Jacksonville Jaguars 9, Buffalo Bills 6
Q. Sean, Micah was just out here a little while ago. Said the team wasn't ready to play today. How was that possible?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Well, it's a one week at a time league. You guys know that. We preach that. Give them the credit, they were ready to play, and we weren't.
Q. You guys had five personal fouls today. Whether or not all of them were legitimate could be maybe debated. But that's a really high number. It's tough to win with that many.
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah.
Q. What's your message to those guys?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah. You can't beat yourself. Let's start there. Whether it's penalties, turnovers, fundamentals. And so, yeah, way too penalties, self-inflicted. Got to keep our poise.
That was a crew that called taunting, I believe, more than any crew in the league. And we were aware of that. And we didn't execute.
Q. Sean, are you concerned by the play of the offense? Everybody had a rough day, but the offensive line in particular, a lot of problems seemed to start there today?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah. We've got to fix some things. Let's just start there. We've got to fix some things.
Going to take a hard look at the film and got to win up front in order to play well offensively or defensively.
Q. Sean, you always keep an even keel no matter what happens. But does a game like this offensively make you want to really dig maybe even a little deeper than you normally would because this type of performance?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah. I have confidence in those guys, both the staff and the players. But that was -- to score six points. I did think we moved the ball at times. But where we had opportunities and then the drive would stall, whether it be in the red zone early there or with a turnover or for some reason, you know, we stalled out.
So we've got to go back -- I've got to go back and look at it and scrub it down and figure out what was going on there.
Q. What was your take on Josh's game? Some questionable decision making there at times. I know he was -- protection was an issue.
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah. I mean, that's the turnovers. You know, that's what jumps off the paper at me. I thought Josh made some great throws at times. As he would tell you, we've got to be smarter with the football in certain situations. And just overall as an offense, we've got to figure some things out.
Q. Sean, on the other side of the ball, do you feel like the defense left a few big turnovers out there on the field today, had a chance to make some bigger plays?
SEAN McDERMOTT: I thought defensively, you know, that first -- the first -- I believe it was the first third down where Trey had the penalty, it gave them life. And it gave them some energy on their sideline where we were off the field. And you can't do that.
I thought defensively we did some good things. 218 yards, nine points. You feel pretty good. If you were to tell me that, hey, but at the end of the day it wasn't enough. And we've got to look back at some of the things we did defensively as well and try and get off the field earlier in some of those series where we weren't off the field and give the ball back to our offense.
Q. Sean, why not take the penalty and take them out of field goal range and let them try a 55 yarder?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah. I felt we weren't playing great at that point. And, you know, felt like he hadn't had a lot of field goals. I'm not sure if he had any at that distance at this point in the season. But, you know, that's one I want back, yeah, obviously with the result the way it was.
Q. (No microphone.)
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah. I mean, that's -- I think he only had a handful of attempts on the year. And he squeaked that one that Jay is referring to over the crossbar. So give him credit.
But just, you know, felt like defensively we weren't in a great rhythm right there. And we were off the field and felt pretty good about our chances on that field goal. But that's one, you know, could probably go either way. But, obviously, with the result, I want it back.
Q. I recognize there's only so much you can change in terms of game in terms of who's dressed. But did you consider any lineup substitutions up front on the offensive line?
SEAN McDERMOTT: We always look at it, Jay. You know that. Some of it was where we were at this week with the injuries and everything. And we'll see -- we always look at everything we can going into a game.
Q. Sean, why a punt after the false start penalty?
SEAN McDERMOTT: What did we go to fourth and 7? You know, I felt like we could get the ball back. I think we did get the ball back there. Is that right? We had three time-outs I believe still. Didn't we have three time-outs?
I felt like we were in a pretty good spot clockwise. And, like I said, we got the ball back there. Fourth and 7, you know, percentage-wise, we felt like, hey, let's go try and pin them down and go play defense and win the field position battle there.
Q. This is the second straight week that the offense especially has come out in the first half slow. Is there anything that you attribute that to?
SEAN McDERMOTT: I mean, listen, if I knew what it was exactly, we wouldn't have done it today again. But when you go back in there, you've got to look at energy level, execution, red zone. I think in the early drive or two, we were in the red zone there on that one and had the ball first and goal I think from the 4 or 5 yard line there give or take and didn't get much out of it.
Q. Sean, it seems like the offense has looked different since Dawson Knox's injury there in Tennessee. Miami game wasn't great. This game. Is it too simple to say that offensively still trying to figure out how life is without Dawson Knox?
SEAN McDERMOTT: No. I wouldn't go there, Josh. I understand where you're coming from. But we've got to go out there -- we've got enough players out there to make plays. And we've got to execute at a higher level and make sure we're putting them in position. When I get on this plane, I'm going to go look at it.
Q. Sean, in our opinion, why is there such a difficulty right now to be able to gain consistent knowledge when you're handing the ball off to your backs?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah. That's a big -- that's a huge issue right now for us, Joe. Got to be able to run the football when it's handed off. I think we were 9 carries for, what, 22 yards with the backs? So that's not good enough.
Q. Josh came out here and was probably more upset than most of us have seen him after a loss at any point in his career. What do you attribute that to? And how do you make sure that his head space remains where you need it to be?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah. It's a long season. Right? I mean, the guys have to realize that there's -- the season is going to ebb and flow a little bit.
Today, obviously, we were down and didn't get the result we wanted. But you've got to hang together. And we've got to go back and fix some things and make sure we identify where those problems are, in particular on the offense side right now and get them fixed in a hurry.
Q. Sean, you've rarely had this where you've been the favorite in this kind of game and lost. Is there an overall message you'll have or do have for the team right now? Because this is something that hasn't happened since you've been here.
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah. Well, we've been fortunate that way. But, to me, it goes back to preparing every week. And, you know, that's the National Football League. You've got to prepare every week.
They've got good players, good coaches. And they played really, really well today. And so, you know, we preach that all the time. And that's why we've gotten the results we have to this point. Didn't get it today. So we've got to go back and look at why.
Q. Sean, this is more minor, but last play on the punt, why send 11 rather than go for --
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah. Just trying to make something happen with the block. So can go one of two ways there. Put the returner back and try to get something going or go for the block. 7 seconds left. I think they reset it. It was 5 initially or 4 seconds or even down to 3 and they reset it to 7. So just trying to make something happen there at that point.
Q. The personal foul penalties as a whole were an issue today. How do you fix that?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Well, I'd like to believe we're a disciplined team, but it doesn't show right now. So I've got to go back and look at that as well. We practice a certain way. But for some reason, it's not being reflected in the way we're beating ourselves with penalties.
Q. I know you're going to go back and look at the tape. Stefon had some success in the second half, but it seemed like a struggle to get him involved. Did they do anything to take him away or is it just something offensively?
SEAN McDERMOTT: I didn't feel that. I didn't feel that. Like you said, we'll go back and look at it. But that's something we have to think long and hard about.
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