Tennessee 34, Buffalo 31
Q. Just the way you drew it up?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Exactly. Proud of our guys, the way we battled through. Wasn't always pretty, but we kept fighting, kept believing in each other. Believing we were going to win the game.
Defense, huge stop there at the end. Flashback to last week, the huge goal line stand against Jacksonville. I don't know how many inches they had to go, but it wasn't many. It was a couple chain links to get that first down. Able to come up with a huge stop there. A complete team win all the way around. Proud of our guys, the way we battled.
Q. On the last play, did you see the slip and fall?
RYAN TANNEHILL: I don't remember who. I was moving around a lot at that point. I'm kind of watching the clock, thinking, If they score, if they kick a field goal, whatever the case may be, how much time we're going to have left to try to go and win this thing. Saw they were going for it on fourth down. Belief in our defense that we're going to get it done.
As soon as they stopped it, yeah, I kind of lost my mind a little bit, started celebrating, jumping around. I don't even know who I was with on the sideline. Definitely having a good time.
Q. Zero sacks, how important was that tonight?
RYAN TANNEHILL: It's huge. O-line did a great job. Especially as we got going in the game, I was able to get into a little bit of a rhythm, give me time to throw. Guys were getting open. Played really well tonight.
Q. A.J. and you were able to hit on a couple big plays. What was clicking for you there?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, he was huge tonight. Had some really big plays. Coming off the play-action. Getting open by a lot. Being able to catch and run.
When he's able to do that, we're making explosive plays and moving the football. Made a couple sideline adjustments that allowed him to have some more opportunities and he took advantage of them.
Q. That play-action across the middle, did you come into this game feeling like that was going to be open for you?
RYAN TANNEHILL: You never really know. Obviously we create a game plan, have that as a foundation. But you kind of get into game and you start feeling out how the game's going, what looks good, what we can take advantage of.
Great adjustments by Todd and players taking advantage of it like A.J.
Q. When you're playing well, emotionally are you bouncing off of each other?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, no doubt. You feed off each other. You're playing complementary football. KB comes up with an interception, we're able to go score. You're playing complementary football like that, the energy builds and builds and builds. You have to be able to do that and you also have to be able to respond, right? If they give up a score, we turn the ball over, then pick the other side up.
It functions in both ways. Definitely when things start rolling forward, you can build on that momentum and keep it going.
Q. Was it Derrick's run that started to open things up for the offense or more to it than that?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, I mean, I think obviously we started to run the football well. We hit some play-actions, we were able to make some plays through the year. The big run was kind of like the spark, so to speak. We moved the ball a little bit, but hadn't really sustained any drives up until that point.
I think, they took a 10-0 lead.
Q. 6-0.
RYAN TANNEHILL: They just scored another field goal after the interception there. They had the momentum. Come back and to have a huge run like that, definitely provided a spark.
Q. What allows you guys to meet the moment against good teams in situations like this?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Belief in each other. Belief that we're going to go out and execute and find a way to win. Like I said, we didn't execute perfectly at times. We're a little bit frustrated about that. But the belief in each other never faded. The belief that we're going to get it going, they were going to take advantage of the opportunity and build off of each side of the ball.
KB gets a pick, we're able to answer with a score. That momentum just kept building. Game gets tight in the fourth quarter, that belief we're going to go down, score, take the lead, never wavered.
Q. (Question about anything Vrabel does to prepare for situations like this.)
RYAN TANNEHILL: He does a good job of leading the team, right? Kind of setting the tone, the belief in each other. It wasn't a lot of people outside the building that said we had a chance in this game. But inside that locker room, there was a lot of belief we were going to win this game.
At the end of the day that's all that really matters. He kind of reinforces that message. As a team we buy into that.
Q. (No microphone.)
RYAN TANNEHILL: It's through doing it, right? If you're constantly coming up short, the belief, you can say it, you can want to believe it, the belief may not be there.
The fact that this team has grit, we're going to find a way, we've done it for several years now, is find a way to win tough games. We're not always the prettiest squad, the most glamorous squad, but we believe in each other, we play tough, gritty football, and we love the win. We're going to try to find a way to do that each and every week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports