BUFFALO BILLS HEAD COACH SEAN MCDERMOTT

Opening Statement: Okay, we’ll go ahead and get started here. I’m just going to open it up with talking about Tyrod [Taylor] here. Tyrod took a hit early in the game there. You saw him come out later in the game. He’s being evaluated and that remains the case. I’m not going to get into next week at all at this point until I know a little bit more medically, at this point. With that, I’ll open it up to questions. 

Q: Was it the first play of the game, just to be clear?

A: Yes.

Q: How was he able to continue going out if it ended up being the way it did? Was there any consideration to take him out earlier?

A: We talked about it. He said he could continue at the time. Up until he couldn’t, that’s what he did.

Q: Would you concur that, I mean [Taylor] was hurt, granted, you can’t win in the NFL with offense like that today?

A: Well we’ve got to do a better job. To score three points, we’ve got to do a better job. I’m not going to sugarcoat that at all. We’ve got to score more than three points and put a defense under pressure. I thought we had a first good drive and then we gave the ball up there. You can’t do that in the NFL, in particular in the red zone. To come away with no points I thought was – although it was a good drive, it wasn’t good enough.

Q: On that play, the pick, what happened? It looked like he was almost trying to stop because maybe [LeSean] McCoy ran the route the wrong way. Do you know what actually happened there?

A: Yeah, I’ve got to look at the film to know a little bit more. It looked like they took away his first or second read in there and then he went to his next read.

Q: That’s two straight [losses] at home [with] basically the same performance by the offense. Does this show why you did what you did after that New Orleans game?

A: I don’t know as much that, as it is that we’ve just got to continue to get better as a football team in all three phases. We’ve got to learn from this game. There’s a lot of valuable lessons in this game, some of which were protecting the football [which] was mentioned earlier and then execution and doing our job. When you go up against a team like the Patriots, they’re going to expose and exploit you when you don’t do those things.

Q: Coach, anything new on Tre White? He was a little woozy coming off [the field].

A: Yeah, he’s in the concussion protocol.

Q: What was your feeling about that play, the one that Rob Gronkowski made?

A: Well, I thought it was a good play by Tre. I’ll start off with the play itself. I wasn’t happy about what ensued after that and I’ll start with us as well. We’ve had some situations come up there, which we can’t let that happen on our side either.

Q: And you are referring to Jerry [Hughes] and Micah Hyde’s penalties?

A: [nods]

Q: Did you understand why you got the 15-yard penalty in that situation after all that happened? Were you a bit perplexed about how the whole thing was shaking out?

A: Well, I just wanted an explanation more than anything.

Q: What did they say?

A: I’ll just leave that conversation between them and myself right now.

Q: Sean, some coaches in that situation may say, ‘alright, I’m glad my’ – well, maybe not with Hughes and whatever he did with the official, but ‘I’m glad my team retaliated or stuck up for itself in that situation.’ Where are you in terms of that moment and how you responded or didn’t respond?

A: Well, the number one thing we’ve got to do is keep our composure and our poise and execute in those situations and then after that, I understand what you’re saying. I don’t disagree with you as far as that goes. You’d want guys to defend one another within the rules.

Q: Sean, it seemed like after halftime, the first drive of the half was kind of damaging. You held them to nine points in the first half. How about that first drive, just not getting it done there?

A: I thought there [were] some good things defensively and special teams also. We did some good things in the red zone in the first half. The first drive after half, to your point, the first third down, we didn’t execute like we have. Give them the credit. They got a key first down right there and went on to score. We could do a better job in that situation to execute.

Q: You’re the first team to hold them under 13 points in a half all year. Did you feel like the game was there for the taking because of that?

A: Right. I felt like, we knew they were getting the ball after half coming out and that we had done some good things. When you look back at it, there were some opportunities in the first half. We were down there early on the first drive [and had] opportunities to get off the field defensively [and] some opportunities special teams-wise. I thought if we came out after half and got off the field early, that that would be a key drive for us.

Q: What was your reasoning behind the challenge in the first half?

A: Yeah, I just thought situation, you look at it and you say ‘hey, I thought he dumped the ball a little bit there’ and obviously the knee was down. I thought, situationally, I didn’t see too much of a downside in doing it because we were already in that part of the game there in terms of the situation. I just wanted them to take a little bit longer to look at the entire situation more than anything.

Q: So you were trying to get it to be a sack and push yardage back? There was some thought you were trying to argue intentional grounding.

A: No. I mean, again, it was just looking at the picture. Sometimes, and we talked about it on the field, those things move so fast for the guys out there that I wanted them to take a longer look at it. Anytime you can get a quarterback like that behind the sticks, it usually works to your advantage. Obviously, we ended up forcing a punt there.

Q: In the third quarter, I forget which scoring drive it was, they converted a third-and-ten and it looked like it was going to be a measureable situation. They ran up and ran a play. Were you trying to get a measurement or did they not grant you a request, or what – you looked pissed off there. What exactly happened?

A: Right. When you look at it, I was trying to get a little bit of both and any time a team substitutes and changes personnel, the defensive side is, by rule, allowed to match. I didn’t think we were given that opportunity.

Q: How does this Patriots team compare with the teams that you’ve studied in the past? Are they as dominant?

A: They are. This is a good football team and I mentioned this to their coaches before the game. I felt like it’s one of their strongest teams that I’ve seen. They’re a good team and I give them all the credit. They beat us today and now we’ve got to learn from it. There’s a lot of valuable lessons we can learn from this game today and take them forward and use them to grow and learn and build like we’re doing here.

Q: What did they do effectively to bottle up Tyrod? Obviously, that first play you talked about but what did they do overall?

A: I mean they did a variety of things, really. It wasn’t just one thing. They did a variety of things [and] had a good plan schematically there defensively.

Q: Sean, what do you think specifically of the [Rob Gronkowski] hit that left Tre [White] with a concussion?

A: Well, I mean, I just don’t think that there’s any place in the game for that, really. It was unfortunate and I know he’s a better player than that.

Q: Sean, how do you handle or how do you get involved in the play-calling strategy as you’re gearing up for an opponent week-to-week? Does Rick [Dennison] take it to you? Can you maybe give us some insight as to how you draw that up?

A: Well, we dialogue about a lot of things. Communicate not only offensively but defensively and special teams. There’s good communication, healthy communication there on a weekly basis.

Q: What would be your thoughts on revisiting how you guys do that or giving more influence or – because things have stalled out. Is this maybe time to take a harder look at that?

A: Well it’s, and not trying to get away from your question, we look at everything in all three phases. Obviously, like I mentioned earlier to Sal’s point, we’ve got to score more than three points and I expect that we’ll go back, take a hard look at it as a staff and work at getting it corrected.

Q: Coach, what did you get out of Joe Webb today in the fashion that you used him? Do you feel like you got what you were looking for from him?

A: I thought there was some creative looks that we were able to give. Joe brings an added dimension to the position back there, whatever position he plays. It’s unfortunate we had an opportunity with [Travaris] Cadet down the seam there that we overthrew, but I liked the energy Joe brought to the offense there.

Q: You used the Wildcat today, which is something that you haven’t used a lot. What was the use out of maybe saying this was the right time to do it?

A: Well, again, I just think looking at Joe and what he brings to the table and using all of our resources and their strengths and putting players in position, players in position to succeed. Joe does some good things and he’s kind of multi-dimensional at what he does. We just felt like that dimension would help us.

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