HEAD COACH BRUCE ARIANS
(On how much better the offense is when WR Chris Godwin is able to play, and if Godwin can catch the football with a brace on his injured hand)
"There's no doubt – we know what he brings. We'll see how sore it is tomorrow. He caught the ball fine, but we'll just see how sore it is. I would anticipate him probably playing, just knowing how tough he is and what it all means to him."
(On how much Godwin's injured finger impacts his ability on the field)
"A bunch. It's going to be just, 'How much pain can he tolerate?' They've got a very nice splint-brace thing worked out that he wore today. Like I said, Chris is tough – he'll be out there."
(On if there is a concern about Godwin suffering a setback if he re-injures his finger by playing on Sunday)
"I think we're past any kind of infection or anything like that. If there was any jeopardy at all, we would not let him play. He's been cleared, so we'll just see how the pain tolerance goes and see how sore he is tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure he'll go."
(On who will replace G Ali Marpet if he is unavailable to play on Sunday)
"We've got a number of options. Joe Haeg has played a bunch of football and Joe will start in Ali's spot. Ryan Jensen could move to guard and A.Q. Shipley could play center – A.Q. could [also] play guard. We're pretty solid in there with some veteran guys and I feel very comfortable with it."
OUTSIDE LINEBACKER SHAQUIL BARRETT
(On how the defense's combination of pass rush and pass coverage has been effective and how he has been able to affect the quarterback this season)
"Rush and coverage have been working really good this year. We have a lot of guys getting back to the quarterback and there's literally nobody for the quarterback to throw the ball to. I love the way it's been working this year. For me personally getting after the quarterback, it's been a little different going against different sets. I have to work on my strength and power moves [and] I've been working on new moves. [I am] still getting pressure, but pressures don't mean [anything] if you don't have sacks to go with it."
(On how much better the defense is now in comparison to Week 1 against New Orleans)
"We're a lot better. We've been working on our mistakes that we knew we had to work on since last year, which is communication [and] two-minute, end of game [situations]. We've been trying to get better at that. We know what we have to fix [and] we've been trying to fix it, so I think that's one of the key things."
(On the defense's excitement to play New Orleans in a primetime game Sunday night)
"We've been itching for this game. We know they've had our number for the last three games we played [against them]. We've got to step up [and] we've got to do something different to give ourselves a chance to win this game. [We have] got to get some sacks [and] get some turnovers, but we've still got to maintain that strong defensive front where [if] we don't allow [any] rushing and few passing yards, we'll be able to get the job done. This is a big-time game for us for the No. 1 seed and it will set us up for where we want to be at."
-BUCCANEERS-
