Houston Texans 23, Buffalo Bills 19
SEAN McDERMOTT: Not the result we were looking for. I am proud of the players, the way they battled, had some guys go down. Guys gave it all they had and we came up short. Things you can't do against a good football team and a good defense overall.
Let's just start field position wise, we beat ourselves from a field position standpoint, some costly penalties. The turnovers, three turnovers. Just looking at it overall, we weren't playing enough complementary football and we had a chance to win at the end of the game, but plenty of things we need to work on so time's yours.
Q. Sean, offensively, obviously the pass rush was great but they're doing it with four. Is that a little bit of a concern that they were able to get that much pressure with four?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Well, that's how they've built it and that's what you want to be able to do. We talk about that a lot, right? I think they had 12 hits on Josh. Eight sacks. That's not a healthy formula right there.
Q. This was the least amount of pressure applied to a Texans quarterback this season. Why was it so hard to generate anything for you guys on that side of the ball?
SEAN McDERMOTT: They were doing a good job of staying at schedule on times, getting the ball out of his hand. They do a good job with that. We knew that coming in. Mills throws the ball quickly and we knew we were going to have to get our hands up to affect him.
I thought the effort in the second half by the defense was outstanding. Gave us a chance to win but the drive before half, the big play, the chunk right there, we got to be better. That was an important drive right there. Overall we go back to work and continue to push forward here.
Q. The fourth down play when you went with Cook, Josh said he felt the play was late coming in and maybe he should have called time-out. Is that the way you saw what happened on that play?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah, I'm usually listening to Joe in terms of, hey, do we need one? Do we not? I didn't hear that at that point. I'll talk to Josh and follow up. That's how it went down.
Q. Sean, I know injuries are part of the game, but at some point are you throwing your arms up just, like, when is it ever going to end? Especially for you defense?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah, can't do that. I respect your question, Sal. Can't do that, right? We got to stay in this thing, man. We ground and we grind it out. That's what you do. You compete. You sign up. This is what you do no matter if you have no injuries or you have the injuries that we have.
I do appreciate, again, like I've said before, guys stepping in tonight. Shaq went in there. Other guys were going down, some came back, some didn't. Max did not come back, but like I said, the effort, the will that the guys have, I don't question that one bit. I don't.
Q. I didn't mean throw it up like quit but like is it ever going to end is what I meant.
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah, good question but we fight. That's what we do. We fight, we battle and we person forward.
Q. I know you pride yourself on being the more physical team. Did they beat you to that tonight? Were they the more physical team?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Well, when they hit the quarterback 12 times, I don't like that. I don't like that stat at all. It's not a healthy way to play or a healthy way to keep our quarterback healthy through the remainder of the season, so that's just not a good formula right there.
Q. Sean, Khalil had a slow start, with the fumble, obviously, but was able to bounce back and make some big plays. How do you evaluate his night overall?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah, he's a heck of a of a football player, a big part of our team. Made some big plays for us as well. Obviously he'll want that play back. He's usually sure-handed and in particular when he's carrying the ball. I don't know who it was that came in there, it was an underneath cover guy and play with what we call violence and violent hands and violent arms and made a good play on the ball right there on the tackle.
Q. Sean, the decision to have Keon inactive. Was there anything new for that?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Anything new? Nothing new. No, we're just taking it one day at a time right now. Thought he had a better week and we move forward one day at a time.
Q. Just to clarify, is this an extension of the discipline that you gave to him?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Listen, it was a short week so we had basically two and a half days and you got a game plan and all those types of things, but it wasn't that it wasn't thought about. It was, just like anything else, but just felt like we went with the guys that like we always do, try to do, unless the situation comes up like it did, go with the guys that give us the best chance every week.
Q. One last thing... offensively as you're trying to figure things out, talked about this going into the game, that is a really good defense, but did it feel like at times that maybe on offense it was a little bit too predictable?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Well, again, when you're not winning first down and you get into second down and long, that's what becomes predictable and then their D-line pins their ears back and they go and they're built that way for a reason, so and then that's where the hits come. Second down and long turns into third down and long and, again, that's the unhealthy formula I'm talking about and Josh takes too many hits so we've got to figure that peace out and I believe in our offensive staff, I believe in our coaching staff overall. I thought the adjustments on the defensive side were really good tonight going into the second half I'm talking about and kept us in the game, but, again, just not enough. Not enough field position. Penalties on special teams. We just overall, to have those things come up, that combination of areas and still have a chance to win the game says a lot about the effort the players gave tonight.
Q. (Inaudible) didn't come back from concussion protocol.
SEAN McDERMOTT: As far I know he is. I have not heard that directly from the trainer, though. I just know he was held out of the game. Thank you, guys.
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