Bills HC Sean McDermott expects Josh Allen will “come back better this week” against Raiders

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott met with the media once again on Wednesday afternoon, this time looking to push forward following a difficult loss to the New York Jets on Monday night. While the focus turns to the Las Vegas Raiders, inquiring minds still wanted to know more about quarterback Josh Allen following a markedly poor performance in MetLife Stadium.

The Bills have a short week to prepare for their home opener against the Las Vegas Raiders — a team that came out of Week 1 victorious over the Denver Broncos.

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Allen’s approach/maturity allowing him to turn the page while learning from negative experiences

“You know, Josh is extremely resilient. We’ve been through this experience before in terms of having to reset after a game like that and you know that’s what I expect him to do fully.”

Bouncing back

“Well it’s early in the season number one. I’ve been through a number of years around the NFL, so you know thankfully they don’t stack all the games into Week 1 — that you get a chance to come back the next week and develop and make the adjustments you have to make. So that’s what we’re focused in on right now and going out here to practice and get ready for a good football team.”

The team’s mood following Monday Night Football loss

“(T)hey’ve been professional — you know everyone looks at the game and says hey this is what I — they look themselves, look at themselves first and say this is what I could have done better and I think that’s the right approach and then we move forward as a team. You know we’ve gotta do some things better. There’s a lot that we did do well, but at the same time there’s things that we’ve gotta do better as we move forward here and build for the season throughout the year.”

Allen’s decision making issues and having to speak to him

“Well he’s competitive I know that — we all know that. Right? And you see it on full display every weekend and yeah, those are conversations that have been had and will continue to take place. And at the end of the day he’s gotta do it, ‘cause I’m not out there running the ball or throwing the ball in this case — and I know the two plays you’re referring to and probably a couple others that he had a chance... he should’ve gone out of bounds. Again, it gets back to as Josh and I have discussed being a great decision maker, that not only means where you throw the ball but also what you do when the ball’s in your hands just overall — and living to play another down, whether it’s with the ball in your hand running it or throwing it so it’s just being a great decision maker. And I know he has that ability, I’ve seen him do it.”

Is it easier said than done with Allen making those changes?

“Well, everyone deals with their own challenges. In this case, Josh has a lot of good and we’ve all seen that — we’ve seen the talent, we’ve seen the competitiveness. So everyone has things that they’re working on. In this case, Josh is working on these areas of his game and I fully expect him to make the adjustment.”

Other methods that can help Allen progress through challenges

“There are. There are, and just like with any athlete, we try to attack the problem from a lot of different angles — or the challenge from a lot of different angles — and help the player, in this case Josh, as much as we can and then there’s a piece where he has to do it on his own, too. We can only do so much and then he’s gotta make the adjustment on his own as well. This game and this team mean a lot to him, and that game he wants back like we all do and so, um, I just know when he’s had situations like this come up before he’s reset and rebounded and come out better the next game because of it and that’s where we’re focused on now.”

Explaining Josh Allen’s need to reset

“Well, to me it’s a mental skill. Right? In the course of performance for those of us that are in the arena that play and coach and you go through 65 plays on average and you’re gonna come across a play or two that doesn’t go the way that you want it to go and so you have to have the mental ability to reset and get yourself back as soon as possible and that’s not just a, uh, a personal thing or a selfish thing, that’s what your teammates need the very next play because if you’re mentally hijacked the very next play then you’re not being the teammate that they need you to be and so in this case I expect that Josh will reset in this case after a game like that in particular (that) second half and then come back better this week.”

On O’Cyrus Torrence’s first start and holding up pretty well against a good front

“He did. Again, really nothing new to report from a respect standpoint for Cybo. I mean there (were) some plays where you’re saying ‘yeah, he’s a young player and he struggled a little bit on that play,’ but then there’s other plays where you said ‘hey, he was pretty poised in that situation just over the course of the entire game against that type of front in that environment as well.”

“Yeah, we threw him in a little bit. Right? But he — just the one thing I love about him is his poise. He doesn’t seem to be shaken by those type of challenges and particular environment like that.”

On Torrence’s communication ability in a hostile environment

“Well, when you play that position and sometimes a silent count gets involved there so he’s multitasking in certain situations there and when we had to use silent count — and, again, that’s a lot for a young player to handle and manage and still play at a high level and so he’s off to a good start.”

And about tight end Dalton Kincaid’s first game?

“Similar look in his eye Jay, I felt like he was — it wasn’t too big for him and that’s been the case to this point anyway as well, and now we’ve gotta build on it really for both of them.”

Talking about artificial turf and the push for grass fields in the NFL

“You know, I’m a big fan, personally, of grass fields. I feel like, overall, that’s what um, I think that’s what the players want. I just get the gist that that’s what they’re feeling that that’s what they want. But at the end of the day, I get it, so. But I appreciate the NFL’s attention to making the fields as safe as possible.”

On Raiders not allowing a single sack against Broncos

“They do a good job. They’ve got weapons you know outside as well, and they’ve got speed, and then power with the running back, and Jimmy does a great job. Obviously, he’s been with Josh for some time when they were in New England together there so they have a history. You know I thought their offense really played well and executed well, and it’ll be a big challenge for us.”

On Maxx Crosby

“Yeah, I had an opportunity to meet Maxx when I was at the NFL Honors, I believe it was Maxx’s maybe rookie year... I think he won an award maybe — did he win Defensive Rookie of the Year, maybe his first season? Anyway, we met in an elevator there and I was very impressed with him as a person just how humble he was, how down to earth he was. And so his success since that point in time is of no surprise to me and I’m sure the many that know him well — I don’t, but I’ve just heard great things about him and his habits and his offseason regimen and everything.”

On Christian Benford finding success

“I think the one play that sums it up, sums it all up for me at least, is the play where he made the effort play chasing down the running back (Breece Hall). I mean you wanna talk about a play that should be shown on SportsCenter when we’re trying to teach our kids habits, proper habits. Those are the plays to me that need to be shown to kids when you’re trying to teach — I’ve got young kids — trying to them ‘hey, this is how you play the game, this is how you live your life.’ He obviously outworked people. And the result of it was it saved us four points at the end of the day, because it saved the touchdown. We gave up the field goal there, but I think that’s what should be written about, that’s what should be on television for teaching our kids and teaching society the right way.”

On Leonard Floyd

“I thought he was very active, I really did. Played with great energy, assignment sound. He was in their backfield used his hands well in block protection. But he was active, really all night.”

Avoiding first-down struggles offensively

“Well I just think overall there’s a lot that goes into that and you know I think just you know the run and pass work together a little bit better, and establishing the line of scrimmage — you know you want to be able to do that early in the game, and then a clean pocket. I mean all that, all of that is how you play good offensive football and I think you wanna get off to a better start, and we didn’t get off to a great start in that regard. I thought we did a good job getting the ball outta Josh’s hands and I think in the first half Josh was what like 17for 20, some low 20 number. But having said all that, there’s some other things that we wanted to get done maybe in that first half early in the game that we didn’t get done well enough.”