AFC Notes: Ezekiel Elliott, Sean McDermott, Mike McDaniel, Bills, Dolphins, Patriots

Bills

Bills HC Sean McDermott is faced with difficult decisions after a tough loss to the struggling division-rival Patriots and was asked what the team can do offensively to get on the board more easily.

“I wish I could tell you. I really do,” McDermott told Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic. “We talk about it. We talk about being more detailed. Getting into a rhythm early. Playing complementary football. All three phases working together. We haven’t been able to get into a good rhythm in the first quarter, let’s just start there, right? So, just overall, we’ve got to find the answers there.”

“I think it starts with staying on schedule,” McDermott added. “Winning first down so you can stay on schedule, so you can move the chains. If you look at their offense, they did that today. They won first down, they stayed on schedule, they stayed out of third-and-long for the most part of the day. When you do that, you’re playing two-dimensionally on offense, and that’s when it gets to be hard to call a game against a two-dimensional offense. When you’re on schedule winning first downs, or skipping third downs, or even putting us into a third down and short-to-medium at most. Too many off-schedule situations.”

Reporters also asked LB Von Miller if he had an injury setback considering he didn’t play a single snap in the second half of the game.

“I’m good,” Miller replied. “I don’t know. I think just the flow of the game, just how it turned out. … They’re running the ball a lot more. Shaq [Lawson] is a great run defender, and the guys that we have out there are a great run defender, and I’m still coming back from injury. That’s just the reality of it. Sometimes it just happens like that. Especially me trying to come back from injury and working my way up. We were battling, going back and forth. You’ve got to go with the guys that’s ready to go right now. There wasn’t really a time that I could get out there that was a for-sure pass down. It was just a tight game all the way through.”

• Bills OT Dion Dawkins was fined $10,927 for unnecessary roughness.
• Bills CB Siran Neal was fined $17,963 for unnecessary roughness.
• Bills DL Ed Oliver was fined $21,855 for unnecessary roughness.

Dolphins

Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel said that the loss to the Eagles could be turned into a learning experience for his team.

“You can learn everything,” McDaniel said, via Pro Football Talk. “It was a very important thing. I kind of knew that going into the game it was going to be that type of atmosphere and I think that’s very important for our team being on the younger side to experience. Those are critical. You have to feel what it’s like to play such a good team on the road. Your margin for error is so small, and it’s an important building block along your progression for the season, you know. If you’re going to lose games, you want it to be against a really good team, and you want it to hurt. The collection of coaches and players in the locker room right now are hurting because they feel like they left some plays on the field for sure. You know, losses, if approached the right way, if you’re not pointing fingers and you’re looking internally, can be a good thing too. So that’s what we’ll be determined to make this moving forward, starting with tomorrow.”

Patriots

When RB Ezekiel Elliott signed with the Patriots, he thought he’d be joining a playoff contender. He’s been as surprised as anyone by New England’s 1-5 start to the season but he has no second thoughts about his decision. 

“No second thoughts based on the way it’s gone,” Elliott said via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “You make a decision and you ride it out. I chose to be a part of this team and I’m going to do everything I can to help us turn this thing around and get us going.”

Despite all the losses and all of the consternation surrounding the team, Elliott and the players in the locker room remain upbeat about their prospects of turning things around. 

“I just feel like, control what you can control. It doesn’t help to be negative,” he said. “Eventually things are going to get going. This is a great locker room with a lot of really good dudes. I really like the running back room. We’re super close. I’ve had a good experience.”

• Patriots HC Bill Belichick on his contract: “Yeah, I’m not talking about that.” (WEEI)