HEAD COACH BRUCE ARIANS

(On if a loss like Sunday's can shake the team's confidence)

"It can, but I don't think our confidence is shaken one bit. I think it's playing night games and getting better prepared for them the day of the game. It's a recurring theme with all three night games – it's [beginning the game with] three-and-out and you give up a touchdown. I've got to do something in our preparation to change that, but I don't think our confidence is shaken."

(On if there is anything the team has not done well recently in run defense)

"It's really gap control and getting out of gaps. A couple guys [were] trying to do too much yesterday and when you try to do more than your job, a good running back is going to find that gap. That happened twice."

(On how he approaches Sunday's loss after looking back at it)

"You look at the film and you try to figure out why. Taysom Hill – when they ran the ball with him – they were having success just running the power. It's just squeezing it and basic fundamentals of getting in there and blowing him up. He's a big, strong guy, but you still have to go in there and blow it up. Offensively, we got out of that gameplan so fast [that] I felt terrible for the left side of the line because there was no threat of the run. I thought we had a really good plan for the running game, but when you go down 21-0, we tried to jumpstart it with the two-minute drive just to get something going. It just didn't work. We got our [butts] kicked pretty good."

(On T Donovan Smith's performance on Sunday)

"It was a rough one, but again, part of it was Joe Haeg next to him. They were both getting hit with powerful twists and stuff, and they haven't worked much together. That showed really quick."

(On the decision to play more zone defense and why he feels it didn't work on Sunday)

"Going back, we blitzed more than I even thought we did on the field – it's whether it was blitz zone or blitz man [and] we went zero [coverage] a couple times. We got him off the spot, but Drew [Brees] did a great job last night of moving in the pocket and still being accurate. Guys were getting ready to hit him and he threw some really good balls down the field accurately. It was the best I've seen him play in a while. Defensively, our safeties and our inside linebackers did not play very well. There was really, really poor communication."

(On what the team needs to do to make sure Sunday's performance is an isolated occurrence)

"Learn from it. You don't bury your head in the sand – you own it. You go in, you look at the tape, you figure out what went right [and] what went wrong, and then you move on to the next ballgame. That's the beauty for players and coaches – it's a 24-hour thing. You get to look at it, grade it and then you move on. Fans have to eat it until next week, but we get to move on to the next one."

(On if he expects G Ali Marpet to return this week)

"So far he's still in the [concussion] protocol."

(On what he believes could help Tampa Bay perform better in primetime games)

"[There are] some things that I'm looking into, but right now there's no change. I'll look into a couple of things – just have to work out the schedule."

(On if there were more instances of the wide receivers and QB Tom Brady not reading coverage the same way on Sunday)

"It kind of was with Scotty [Miller]. The interception to A.B. (Antonio Brown) – that was just a poor throw. The one to Chris [Godwin] – Chris read the route properly, [but] Tom thought he was going deep. He stopped [and] those things can happen sometimes when you're doing it on the run."

(On what makes New Orleans' defense challenging for the Tampa Bay offense)

"They're really good and they disguise well. They change after the snap [and] they're good at pre-snap, post-snap changing the look."

(On why the Buccaneers did not attempt to blitz New Orleans up the middle with ILB Devin White)

"We did it about four or five times. He just didn't get home."

(On why the offense is not making an effort to get WR Mike Evans more involved in the passing game)

"Mike was open a bunch in that ballgame. He didn't get targeted – that was all. Mike was open."

(On his evaluation of WR Antonio Brown's performance and how he can get on the same page with QB Tom Brady)

"I think it was just one play [with a miscommunication]. The rest of the time, Tom made a couple good throws [and Brown] made some really good catches. The first third down, we should have went to him [but] decided to go to Gronk (Rob Gronkowski). I think he played more than I wanted him to because of the situation of the game. For his first ballgame, he did fine."

(On an update following ILB Lavonte David's injury)

"He hyperextended his knee, but he's fine."

(On how WR Chris Godwin felt after the game Sunday and if his hand injury impacted his performance)

"I didn't think it affected him at all. He tried to stretch out and get that one crossing route. That might have been the only one that bothered him. He's sore – we probably won't throw it to him again until Friday. He gutted up and gave us a great performance. We just have to make sure we're taking care of him."

(On if he has discussed having Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich coach from a booth)

"No, I've never called plays from the booth. I want to be down there with the players [and] looking them in the eye. Byron's the same way. It's not that big of a difference. You have a gameplan [and] you know what you want to do. Some guys like the booth because it's quiet, but I'm a sideline guy. I like to look the guys in the eye and Byron's the same way."

(On what separates the best teams in the league from the rest of the pack and what Tampa Bay needs to do to be in that group)

"I think one of the biggest things is to stay healthy – especially in your lines of scrimmage and your quarterback. For us, just win the next one. We're sitting in a pretty good spot right now. [It] could have been better, but we're still in a really good spot. It's just focus and win the next ballgame."

LINEBACKER LAVONTE DAVID

(On what lessons the team can take from Sunday's game)

"The biggest lesson is we're just going to need everybody. Week to week, we're going to need everybody to be on their A-game – whatever it may be mentally [or] physically. Whoever is out there on the field, all 11 guys are going to have to be playing as one. Yesterday we didn't play as one [and] we didn't play as a unit. That's just something that we have to get better at, and it starts at practice. Don't get me wrong – last week at practice, coach said that our practice was great. But, for some reason, it didn't carry over to the field. We just have to get that fixed and everything else will take care of itself."

(On if there is an urgency within the team)

"Most definitely. I talked to the guys already – this is over with. We played last night [and] it wasn't the outcome that we wanted. After we watched the film, we got together [and] it's over with. [We] talked to our coaches, watched the film, examined it, did what we had to do [and] talked it out. We know what we did wrong and we know what we can do better, so that's over with. We've got another divisional opponent coming [up] with the Carolina Panthers, who [are] a great football time, even though the record shows otherwise. We honestly feel that they present a challenge to us, so we've got to be able to get better and be able to play a full four quarters of fundamentally sound, smart football on Sunday."

(On how he would characterize the mood of the locker room today)

"Guys were pissed. You saw it on the sidelines, you see it today [and] you saw it after the game. Guys were pissed because we know we're not that type of team, especially against a team who we obviously wanted to really beat. To go out there and put on a show like that on Sunday night – guys feel some type of way about it. All you can do is move on from it. It'll show how we prevail from it this week. Like I said, we're focusing on the Carolina Panthers right now. They're a pretty good football team with some talented weapons. A lot of guys took it to heart yesterday. We came in today and the good thing about it is [I] didn't have to go to [anybody]. Guys were coming to me [and saying], 'That's unacceptable. We can't have [a] performance like that again. We have to do find a way to get better.' That's going to start this upcoming week and I'm really excited to get to work this week, move on from last week and get back going."

-BUCCANEERS-