Buffalo Bills Head Coach Rex Ryan
Friday, November 13, 2015
Opening Statement
I have a funny feeling we will be missing a few people today. Just a tad breezy out there. I would tell you this right now I would sign up to play the Patriots right out here, right now. 70 mph winds, come on [Tom] Brady let’s see what you got. Crosswind and all that, that is when we need to play them. That would level out that passing attack a little bit. Anyway guys, I haven’t even watched the entire tape yet. I watched only half the game, I will let you guys figure out which side of the ball I watched. Alright, I watched the defense. But that is really it. Obviously it was a big win for us and it is exactly what we talked about before. A big win because of the fact we are chasing this team, we all want the same thing, we are chasing that same goal to make the playoffs. And that is what made it a huge win for us. So with that go ahead.
Q: How was Red Cadillac?
A: Fantastic.
Q: Margarita?
A: I am not going to discuss the beverages that I had. Notice I said beverages. It was good man there is no question. My guys were there, like shoot alright burrito and all this stuff. Oh good, nah that was fun.
Q: Can you really put aside all the emotions that quickly to focus on the Patriots?
A: Oh yeah, absolutely. And that is what it is, because that is what you have to do. Especially against New England you don’t have to be perfect, you almost, you got to be pretty darn close to perfect. And [Tom] Brady may have to have an off day. Something has to give, you have to make it to where it is difficult for him and we got to have a great game. We can’t have the penalties. You go back to that second week of the season and it is like oh my gosh it is embarrassing. We are embarrassed by it. But we really did, ever since that time we got a better feel for each other, we came back off that bye and it is like our commitment to each other, commitment to getting better, doing those types of things, trying our best. I will tell you what I was really proud of the way our DB’s played. We had no, I don’t remember a holding, pass interference call or something. We talked about, during the week, the night before the game, being physical at the line of scrimmage but covering with our legs and playing the ball in the air. Our guys did a great job of that. You know the focus is, I can just tell you this. You can see it, you can feel it tightening up. We know what we are trying to get accomplished for ourselves, for our fans, we know what we are trying to do here. We are dead serious about, sometimes I don’t know if it comes off that way, but for some reason. I can guarantee you this, that is where we are at as a team. That is all we want, we don’t want anything else, we just want to win. And so when you talk about getting over a game like that, absolutely you just move on and that is where we are at.
Q: How do you take the goal of the playoffs and stacking wins and balance that when you talk about it to the team?
A: Well we were dead honest with them. When they came back, we had a plan. This is where we are at, this is what is in front of us. Everything goes…it is about one game, you don’t ever look down the road we play this team that week. It doesn’t matter, you don’t worry about down the road. You worry about right now and how can we get better today and for that game. That is really what it is about. Knowing our opponent, our guys are doing a phenomenal job of studying the opponent. Last week was a huge challenge. Sometimes it is ehh, yeah it is the same on both team, maybe that is true. But I will say this, it is tougher to travel on a Thursday in my opinion, than hosting a Thursday game. So you are dealing with that, you are dealing with the fact you can’t practice. You miss, the first play we are going to hit a touchdown to Sammy Watkins, Sammy does a great job against [Darrelle] Revis gets open, great separation, but you know what we never had the timing. All week long we never practiced. You know we couldn’t practice, we had to have our legs for the game. But that timing was just a tad off and had we practiced it, would the timing been there? It might have, that is why you do practice. You got to weigh the, keeping your players fresh, and then trying to execute well. But that is why, it was like oh man we just, if could have just practiced that one time, live, full speed, would we have hit it, who knows. To answer your question, it is straight ahead no fair dodge, you don’t even look behind you. Maybe there are some things you learn from, that you got to put in front of everything, but that is all, that is teaching, but it is all about the next game.
Q: How tough of a stretch can this be playing away from home so often?
A: Obviously we prefer to play here, there is no question with our fans, you know that is a big plus for us. But shoot we have a job to do. This is what the schedule, this is what is in front of us. Now to be great at the back end because we will have the home games at the back end so that will really help us. We just got to get through it. Like I say we just know it is New England Monday night and that is where it is.
Q: Can you talk about the play on the 3rd and 2 to Sammy?
A: Yeah he is working against Darrell Revis with outside leverage. On an out route, on a quick out route. I have never, I can’t tell you how many times I have seen somebody make a move like that. Because he knows where he has to be, yet he sets him up so well, he shakes him, and then spins him around like a top. Like that doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen against good corners, let alone somebody like that, you know some of the top guys in the league. By the way we got a couple top ones in the league. They played great, our two corners played fantastic. But it just, you are exactly right it is not going to be on the highlight reel, yet it helped us win the game. Absolutely helped us win the game. Tyrod [Taylor] knew where he was going to be and there he was.
