Bills 24, Patriots 10
SM: Good to get a win. It's a hard place to win against a good football team, a well-coached football team. I thought the guys did a really good job of playing complementary football. Impressed by the leadership, the character of our football team and the stretch that we had over the last three games here. Glory to God for all of his blessings.
With that I'll turn it over to you.
Q. 33 pass attempts, 37 rushing attempts; can you speak to that balance and how the team was able to execute?
SM: Yeah, I thought Coach Dorsey did a really good job of changing it up. When the run is working like it was at times, just being able to stick with it, and sometimes it wasn't, but it's going to happen like that, and just being able to stick with it, I thought he was very patient in that regard and the O-line did a very good job up front. I thought we had a chance to get that last drive, get that 1st down there, but they moved the ball back to a 2nd and short, then we got hit behind the line, but I thought overall the pad level of the offensive line I thought was very good.
Q. What was it about James Cook's week that caused you to get him more involved?
SM: You know, I don't think it was necessarily about his week, it was just overall his growth and seeing what he can do. I thought they did a good job offensively, Coach Skipper, of rotating different guys in there, and just wasn't all motor. I think that's a good thing there.
Q. 14 red zone snaps, you ran it nine times, counting two Josh runs. When you can move it down there, that's kind of big for your offense, isn't it?
SM: Yeah, absolutely. Again, the offensive line, Coach Kromer, they've done a great job, and that's really where the game is won a lot of times. I thought they had a good plan coming in and executed.
Q. 6 out of 7 down there the last two weeks; do you feel like you've got some positive momentum down there in the red area?
SM: Yeah, we'll see. I'd rather 6 for 7 than 0 for 7. But those points are important, right. When you get the ball down there in the red zone, you've got to cash in, and we've done that the last couple of weeks.
Q. Keeping Kaiir Elam out tonight, what went into that decision?
SM: Just taking a look at what we had with X, and Tre has ramped up there a little bit, his rep count, and we'll watch the tape and see. The competition is good. It's healthy for all of us.
Q. What did you think of the pass protection, in particular with Matthew Judon and how good he had been coming into this game?
SM: Yeah, he's a special player. I'm not going to say his name right, but Uche, 55 there, he's also an elite pass rusher, so they do a great job coming off both edges. That's a tough tandem right there to block.
I thought we did a good job in that regard. They got us one time before half there with the sack fumble, so just got to look back at that, as well.
Q. With Von Miller, you said you needed your pass rush to step up. What were your evaluations of that unit tonight, and just a comment on placing Von Miller on IR?
SM: Yeah, I just want to be smart with Von. Then with the guys that were out on the field tonight, I thought they did a good job. I thought the defense as a whole did a good job. We had that one play that got out on us right there, looked like a missed tackle, and that's always something we can improve on.
Q. At some point in time, did you and the coaching staff say, hey, for lack of a better term, let's put this game in a wrestling submission hold? You guys kind of choked the game out.
SM: I mean, that's a good defense. A really good defense. We knew it was going to be tough coming in here, and really proud of the guys the way they were focused and executed.
Q. You've talked about Josh over the last few weeks when he's made some errors in the red zone, and he makes that play today going out of bounds, crossing the body and hits the touchdown. Is that the other part with a guy like Josh, where he can make those plays and it's in his head when he's in that spot to make that kind of throw?
SM: Yeah, I wasn't looking. I closed my eyes when he did it.
No, that's part of who he is. You know, the bottom line is you can't put the ball in trouble, in danger. I thought that was a well-calculated throw. He was open and he got it to him. You never take away Josh's instincts and his gut feel. He's got a great feel for things.
But at the end of the day he knows we've got to continue to be smart with the football.
Q. What does a divisional win right now do for your momentum?
SM: Yeah, a divisional win is important. We knew coming in here it was going to be tough, like I said, against a good football team, and they're really well-coached and prepared every week. We're thankful to get a win. And in the division on top of that.
Q. To follow up on Von, you said you want to be smart, and obviously that's the focus of that decision, but he's on a podcast two nights before about wanting to come back for the jet game and that sort of thing. What all went into that decision and what was your input?
SM: Yeah, I don't want to get too far into that. There's been a lot of conversations, and going down that rabbit hole, if you will, is not healthy for us right now, and just out of respect for Von and the team. I'd rather just talk about the guys that played their butts off out there and gave us great effort, and Von will go through the process healthy as we can and go from there.
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