Everything Sean McDermott said after Bills complete comeback over Ravens

The Buffalo Bills had lost their previous seven games decided by one score dating back to their opener last season. They snapped that streak with near-perfect execution down the stretch against the Baltimore Ravens.

Buffalo picked off Lamar Jackson in the end zone, marched down the field and kicked a walk-off field goal to complete a 23-20 comeback victory Sunday.

Buffalo's top-ranked defense didn't allow any points in the second half and yielded just 36 passing yards after halftime to Lamar Jackson, who threw two fourth-quarter interceptions. The victory marked the largest comeback since 2011 for the Bills, who trailed 20-3 in the second quarter and scored 20 unanswered points.

Report card:Bills defense torments Lamar Jackson, superior coaching fuels gritty win over Ravens

More:Bills shake off miscues, roar back with 20 unanswered points to stun Ravens

Here is everything head coach Sean McDermott said in his postgame press conference:

Opening statement:

Good team effort. Obviously we got down in the first half. I thought the guys and the coaches both stayed with it and made the adjustments that we needed to make. Players executed and made the plays we needed to make. We put together a good drive at the end. Big stop by the defense and put together a winning drive at the end. I thought the way it was executed especially in the final, 20 yard maybe there, I thought was high-level stuff and good to see. Congrats to (Tyler) Bass, also Reid (Ferguson) and Sam (Martin) for that operation. Good to get a win on the road in a tough  situation, tough environment.

How big was the touchdown drive before half and then to come out and play defense like you did to start the half there? And maybe between all of that, what was said? 

I think in the first half we were a little sloppy with the football there. Two turnovers. I thought the defense was holding us in a little bit. We were on our heels to start and then they settled in. Then the offense settled in in the second quarter there, started to moving the ball a little bit and just executing at a higher level, and you know, just kind of doing what we do there. That was fun to watch us settle in. Again, coaches, players collectively did a really good job there. I thought to your point, that score before half gave us some momentum knowing we were going to have to come out and defend. I think we had a three- or four-and-out there, maybe, after half. I thought that was good complementary football.

(Baltimore) got the ball at the 5-yard line and drove 93 yards all the way down to the 2. What was the sense and message you were trying to relay to the defense and hang in there? Then Jordan (Poyer) ends up with the pick. 

Yeah, that was a big play. Again, a resilient group. Leslie (Frazier) and the staff did a really good job sticking with it and the players were doing a good job. We had a couple third downs I think on that drive where Lamar (Jackson) got out once or twice there. He's a heck of a player. It was a heck of a battle between two elite quarterbacks. The conditions were tough to play in. I think the players did a pretty good job, especially when it started coming down harder in that third quarter. We took the ball early because we felt like, hey, the weather could change and it did change so we wanted to score early. Obviously it didn't happen with the turnover and whatnot. But again, just overall a good team effort. The guys stuck with it and we'll see where we go here.

They get down there and then go for it on fourth down. Were you surprised by that call from the other side? 

Not necessarily. I know they've been going for fourth downs. John (Harbaugh) is an aggressive play caller in that situation. He made the decision. I was proud of the way we executed our defense and got the takeaway. I think that was a big, a takeaway instead of the ball sails out of bounds and we get the ball at the 3-yard there, it's a bit different. So that takeaway by Jordan Poyer and the rush by our defensive line, I thought it worked well together.

Devin Singletary had that fumble and then bounced back. How impressed were you with him? 

Very impressed. Not surprised. He does a great job resetting and sticking with it. Really good football player, great intangibles and we're happy to have him.

You always talk about complementary football. In a close game, special teams punts down to the 5, defense comes up with the turnover, offense drives down. There's a lot that's been made of the close game thing but to see it all execute the way about you guys? 

I thought that punt Sam (Martin) had that you referenced, it was big. Great to see him get fired up. I love his energy. The synergy between those three has been fun to watch that grow every week. Again, good complementary football. Good to get out of here with a win. It's a tough environment, good football team here.

That 51-yard field goal drive. It was all on the ground there, if I'm not mistaken. What clicked after you guys had some struggles on the ground in the first half? 

I thought (Aaron Kromer) and the O-line did a great job adjusting. If you look at the complexion of the game overall, it wasn't going our way early due to multiple variables. The coaches adjusted. In some ways we stuck with the plan. In other ways we adjusted and the players executed. That's the poise to be able to do that in a hard environment like this against a good football team that's well coached, also. We have a lot of respect for them. That's a really good sign right there.

What did you guys do so well against Lamar Jackson over the last two-and-a-half quarters? 

I just think we were more disciplined, more assignment sound. There's probably no magic to it, just guys executed and probably settled in a little bit more. That's funny you go back to the playoff game and that first drive they had they went right down the field on us. It kind of felt the same this game. It's a unique offense so it takes some time to settle in a little bit and do your one-eleventh and execute the plan.

The situational football at the end. You go down, Josh (Allen) getting that first down, you get a fresh set of downs and take the timeout. I know you're preaching it all the time but seeing in action when your players do it for you like that: 

It's big. I mean, that's high-level right there. We had two first downs, two chains left and we knew we could put them in a tough position there knowing they only had two timeouts at the time. My guys upstairs were right on it. The coaches on the headset and collectively the players. At the two-minute warning we had a chance to communicate that to the huddle. And then Motor (Devin Singletary), with the screen we threw to him, knew not to score because of where we cut put them with a couple of those first downs, especially one of them, that first one he got on that play. And then Josh (Allen) came over after they burned the last timeout and said, 'Hey, they've got one left.' And he got that first down to force them to burn it with no score, drained it to 3 or 4 (seconds), called a timeout and (Tyler) Bass executed.

Kaiir Elam kind of got thrown into the fire the last two weeks. How do you think he held up? 

Just super proud of all the guys. We have a couple young guys like Kaiir out there. Super proud of the way they've battled and learned and take every week and try to improve. That's really us as a team, we've got to do that. We've got to do that, try to improve, try to evolve, make the adjustments we need to make and get ready for another good opponent this week in the Steelers.

Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano, they weren't breaking down to tackle, they were attacking Lamar (Jackson) it seemed like: 

Yeah, those are tough tackles on Lamar Jackson in the open field. I thought we tackled at times well today, other times we could've tackled better. That's something we'll continue to work on. Tremaine and Matt, the level that they've played at, the leadership they've given us, in particular with Micah (Hyde) and Tre'Davious (White) out, that's been important for us and needs to continue.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Everything Sean McDermott said Bills complete comeback over Ravens