Rex Ryan Breaks Down Bills Win Over Titans

Head Coach Rex Ryan
Monday, October 12, 2015

Opening Comments
After watching the video, we still won, barely. Man oh man you give that team credit. You had two teams that really played extremely hard and that was evident on the tape. We gotta get better at some things. We left some plays on the field I thought. Especially early. Didn’t think Tyrod (Taylor) was very accurate early in the game, but like we talked about he hung in there and obviously got a lot better as the game went on. We’re fortunate enough that we made enough plays at the end there to win the game and we deserved it. It wasn’t pretty, but I thought we deserved it. With that I’ll open it up for questions.

Q: For two weeks in a row your offense has gotten off to a very slow start. Why do you point to that?
A: You know things like that happen at times. You gotta give the defense their credit. You know they stepped up and for whatever reason. Look and I get it, we’ve got some of our big guns out but we still gotta find a way to get going and sometimes it’s just like you need a break. You need to find a way to make a play and we had some plays out there. But we weren’t hitting them. So we just gotta keep working and find ways to be a little more consistent on a good note, instead of a bad note.

Q: What were the Titans doing defensively that really prevented Charles Clay and Percy Harvin from getting involved?
A: I mean they mix things up and things. But those are gonna happen. I mean sometimes they can shut down certain things and it presents other ones. On the long run, I always said you could never play two man against Tyrod Taylor. Well, case and point. Don’t play two man against Tyrod Taylor cause he took off with it. But you know they did a couple things and we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be.

Q: What about getting Karlos Williams and Sammy Watkins back this week?
A: Yeah that would be a big plus obviously. You know I hope so. We’ll see about those guys later in the week. But I was really encouraged with Sammy. How Sammy went through even his work out before the game. We thought it was best to just give him a little more time instead of…Cause sometimes you can go on the practice field and all that but that game speed’s a little different, and that intensity’s certainly different. But we thought it was best to hold him out of that game and get him really ready for this. So I feel good about Sammy and we’ll find out later about Karlos. He’s still in the protocol, concussion protocol and all the guys really.

Q: Has Karlos Williams got through the baseline part of the concussion protocol?
A: I’m really not sure. But it’s…I know he had some appointment today. So we’ll see where he’s at. Cierre Wood, guys, is out. He’ll be placed on IR, so he’s out with a knee injury, ACL.

Q: Do you know exactly how Karlos Williams was hurt?
A: I still don’t know. I mean at some point obviously in that game. But you know shoot, he caught a touchdown in that fourth quarter of the game, he did some things. So I’m not real sure.

Q: Do you plan on filling Cierre Wood’s roster spot with IK Enemkpali?
A: Yeah we’ll fill it with IK.

Q: Do you see IK Enemkpali being able to step in and contribute and what kind of role do you see him filling?
A: Well I think he’ll fill in as a backup defensive end/DPR type guy and possibly contribute on special teams.

Q: Do you think having a guy like IK Enemkpali can help take a little bit of a load off of Jerry Hughes and Mario Williams?
A: I think so. You know he’ll be certainly in the sub. He’ll be our backup pass rusher and sub. And those guys, you know it’s tough to look over there and you got Mario Williams beside you, you got Jerry Hughes beside you. Oh get back in there. To say that we’re better without them…But I think having somebody like IK can take a little bit off them. Keep those guys fresh.

Q: How much has not having Karlos Williams and LeSean McCoy hindered the offense?
A: Well I mean, I think it’s…You know like I said we’ll never have an excuse but when you’re taking away a guy like, especially you look at LeSean McCoy – He’s close to maybe an 1,800 yard rusher. There’s not many of those guys walking the planet. So obviously that’s a big loss and Karlos was doing tremendous. I’m not sure if he…Somebody had something about him close to a record with four straight games with a touchdown his rookie year, or something like that. Like he’s a pretty talented kid. So you take those two out obviously that’s a big loss. Boobie (Dixon) is not what we want him to be right now because he had missed all of training camp. I think he’d be the first to tell you that. So we’re doing the best we can, it’s just not an ideal situation.

Q: As a follow up. How much is that affecting your slow starts on offense?
A: I think it contributes a little bit. I mean I don’t think there’s any doubt we are a lot harder to defend with LeSean (McCoy) out there. Or a Sammy Watkins, or whoever. I mean that goes without saying. You know those two guys, the reason you get…You know you get Sammy Watkins, you trade two first round picks for him. There’s a reason LeSean McCoy’s been to Pro Bowls, you know multiple Pro Bowls. Having those guys back obviously presents a lot more…you know certain challenges to defenses that maybe don’t exist right now.

Q: You said yesterday you felt the team was starting to figure it out. Can you just specify what you meant by that?
A: Several things. I mean first off when you look at…Let’s take a look at penalties. Grant it, not exactly an ideal way to start a game, but we certainly did a better job in that area. I thought we showed composure, I thought we showed more poise and that was obviously a huge thing. I don’t believe we win that game, let’s just say we had two more unsportsmanlike penalties, do we win the game? I don’t think so. So I thought it was huge that our guys, that we kept our cool and we did just that. We showed poise and we showed that we can overcome certain things. Maybe we think, wow this probably shouldn’t have been a penalty. Well it is and you gotta play the next down and I think our guys jumped in and did a good job of that, finished the game. You know wasn’t going well yet we hung together and we had mentioned that there’s time the offense has to pick up the defense. Time the defense has to pick up the offense and sometimes special teams had to pick up both. I thought through the course of the game that’s really how the game played out and at time we weren’t really good on defense and at times we were outstanding. And same thing you could say on offense and on special teams.

Q: Do you plan to keep two kickers on the roster or will you possibly have to make room for another running back?
A: I don’t believe we’ll have to do that about running back. I’m not sure. You know I don’t think we’ll have to do that but we’ll definitely look at and evaluate where we are with that situation.

Q: Would you be able to go into a game with only two health running backs?
A: Well you still have (Jerome) Felton too. So, alright you have two running backs.

Q: Did the wristbands help? Do you think they did anything?
A: Just great. You know the funny thing is, and everybody’s saying ‘Oh no, it’s a gimmick.’ I don’t know if it’s a gimmick or not. I think if you really ask the professionals who know things about these type of things, it wasn’t done just to be a gimmick. The fact mine snapped the first play, probably wasn’t a great thing. But it’s just a little thing that lets you know, hey there’s people counting on me. Other people counting on me. And you know the yes sir thing, and all that, but it’s just bigger than us individually and we don’t want to let each other down. And I think that’s just a reminder of that.

Q: Aaron Williams seemed to pull away Corey Graham on that pass interference call. How big of a moment was that?
A: Well I think it was, you know Corey was disappointed he thought it was a legal hit on him, or something like that. But it wasn’t viewed that way so you gotta move on. But I thought it was interesting cause that’s what I’m talking about. Where the team is picking each other up. That hey we gotta get on and move onto the next play, that one’s over and I thought our guys did a good job of that. And that’s an indication…that’s just one example of it.

Q: Was it a conscious effort at half time to get Tyrod Taylor involved more with his legs or did he kind of take that upon himself?
A: Greg (Roman) and I talked a little about that and you know we’re just…right then we’re searching. We’re trying to get something going and we knew we’d just keep hanging in there. But obviously he gives you such a weapon as a runner that that was mentioned.

Q: Is punt return something under consideration after Denarius Moore’s fumble?
A: Yeah that’s real unfortunate. Quite honestly both the guys that we picked up that had been on the streets, you’re not used to getting hit. You try to simulate it or whatever. That happens occasionally and it’s…You know he made a great return but you’ve gotta protect, you gotta feel that guy doubling back and all that. But that was huge thing. We finally get a stop, we’re finally gonna flip the field and boom, we get a fumble. We go back and unfortunately one of the biggest negatives of the whole game is that the defense never stood on their head and just forced a field goal attempt. That’s what we have to do in those situations and that was unfortunate I thought. But then we fumble…you know we had the run and then (Boom) Herron fumbles that time. But sometimes those things happen and you can be mindful about it. You know you can talk it about it but you’re just not use to getting hit. It’s probably been a month since those guys have been hit.

