BUFFALO BILLS SAFETY BACARRI RAMBO
Q: Would you take us through the interceptions? How those plays broke down for you?
A: Me and (Nickell) Robey just communicated, studying film and just talking to those guys. We knew once 18, (Randall) Cobb, once he ran that route, I was going to take him and he was going to free up. When it happened I was like, "Oh, here it comes." And I just saw (Aaron) Rodgers eyeing his guy, and I just broke on the ball and made a play.
Q: How does it feel, Rodgers has five interceptions and that was the only clean one he threw all year.
A: It feels good. Just going against a lot of guys. I'm going to say he's the best quarterback in the league in some guys' opinion. Just going against him, having my first career interception and my second career interception off him, it's just a huge, huge confidence boost. Just, that's going to allow me to play even faster and build confidence in myself, that, hey, I can do this. I belong in this league.
Q: Can you talk about the confidence level of the defense in general? Who would have thought you could have done this? Did you guys think you could hold Rodgers like that?
A: Well we believed in each other all week. The coaches, the team, the players, everybody just believed in each other. We knew that we could come in here, do the right things, and do what the coaches ask us to do, and we could stop this team. We believe in each other, throughout this whole week. We still believe in each other. This is just a huge confidence boost for the whole defense. To not allow not one quarterback, but two of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL to no passing touchdowns, this is a huge, huge confidence boost for us.
Q: Bacarri, when Washington released you, what did they tell you at that time? What was your mental state in the days after that?
A: They just released me. They said I wasn't in on too many plays and I wasn't participating on special teams. I was out in Denver with my wife and my kid and her family. I was working out with Brian Dawkins. He was a huge, huge inspiration to me this time that I was unemployed. He was teaching me things, and giving me tips and advice to help me play faster once I got my chance. And he stayed in my grill, once you got your chance just go all out. I was just thankful for a second opportunity, man. You never know what will happen. Once you get that second chance, you just have to go all out like it's your last play.
Q: Why Denver? Was it to work out with him (Dawkins)?
A: My wife and her family is from out there so I was staying with them. They introduced me to him, which I'm a huge fan of, so they introduced me to him. So, we linked up and just started working out together and he was just teaching me stuff.
BUFFALO BILLS HEAD COACH DOUG MARRONE
Q: Are you going to let yourself smile a little bit after a game like that?
A: I am. Honestly, I think the real story is from the guys that are in there and whatever insight I can give you, I'll be more than happy to give you. The assistant coaches and the team, they're the ones that got it done.
Q: How was the defense able to shut down Aaron Rodgers?
A: Obviously, they played at a very high level. We were able to go in and, early on, we took away some of the stop-nines they were trying to run and get them to the second read. I knew earlier in the week that we were going to play some coverage, two-man and things like that. They hurt us on some of the runs early on because we had to stop them with seven in the box. They did a good job of cutting us off, but overall guys stepped up; guys that weren't even here with us in the beginning. Marcus Thigpen steps up. Bacarri Rambo comes in for Duke [Williams] and he gets two interceptions. That's what you need. You need to do that. Obviously, we had some opportunities on offense, weren't able to capitalize early on in the game, but to beat this team you're going to have to play well in all three phases.
Q: Was the way your defense was playing an influence to your play calling in the second half?
A: Early on we started running the football on the first series and then we get the third-and-one and we get stopped. That's disappointing. That's an opportunity that goes by. Then, the next down-and-distance the next time we get the ball, we try to take a shot vertically down the field on first down and we get sacked. The protection breaks down. We were trying a lot of different things to get ourselves started. It's not like we're sitting in there. At halftime we come back in and the problem was that we were zero for six on third downs. When we talked about it and you looked at the drives, we weren't doing a good enough job on first down. When we came back out there, we said, 'Okay, listen. We've got to make sure we keep the sticks in our favor and gives ourselves an opportunity to make it on third.' That's kind of what the discussions were as the game was going on.
Q: It seemed like the guys showed some character today?
A: The guys all year have done a good job. It's tough. You guys know because you ask the questions and I get it to. 'Do you feel like you had a good defensive effort? Do you feel like it was for nothing? Do you feel like you guys have done a good job, but need to score points?' Those things are all good questions and they're the right questions. I'm not saying that they're wrong. Where you have to do a good job is when you look at those guys in that locker room and they never pointed fingers or anything, saying, 'Yeah, that's right. These guys have got to pick it up.' I think that's a credit to character and the team. It's tough to do in this day and age; to keep a team like that.
