BUFFALO BILLS
Head Coach Sean McDermott
(on QB Tyrod Taylor) "He's in the protocol at this point. Nothing further at this time."
(on DT Marcell Dareus) "As you know, it was a violation of a team rule. I'm disappointed; we're disappointed. My hope is he'll learn from this, and we'll move forward. I'm not going to get into what he did. We'll address it and revisit it when we get back."
(on offensive game plan being derailed when Taylor went out) "It was an unfortunate situation with Tyrod. I never want to see anybody go down, particularly with a head injury. But I liked the way we were able to handle the sudden change. Nate [Peterman] was poised. All reports from the huddle were that he was very composed and handled himself well. The offense moved at times, and, at other times, we didn't move well enough. We still have a lot of work to do in all three phases."
(on the penalties that hurt his offense) "You can't do that. You've heard me say that before. Fundamental football, taking care of the football, we didn't do a good enough job of that at the end to win the game. But there were a lot of positives. We gave great effort. We gave ourselves a chance to win the game at the end. We need to win those games. And that becomes a mindset, a winning mindset, an eye of the tiger mindset. And that's how our team needs to grow in that area."
(on his team's run defense) "I thought the defense played well, actually, overall. They weren't in great situations with field position. We knew it was going to be a field-position game, quite frankly. And it was. They gave us a chance to win the game by forcing field goals for the most part. By taking bad situations and turning them into a positive, they played hard, and we'll continue to grow in that area also."
(on additional punishment for Dareus) "I'm not going to get into that. We'll head back to Buffalo and revisit that at that time."
(on when they decided to send Dareus home) "It was just before the game."
(on the three illegal formation penalties against the offensive line) "It's disappointing. Like all situations, we have to learn from those, and those are valuable lessons. You can't do that in a game. We've got a lot of work to do in a lot of areas, and penalties is one of them. We'll continue to work until we get it right. There's no magical solution or magic way fixing it other than to work hard. And that's what we plan to do."
(on whether QB Nathan Peterman can get into the mix for the starting job) "Tyrod's our starter. I thought Nathan came in and did a good job, at times moved the ball. But we had some penalties that stalled some drives. The biggest thing I wanted to see Nathan do is handle the situation. And he did that. The whole team did that. Sometimes going through a situation like this, as unfortunate as it is, watching your team respond to it makes me proud. The offense embraced him; he did some good things in the huddle."
(on the battle at the RCB position) "Great competition. The thing you love about it is just like the game. The guys battled. For the third game in a row, the guys battled to win the game again. It doesn't happen every week. But, that said, we've got to win those games; we have to handle those situations. I thought E.J. [Gaines] played at an extremely high level, and that's going to make for some tough decisions."
(on his level of frustration with Taylor's injury) "This is a contact sport. Injuries are a part of the game. They happen. Would I have liked to have seen him out there for the duration that we had planned for him? Sure. But, that said, we have to take everything in stride as a football team. The next man stepped up and did some good things. He stepped up, got his first action with the ones. And that was good to see."
(on if the lack of RB Jonathan Williams' playing time was injury-related) "Jonathan has been battling that. We're trying to look at some things offensively in the back field in general. Jonathan will get his touches moving forward. But we wanted to get a look at Mike [Tolbert]. Mike did some good things, and then Joe Banyard ran the ball well. Jonathan, coming off this injury, we wanted to give him a little more time. So, Thursday night will be important."
(on the quarterbacks' comfort level with TE Charles Clay) "That's important. The tight end can be, if used the right way, a quarterback's best friend. They know where to find him, he knows where to be in third-and-short situations. He can also get vertical. He provides a good skill set for us, including in-line blocking. He's been working really hard at that. I really like where Charles is in his development and getting himself ready for the end of the season."
(on why RB LeSean McCoy was in the game so late) "It's really what we need to do as an offense, and, in this case, LeSean, ready for Week 1. There's an acclimation period. I'm right there with him. When he touches the ball, I hold my breath and say a lot of prayers. That said, he needs his touches to get himself ready and acclimated for Week 1. We are fortunate that he got some good touches and came out healthy tonight."
QB Nathan Peterman
(on his possible larger role) "All I do is just try to do my best when they send me into the game. I don't know how much Im going to play, but when I do I just want to keep the offense on the field."
