TITANS VS BILLS
Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020
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Q. How would you explain just a night that it looked like your team, everybody, looked unprepared to play, and the team that supposedly had, I don't know, what, one practice or whatever it was, was much more ready. How have you wrapped your mind around that?
JOSH ALLEN: I think it comes down to we got punched in the mouth early on. And I can't do that to our defense, put them in vulnerable situations and allow their offense to have short fields. I did it twice tonight and I take that heavily upon myself.
So we got to come out. We got to be faster starters in the game and understand that we can't do that, throwing that interception there. And even the one in the second half, I got a little greedy on that one and made a bad decision, bad ball. I didn't feel like I got fooled too many times tonight. But it is what it is. We're not going to let this one loss define us. We understand you can't win them all. So but again, we got to be better disciplined, turnovers, decision-making on my part, penalties, costly penalties, drops early on. We got to be better and it starts with me.
So again, we'll learn from this one. We're not going to make it a bigger deal than what it needs to be. We got a short week ahead of us. We got to learn from this one and kind of forget about it as quickly as we can.
Q. Did the fact that this game, the uncertainty of when you would play and all that stuff, in any way did you feel that factored into making this a less than perfect preparation for a game for you guys?
JOSH ALLEN: No, we can't use that as an excuse. We can't do that to, as a team. We, our mindset all week was, we're going to play and we'll adjust to anything else. Obviously it's a different situation that, it sucked to be in, quite frankly, but we got to be better, we got to be prepared and we got to come out swinging early.
Q. This looked like the first time in the five games you've played that you just didn't seem to have the answers tonight. In the first four games you just looked like you always knew where you were going, you always knew what the answer was going to be. And I'm just wondering why it didn't look the same tonight. Did their defense, what were they doing that was giving you so much trouble maybe?
JOSH ALLEN: Well, you know, putting us behind the sticks early on, I got to be better on that first drive, obviously. Putting that ball out in front of Dre and letting him make an easier catch. The one bad decision, bad ball interception in the second half, I got to be better on that. But I don't feel like they fooled me too many times, to be honest. Credit to them, they came out ready to play and they made more plays than we did. And again, this is a game we got to be in all three phases, offense, defense, and special teams, and we understand that.
But again, on a short week we're not going to let one loss define us. We got to get ready for the defending Super Bowl champs at home next week.
Q. Not having John Brown, how much of an impact did that have tonight?
JOSH ALLEN: I mean, we love Smoke. Obviously we wish we had him on the field. We got to have guys step up and I think for the most part we did. But we got to be better prepared when situation like that happens. So it's a learning experience. We'll learn from it.
Q. With respect to the passing game and trying to take what the defense was giving you, how much was that complicated by being behind on the scoreboard, because I know you got Cole involved in the second half there big time, but you were trying to kind of nickel and dime your way down the field, and down, down by the points you were it kind of made it tough because the time started working against you. How did you try to manage that while still trying to climb back into the game?
JOSH ALLEN: Yeah, I mean, the interception in the third quarter really hurt our chances. And again, it's a defense that they're allowing you to take everything underneath and I got greedy and made a bad decision, threw a bad ball, and really cost our team. They had a short field and we had three turnovers tonight. They scored 21 points off it and that's a huge difference in a game when we turn the ball over three times and they don't turn it over at all. They scored all three times on them. So they took advantage of their opportunities. But I think if I take what's given there, if I even throw it over his head, at that point in the game it's a completely different situation. It gives our defense a better chance to get a stop. But again, it's a learning experience. Quite frankly, you're going to have games like this. We understand that adversity's going to hit. We got to bounce back next week.
Q. The effort that Stefon gave you today from start to finish, he seemed like he was a constant for you on offense.
JOSH ALLEN: Yeah, that's what he is, and he's a dog, and being down one extra guy, we knew that he was going to have a heavy workload for us, and being gassed and tired, and it wasn't an option for him. He made as many plays as he could.
Q. You guys haven't been in the position of trailing, especially by a significant margin at this, to this point this season. What was the feel like? How do you feel you guys responded to being in a position so unfamiliar to this point this season?
JOSH ALLEN: We tried to stay calm on the sidelines. And again, that third quarter I forced a ball I shouldn't have. But the feeling on the sideline wasn't panic and that's the sign of a good team. And we weren't trying to, for the majority part of the game, we weren't trying to do much. We were just trying to put together some drives and obviously we didn't. I don't think we had too many drives today and ended two in turnovers and punting a couple and that's not good enough, and we understand that. And we got to find ways to correct them and get ready for a short week on Monday.
Q. Number one, did this just seem uncharacteristic of your team? It's not the way you've played in 2020, obviously. It just seemed uncharacteristic from the get-go, almost. And my second would be: Toward the end, it looked like you went down the bench and kind of shook hands a little bit and then maybe were talking to Tre Edmunds. I'm just wondering, as that game's winding down, what those convo's are like?
JOSH ALLEN: Again, getting to a faster start, to answer your first question, we were punched in the mouth tonight and we didn't respond how we should have. But I do appreciate the guys. We throw an interception, the next drive we go and we score a touchdown and do what we're supposed to do. But we got to continue to build on drives like that. And again, it takes a better effort in all three phases. And again, I take it upon myself to be the leader and I didn't play good enough for our team to win tonight and I understand that and I got to fix it.
Two, just talking to Tre, and then, I wouldn't say exactly what I said, but making sure that we have a good practice this week and we stay focused and stay prepared on the task at hand. And, again, losing one game, like we said, is not going to define who we are. Winning one game is not going to define who we are. We're 4-1. We have the defending Super Bowl champs coming into our house next week and we got to defend our dirt and put our best foot forward and try to find a win.
