Bills - 27, Jaguars - 24
SEAN McDERMOTT: Man, great win. Great team win on the road. Glory to God. Just an incredible team effort. Great win for the organization. Great win for everybody back home. And for all those that came down here and supported us, Bills Mafia, man, we heard you. We really appreciate it. We really do.
Just tough, tough, tough football team. Some of the guys went down. Some guys stepped in, did a phenomenal job. Nobody blinked. Kept our composure all the way through the game, which we knew was going to be a challenge coming down here against a really good football team that's talented and well coached. And we saw it through.
Guys stood firm. They made the plays. We made the plays we needed to make, and it was a great, great way to end the game right there.
Good to see kind of Tre in 2017 and what he's now doing for us, and Cole kind of the other end of the youth movement here. Phenomenal, phenomenal play.
Q. We've asked about Tre'Davious a lot this season. What did he mean to the team today with the pass breakups and the last play?
SEAN McDERMOTT: It's probably a better question for Tre in terms of his journey, but if you just follow his journey from the time we got him -- well, if you go back a step or two, he was at the Rams, and you watch him from afar. Like we're sitting in Buffalo, he goes from the Rams to Baltimore, and he ends up the season with them. We end up playing him.
Then to get him back and just think about -- when he came back, he still wasn't really Tre because he was working through two major injuries, and yet in Tre's fashion, there's nobody that works harder, and he's gotten himself back now to where he's playing really good football.
Credit to him and the work that he's put in and our medical team as well. Just overall, he's just as good as there is in terms of his determination, his heart, and his resilient nature.
Q. When you think about his journey back to this moment, just a minute ago he wanted no part of the conversation about himself. Does that surprise you?
JOSH ALLEN: No, not at all. When you look back in 2017, the word that we had gotten about him was he was one of the true leaders on that team -- in college, I'm talking about, right?
So the intangibles, right? You can build a team with said people and this and that, but it's about intangibles and toughness and how those intangibles and toughness fit into an overall vision for a team and the culture of the team. There's, in my estimation, no substitute for toughness.
Q. Along those lines, intangibles and toughness, I think those words probably describe your quarterback about as well as any two. First the toughness to -- he's on the sideline, medical tent a couple times in the first half, to come back from that, and to lead the drives when you needed to have it at the end of the game, what did you think of it?
SEAN McDERMOTT: It trickles down from him, the team's toughness. When your quarterback's that type of warrior, that type of competitor, it's just, like I said, from a leadership standpoint, it just goes through the whole team.
We've got to get him as healthy as we can, though, for next week, and it's not something we take lightly. I did think overall he took some hits today, but there was also times where we protected him well. He got registered through with three hits and one sack. So credit to the O-line on that.
Q. The fourth down play in the first half, the carry from fourth and two. Usually you don't get the benefit of the doubt on those reviews for spotting the ball. What made you feel like it was worth doing, and was it the magnitude of that play that convinced you it was worth the risk?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah, it was a great job by the guys up top and then the magnitude of the play. It was close, we felt like. I felt like it was worth the challenge at that point from a fourth down situation.
Q. Did you get an explanation at the end of the first half? It certainly looked like the clock watt as zero. Was there any explanation given?
SEAN McDERMOTT: No, other than they felt like it wasn't, and they had one of our players offsides there.
Q. I know you guys don't pay attention to the outside noise that's said, but all the talk about not wanting a road playoff game, to be able to come here and win a road playoff game, what does it do for a team to galvanize them? And do you guys do something to say, hey, let's make sure and put it to rest?
SEAN McDERMOTT: We were aware of what the talk was, but at the end of the day, the game is decided between the white lines, and our team knew that. They knew we were going up against a heck of a football team today and a well coached football team. They were 8-1 over the last 9 or 7-1 over the last 8 and a pretty healthy team overall, which we've been battling through injuries through the entirety of the season, including today.
Our guys are tough, resilient, and there's a lot that we need to work on too as we go back to work this week. But couldn't be more proud of the guys and the entire team and the coaching staff as well and what they did to stick with it. I thought the offense in the second half was really good, and the defense made the stop at the end to get us the win.
Special teams did some good things as well baked in there, but plenty to work on still as we move forward.
Q. On a day where your running game wasn't rolling, to be able to win offensively in a different way, how big is that for this group?
SEAN McDERMOTT: You've got to be a two-dimensional offense. You guys know we talk about that quite a bit. We've got to be able to pivot if the run game isn't working. I thought Joe did a really good job in that regard at times. The strike down the middle to Cooksy there, huge play.
We made the plays we needed to make when we needed to make them, and that's really the story behind it.
Q. When you look at your regular season, it would be great if everything was smooth, but it doesn't work that way. How much did that prepare you for a day like today having to come back from stuff and keep moving forward?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah, it builds character. You go into every season, and you're hoping and praying that there's no adversity, but we've all been around this long enough to know there's going to be adversity. It's just a matter in what form it comes and how big it is.
We've really been dealing with it quite a bit this year. I think you learn from it, the team does, because you've got some young guys who have never been through it. The college game is somewhat different. The journey of a season is long in the NFL, especially if you're into the playoffs. So this is a good kind of experience for our young guys to see the crowd and how ready you've got to be this time of year particularly.
Q. What did you see from your defensive players as they prepared to get on the field for the last drive and the execution?
SEAN McDERMOTT: I thought the defensive staff, I was clicking over back and forth between the offense and the defense while we had the ball on offense, and they were doing a really good job of communicating and making sure everyone was on the same page because that was going to be important from a communication standpoint. They had no timeouts. They were going to be on the ball. So that was the start of it.
Q. Was there any conversation about the final touchdown, about kneeling or trying to take more time off the clock before that one?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah, for sure. We know from a game management standpoint that they have a phenomenal field goal kicker and can hit from -- what did he hit, from 68 or something like that last week or whenever it was? Like I said, I went out pregame and thought about not going out so I wouldn't get in awe of how strong -- I mean, the guy's kicking it from East Aurora basically, which is in Buffalo for those of you who don't know. Western New York, yeah.
Anyway, we knew it was going to be tight. We practice those situations, though, when you only can really give up X amount of yards, and if he uncorks a 70-yard field goal, that really only left us a few yards right there. Bobby knew it, did a great job. The players executed. That's really what it came down to is great execution.
Q. What did you say about the kicker before?
SEAN McDERMOTT: It seems like that's where the game's going. You look around the league, there's guys that can unload kicks from all over the place, and punters as well. I don't know, I don't know what they're eating or anything.
Q. Related, what was your thought on Matt Prater heading into the game and the decision to go with him and the whole thing?
SEAN McDERMOTT: You talk about resilient. Here's a guy that really couldn't finish the game last week. He has the week he has. The look in his eye was phenomenal. When your kicker's tough, that says a lot too, your punter. Mitch had to take over Matt's kickoff duties, and there was no flinching there either. Reid does a good job.
Those are three veteran players right there that have been around a little bit, been around the block. Man, their toughness also rises to the surface.
Q. Did you plan going into the game with Mitch handling kickoffs, or did something happen pregame to Matt?
SEAN McDERMOTT: That was the plan.
Q. The scene at Josh's locker has been consistent over the last month or two. He's taken a lot of punishment. He did again today. How does he do it?
SEAN McDERMOTT: What was the scene?
Q. Kind of looking like he'd just been in a battle.
SEAN McDERMOTT: Because he has. He's a warrior. Everybody -- that's the name of the game. You've got a quarterback, they're going to want to hit the quarterback. They're going to want to affect the quarterback.
They've got a great defensive line over there that rushes well and a couple of first round picks at least. Matt Edwards over there does a great job.
But you go back to -- let's just go back to the -- you talk about the result, but what leads us to the result? And the process of the preparation and the hard work during the week. Then getting your rest and all those things because rest is not easy this time of year, but it's important. So that process, that preparation piece is what led us to the result today.
Q. You mentioned resilience a few times. Shaq Thompson comes in after playing only six games the last two years before coming to Buffalo. Interception early in the game, obviously the tackle on Trevor Lawrence. What has he meant to this defense?
SEAN McDERMOTT: Yeah, that play was huge. TB has done a great job for us. Unfortunately, TB's been banged up. What if we didn't have Shaq? So that piece is important for us. The play that he made came up during the week. I believe it was a very similar play at least to the play we ran during practice, and we ran it over again and then showed up today, at least in some form or structure, and he picked it off.
Again, you go back to practice and the preparation. I know that sounds like coach speak, but there's value to practice and doing things the right way during the week.
Q. What were you going through in that last minute? You've been in that situation so many times. What was going through your head after the score? You've got one minute to protect it, Sean.
SEAN McDERMOTT: I really honestly wanted to try to bleed the clock down if we could. It's like, okay, what plays that you have that do that? You want to take a knee, we could go through this for probably about an hour and talk about this. You take a knee, the ball is inside the 1. By the time we take the snap and even just knee it, then you're like, okay, run the clock down to, what, 30 seconds, 28, whatever.
So we're talking about these things, and I'm going, man, I know who they have on that side of the ball at a minimum, starting with the placekicker. So we're like, all right, let's not get cute. Let's go win this thing, put our defense out there, and they did. They executed at a high level and a lot of prayers too. They help.
Q. Any update on Gabe or Jordan?
SEAN McDERMOTT: No, nothing for you at this point.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports