Buffalo Bills Head Coach Rex Ryan
Opening Statement: Man, there were so many positives in this game. It was exciting for me to see the way our guys competed. Obviously we didn’t do our end as a football team. The mistakes that we made, I pointed out to our team, it’s like we have to turn the page on that, that was last year’s team and we can’t have that. We’ve been working extremely hard about some of those penalties we saw. We had four offside penalties and that was upsetting to me. I think we had three on special teams, so that blueprint was what last year’s blueprint was. As a team, there isn’t anybody in there that’s happy with that performance just because of that. Now there’s a lot of, I mean, some real positives in that game, the way some guys played. There were some real positives. I loved the way the defense played when the ones were out there in particular, that was outstanding. I loved the way our quarterbacks played. It might not be reflected in the quarterback ratings but I don’t know, we had four or five drops but the quarterbacks can’t throw it and catch it. So that was certainly an issue. For the most part, we had I think the one or two plays obviously with the difference on defense, giving up a screen pass. And the terminology on some of the calls we made, we had a player in there that quite honestly we just got so that was on me. He never understood that he had the back, simple as that. There’s no two ways around it, that’s on me. I should have known and that’s my responsibility as a head coach. I have to make sure that’s not (happening). And then obviously getting beat in man coverage, the young man made a nice catch and broke a tackle for a touchdown, so other than that, I was happy with a lot of the things we did defensively. We held them it says to 30 yards rushing. That’s a good sign that we’re doing some good things, so we’ll see where it takes us from here. I love the way, and you guys have seen it, most of you guys have all covered practice, I mean, Cardale (Jones) is an interesting young man. And when he’s over there yelling at G-Ro (Greg Roman) about the play that he wanted in a crucial situation, I’m telling you, he’s pretty special. We got to be able to protect him and same thing. We protect our quarterbacks, we can throw. That was really exciting. For the fans that stayed out there, it’s like we all felt the same way. We’re all excited and it’s like, “Oh by the way, our offense is on the field.” But we got so loud, it was great. Our players fed off the energy of the fans like they also do. Disappointing, I hate losing, man. I do, I hate losing. But this is a game that we have to get better from. We have to improve and it can’t be a broke record. We know we have to improve in those things and we’re going to work extremely hard to get better. With that I’ll open it up to questions.
Q: What can you tell us about IK (Enemkpali) at this point?
A: It looks like a major knee. That’s a tough thing right there. We don’t know, I don’t know the extent of it yet but it looks like a major knee injury.
Q: Anybody else hurt playing?
A: I’m not sure yet. Again, I’m not real sure. I don’t believe so, though.
Q: You’re already down Shaq (Lawson) and Manny (Lawson) at the outside and now IK. What does that mean for that position?
A: Well, we just got to—hoping to get Manny back soon, I think that would obviously be a big help. I’m not saying we won’t look for other possibilities but we have Lorenzo Alexander. I feel really good about him. You guys saw the kind of impact he has as a special teams player. Purposely held him out of some of the snaps because when you’re starting on all those teams, I don’t want him starting on defense also, but he’s a very capable player.
Q: Before the game, Jim Irsay tweeted that one of the reasons he was keeping Andrew (Luck) out of this game was Rex doesn’t know the meaning of preseason. My good friend Rex doesn’t know the meaning of preseason.
A: I don’t know, take a look at the tape. See how many times we blitzed. I can tell you one thing, Chuck Pagano’s a good friend of mine, legitimately good friend of mine. I have way more respect for him than I do others.
Q: Tyrod just played the one series. Obviously you want to be safe with him but do you think he needed just a little bit more work and just a little bit more than one series?
A: No. If we did then we would have left him out there. We feel really good about Tyrod. We’re ecstatic.
Q: Rex, for the way rookie quarterback Cardale Jones finished the game, it has to be a lift. But he’s a guy that comes in as a middle-round pick and the word project gets used with Tyrod and his contract situation that this is a guy who needs to learn, a little rough around the edges. For a guy like that, how significant is that finish to the game for a guy like him?
A: Well I think it’s a great thing, I absolutely think it is. But we’ve seen it every day on the practice field. So I think there wasn’t anybody in that locker room that never thought he was going to do it, I can promise you that. We’ve seen it on the practice field. He’s got more poise and I get it because that is what we said about him when the young man was drafted. However, almost immediately, we saw a guy that has poise. One thing that you don’t see is the work ethic that he has and he’s a sharp young man, really smart. So he’s going like ‘this.’ Is he maybe improving faster than we thought? Maybe so. So we have a great quarterback situation. We have a proven starter, a proven backup, and this is a young man that keeps getting better and better.
Q: Coach speaking of your draft choices, Adolphus (Washington) and Kevon (Seymour) got extended playing time tonight. Your thoughts on them?
A: Yeah, I think both of them played well. Kevon’s been doing a great job for us. I mean I know he had that penalty, we got to see it, I don’t know what happened. It looked like he got tangled up. It’s funny, it happened later in the game. It looked like there was a guy tangled in a good tackle with that guy. But, I don’t know what happened. I know he got called on a defensive pass interference, so I’m not sure, but he’s been doing a great job all camp. Adolphus is—I really can’t tell you how he played today but I know he’s done a nice job for us in that d-line rotation as a starter even.
Q: Aaron (Williams) and Dez (Lewis) inactive tonight. Do you have an update on those guys since we haven’t talked to you since?
A: I really don’t have an update. Aaron as far as I know is in the concussion protocol and Dez, I’m not sure.
Q: How much of an opportunity does Cardale have to push for second team reps?
A: Well everybody has opportunities out there but when we took him, we were in a pretty good situation. I like the way EJ played also today. I think if you take away his drops, he’s still on the field rolling, so both those guys. I felt great about our quarterbacks, especially when we’re out there on the practice field. We almost have an ideal situation, knowing you’re not forced into playing a rookie quarterback but you’re giving him opportunities to get better and as him game grows, then maybe you can get him in there.
Q: You mentioned the drops that you had last week, that there wasn’t a wide-out standing out. Where does the wide receiver competition stand?
A: I thought Walt Powell had a good night tonight. He did a good job returning. I thought he made some good decisions as a punt returner also today. And then (Jarrett) Boykin showed up. And quite honestly, Boykin had—I had been a little disappointed. He had a really good mini-camp, I hadn’t really seen a whole lot in training camp. And then when the lights come on, he had a nice game I thought. (Leonard) Hankerson had a horrible game. There’s no two ways about it. Three or four drops and this is an NFL receiver, a guy that’s been there and done it. So I’m sure he’s very disappointed in himself and I know I’m disappointed. Sometimes I don’t hide it very well but I shouldn’t. I mean we expect more.
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Tagged with: Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Rex Ryan
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