BUFFALO BILLS HEAD COACH CHAN GAILEY
On the first unit throwing the ball on 15 consecutive plays:
The
The way they played (caused us to throw the ball). If they stayed in their 3-4, seven man front bull defense we were going to throw the football. That is what we went into the game planning to do. We were trying to hit Fred (Jackson) and C.J. (Spiller) on some passes to get them involved but they did not play nickel against our ones. So we had to throw it every time--did not want to do that. That was not the plan going in but we are in the middle of instillation and we did not want to go out there and put in a plan versus a 3-4 totally for the ones. We just said we would work on our no-huddle. And that is what we did.
On how QB Ryan Fitzpatrick did calling plays:
Ryan handled it very well. I thought Fitz - he knows what is going on.
This was a great lesson in our lack of discipline at this point. We saw where we were there. The other thing was, it was great to see all of the pressure. We knew they were going to bring pressure. We have to see how we can handle that because we are going to get a ton of it this year when we get empty packages in our four-wide, three-wide packages. We will learn a lot from it. It looked ugly, it felt ugly. I think we will learn from it and I think we will get better from it. We get to go back to work Saturday and that is what we plan to do.
On being aggravated by the penalties:
Yeah, that is just undisciplined. That is my fault. When we play that undisciplined with, I think, five illegal motion penalties and one alignment penalty that was a problem. That is my fault. I have to get that straight.
On the special team's performance tonight:
The kicking game as a whole, if Rian (Lindell) had not missed that short field goal, the kicking game as a whole played pretty well. We have to do a little bit more on our punt coverage when we are having to punt it from our own end and giving them a chance to return. But overall we played pretty well on special teams. I thought we were good there. We had some guys trying to make the football team and they took a good step forward in getting that done.
On if a guy can guarantee the opposing team does not advance it past from the 20 on kickoffs, if he is guaranteed a roster spot:
It could be. I did not say it was guaranteed, but it could be.
On how OTs Cordy Glenn and Chris Hairston performed:
I do not know. I have to watch the film. If I come in here and comment, I am going to regret saying stuff. I know Cordy had a penalty. He had a false start. So that is one strike against him right there.
On CB Ron Brooks getting tested and surpassing the test:
He did. He did show up. I was proud of him. He dropped (an interception) and got (an interception). He had a chance for two tonight. He did a good job. That was a good job by him going out there and playing. He made a great case for himself tonight.
On QB Tyler Thigpen playing the second quarter:
We had play numbers going. Tyler played 20. We were trying to play him 20 and then let Vince (Young) go. Vince went about 24, I think. We were trying to go 20-a piece. That was the plan. Next week Vince will go second and Tyler will go third.
On QB Tyler Thigpen finding his consistency:
There were some good things but to play that position you have to be consistent. That is the one thing you are trying to find. Who can create that consistency for you at the backup quarterback. That guy does not get a lot of reps during the week. So that guy has to be consistent without a lot of reps. That is what we are trying to get (Vince Young and Thigpen) to do.
On QB Vince Young's ability to run:
He created some things tonight. He made some things happen. That is what he can do. He brings that to the football team. We have some work on some other things to get done to better help him out. He has got to get better. He brings that speed and that ability to go make a play with his feet to the football team.
On there being eight false starts:
Is that how many it was? (Sighs) It is awful.
On if all of the false starts are his fault: Yeah, that is. That penalty is my fault. I have to get them disciplined. That is just lack of discipline. That is my responsibility, to discipline, on this football team.
BUFFALO BILLS Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick
On the first preseason game
"Yeah we just want to get out there and work on some things. I think with the preseason people tend to overreact positive or negative and this was good because we got to go against a defense that wasn't ours. So we got to see different looks and them playing different styles of cover two, cover four and cover three so it's good to get out there in a game-like setting and do it. We wish we would have been more productive and done some things better but you chalk it up to learning experience and hope everybody comes out healthy and move on."
On the penalties
"Yeah it was frustrating. It was frustrating all night."
On the difficulty of establishing a rhythm on offense
"Yeah it's hard to establish a rhythm when you're not getting first downs and so that's kind of where the problem was tonight in not getting some of those easy first downs and getting those chains moving and getting into that rhythm. We just never really did but we came out of it. I thought Scott (Chandler) did some good things. Stevie (Johnson) obviously did some good things, got the touchdown called back but we're trying some different stuff right now and trying it out in preseason and see how it goes."
On calling the offensive plays
"It's fun, we had the chance to do that a good amount last year in some of the situations we had. First preseason game is always interesting because you don't have any film on the other team, you don't know what they're going to do, you don't know what to expect and you kind of got to go on the fly. That's also why it's a big challenge to go out there and do it that way and I wish we would've done better."
On the mistakes by the offense
Yeah there was plenty of all of the above. Yeah unfortunately there was more bad than good tonight and I think the important thing for us is that we move on in the next preseason game and especially the third one you want to be getting better every week. We'll start to game plan a little more every week and start to prepare a little bit better for each team as we move forward in the preseason and hopefully you see improvement that way."
On Scott Chandler's impact
"It's been an interesting couple of years for him (Scott Chandler) when he first came to the Bills we picked him up during the season kind of as an afterthought, waiver wire pick up and got his first career catch and then last year really blossomed into a guy that I can really trust and a guy that's going to make plays and I think you'll see as the preseason goes on and obviously into the season he's going to be a real good player for us and a guy I have a lot of trust in."
