Rex Ryan’s Bills fell to 2-2 on the season in a 24-10 home loss to the Giants that was marked by a staggering number of penalties against Buffalo.
The Bills were flagged for 17 accepted penalties over the course of the contest, which is even more than they committed in a Week Two loss to the Patriots that was also marked by repeated losses of composure by Ryan’s club. There were false starts, personal fouls and everything in between over the course of the afternoon, but Ryan wasn’t dismayed by the apparent lack of discipline.
“I’m proud of the way this team played,” Ryan said in his postgame press conference. “Can we play a lot smarter? Absolutely. But I’ll take a team that’ll fight over a team that will sit back and take it every day of the week and bring on the next team. Give me a team that’s got some fight and will compete to the very end right, wrong or indifferent no matter how good the officiating is or whatever.”
Ryan said that reporters were free to write what they want, but that “the real deal” wasn’t that the Bills are an undisciplined team. Defensive tackle Kyle Williams said, via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com, that the Giants were doing things to provoke the Bills and that the officials are “looking for things, whether they’re legitimate or not” because of Buffalo’s reputation for drawing flags so far this season.
The Bills found plenty of other ways to hurt themselves on Sunday, but their inability to stop committing penalties was a killer to their chances of improving to 3-1. Ryan said the problem can be fixed and it will need to if his team is going to be known for anything other than putting up a fight this season.