Head Coach Brian Flores
(Just wondering what your message was to the guys after this one?) – “Didn’t play well enough in any phase to win the game. We didn’t play well against a good football team. We didn’t do that. I know we’re all disappointed. They are, I am. Didn’t do enough.”
(Obviously you said – like you said – it was a tough game for all phases, but the offense and QB Tua Tagovailoa didn’t play particularly well. Was there anything that stood out to you today on why it just wasn’t clicking?) – “We didn’t play well in any phase – offense, defense, special teams. It’s a team effort. They talk about the offense, we’ll talk about the defense, we’ll talk about the special teams. I didn’t do a good enough job of getting them ready to go, so we’ll talk about the coaching as well. We win as a team, we lose as a team. Today we didn’t play well enough across the board. We lost.”
(You talked about – did you feel like you had a good week of practice this week in preparation for this game and obviously they know what was at stake? Did you feel like the pressure got to them?) – “We didn’t play well. There’s a lot of factors, but at the end of the day, we didn’t play well. Yeah, I thought we had a good week at practice. Yeah, I thought we were ready, but at the end of the day, we didn’t execute in any of the three phases and got to execute against a good football team if you want to give yourself a chance.”
(This is now the third time in six games that QB Tua Tagovailoa hasn’t been at his best. Are you concerned that he may have regressed kind of late in his rookie year?) – “We didn’t play well as a team. We didn’t coach it well, we didn’t play well; so I’m not going to sit here and put it on one player. It’s a team effort. We’ve got to block them better, we’ve got to catch the football, we’ve got to tackle better, we’ve got to do a better job in the kicking game. There’s a lot of things here and that includes Tua. He’s got to play better as well, but everyone’s a part of that. Look, he’s played well over the course of the season. We as a team have played well, but we didn’t have it today.”
(Obviously we’re now waiting on the results of the Colts game. Does your team have to make the playoffs in your mind for this to be a successful season?) – “I’m just worried about today. Today, we didn’t play well enough to win in any phase. That’s where my mind is, is our performance today. It wasn’t good enough.”
(How would you describe the level of disappointment if you don’t make the playoffs, if it comes to that?) – “I think we’re disappointed in our performance today. That’s kind of where my thoughts are. It’s not anything other than that, really. Our performance today, it wasn’t good enough in any phase. We’ve got to be better.”
(I know you’re obviously disappointed. Do you take any solace away of the progress you guys have made this season, especially after how you started last season?) – “Again, you guys know me. I’m about what’s in front of me and right now. I try to stay in the moment. Right now I’m disappointed that we didn’t play well today. That’s where I’m at. We’ll make the corrections and we’ll just try to improve and get better.”
(How do you view maybe how the Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey and QB Tua Tagovailoa combo has worked this year and if that’s something you feel comfortable with going forward?) – “I think Tua has made a lot of improvement over the course of the year under Chan’s tutelage. I know – look, we’re all disappointed right now. How we played in all three phases today. I think Tua has made a lot of improvement, really developed over the course of the year, so we’ll just continue to try to make those improvements.”
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(Throughout your career you’ve been able to show up in big games and come through with big performances. What would you say was the biggest challenge today, and really I just I guess the transition from college to the NFL for moments like these?) – “I think we knew coming into this game that the challenge here for us was going to be their defense, their front seven as well as their back end. I think they did a really good job schematically with how they schemed up the things that we were doing. They all played together. They can communicate things last minute and do things to try to confuse you. Coming in we knew that was going to be our biggest challenge. The transition from college to the NFL, everyone is just better in the NFL. Everyone is better, there are no days off, and you got to prepare every week like it’s a big game because it is.”
(With everything you guys have been through this year, how would you describe your emotions right now?) – “I would say it’s always tough if you’re coming off a loss. The feeling of losing never feels good. I would say the emotions of not just me, but a lot of the guys in the locker room – it’s a bitter taste in our mouth. That’s not the way we wanted to go down.”
(Obviously this season has had plenty of highs and lows for you. What do you take from this year? What did you learn, what did you feel like you added to yourself?) – “I think I’ve added preparation, is the biggest thing first off. How I prepared from the time I got to the NFL, or even in college is totally different than the way I prepare now. I still do think there’s a lot of things to learn from to learning how to adjust the second half coming out. There’s just a lot of things that I would say kind of stuck me throughout the season with all of the highs and lows that we’ve had.”
(How would you grade maybe you and Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey’s comfort running the offense together as a duo, and how do you look at that partnership going forward?) – “I think me and Chan’s relationship is really good, and our partnership with what I kind of want called, and the communication between us; I think it’s really good. Just today I don’t think I put us in a really good situation. With the defense giving us a turnover on the first series, and we not going down and punching it in. There was a lot of miscommunication on that first drive for us. I think that’s where it really starts. We need to be better in that aspect of opening up games with those first drives. We got to go down and give our team some spark.”