Q: Where does your defense rank with other ones you've seen in the NFL?
A: They're right up there. They're right up there. Fortunately or unfortunately, we've seen all of them. The only one we haven't seen is Seattle. When you look at the top ten, we've probably seen seven or eight of them.
BUFFALO BILLS KICKER DAN CARPENTER
Q: It became pretty evident that it was going to be a tight game after the first half. How did you feel going out there and making long kicks in the cold weather?
A: I actually think the 48-yarder was the more difficult one. That end, it was gusting pretty good down there. It was kind of in your face; left to right. I missed a few balls down there in warm-ups, so it was definitely one I was concerned about when I was going out there. I knew I had to hit a good ball.
Q: With the way things were going, you knew they were going to be turning to you more often than not at the end of every possession. Does that kind of change your thinking at all?
A: No, not really. The stats show that 1 in every 3 games or something like that are won by 6 or 7 points or less. It's not easy to win in this league. Every game is a close one. There are very few blowouts where you're winning by two possessions. You've got to treat every one the same because you never know if the game winner will come in the first quarter or with no time left in the fourth.
Q: Can you comment on the job by the coverage teams?
A: It's nice to have [Marcus] Easley back. He's been a big part of our coverage team. The guys did great. Like I said, going that one direction kicking off, you're not going to kick touchbacks. Being able to get them on the 17-yard like or something like that – anytime you can pin an offense like the Packer's back to make them drive the field, you're going to be in good shape.
BUFFALO BILLS QUARTERBACK KYLE ORTON
Q: What do you feel this offense needs to do to get to a level to finish the job down the stretch and get to the postgame?
A: We'll just keep on getting better. I think that's the only focus that you can have. Feel good that we got the win, but realize there are a lot more things we can do to get better. It's a battle every week of execution. The good offenses just execute play in and play out. We'll work our butts off to get to that point.
Q: How do you feel being in the hunt still with two games to play?
A: It feels great. It's what you play for; to have these games. Next week's as big as it gets. We've got to go all the way out in West Oakland and play a tough football team. We've got to celebrate and get over this, and then move onto the next week.
BUFFALO BILLS CORNERBACK COREY GRAHAM
Q: Corey, you've played on some pretty good defenses in Baltimore. What would you think of this performance by this defense, it's hard to compare, but this was pretty good today.
A: We're really good. Really good. I mean the last couple of weeks I definitely started to notice it even more. We already knew how good the d-line was, the linebackers, even the DBs, we know how good we are. But to do what we've done the last couple of weeks against the best in the league, the best they have to offer, I mean it's been special. We have to obviously continue to play like that but once we do that, now the mark is set. Now you got to expect that every week from everybody and that's what we got to do. We've got to make sure we're locked in and ready to go every week.
BUFFALO BILLS WIDE RECEIVER MARCUS THIGPEN
Q: Describe the punt return.
A: We needed a spark and once he kicked the ball it fell kind of short and I saw our guys had some big blocks and some big holes on the left side of the field and I just took it and ran for it.
Q: There was a case where like five guys were already, when you took your first step, you already passed. You already passed five of their return guys so I mean that's kind of nice when you have to beat half the team rather than the whole team.
A: Yea, they came down heavy to my right so that's why the left side was so open so I was just going to take advantage of that.
Q: And (Bacarri) Rambo too. He just got here three or four weeks ago. Pretty amazing you guys make big plays like that just getting here.
A: Yea, that's why they brought us here. They put trust in us and I'm thankful for the opportunity to be here and just trying to take advantage of it.
BUFFALO BILLS DEFENSIVE TACKLE KYLE WILLIAMS
Q: Did you get the sense early on Kyle that this defense was in for this kind of day?
A: Listen, we had talked about it all week and I think we talked about it on Monday or Tuesday when you guys were in. We're not going to get caught up in the hoopla of who we're playing or the gauntlet of the quarterbacks because we've played great quarterbacks. We've played well against great quarterbacks so the only expectation that we had was to play well and to win a football game and we were able to do that today.
Q: Kyle, you had backups to backups coming in today and making big plays like (Bacarri) Rambo in the backend. It's pretty amazing.
