Ryan Fitzpatrick – October 20, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 20, 2019
Postgame – Buffalo
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
(A lot of good things happened in the game for you guys both offensively and defensively – does it make it that much more frustrating to come up short?) – “Yeah, for sure. To have the opportunity on the one or two yard line, to have a critical error and then to have another one and throw the interception down there is tough. I think we were looking to go up maybe 21-9 at that point playing with some momentum, and we were feeling really good coming out of halftime. That killed us a little bit. They were able to go down and score on that next drive, so that was a tough part of the game. We hung in there. We’re playing better in spurts, but we have to continue to try and learn how to win and continue to try and not make those big mistakes in critical times.”
(A little reshuffle in the offensive line had you standing behind two guys not in their-full time positions. How did you feel it worked out for those guys in front?) – “There’s been so much improvement from Week 1 to now. A lot of that is just working together, whether it’s at practice or just sitting at a lunch table. I think we all know each other a little bit now. Everybody knows each other’s names and that’s something we didn’t have in the first few weeks. Those guys are working extremely hard and I told them this week at practice that I’m extremely proud of the way they’re working, and they’re fighting their tails off on every snap. We have a lot of confidence in those guys.”
(It seems like every week we’re seeing a little bit better offense, defense — is this team near the point where they’re going to win football games moving forward here?) – “I think so. Again, from game one, to now, I think we’re just coming together as a team a little bit. We’re starting to get to know each other and I think it’s starting to show on the field. We’re having better practices – more crisp – and we’ve got a lot of young guys out there, but that first half was fun. There was great energy in the stadium, great energy on our sideline and we just have to continue to do that and put a whole game together.”
(You were on a team that was 0-8 here and you found belief in that group. How is that going to help you with this group?) – “Well, and I said this at the beginning, I think I’m the perfect man for the job, because I’ve been through it, I have zero ego, and all I want to do is go out there and win. I want to bring an energy. I want what I’m doing out there to be infectious to other guys. We have a lot of young guys that haven’t really played much at this level, and we have some guys that are a year or two into it. But I want to be that ‘stable guy’ that they can look to when things get a little shaky, and I’ve been in this situation a lot before. It’s something that I embrace. I’ve had a different career than a lot of different quarterbacks, but this has been a career that I’ve loved and a position that I like being in.”
(Tell us about your touchdown run. I know that’s a play you like.) – “Yeah, I love those. It just brings me back to Pop Warner and as a quarterback I don’t get to do that much. I got a little bit of a running start so it wasn’t fair, but just to have that play – I probably could’ve avoided it to get into the end zone but that’s just a play that I like.”
(To do what you guys did offensively against that defense, does it mean something to you?) – “Yeah. I think we’re constantly and we’re continuously growing as a team, so we have to be able to stack together these minor wins of going out there and executing, and then looking at the things that are going wrong and why. But we’ve gotten significantly better from day one to now, and we just have to continue on that trend. I think guys are buying-in, guys are getting comfortable – we haven’t won a game. I think everybody gets that and knows that, but at the same time we’re making strides, and I think we do take certain things out of this game.”
(Coming back here, what’s this cauldron like? It there a level of comfort to come back here because you started out here, or discomfort because of the noise?) – “So much so. It was so comfortable and the noise was awesome. The fans were great, but I made a wrong turn twice out of the locker room today to go out of the stadium instead of to the field, because we were always supposed to take a right when you’re a Bill and a left when you’re the opponent, so even though I played here a few times, I did it twice today. It was a strange feeling every time I’m here and it’s a strange feeling walking into the stadium – there’s so many good memories. Right when I got to my locker I texted two guys. I texted Fred Jackson, and just told him how much I appreciated playing with him and the memories that we made. And then sitting in the visitors locker room I saw two lockers and I texted Brandon Marshall. I just thought back to that game in 2015 at the end of the season, when I was on the Jets and we were 10-5 and a win gets us in the playoffs. For a guy that’s never been to the playoffs and Brandon Marshall who has never been to the playoffs, you just have that crazy range of emotion from all the fun times with Fred and sitting after that game with Brandon for a little bit. This place is so special to me as a player and as an opponent I guess, but it brings up great memories and a lot of memories that carry a lot of weight and emotion to them.”
(How would you describe Brian’s [Flores] approach with you guys especially these past couple weeks? Is it one of the building, making a young team grow as you go along, or frustration? Where does he fall on that scale?) – “I think we’ve been very aggressive. We’ve recovered two onside kicks this year, then offsides twice, we had the fake field goal today that all of a sudden we don’t execute, then I throw an interception. There’s some stuff that we’re doing really good, especially on the special teams that was super aggressive, but haven’t really done a nice job of finishing the job if you will. I think there’s aggressiveness in the play calls. I think we’re headed in that direction, so I was very happy. Just last week, you know, to come into work and for him to say that I was going to get put back into the lineup. I just think there’s a lot of things that he has shown that are showing that he wants to win football games and I’m totally on board with that.”
(How do you feel about those aggressive decisions? Whether it’s the special teams or the offense on fourth down, any of those kind of things that are going on?) – “Yeah I mean, what do you have to lose, right? What do we have to lose at this point? I think that’s part of the mentality and part of the mentality is just trying to get that to trickle down and rub off on everyone else, that aggression.”
(You say you’re the perfect guy for the situation but were you the absolute wrong guy for anybody that has any idea that it’s okay to lose or that’s acceptable? Because there is some thought that there are people in the organization who feel that way.) – “There are certain things that are way out of my control. I came here because there was an opportunity to play and I love playing football. I love going out there and competing with my guys and that’s about as deep as I get into it.”
