Here were some of the postgame comments that stood out after the Dolphins' 37-20 loss against the Buffalo Bills, along with some perspective:
"We didn't play well enough today as a total team. We didn't coach well enough, we didn't play well enough, and we didn't get the result we want. We'll come back to work tomorrow, make the corrections, get back to practice this week and try to play better next week."
鈥 Head Coach Brian Flores didn't make any excuses whatsoever for the loss, repeating that this loss was on the entire team and the inability to capitalize on opportunities. Flores said he saw no signs during the week to suggest the Dolphins would have the kind of problems they had against the Bills.
"He's the most consistent guy that we have on our offense and has been all year long. He's a guy that I know I can count on every Sunday."
鈥 Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had some lofty praise for wide receiver DeVante Parker, who had seven receptions for a career-high 135 yards against Buffalo. Parker's afternoon included catches of 50 yards in the second quarter and 42 yards in the fourth.
"I felt real good. I haven't played in a while. I felt pretty good running out there. It felt good to be back out there with my guys playing football again."
鈥 Safety Reshad Jones made his return to the lineup after missing six games because of a chest injury. Jones was among six defensive backs on the first defensive play of the game for the Dolphins. He finished with six tackles.
"You want to bring emotion to the game. You want to use that as a momentum change too. If they see your kicker getting pumped, it might be a chain effect where we're all getting pumped now."
鈥 Kicker Jason Sanders showed a lot of emotion after pulling off a successful onside kick in the second quarter. The play came after the Dolphins scored to cut Buffalo's lead to 16-7 and gave them a chance to get right back into the game, though a fumble on the very next play turned the momentum again.
"It was an unbelievable moment, just to show people that I can still take it back to the house."
鈥 Jakeem Grant made it clear his kickoff return for a touchdown would have meant more had it helped produce a victory, but he was nonetheless happy to have that kind of play. Grant's previous longest kickoff return this season had been good for 39 yards before he went 101 yards against Buffalo. For good measure, Grant added a 50-yard return in the fourth quarter.
"We just didn't do the little things. It's us. We didn't tackle. We didn't line up right. Just the little things we didn't execute. The score indicates that."
鈥 Linebacker Jerome Baker gave due respect to the Buffalo offense, and quarterback Josh Allen in particular, but also indicated the biggest problem for the Dolphins defense in this game was its failure to execute.
