Buffalo Bills Head Coach Sean McDermott
(Start by talking about maybe the evolution of your offense. Obviously we just got finished talking to QB Josh Allen. The number of weapons you have, they were on display today. How far has this group come?) – “I think we continue to build our foundation. We have had a short runup, our offensive staff has done a really good job of trying to establish with great clarity what we’re all about, how we want it done at every position and what it needs to look like. I think you’re seeing some of that come to life with a lot more work to do ahead of us here.”
(What was it like seeing all week long (inaudible). You also had a lightning delay. How proud are you of the way your team handled all of the obstacles, trailing in the fourth quarter and still coming out with a win?) – “Yeah, listen it’s a tough thing to go on the road in the NFL, wins are hard to come by in the NFL, period. But to your point, just the obstacles that were in our way from coming down here banged up on the defensive side in particular to the weather, we knew it’s going to be hot when they schedule us down here early. So there’s a lot of obstacles, but our guys over came and they stayed resilient and we knew that there was a chance also for the weather that we did get and our team and staff did a great job, we were ready to go with the lightning storm and I thought we handled it well.”
(How proud are you … S Micah Hyde said two weeks ago that it was frustrating at times, the offense — and to see your offense battle back in the fourth quarter, throw the two like knockout punches, how proud are you of this offense and all the pieces that are involved in it?)
– “Very proud, very proud. I’m most proud of the way the guys stayed together today. We could have done a better job in some other areas, but in terms of the defense, the offense stayed in there and the defense battled and it was a good team win, special teams came through at the end. Tyler
Bass had a good day I thought overall and kicked the ball well. So a lot of good things with still a lot of things to correct over the season here.”
(Curious if what we are seeing out of QB Josh Allen last week and this week is what you envisioned him being when you drafted him just a few years ago.) – “Well, it’s game 2. So I’m just real proud of him, real proud of the entire offensive side of the ball, just the way that they game planned, going back to training camp, the way they put a good plan together this week and the guys executed. There were some things obviously we want back. I was proud of the way we came out and ran the ball today as well. That helps a quarterback, any time you can do that. I thought our offensive line moved the line of scrimmage, which was good to see.”
(QB Josh Allen, we have seen him do this since he’s been in Buffalo, these fourth quarter comebacks, he seems to rise to the moment quite often. Can you speak to that about this kid and the moxie that he showed in a situation like that?) – “I thought that, again, just, he’s just, he’s got ice water in his veins, man, the guy there’s no moment too big for him. That was true from the very start when we got him here, quite honestly. I’m proud of the way that guys I think are developing a mindset that adversity that we faced last week, going back to the start of training camp with COVID, and the adversity we saw last week, the adversity we saw today, a lot of challenges in Josh as a leader and he does a great job of leading by example and just that winning mindset. He’s a highly competitive guy, as are a lot of guys in the locker room, so we got a group of guys like that, a bunch of them, which is a good thing for us.”
(If you could speak to WR Stefon Diggs. Obviously, we knew coming in what this guy could do. He’s a true No. 1 receiver. Just the impact he’s already had on this offense it just seems like the offense is in a different gear with him on the field.) – “Big-time player. As they say, big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games and he did that today as well as Gabe Davis, John
Brown in terms of the last touchdown and of course Josh (Allen) delivering the ball. He needed time. I just thought overall, just a really good offensive performance. We’ve got to continue to evolve and grow at the same time. There’s tape out there on us now with two games. So we have to continue to
grow and evolve and improve. But just real happy to see what we did offensively today.”
(I know that some of your defensive players have already said 28 points allowed isn’t their standard, but the goal line stand, you look at the score at the end of the day it’s a three-point game, they don’t hold them out or hold them scoreless you don’t win that game. So just comment on the goal line stand and the resilience there after what was a long drive and they
were on the field for a bit.) – “Yeah, listen it was hot, you know, as we expected it to be and we had the delay. So we came down and I think it showed the resiliency of the group. We didn’t play our best game defensively today, give the credit where credit’s due to the Dolphins. But again they stood up when they needed to stand up and they fought. We came in a little bit beat up on defense and real proud of the way that the linebackers stepped up, the guys that played stepped up and did a good job.”
(So you just mentioned it, you’ve got those injuries on defense, it was going to put a lot of stress on that group and there were other factors involved but that was a big thing. So what your offense did today obviously couldn’t have been better timed but I’m thinking in a larger sense do you feel now you’ve got this kind of offense that can kind of regularly be this explosive for you, I mean you got a component that really since you got here in 2017 this is
really, it feels like something new and different on its whole. How do you see it?) – “Yeah, I think just I think some defensive head coaches take the approach of continuing to pad their side of the ball and then they like winning a 11-9 and having no hair, I guess, you know. Whereas, I guess
I’m — for me I don’t like winning 11-9. I like winning, but I just feel like to have a good football team that can sustain success you need to have a balanced football team and so Brandon Beane and his staff did a great job of continuing to look offensively what we could add to what we had and so I
think you’re seeing the result of some of that. To build it the way it’s being built, still with a lot of work to do, just two games in here, so I think it’s important that we remain humble and hungry with in regards to that. This league is hard to win every week and so the defense hobbled in here and I
thought the offense stepped up when they needed to step up and I think that’s the sign of a good offense. And when you have that explosiveness to sort of answer when the Dolphins answered, we answered for the most part. So good to see and glad that Tyler Bass had a good solid game and so
that was good to see.”
(Great win out there today. 2-0. Not the way you probably want it, but hey a win is a win, right? I don’t know what’s going on these third quarter Advil moments, what, how difficult was it for you guys just to get back in sync in that third quarter once again, coach?) – “Yeah, I mean the game ebbs and flows and there’s some things we can do better there, starting with me and so I’ve got to take a better look at the film to give you more specifics on that.”
(Speaking on that defense, LB Tyrel Dodson was like a man possessed out there. Care to talk about how impressed were you for him to go out there and fill those shoes with LB Tremaine Edmunds and LB Matt Milano being out?) – “Yeah, it was big for him. He’s usually one of our core special teams players so we missed him on special teams because he was playing on defense. And to be able to do what he did at such a young age — and this is a guy that was on basically on practice squad last year for the most part. So just real proud of him the way he’s grown, how humble he’s stayed and hungry and (Linebackers) Coach (Bob) Babich has done a great job as well as (Defensive Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach) Leslie Frazier with working with him.”
(Curious, I got a couple questions here, first, it looked like you were shuffling offensive linemen there during those last couple drives of the game was wondering, is that, was that game plan, was that injury related or what was the process behind that?) – “No, it was just looking at what we felt like was best for the situation overall right there. So we wanted to rotate some guys early and then use that what we saw early in the game to determine what we were going to do later in the game.”
(31 points today when your defense gives up 28, it’s a rare occurrence for your defense, but what does this say about the development of where this offense is that can you put up so many points. I mean, you know, you told us it was such a focal point this off season, where does it say that this offense can do that this early on?) – “Yeah, I think it was good to see early in the
year. There’s a lot of football yet to be played, right. I think that when you look at it we made some big plays in big moments of the game and that’s also good to see because that comes with a mentality, a winning mentality and that’s good to see.”