Q: Is there something special to Karlos (Williams) or do the plays just develop in front of him, the guy is a point machine?
A: No he is. When you look at him obviously he has got a lot of special qualities about him. You know he is a great kid to by the way. Number one he is an explosive athlete, who has size, speed, vision, burst, he has got all that. Because you don’t luck into what is it six straight games now with a touchdown, you don’t luck into that. This guy has got receiving skills, he has got a couple touchdowns I know out of the back field. But he just blows by guys, and he sets them up. I mean the guy he went against is a good football player and he just shook him like it was nothing and then he just flies by everybody. And it was interesting because we put him in the game, he wasn’t out there. Anthony Lynn puts him on the field and there he goes, touchdown. And it’s like wow. And you got LeSean McCoy who is a phenomenal player and this guy is also pretty darn good, and you put him there and he has got all those touchdowns. It is amazing, whether he is running it, catching it, whatever.
Q: Is there something to be said for how hard it is for defenses to adjust to how different their styles are when the backs rotate?
A: Yeah I think it is. I think the styles are different, there is no question about it. Yet I think when teams are defending us, they are defending us the same way, they are putting eight, nine guys down there because they know both these guys have great run ability. But you are exactly right, their styles are so different. LeSean [McCoy] can make you miss in a phone booth. Like he is just…it is just unheard of some of the things, you don’t see many guys that can do that. The other guy will run you through, run you over. He gets his foot in the ground and vroom here he comes. He is more of the locomotive type. You know with blazing speed and Shady [LeSean McCoy] has got speed, balance, all this type of stuff and it is hard to touch him.
Q: How do you see LeSean maintaining that with the number of carries he has had in his career?
A: Well man I don’t know. I think he takes a lot better care of himself than maybe people realize. I think a lot of it is genetics too. God blessed him and gave him this unusual skill set.
Q: Do see the way your offense is emerging and coming back from injuries, is this the way you envisioned this offense?
A: Well yeah I think and being able to make explosive plays down the field. That’s what we were, absolutely what we were thinking we had. And when you have the weapons we had talked about – you know with Charles Clay, you know with our backs, with the receivers, it’s unfortunate Percy (Harvin) got hurt – but the guys are doing a great job. You know Robert Woods, (Chris) Hogan, they’re all doing a good job and that starts up front with our o-line, and when that group’s healthy. We were challenged last night, I’ll say that. I mean that groups even better now than when I had them. So this is what it’s supposed to look like and that’s where I don’t think people realize, it’s not a cop out. I was just telling the truth. You miss your starting right side of the line, you got your backs…Karlos missed what, 3, 4 games or something? You got Shady missed some action. You got your quarterback missed a couple games. Sammy’s missed a few games. That’s hard to overcome, I can tell you that much, and right now we’re facing a little bit on defense. We got the Williams boys out, with Aaron and Kyle, and then Mario played about half a quarter or something. I kept looking around going, oh gosh somebody go get him. I don’t know just his presence would have made me feel better, you know with Mario. But as a team though we’re over coming it and hopefully we get Kyle back real soon, that could be a big help for us.
Q: Will Mario Williams be back for New England and do you have any other predictions on injuries?
A: No, I definitely expect Mario to be back. I mean it’s an illness so what do we got 12 days or something like that? Something like that. He’s got to be back.
Q: How much different do you guys feel now, compared to where this team was before the bye week?
A: Well I think just the general population would think it’s a much different thing. But I think to a man, we knew as a team that we were better than our record said we were. That we just needed to get a few people healthy and once we got them healthy, you know we’re confident. There’s no question about it. We had everybody playing against New England and we still got waxed. So we know what’s in front of us but here we go, man. We’re gonna give it our all.
Q: Can you update the backup quarterback situation?
A: Yeah, it’s EJ Manuel. There’s no doubt. EJ’s our guy. It was just some rare circumstances is what led us to having Josh (Johnson) in that role but EJ is our man. There’s no question about it.
Q: When you lose to a 1-5 Jacksonville team and feel you’re better then what your record suggests – how much do these two wins help prove that?
