Sunday, November 17, 2019
Postgame – Buffalo
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Obviously, seven sacks or six sacks.) – “Yeah, it’s disappointing.”
(Not what you wanted?) – “No. We’ve got to do a better job protecting the quarterback, getting the ball out quicker. We just didn’t play well; but it wasn’t just them. We didn’t play well collectively as a team all the way across the board. It starts with me. We’ve got to coach it better, got to play better – fundamentals, technique, communication, all the way across the board – we’ve got to do it all better.”
(The inability to run the ball – 7 yards rushing the first quarter, 23 yards throughout the game – it must really been tough to get going much offensively.) – “Yeah, I mean we couldn’t get it going. I mean, it’s something that we’ve – it’s been a little bit of an issue the last few weeks. Look, we’re just going to keep practicing, keep trying to get it better; but yeah, it’s definitely something where we’re struggling. It’s tough to win in this league if you can’t run the football. We’ve got to get better in that area.
(On the other side, seven sacks. You didn’t really protect and really didn’t put any pressure on them on the defensive side. Again, another one of those where you can’t do much when you’re in that spot.) – “Right, we didn’t play well, really. We didn’t play well enough today as a total team. We didn’t coach well enough, we didn’t play well enough, and we didn’t get the result we want. We’ll come back to wrok tomorrow, make the corrections, get back to practice this week and try to play better next week.”
(Did the week of preparation give any hint that something wasn’t right?) – “No. I felt like we had a good plan going in, we just didn’t execute. We had some opportunities there. I would say in the second quarter, we got some momentum going and it turned the other way. We had a few plays there where had some good plays and there was a penalty or we just couldn’t string plays together, and you need to do that against a good team. We weren’t able to do that today. But I thought we were ready to play, but we didn’t – they outplayed us.”
(Can you talk about WR Jakeem Grant, especially on special teams?) – “I thought he played well. Obviously the kickoff return was a bright spot for us. I thought he played well offensively. Again, we’ve talked about his explosiveness and his ability to make plays, so hopefully we can continue with that.”
(The deficit was a little bit too much to overcome, but what did you like about your team after being down and being able to come back?) – “Like I said, we put a drive together, (had a) big play by DeVante (Parker) and ended up punching it in with Kalen (Ballage). We got the onside (kick), we were moving it again, so we had some momentum there, and then couldn’t get a stop defensively after we turned it over. They punched it in and then we got the kickoff return, so look, there was an ebb and flow there. We had some momentum, and then we just couldn’t get it going in the second half and they outplayed us. But we’ve got to do a better job.”
(What were some things that QB Josh Allen was doing to get the best of you guys today?) – “I think he’s a good player. I know he had a zone read for a big gain and made some good throws. They blocked it pretty well and they ran it well. They played well. They played better than we did. Yeah, they played better than we did.”
(What do you hope your players learn from this loss moving forward?) – “I mean, we’ve got to play better. I would say from tackling to missed tackles to penalties, not protecting inside out from a protection standpoint in the pass game, dropped balls, you’re not going to win in this league playing that way. It’s something we’ve talked about really the entire year. I think they understand that. They know that. We had some opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them. They did. This is the result we get.”
(All of those things you mentioned, you were managing those things pretty well coming into this week, all of a sudden this team comes in and they obviously have playoff aspirations and they came out playing that way. Did that affect part of that, your football team getting back to those mistakes?) – “I mean, they played well; but some of those things, they’re on us. An unsportsmanlike penalty early that negates a holding call, dropped passes, missed assignments from a protection standpoint, penalties. I think a lot of those things we can control. They made us miss on a couple of tackles, but we talked about tackling and tackling technique, fundamentals. We’ve got to do a good job, obviously. That’s always number one defensively. We just didn’t do a good enough job. I think we overcame some of those mistakes early and had some opportunities, specifically in the second quarter, and then we – they made more plays than we did.”
(The frustration of you get the onside kick, you get a little momentum, you’re still in the ballgame, and then you get the fumble and kind of leave that onside kick – there’s got to be some frustration level there?) – “Yeah, it’s basically a long foul ball. That’s really what it boils down to. We have to take advantage of those opportunities. Good teams take advantage of them and today we weren’t that. We’ve got to be better. I’ve got to coach it better and we’ve got to do a better job.”