Q: Yesterday we saw a huge block down field from Robert Woods with some help from Chris Hogan. What does it mean to have your receivers still making an impact if they’re not catching the ball?
A: Oh they’re definitely having an impact but that’s who we are as a football team. That’s something we wanna pride ourselves in about being selfless but still contributing. And you mention Robert Woods, he’s had some huge blocks for us and that was a great block that he had on the touchdown by Tyrod (Taylor). But we just, you know it’s easy and I’ll talk about it and all that stuff, but our guys give the effort. Whether it’s Percy (Harvin), whether it’s Hogan you mention, Robert certainly. But they all buy in and that’s the beauty of it. And it’s a rough day, I mean shoot we mention we had one catch between (Charles) Clay and Harvin, you never go into a game assuming that’s gonna happen. But it did and yet those guys are still trying to contribute in as many ways as they possibly can.

Q: As much as Tyrod Taylor gave that offense a spark yesterday, how much of a concern is it having your quarterback run the football like that?
A: Well it’s always a concern. You know there is no question and I can tell you this, he is beat up right now. Like he’s sore, you oughta see him, he is sore. We knew he would be. You know guys, he hasn’t been 100-percent all season, he’s had an ankle. So he’s been…even through training camp. We really haven’t seen the 100-percent Tyrod Taylor. But that’s it, of course you’re always concerned when your quarterback takes off with it.

Q: Are any of Tyrod Taylor’s injuries significant? Or something he can play through?
A: Well no, I mean we all know he finished the game. But we’ll see. We’ll see how he’s doing. We’ll be looking at him throughout the week and everybody else that we have. But like I said he’s sore now, I can tell you that much.

Q: What do you think of the job Billy Cundiff did yesterday?
A: You know what, it’s…you know he did okay but he probably wish he had worked on his kick offs maybe a little more. But he did a…you know it wasn’t probably his best effort. But he was out there.

Q: Was the off sides in the beginning a timing issue because they haven’t worked with him that much?
A: Well you know and we work extra hard on that. I talk about it like alright we’re gonna full sprint to the ball and then we’ll…you can’t go full speed on your kick offs over and over. But we were doing full sprint to the get off point and then throttle them down. I mean golly, man is it close in that stuff. But the one thing you’re seeing is that is wasn’t just one guy. Usually when a guys off sides you see a guy clearly off sides. This one, they all kinda hit the line together. Was it a tad off? It looked like he was a little off.

Q: For three out of four weeks you have to go against teams coming off either a Thursday night game or a bye week. How tough is that as a team to go against an opponent with more preparation and rest time?
A: That’s not easy because just like now, I mention how sore our guys are. I mean that was a physical game and all that. But it’s, you know you can’t plan on anything different. But obviously that team was a lot fresher than we were heading into that game. It just something you gotta deal with. But it’s what you say three out of four or something like that? It just seems…yeah I don’t know if every team faces it or not but I just seems a little strange.

Q: What does is do for your defense to have Aaron Williams and Corey Graham both back healthy together?
A: That was great and Aaron made some big hits. I gotta make sure that I’m not…you know maybe we gotta look at how we practiced him last week and make sure he’s ready to go for the games. Maybe not beat him up as much on the practice field. So do a little of that cause man he did a great job in there. And you mention those two together. We’re still the communication, we still gotta get a little better. We started that game, it’s like we had never seen snag real before. That was disappointed but at least we responded. You know I mean we fixed it as we went on.

Q: How would you categorize the play of Seantrel Henderson in recent weeks?
A: Seantrel did not have one of his better games this past week, but he’s been doing a really nice job. This past week probably wasn’t his…probably his worst game this season.

 

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