(on the number of batted balls at the line of scrimmage) "They have a very big defensive line, and they know when to put their hands up. I need to do as better job with my eyes finding the passing lanes."
(on the Bills difficulty on third down) "We need to do a better job as an offense. We have to be more discipline so we can make plays. We just need to get better"
(on his reaction to entering the game so early) "That is what you prepare for. When you're the number two quarterback, you're always one play away. I'm extremely grateful for the chance to play"
FB Mike Tolbert
(on the competition for playing time at running back) "We all know who is No.1 [RB LeSean McCoy]. The rest of us are just working hard to see what we can get. We are all trying to eat."
(on his touchdown run) "I knew I got in. It was no doubt in my mind. There aren't too many teams that can stop me from the 1-inch line."
RB LeSean McCoy
(on QB Tyrod Taylor being injured) "It's always tough when you lose your starter. You want to keep everybody fresh and healthy, so we'll see what it is. Hopefully he'll get better, and we'll get him for the opener."
(on the play of QB Nathan Peterman) "He's going to be alright. He looked good. The whole camp he's looked sure. He's a young guy who demands a lot of respect and confidence. He's making all the right reads and throws. I think he'll be good."
(on DT Marcell Dareus being sent some) "I don't know about that, as far as the game went today. On offense, we didn't play well. Myself, I didn't play well at all. This was one of my worst preseason games. I have to get to some drawing boards this week and learn from our mistakes, especially myself. I have to get back to playing ball and get ready for our opener."
TE Charles Clay
(on the Bills' defense) "They were good. They were physical. They've been doing good, pretty much all of camp, so it comes as no surprise. Starting with the front four, they're a bunch of hard working guys. They carried us, unfortunately. We just couldn't put enough points on the board. We'll go back to the drawing board and get some things corrected. I thought they played well tonight."
(on him being targeted in this game and whether it will continue into the regular season) "Who knows? You just have to wait and see. Playing tight end sometimes you get these kind of games and sometimes you have to help a little more in the running game. You just have to see."
(on his ability to go downfield) "However I can help. I feel like that's something I've definitely worked on and I feel like that's something I can help. There's multiple things that I can do, so whatever they ask me to do I'll do it.'
(on being 0-3 in preseason) "You come out here and you want to win every single game, but it's preseason, and we've got to get some things corrected. Hopefully we'll have it nipped in the bud when the regular season gets started."
CB Shareece Wright
(on the defense's play) "I think it was good overall. We had our good plays and we had a couple times where they were able to run the ball a little bit on us. But for the most part, I thought we did pretty well."
(on being in the visiting team locker room) "Different. It's different. I was telling guys I've never been on this side of the locker room. It's not as nice and it's a little more packed."
(on being 0-3 in the preseason) "It's preseason. There's a lot of things that go on in the preseason that are different than the regular season. We're just playing hard and trying to come together as a team, gel as a team, and hopefully we can do that."
LB Preston Brown
(on the first team defensive performance) "We had a good showing against their offense, keeping them out of the end zone. It's a big emphasis throughout the year. The defense as a whole did a great job limiting the points throughout the game."
(on what's working well for the defense) "The coach is doing a good job getting the best plays in. We're getting our personnel in. Everybody is out there talking and communicating well. Guys are making plays when they're presented to them."
(on the team defensive effort) "Everybody is running to the ball, so it's always a big crowd. When we've watched film, everybody is getting in the picture."
(on his personal performance in preseason) "I think I've done alright. I never grade myself higher than a C. I've got a lot to improve on, get some turnovers sand help this offense get more points on the board."
LB Lorenzo Alexander
(on the defense needing to improve) "We definitely must continue to step up. There's plenty of adversity to overcome. I think the defense played well, but we still need to take the ball away. That's something huge that we will have to do this year. Our goal is to have two every game. We had one tonight. We need to continue to work in that area."
(on the starting defense not allowing a touchdown) "That's huge. At times, we had short fields. Our goal is takeaways and make them kick field goals. We were able to do that tonight."
(on the defenses performance in the pre-season) "We're able to play fast, that suits our personnel. Guys are able to fly around. We need to understand what our assignments are so we can execute. We're definitely meshing well from the front, to the back end. We're really creating some chemistry. We need to get more hands on balls, and create more opportunities by forcing fumbles, so we can create short fields for our offense."