A: I don’t know I guess you’d have to ask the public more so then me. I mean I had faith that we were a good football team. I think that we’re on our way. The thing that…and with that being said we knew we had to make some changes ourselves. That we had to come together more and we had to totally commit to each other and said, hey look, we’re gonna be a better student of the game. We’re gonna be better teachers of the game. We gotta do a better job and in a lot of areas that we knew we had too. That’s how important it is to us. We don’t want to let, and I’ve said it from day one, we don’t want to let our fan base down. Trust me on this. I mean that’s important to us, that’s important to everybody and more importantly than that – we don’t want to let each other down. But we know, look this thing…none of us have been here for 14 years, and I know how long the drought’s been, but we still feel that burden. That’s part of it. That we don’t want to let our fans down. Our fans have been there supporting us. Bought more season tickets than any other time. Like that means a lot to us and we know how the community is with us. We know how important the Bills franchise are to our fans and we don’t want to let them down, man.
Q: Tyrod Taylor mentioned headset issues after the game yesterday. How frustrating is that?
A: Pretty frustrating.
Q: Do you have any idea why this keeps happening?
A: Well I don’t know man. If we knew the answer we wouldn’t have the problems and it’s just unbelievable because we let the clock run out on us a few times. We had to take a bunch of timeouts based on that. It’s just hard to…I mean we have no idea what it is. It’s just sometimes it goes out, sometimes it doesn’t. I think it’s our responsibility as a team and we’ve had…I think we only had one issue with the defense. So it’s more been about the offense and the bad thing is, it comes up at certain times in the game in critical situations it seems like. I have no answer for it.
Q: Are they wireless packs or are they wired?
A: No, they’re the wireless stuff. Now when we had the cords…when we were in London we had the cords. You know the things that everybody’s pulling and all that stuff. The old school ones and I know we had a lot of issues with those.
Q: How about the safety play specifically last night?
A: Oh, phenomenal. I mean it was and right now we’re playing them all, and they all have a role and they’re doing a tremendous job in that role. So we don’t look at it as, hey we got one starting. No we got a bunch of starters and they’re all doing a great job. (Bacarri) Rambo’s performance yesterday was…that’s about as good as you can get. Not saying Eddy Reed-ish but the one when that big back came in there and he ripped the ball from Chris Ivory, that was phenomenal. Makes the interception, gets the great hit on special teams. I mean he’s doing a tremendous job. Then I’ll tell you a guy, an unsung guy is Leodis (McKelvin). I mean Leodis, how the heck’s he playing safety? I don’t know but he’s playing. Corey Graham now is stepping into his own. He’s really coming into his own a little bit back there so I’ve been pleased with him. Duke (Williams) in his role has done a nice job.
Q: How are you going to handle things when Aaron Williams comes back?
A: We’ll worry about that when the time comes and that’s a good problem to have.
Q: Did you like the all color uniforms?
A: I love them because we won. Let’s put them out there again. But no it’s…yeah you don’t care how bad you look, if you win you’re gonna see it again. But it was different. I promise you when I said this, I looked out there and I’m like…like we’re in red. You know what I mean? And right when I came into the locker room guys were getting ready and they loved it. You know they’re like, these are great. I’m like, they are? But they liked them.
Q: Any players or staff members have any issues with being color blind and not being able to differentiate the jerseys?
A: Not that I know of. That would have been interesting.
Q: What do you think about comments regarding Marcell Dareus only gives it his all one out of nine or 10 snaps? What do you think he brings to every snap?
A: Just watch that tape. You go ahead and watch that tape, and you tell me he doesn’t. I can tell you this, they can’t wait till he’s out of the game. You know the opponent because he is…I mean that’s a pretty darn good team. You got Nick Mangold, a pro bowl center. You got that guard that guard from Seattle that’s there now. 77’s (James Carpenter) a good player. And it’s like they couldn’t move him an inch. You know he’s making plays all over the place. Had the sack. But he was doing a great job in the middle. He’s about as good as it gets at tackle.
Q: The Sabres won yesterday and I guess it’s been five years since you both won on the same day. They’re pretty excited, any words for them?
A: Who the Sabres? Heck yeah man. I’ve got season tickets, I’ve watched one game. I’ve gone to one game. It upsets me that there’s that football season getting in the way of my Sabres games. But no they’re doing fantastic. I watch them on TV when I can and things. It’s such a young team but I love the enthusiasm that they have. I love watching it and you know the one kid, I guess (Jack) Eichel got into yesterday with (Jaromir) Jagr. Come one kid don’t pick on the old man. You know what I mean?
Q: They play again the same night you play New England.
A: Oh do they really? Alright let’s go. Let’s make it two in a row
Filed under: Buffalo Bills
Tagged with: Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Rex Ryan
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