Austin Jackson – September 19, 2021 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 19, 2021
Postgame – Buffalo
T Austin Jackson (transcribed by ASAP Sports)
Q: This was your first game to be back after dealing with your situation. How did you feel physically being back out there?
AUSTIN JACKSON: Physically I feel fine. Felt fine, felt good, felt ready to go.
Q: Was there any catch up period for you when you returned to the team to get your lungs back at all? Or did you just have to get back into shape?
AUSTIN JACKSON: Yeah, you know, I did some extra conditioning. Practice is conditioning in itself, so getting back to that was what I needed to get back on the field.
Q: It seems like the Bills sent a lot of pressure especially on your side. Were you ready for that?
AUSTIN JACKSON: Yeah, I’m always ready for pressure, especially playing offensive line. The thing about the NFL is there’s a lot of disguises, a lot of hidden things. But, you know, I got to look at the film to see what they did. They definitely did some different stuff than they put on tape.
Q: How do you feel the line performed tonight?
AUSTIN JACKSON: You know, you never want to see your quarterback hurt or on the ground. Those are two terrible things that we all kick ourselves over. I think there’s definitely a lot of things we can get better at, things that we will get better about. Let me say that, too. We’re not hoping, going out there and praying. It’s hard work that we put in. We’ll do it.”
Q: You mentioned you never want to see your quarterback hurt, what was the emotions for you when you saw QB Tua Tagovailoa trying to get to the sideline and not be able to make it?
AUSTIN JACKSON: Tough. Sucks. Hurts. But in the moment, next play, next play. Whoever’s next up, do a better job of protecting them, or do everything you can in your power as 11 people. I think as a team we all struggled, clearly. Especially you hate to see stuff like that.”
Q: Did you expect seven and eight men fronts and blitzes like that?
AUSTIN JACKSON: Did we expect seven and eight man fronts? Yes, we did. There’s a lot of variation with the seven and eight man fronts, but yeah.”
Q: Is communication, is that something that is the center and quarterback’s responsibility to let know where the pressure is coming from?
AUSTIN JACKSON: Starts with the whole offense. Receivers, tight ends, offensive linemen, quarterbacks. In terms of what the O-line has to do protection-wise, we try to move with each other and communicate. Kind of like all five talking. Center is not just barking orders out to us because he can’t see everything that we all see out on the field.
Brian Flores – September 19, 2021 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 19, 2021
Postgame – Buffalo
Head Coach Brian Flores (transcribed by ASAP Sports)
Q: How is Tua doing?
COACH FLORES: We’re getting some tests run. I just asked. They don’t know the severity of the injury right now. But we’re going to run some tests tonight and tomorrow morning, hopefully have a little bit more information.
Q: How do you explain what happened out there today?
COACH FLORES: I mean, we didn’t play well in any area. We beat ourselves, you know. Penalties, dropped passes, missed tackles. That starts with me. I got to do a better job. I got to do a better job getting us ready to go.
That wasn’t the case today. Give Buffalo credit, they’re a good team. They played well in all three phases. We need to do a much better job from an execution standpoint and give ourselves an opportunity to be in the game, which I thought early we missed a lot of opportunities, so…
Q: You’ve obviously spent a lot of draft capital on the offensive line in recent years. How did the offensive line perform in your view today and where is that rebuilding process?
COACH FLORES: We didn’t do well enough really in any area today. Offensive line, defensive line, coaching. I think we just need to regroup, make the corrections, and do better.
Q: You get the big crowd and the excitement and your quarterback goes down early in the game. What does that do for a team and how do you regroup from that after Tua goes down?
COACH FLORES: I think we have to regroup. We have to regroup. We didn’t do a good enough job of that. I mean, we talk about it, kind of a next man up mentality. Jacoby has to go in the game. It’s a team effort. Really across the board, O-line, running backs, tight ends, receivers. We didn’t get good enough execution across the board.
Including defensively, we didn’t get enough good execution, or in the kicking game. When you don’t execute, you miss opportunities, you don’t have success.
Q: How do you assess Jacoby’s game?
COACH FLORES: Not good enough. That’s across the board. I think as an offense, as a defense, as a special teams, as a coaching staff, we didn’t do anything good enough today.
We’ll go back, we’ll make the corrections. We need to perform better if we want to give ourselves a chance to have success.
Q: They came out with seven or eight-man front blitzes, right from the first play. What went wrong schematically with you? Or was it individuals?
COACH FLORES: I got to go back and watch the film. We got a lot of protection issues. I know they were up on the line of scrimmage. When they weren’t, we still had some issues. I have to go back and watch the film to have a lot more understanding of what happened from that standpoint after I watch it.
Q: Is there anything prep-wise this week that would give you an indication that you guys would play like this?
COACH FLORES: I thought the preparation was good. We didn’t execute. I mean, that’s really what it boils down to in any phase. When you have drops, when you have missed assignments, mental errors, when you have fumbles, when you lack ball security. We didn’t play well.
I thought the preparation, I thought we had a good week of prep. Obviously not good enough. I got to do a better job of getting us prepared. But we didn’t execute. That was what it was more than anything.
I think — yeah, we got to do a better job executing. I got to do a better job of getting us to a point where we can execute better.
