushed on his pass to WR Derek Hagan in the second quarter:
I mean that is the job of the quarterback; to complete the ball and for me that is what I get paid to do. I get paid to make those completions when guys are in my face, or around me or hitting me. There were too many times today where that was the instance and I did not. I was not able to complete the ball.
On how he would assess his throws:
I feel really good to be honest. I really do and like I hit on earlier I have a lot of confidence in myself and the group and I know those guys have a lot of confidence too. Hopefully when we play the Jets and we start the real stuff then we will start keeping score.
On how he felt about the run game:I thought we did a pretty good job. They were running a 3-4 and a lot of times a 3-4 is tough to run against and we did some good things. I think that was one of the positives that came out of the game was some of the runs that we manufactured because that is not an easy defense to run against. I thought that was a positive.
On only scoring seven points in the game:
The first third down we had an open guy, and that [ball] got batted down at the line. There was just something that happened on every drive. That is part of football sometimes; it just doesn't go your way. There was just one thing on every drive that kept us from completing the drive or from continuing the drive. That comes down to consistency and something that we need to get better at.
Buffalo Bills S George Wilson
On how he feels the starting defense played overall tonight:
We got off to a fast start but we weren't unable to sustain that level of play going into halftime. We had a turnover and we have to do a better job of rising to the occasion when we have a sudden change like that. Playing on a short field, we cannot allow a team to get a touchdown. We have to hold them to three points, if not get a turnover to get the ball back. The two-minute drive they went 99 yards on us. We have to tip our hat, those guys are pros over there too. But we had opportunities to get off the field and to end that drive and we have to make those plays. There is no reason why we should have given up a touchdown going into halftime. They started the drive with 1:45, 1:46 (left) and one timeout. If we make them use that timeout early and make the plays when we have the opportunities to they do not get those points.
On if that drive erases all the good they did before that:
No I do not think it erases it. It definitely evens things out. It just goes to show you that every second on that clock counts. Any time you are lining up to run a play you have to impose your will and beat the man across from you. They did a great job of sustaining and weathering the storm early on with little production from a yardage standpoint. But (Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger) Big Ben being the vet he is led his team down in the two-minute drill like he has done numerous times in the past. It was a big test for us going into the regular season and we did not do a good job of answering the bell in that two-minute call.
On if there is reason to be concerned or not after these three preseason games:
No I am not concerned at all. I am definitely encouraged. Those first two preseason games we really did not do a bunch of game planning on those guys, but this week we did. I think it really showed early in the game how we were making them one-dimensional. We were stuffing the run and even not giving up any big plays in the passing game as well. The way we played the first 28 and a half minutes, that is how we have to play the entire game. We cannot just let our guard down, especially going into halftime. That is a key situation that we have to win. We are going to be in that position again at some point during the course of this season and we cannot give up points going into halftime.
Buffalo Bills RB Fred Jackson
On his feelings after today's game:
Well obviously any time you play a game you want to win and we were far from that. You know there are some good things to take from it. We always go in and look at the good things we did. But most importantly we have to go in and look at the things we did wrong and learn from those.
On what he is unhappy with:
I think specifically on myself some of the pass-blocking that I did. I did not do a good job in pass-blocking tonight and that is the number one area I think I need to focus on is getting back to being better at that. So go in and look at film and see what it was I did wrong. I kind of have an idea on it now, but I will go in and evaluate myself on that.
On if he felt a rhythm with the first team O-line:
Yeah our offensive line did a great job tonight. They saw the fronts we were getting and made the adjustments, you know made the calls that they needed to get on the right people and it showed. We were able to make some plays.
On how he felt finally getting significant touches this preseason:
I felt good. It was good to get back out there and get some significant touches and things like that to get back in the groove. So it was definitely good to do. Like I said, our offensive line played great tonight so they made it easy for me.
On where he thinks the team is heading into the regular season:
I think we are good. We know what we have to do. Go in and fix, like I said, look at the film today and figure out what it is we need to work on. But I think we are heading in the right direction. We made some plays while we were out there and we made some mistakes as well. But I think we will be alright.
On if he views this game as a step forward or a step back: Well I think, more than anything, we cannot just look at the score. We had some key turnovers that we have to eliminate and things like that. But we can take some good things from it as well as the bad.
