ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Bills have a penalty problem, but they might be the only team that doesn't realize it.

Two weeks after Rex Ryan's squad blew a gasket and was called for 18 total penalties in a loss to the New England Patriots, the Bills again lost their cool and were flagged an additional 18 times in a 24-10 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday.

Buffalo now has 58 total penalties (accepted and declined) on the season, the most by any NFL team in their first four games since at least 2005, according to research from ESPN Stats & Information.

The Giants saw it coming: Coach Tom Coughlin told his team before the game the Bills would beat themselves with penalties if given the opportunity, ESPN Giants reporter Dan Graziano reported. But the Bills couldn't stop themselves during the game and they rationalized their actions afterward.

It started with Ryan, who took a baffling stance at his postgame news conference. Pounding the podium repeatedly, an animated Ryan defended the Bills' 17 accepted penalties and declared that his team had the "fight" and the "heart" he wanted.

It was a bizarre scene and an explanation from Ryan that just didn't compute. How did defensive end Jerry Hughes, for example, show "heart" when he was called for unnecessary roughness? Did he show "fight" when he was flagged again for unsportsmanlike conduct? Was linebacker Preston Brown leading the charge when he also was penalized for unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct?

Those were senseless penalties and the mark of an undisciplined team, not one that has the toughness and maturity necessary to win games.

Ryan, whose Bills dropped to 2-2 after losing two penalty-plagued games, also took aim at reporters after the game, mocking the idea that his team was undisciplined but saying it was a "free country" and reporters could write what they wanted.

"We can focus on the negatives and all that, and I get it," Ryan said. "That's your guys' job, but you might not understand the game the way I understand because I've been on the other side. I've been a part of a 20-some-penalty performance by the Ravens, OK. And went on and we fixed it. We'll fix it here."

Ryan's memory must be fuzzy. From 1999 through 2008, prior to Ryan becoming the New York Jets' coach, the Ravens had only one game with anywhere near 20 penalties: a loss in October 2005 when they were flagged 22 times. (Ryan was their defensive coordinator at the time).

Assuming Ryan was referring to that game, it would be a stretch to say the Ravens "fixed" the problem that season. They were called for double-digit penalties in six of their next eight games and finished the 2005 season with the NFL's fourth-most penalties, hardly the sign of a turnaround.

Ryan's refusal to label the Bills' flags as an issue -- he went as far as to say he was "proud" of how his team played -- extended into the locker room after the game Sunday.

Hughes told reporters he would have to "look at the film" before commenting on his penalties, implying some doubt about their legitimacy. Meanwhile, defensive tackle Kyle Williams -- as level-headed as they come -- deflected some blame to the Giants and the officials, saying some flags were "provoked" and that the Giants knew they could "goad" Bills players into penalties.

At a time when the Bills needed someone to step up and say "enough is enough," that voice wasn't there.

Instead, the Bills' biggest problem only seems to linger.