Mike McDaniel – November 3, 2024 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 3, 2024
Postgame – Buffalo Bills
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Can you offer your perspective on the late situation, the 61-yard field goal?) – “I was prepared for – if it was a miss, getting prepared for the play call; we would have had it on I believe the 49-yard line. So I was getting ready for that, so it kind of caught me by surprised just because you’re focused on the next play. Valiant effort, great job by the Buffalo Bills. Tough place to play, you’ve got to be error free and we had some errors.”
(On the penalty call there on S Jordan Poyer, I feel like he did all he could do. What can a defensive back do nowadays?) – “It takes it out of everyone’s hands when you go helmet to helmet. I didn’t see it live, but if there’s helmet to helmet contact, it is what it is. You have to go strike zone, which is below the neck. They’ll call that every time if that’s the case. We’ll see it on film.”
(Your team battled all day long, probably the best game you guys have played. How tough is it to walk off that field seeing some guy pop a 61-yard field goal to end the ball game?) – “It’s tough. Football is full of stuff like that, especially when you’re playing a good opponent. I think the team recognizes that they played a better brand of football, so the challenge is whether or not that helps or hurts you, and I really believe in all the guys in the locker room to make sure that although it’s difficult, you have to take it for what it is, apply the growth toward the next opponent. I think that’s the expectation and that’s what we’ll be talking about here soon. Yeah, it’s a tough division loss, one that guys strained to try to get, but in this place, if you turn the ball over, which we had one, they have a very high percentage of winning and it was tough to overcome that.”
(You still have a lot of games to play. How does a game like this give your team confidence moving forward and try to get a streak going and get yourself back into this thing?) – “You try to simplify that to one game, and you have one game on your schedule and nothing else. I think it’s important that in all seasons, people avoid the noise, whether that’s good or bad noise, and this is definitely the case where we have to use the effort and utilize the challenge of coming back after losing on last-second field goals two weeks in a row. Yeah, it’s not ideal; at the same time, I think from competitors standpoint, that type of challenge is something that I’m going to be counting on that will motivate our guys to press forward in a difficult time.”
(Nine different players touched the ball today. That kind of balance, was that a focal point for you guys coming in or just kind of a product of how Buffalo was playing defense?) – “As we’ve grown together as an offensive unit, finding conviction in things that guys do well, then you’re looking at an opponent that loves to double 10 (Tyreek Hill) and 17 (Jaylen Waddle). I’ve used the basketball analogy before; you can either try to split the double or you can get an assist. There was a lot of guys involved by intention, and I thought Tua played one of his best games since we’ve been working together on finding those eligibles and taking what the defense was giving them, and that was a lot of double 10 and 17 for a good amount of the game.”
(Talking about QB Tua Tagovailoa, with this game, it kind of opened up your whole offense today. We saw you do a lot of different things, lot of different play calls, some misdirection plays, a lot of successful running, short pass, long pass, it’s got everything opened up. That’s got to give you some hope moving forward with this offense to continue to grow?) –
“Well, I think you’re absolutely right. There’s no moral victories. We lost as a team, and you want all three phases to look at it like they could have been the reason that we won. But there is growth and you do make sure you emphasize that, because you want that to continue. You don’t want it to take a step back. I was very happy with the challenge presented, that Buffalo presents defensively. I was very happy with Tua’s decision making, his ball placement and his overall conviction, and I thought nobody on the sidelines throughout the entire game really wavered and that was important, too, considering that we really had a lot to play for and guys wanted this one bad. So this will hurt, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing in the big picture. It just depends on what you do with it. I think the guys are motivated. Didn’t see it coming down like this, but at the same time, you have to hunker down as a unit and come together and continue to progress, because we did show some progress, albeit not enough.”
(On the decision to kick the extra point on the final touchdown drive) – “It was all based upon the clock and how much time we were going to leave them. I think on a second-and-10, Tua progressed to number five in the progression which was De’Von Achane, and he got an explosive as a result and that kind of changed the math. But we were prepared to go for two in a certain time situation, just felt like there was too much time left.”
(What is your take on what DT Calais Campbell called an aggressive penalty there on S Jordan Poyer on third down at the end of the game?) – “You have to play aggressive in this game for success. I have no doubt that the intentionality was appropriate. ‘Po’ (Jordan Poyer) is a gigantic player for our team and has been phenomenal, really helping us take another step in how we prepare, how we play, how we communicate, all that. But he knows himself that you take it out of your hands and put it in the officials hands the second you don’t hit the strike zone. So if you hit the strike zone, it’s unfortunate, but if you didn’t, that’s going to get called every time because that’s against the rules.”
(What was going on with WR Jaylen Waddle on the sideline at the end when you he got hurt and was able to go back in?) – “He had, I don’t really know, I believe it was a kick but they had to bandage some stuff on his shin. And then when you are down, you have to come out for one play. He was ready to go back in, but based upon rules, we had a way to play before he did.”
(RB Raheem Mostert seems like he’s had a recent run of fumbles a little bit. What did you see was his reaction as he lost the fumble today?) – “I thought he was running really well. We talk about it all the time, but defenders from pursuit, the guys you can’t see, are what you’re most vulnerable to, and he’s got to fix that. I appreciate his effort; I thought he ran as hard as he’s ran all season and I thought it was a big part of our success, but we can’t turn the ball over, especially to that team, and expect to win the football game.”
(You made a defensive lineup change – LB Anthony Walker Jr. going in for LB David Long Jr. What was Anthony Walker showing and what was David Long showing also?) – “I think it was more about ‘Walk’ (Anthony Walker Jr.) than anything else. We needed to get him on the field a little bit more, and it’s something that we collectively thought gave us the best chance to win against this particular opponent, which is the compass for all decisions made on all playing time is from the team perspective. I thought before watching the tape, it seemed like he added some value to the whole defense, but we’ll check out his play when I comb the tape here coming on the flight.”
