Sean McDermott: “We beat ourselves”

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The Bills brought a 4-0 record to Tennessee. They’re leaving with their first loss of the year. So what happened to Buffalo on Tuesday night?

“We beat ourselves probably more than anything, and that’s something you can do in this league,” coach Sean McDermott told reporters after the 42-16 loss.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to be ready to go. Uncharacteristic game for us. Uncharacteristically poor fundamentals, poor pre-snap discipline, turning the ball over. . . . There’s only one opponent, that opponent’s on the other sideline. You can’t beat yourself. I give them credit, they were ready to go. At the same time, we beat ourselves. . . . Lack of fundamentals, lack of execution, pre-snap penalties. Again, taking care of the football. Hard to win in this league unless you do those things.”

McDermott was asked about the impact of the uncertainty surrounding the league’s first Tuesday night game since December 2010 on the outcome.

“We’re not about excuses and explanations at this point,” McDermott said. “You get paid and expect to be ready to go, and obviously we weren’t ready to go.”

As to the league’s handling of the situation, McDermott reiterated his position: “I’ve got no comment on that. . . . I got not comment. There’s no excuses, no explanations. We got beat tonight, and that starts with us.”

McDermott referred on multiple occasions to the inability of the defensive line to get pressure of quarterback Ryan Tannehill. McDermott added that the Titans did what the Bills expected them to do, and that there were no surprises.

In five days, they’ll play another night game. It’s happening against a Chiefs team that also had been 4-0, that was stunned in Week Five, and that has a quarterback on whom pressure is hard to generate. And one of those teams that started 4-0 will end up being 4-2.