A: Yeah you know one thing we talked about was we're not going to get too high, we're not going to get too low. They're a great offense, they're a great football team, we're just going to plug away. One play at a time we're going to play together, go out there and make some plays and it truly is next man up. If somebody's hurt we got to get guys to come in and play and (Bacarri) Rambo did that today.
BUFFALO BILLS SAFETY AARON WILLIAMS
Q: Could you have even expected Aaron Rodgers to be shut down in that way?
A: We were expecting to shut them down. We went up against a Hall of Famer last week, why couldn't we do it again this week. Aaron Rodgers is a great quarterback; I think he's the best quarterback in the league right now. I knew as long as we had great communication at the back end and held our guys for an extended period of time we had this game in our hands.
Q: You guys are down a man in the secondary and then you lose Duke (Williams)…
A: That's just the kind of depth we have in the secondary, we feel like everybody could start. Duke came in and did a great job before he got hurt and (Bacarri) Rambo did a hell of a job coming in with two interceptions and guys had to fit in to positions where they didn't practice all week but we're a smart secondary, you could put us anywhere and we're just going to go out and play.
BUFFALO BILLS DEFENSIVE END MARIO WILLIAMS
Q: Give me a sense of what you guys were trying to accomplish and why it worked as effectively as it did?
A: I think the biggest thing was just trying to get after him, get him rattled, just kind of get him not looking at where he was trying to throw the ball necessarily. We got close a bunch of times, we kind of lured around a bunch of times, and unfortunately he got out once or twice. You can't sit there and try to do too much because he shakes left and shakes right, he does that to try to get someone going one way or another.
Q: This has been a team coming in that had a lot of blocked kicks; I assume you knew that from the scouting report…
A: They snapped the ball; we pushed the line and put my hand up.
Q: Was it something you guys saw on film though?
A: Not necessarily, we knew especially in an extended field goal or extra point that obviously the trajectory is going to be a little different and I think the biggest thing was Marcell got some great push alongside of me and we just got back there and I am 6 foot 12, which is 7 foot I know that but yeah something like that and it just went right into my hand. I missed the first one, the first one should've been blocked.
Q: You guys have had outstanding defensive performances all year, where in your mind does this rank to you?
A: Well I think dealing with the caliber of quarterback, Aaron is definitely, I think he's definitely in his prime so I think up until this point a team win in general against them is phenomenal. So it has to be up to number one at least.
BUFFALO BILLS RUNNING BACK FRED JACKSON
Q: Knowing that your last two games are away, what kind of moment was it for you guys and all the fans after a win like that coming off the field?
A: It was a great moment. That crowd was in the game the entire game, to be able to finish it against a good team like that, finish in our home stadium and give (the fans) something to be excited about. You want to celebrate with them, a lot of guys did that, we had a lot of fun with them and we just wanted to show them we appreciate the support.
Q: Does part of you feel good for Coach Marrone, he's been through a lot this year. There are always questions it seems about job security.
A: Without a doubt, we feel good for him. We love playing for him. He's a guy that gives us everything so we want to give him everything when we get a chance to. This one was big, not only for us but it was big for him. We wanted to show him how much we appreciate it.
Q: Do you think it will be enough for him to stick around?
A: It was a quality win against a quality opponent and he got us prepared to do so. That's all you can ask for in a coach. We love playing for him and we'll continue to fight for him. As long as we do that we'll see what takes care of itself.
Q: Is this the biggest win of your time here?
A: Yeah, it's right now. We're still fighting for a chance to get in the playoffs. We need every one of them, we'll go next week into Oakland and that will be big for us. We've just got to keep fighting and keep focusing on every team.
BUFFALO BILLS DEFENSIVE END, JERRY HUGHES
Q: Can you take some solace in going up against a top level quarterback and making the guy ineffective?
A: Absolutely, our secondary played tremendous out there. It's the no fly zone for a reason. Two weeks, two big weeks back to back they came out ready. It just speaks volumes to the way those guys prepare back there. They put a lot of extra work in day in and day out. Rambo had two huge interceptions that helps swing momentum our way, it was great.
Q: You're still alive playoff-wise, give me a sense of the team's overall attitude.
A: Keep fighting every Sunday. We're going to come out every Sunday and we're going to fight for four quarters. We're going to try to win these last couple ball games and then just see where the chips lie after that.