Q: What can you tell us about Jesse Davis and Jakeem Grant that were hurt as well?
COACH FLORES: Yeah, I mean, we’ll have more information tomorrow. Both tough guys, I know they’ll do everything they can to get back out there.
Q: Do you think a lot of dropped passes today had something to do maybe with wide receivers not knowing Jacoby’s rhythm or anything like that?
COACH FLORES: I mean, there’s a lot that plays into it. But throwing and catching, that’s kind of a fundamental that we talk about. If the ball is there, I think we should have an opportunity or give ourselves – if we’re given an opportunity to catch it, we got to catch it. Whoever is throwing the ball. We get enough reps with Jacoby and the other receivers. I don’t want to use with that as an excuse.
Q: You have a veteran backup in Jacoby. Where is the team’s confidence if you need him next week against the Raiders?
COACH FLORES: I mean, we’ll see where we’re at with Tua. Like any position, if he’s not able to go, I think we’ve dealt with this with COVID, injuries, it’s something that’s not new to anyone. The next guy’s got to play. That’s the case with me as well.
Q: What is the mood like in the locker room when you talked to the guys after the game?
COACH FLORES: Look, I mean, guys are disappointed. As you know, I mean, any conversation I have with the players I try to keep private. But guys are disappointed. I’m disappointed.
I think we need to just regroup, come in tomorrow, make the corrections, and start fresh Wednesday and get ready for our next opponent, which is going to be another tough game on the road.
Q: Considering how the last few years have gone, is there any sort of mental hurdle this team needs to get over playing the Bills?
COACH FLORES: I think we need to just do a better job of executing. I think if we do that, things take care of themselves. It’s hard. Every week is hard in this league.
But give them credit. They did a great job today. They played well in all three phases. We’ve got to be better.
Q: Was there any chance, I guess, today for Tua to come back once he got hurt?
COACH FLORES: No.
Q: If Jacoby were to have gone down, do you have an emergency quarterback?
COACH FLORES: We’ll talk through that this week. I’m hopeful that Tua is back and we don’t have to go into that. But we’ll talk about that this week.
Yeah, I mean, right now on the roster we don’t have anyone. We have Reid Sinnett on the practice squad. We would have to make a move to do that. Hopefully we don’t have to.
Q: But today – it’s looking back but if Jacoby would have gone down, who would have…
COACH FLORES: Yeah, we had a plan. We have a third quarterback.
Emmanuel Ogbah – September 19, 2021 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 19, 2021
Postgame – Buffalo
DE Emmanuel Ogbah (transcribed by ASAP Sports)
(What went wrong today?) – “I don’t know. We will see when we watch film.”
(What’s the mood in the locker room? Obviously you don’t ever want to lose a game like. What’s the mood in the locker room after that loss?) – “It was a tough loss. We just got to get back to film and study and be better next game.”
(Did you get an explanation for your penalty call there late in the game?) – “I don’t know. The ref called a penalty and I don’t know. Guess we will have to see.”
(Were you surprised at how you all played today?) – “Yeah, we could have definitely done some things better, but like I said we got to go back to film study and fix what we did wrong.”
(Very early in the game there was the lone run for a touchdown. I know you have to study the film but in general, do you have an idea about what needs to be better in that spot?) – Like I said we have to go back and watch film. I didn’t really see what exactly happened but just got to do a better job of executing the game plan.”
(Did you notice anything in the week to game preparation that went wrong?) – “No, we had a great week of practice.”
(When you lose a quarterback early, how does the team regroup from that? What was said on the sideline?) – “This team has a next man up philosophy. But yeah, it hurt losing Tua, but hopefully he’s back next week.”
Christian Wilkins – September 19, 2021 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 19, 2021
Postgame – Buffalo
DT Christian Wilkins (transcribed by ASAP Sports)
Q: What can you tell us about the touchdown run?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: We just got to start faster. I mean, they did a good job of doing what they do. They broke one. But we just got to do a better job starting faster, making the necessary plays to win.
Q: Any loss obviously isn’t … but how surprised are you the way you lost this game?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: Well, they just really came ready to play. They started fast. We didn’t. We work really hard every day at practice. We’ll just make the corrections. 24-hour rule in the NFL. Win or lose, 24 hours, flush it, got to get better and make the corrections for next week.
Q: We hear that that 24-hour rule exists, but is it more difficult when the loss is like this…?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: 24-hour rule regardless, win or lose. Doesn’t matter.
Q: I don’t think you’ve beaten the Bills in your career. What is it about this team that gives you guys such trouble?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: Like I said, we’re just going to regroup. 24-hour rule, get better, prepare for next week.
Q: What can you take away from this game to help you guys improve going forward?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: Really biggest thing is just going in, watching the tape and being intentional. Not just watching it, not just going through the motions or anything like that. I’m not saying that we were or anything like that, but you got to be intentional. That’s the only way you can improve. You can always learn from a loss. It’s never a failure. It’s always something you can learn from.
Q: As a pass-rusher, do you feel you got the type of pressure on Josh Allen that you wanted to at the end of the game?
CHRISTIAN WILKINS: I feel like we did a solid job, but we can always do better. We’re just going to have to keep improving in all areas every day, one day at a time.
