Rex Ryan lauds Patriots in post-game press conference

By now, we all know Rex Ryan is a prideful man who loves to boast about his football team even if they're not all that great. After losing his ninth game in the last 10 tries against the Patriots, Ryan sounded pretty humble when talking about the defending Super Bowl champs.

Per Jimmy Toscano of Comcast Sportsnet New England:

"Obviously, tough game," Ryan said. "No question about it. We knew it was going to be a tough game. That's an outstanding football team we played. They proved it again tonight. The difference is they made some big plays. They get a big turnover. They get a touchdown pass, we just gotta make a tackle there. So we knew we are a better football team, but we just weren't good enough. We're not quite there."

"But like always, we have come up short many times being here when you think you have them by the ropes," Ryan said. "But at the end of the day they find ways to win and that's what championship teams do. We're not at that level right now but I can promise you one thing we're going to work our tails off to get there."

Cornerback Leodis McKelvin, who had a terrible game as a special teamer, said big mistakes by the Bills did them in.

"We made mistakes. We had mishaps and things went against us," McKelvin said. "They capitalized off those mistakes. That is what happens. Coming into halftime we thought, 'Don't give up points going into halftime.' We got them where we got them. Brady came back out and he does what he does. He took them right down the field and got seven points. That is something we don't need. We need to go out and get our defense off the field and stop beating ourselves."

McKelvin may never want to field another kick in New England again. Not only did he fumble twice last night, but he was also responsible for the fumble that set the Patriots up to win the 2009 season opener at home on Monday Night Football.

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