(What are your thoughts when you think back on those interceptions, any common thread on those?) – “I think some of them were miscommunication, and then one of them, that was just poor ball playing on my part. But at the same time, you got to move on from those, and we tried to finish and didn’t let that try to get into our head.”
(I want to get your mindset going into the offseason assuming that you guys don’t get in. Last year at this time obviously your life was in kind of disarray. Do you expect to be the starter going forward? Do you think this is your team now?) – “I don’t think I have control over any of those things. I think all I can do is continue to grow, continue to get better. Then offseason, just get with a good amount of the guys and see what we can do from there going into next season.”
G/T Jesse Davis
(Can you describe the emotions of the moment of disappointment?) – “It’s always tough to come in and play this team and putting ourselves down early didn’t help, and our execution wasn’t where it needed to be obviously. But we kept fighting and that’s what this team has shown all season, is that we can fight.”
(Obviously the run game wasn’t there or wasn’t consistent today. What was it that Buffalo was doing that was giving you guys issues?) – “I really don’t know. I know we didn’t really have the runs that we were running with; but we got down early, we had to pass, we were behind the chains, so we couldn’t really consistently do what we wanted to do. It’s on us to execute the game plan obviously, but it wasn’t what we wanted.”
(Obviously you guys can still look and see what Jacksonville is going to do. What do you take out of this season if it ends this way offensively what you guys were able to do as a team?) – “The season we had last year to this year is a night-and-day difference. That kind of spoke for just what we did this offseason and what we can do during the season. But obviously wanted to win that game and give us our own shot to get in, but we’ll see what happens tonight. I think this is a great group. We have a really good team from top-down. I just think overall, I think we can fight, we’ve shown we can improve. We can hang with some teams, but tonight wasn’t what we’ve been able to perform.”
(Obviously you don’t want to think about anything past this game today, but how encouraging do you think the future is of this team?) – “I think what we did this season and hopefully continue, but leading up into the offseason of next year, I think we have a solid foundation we can start with. We’ll see what happens, but hopefully we can continue to build and get to that next step.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa mentioned communication issues particularly on the early drives. What did you notice in that respect?) – “I’m not really sure. I thought the communication was pretty decent on the o-line tonight. We made some adjustments, be more loud, be more clear to where we’re going. I’m not sure if he was mentioning us or the perimeter, but I thought tonight we did a pretty good job IDing where we needed to go.”
(There is always going to be a tendency to overreact to one game, especially in a close game. What is your opinion of how QB Tua Tagovailoa’s first season in the NFL went?) – “I think he’s done well, I think obviously he’s a rookie quarterback, and he’s trying to figure it out as well. Hell, we’re all doing the same thing. We’re all trying to figure out each snap, each play. I think being put into a situation where – somewhat decent, but I think he has everything that he needs to be a great leader, a great quarterback in this league. He’s shown that tonight. Things don’t always go your way, and we were telling him that and to keep leading us, and he was.”
(If QB Tua Tagovailoa was asking you going into the offseason maybe where he could take the biggest jump into Year 2, what might you tell him?) – “I don’t know. I’m not a specialist in that area, but I’d probably just tell him to be himself, do what you do. Continue to improve just like all of us and really just be yourself.”
CB Xavien Howard
(Obviously this was a rough loss, but you I guess personally, you got your 10th interception. The first guy to do it in 13 years. What does that mean to you, can you take any happiness of that even though it was a rough loss?) – “It was hard to get happy. Nobody wants to get beat like that. We came in here, we were trying to win a game and it didn’t happen, so I didn’t really get the feeling with the 10th interception that it was good enough.”
(Why do you think the game got away the way it did?) – “We didn’t execute in all three phases. We let guys get a lead, and it’s a powerful offense they have. They’ve got a lot of weapons, and Josh Allen is a great quarterback doing some great things this year, and the guys they got around him. We got to prepare well for all three phases.”
(How do you feel about the future of the franchise and where you fit into that?) – “Like it was before. They brought guys in to help the team, and we ended up winning games. For the future, I feel like the future will be great. I’m here with the team and more guys we’re going to have on the team that will help us win.”
(With the tenth interception, what you’ve accomplished this season how much pride to you put into what you did this year considering you’re coming back from that knee injury?) – “When I was in the locker room going to the training room; just being able to say I played 16 games after the surgery I had, a big surgery. It was worse than an ACL so people were getting it confused with an ACL, but it was worse than that. Just coming from that and just gaining confidence and just want to feed off of that for next year and help the guys that are on our team, and help the team win games.”
(What will you take away most from this year I guess individually and as a team?) – “Of course we want to win more games, we want to make the playoffs and bigger things than that. With that, I feel like we got something here. Everybody believes in (Head Coach Brian) Flores and we believe in everybody on the staff. We all put in the work even though we came short, but I feel like the future is bright us. We’re going to have this draft, we’re going to take advantage of the draft and get some guys in that can help us win also.”