* *
On Scott Chandler's size
"Yeah he's a big target. Everybody talks about what a great red zone target he is, which he is, but when he gets matched up on linebackers and even safeties and he's got that huge height advantage. He goes up well and catches the ball it makes it hard on them and so that's something we definitely see as an advantage for us."
On Tyler Thigpen and Vince Young "Yeah it's a really difficult situation. You don't really know who you're going to be in there with. Sometimes there are things that break down that are out of your control. The biggest thing is you want to go out there and make plays but you don't want to force the ball and so there's that fine line you have to walk knowing that you're going to get limited opportunities to show yourself. It's a tough situation, I was there for six years doing it but it's a way you have to continue to make good decisions and continue to get better and then be ready when your opportunity comes."
BUFFALO BILLS DE Mario Williams
On his thoughts about how the game went:
We tried to keep things pretty generic. It feels good to be back out there, move around and get a few cob webs out. We expected a little bit more, it was probably expected for him (Robert Griffin III) to run as much. We expected him to showcase his running ability and his arm. We just have to correct our mistakes and focus on the things we did good.
There were a lot of penalties back and forth, I think that was the biggest thing. There were a lot of penalties back and forth. That was the biggest thing. There was a flag just about every other play, but all this is fixable. This is on us as a team and all this stuff can be corrected looking at it from that stand point. We have our work cut out for us but it can all be corrected.
On Robert Griffin III:
He handed the ball off pretty much most of the time. He did couple play actions. He is honestly a heck of a quarterback and he has a bright future. He was drafted for a reason. He is definitely capable of meeting those expectations.
On the expectation of Robert Griffin III running more:
They kept it pretty basic. They kept it very simple and just ran the ball. We definitely expected way more boot legs and some read options, just him moving around more.
On his thoughts of the first series:
We thought more about containing the quarterback a lot of times. Few plays they just ran simple run plays like I said we are so focus on him booting out or things like that, we out of our gaps. But with an actual game plan, really looking at film it is just the first preseason game we just go off of what you hear. Those things will be corrected we will not over analyze things like that, when you have a quarterback that is that dangerous.
On how much he focuses on the frustration of the game being sloppy:
Well anytime that you keep score it is serious at the end of the day. I mean otherwise I wouldn't do it. Like I said the things that happened is on each of us as individuals whether it was penalties or reading too much into a play and getting out of your gap and out of your reach. All those things can be fixed and first game jitters or whatever you want to call it. Those things happen it is what it is, at the end of the day they all can be fixed. It was not like we were just being dominated or vice verse it is all the little things we did to ourselves as far as giving up this or that.
On if he noticed the difference with the replacement referees: Yes definitely there were some things that were odd. With the punt I don't know what in the world. The flag wasn't even there but it got reversed. The one thing that I figured because of the replacement refs there were a lot of holding calls. I figured there would be less called for the simple fact, but obviously we did have some holdings. It is definitely a lot different. In just one preseason game with being only out there for 8 minutes or whatever it was.
BUFFALO BILLS CB RON BROOKS
On his first NFL game action:
It was a nice experience, good to see the level of competition, how things really work out here and the level of play I am expected to keep up.
On how his first interception felt:
It felt good to come out in my first game and get a pick, even though I should have had two more . I dropped them. But I plan to go out there and work even harder in practice and try to make up for those in the other games.
On what happened on his interception:
The quarterback, I guess he figured I was more on the receiver's up-field shoulder so he tried to back-shoulder throw it. I just saw the ball drifting with the receiver so I reached back to his back shoulder and tried ripping his arm away from the ball, but I ended up trapping the ball instead and picked it off.
On the jump up in competition from not starting many games at LSU to playing in the NFL:
I am a competitor. I am out here to compete and play the game that I love, so I am not ever going to give up on any of the things that coaches ask me to do or that the team asks me to do. But the level is just the same experience, really.
On if his performance tonight eliminated any doubts he may have had about playing at this level: It was not so much doubting, it was more just nervousness and never being in an NFL game before. But I got my feet wet tonight and got acclimated really quickly and just started to do what I do naturally, and that is play football.
BUFFALO BILLS WIDE RECEIVER STEVIE JOHNSON
On his general feelings getting out there for the first game of the season:
It definitely felt good being in that environment. We all know it's a preseason game, but being able to connect with my quarterback and seeing the guys run around and be able to make some plays, it was great to see.
* *
On his touchdown that was called back:
It felt good to jump in the stands a little bit with the crowd, get some juices going, that's what we came here for. The place wasn't packed but it felt like it was a packed crowd. We didn't get the win but I think everybody is happy with the effort that they gave.
On the Bills taking 14 penalties:
You can't say because it's the first preseason game so we're going to have however many penalties. We're professionals and you still have to be professional. Some of it was questionable but we've got to get better at it.
BUFFALO BILLS DEFENSIVE TACKLE KYLE WILLIAMS
On his general feelings getting out there for the first game of the season:
Good; sloppy series there on the third or fourth possession. We played run defense pretty much up front, trying to play fast, trying to play our base stuff.
* *
On what the strategy is playing in preseason games:
When you get out there, you're going to play pretty vanilla. Your base calls are what they're going to be. You don't have a game plan, they (coaches) want to see guys play fast, play within the rules of what we're doing and really not know what's going on and see how you react.
On the Bills taking 14 penalties:
… I think for myself, and defensively, the defensive line, other than that sloppy series I thought it went good for what we were doing. We've got a long way to go. (This was) the first preseason game, we've got three more, and this is a marathon and not a sprint. We'll keep building; I'll keep building and we'll just get better and better.
On whether the team's 'goal' is attainable: I think so. I think it's right there. We keep digging for it, it's right there.
