Head Coach Mike Vrabel 12/14: "We had a lot of good football in there, and we had a few plays we’d like to have back"

Sophie Weller (0:01)

Hi, Mike. Hi, Sophie. Just what was the biggest difference that you saw in the first half versus the second half?

Mike Vrabel (0:08)

Well, I mean, we just, we weren't able to get any stops. And, you know, when we had an opportunity to make a play, we didn't, weren't able to make it. You know, penalties, and that's how this game goes, you know. A few small plays make the difference.

We were very prepared for this team to have, we were going to need 60 minutes to beat this team. This is a, it's a good football team, and we had a lot of good football in there, and we had some, you know, a lot of plays that, you know, a few plays that we'd like to have back, that we'll have to learn from.

Sophie Weller (0:45)

And then with Robert Splane, I was just curious, you didn't have him as an active today, but only we saw him out there. I was just having him more of like an emergency situation.

Mike Vrabel (0:53)

Yeah, we just, we felt like after going through the warm ups and everything that that was, you know, what was going to be best for him today. And we need everybody, certainly Robert, and we'll have to try to get as healthy as we can, as quickly as we can.

SPEAKER_3 (1:11)

Dan, what's in the back?

Dan (1:12)

Mike, you talk often about complimentary football. How much of the return may be by Davis to start the second half, 58 yards, and some of the issues that you had with the...

Mike Vrabel (1:21)

Well, that was been a strength of ours.

And, you know, we knew going in that it would be a good test and a great challenge. And so, again, just, you know, they're too good to give them short fields and turn over, or excuse me, field position in games like this is critical, making them be able to drive it and somehow along the way get a stop and, you know, so that wasn't the only play. That was certainly one that we need to get back and, again, that's been a strength of ours and I'm confident that it will be a strength of ours going forward.

SPEAKER_5 (2:01)

Mike, two critical pass interference calls obviously went against you guys that led to touchdowns and the Carlton Davis won very late flag on that. I just wanted to get your reaction, what you thought about those calls.

Mike Vrabel (2:13)

The same guy thought it was his penalty the same way, so, I mean, it's a judgment call. Whether I disagree with it or not, it doesn't matter. They called it, you know, so, that's how this thing goes.

SPEAKER_6 (2:30)

Mike, the Bills only had 14, over here, Bills only had 14 yards of offense in the first quarter, three punts, and then five straight touchdowns. What changed, do you think, for them?

Mike Vrabel (2:41)

Uh, they were able to get the running game going, we missed tackles, you know, we didn't build a good enough wall, didn't get off on third down, weren't able to create any turnovers, and we'll get any stops in the red zone. It's not no secret, you know what I mean? It called the same stuff, they called the same stuff, and we just have to be able to take advantage of those opportunities that we get to get the drive stopped, and whether that's a penalty or one play or a third down conversion, we just got to be able to learn from it.

Dan (3:21)

Mike, is this an opportunity for your team to learn from this situation, second half, is that basically what you told them after?

Mike Vrabel (3:26)

Sure, that's exactly what I told them. I said it'll, you know, we have an opportunity to improve like we have when we won. The same is today when we lost and came up short, but there's a lot of good stuff in there that I'm proud of and that we'll be able to, you know, use as a positive and a lot of stuff that we have to correct and make sure that we fix. And, you know, we'll do that tomorrow and try to get as healthy as we can and put a plan together for Baltimore.

SPEAKER_3 (3:58)

Mike, it's two straight weeks now where a lot of the offensive productions come in the first half.

SPEAKER_7 (4:02)

Any trends you're seeing in the second half from the offense?

Mike Vrabel (4:06)

For me today, I don't know if I'd be able to answer that. I thought, you know, with the limited opportunities that they had, you know, today we hit a bunch of big plays. So, you know, again, the drive that we, you know, we needed our offense to get, I was confident and I thought for sure that we'd take that football and go down and score a touchdown. And we just weren't able to. That's why I went for it.