Buccaneers Select Quotes: Thursday, September 20, 2018
Below is a selection of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quotes from today's earlier media availability. Full video of press conferences can be found on Buccaneers.com.
Head Coach Dirk Koetter
Defensive Coordinator Mike Smith
Wide Receiver Mike Evans
Tight End O.J. Howard
Defensive End Jason Pierre-Paul
Head Coach Dirk Koetter
(On defensive tackle Vita Vea participating in practice)
"We'll be putting a n injury report out, yes."
(On if it is difficult to return after an injury)
"For any player for sure. Any player, you can ask any guy that's been out for an extended period. They all go through the same thing – not part of it, bored, rehab is a lonely process and it is what it is. The worst part is injuries – period. This has been a process and we're still in it."
(On if he has ever had a quarterback have a two-game performance like Ryan Fitzpatrick)
"No. All those record that are being set bear that out. It's just a pretty amazing start."
(On the what he expects from the Steelers)
"Yeah, they're not off to a slow start offensively if you look at their number and then even defensively – we'll start on that side – their second in the league in sacks with eight. They led the league last year with 56 or 57. They're allowing 30 percent third down conversions which is out of sight. If that held up, that would lead the league or be right in the top two. They play – they're a true 3-4 defense. This isn't one of those teams that just says they're 3-4 – they really are a 3-4 team. Those outside backers are very versatile players – [T.J.] Watt and [Bud] Dupree. They're rushers, they're droppers, they're zone exchangers, they're ends in sub. [The Steelers] are very stout inside [with] their defensive ends that become defensive tackles in sub. Then you move over to the other side of the ball – they're lighting it up. Ben Roethlisberger, 13th year, going to be a Hall of Fame quarterback. We talk about in our division with Drew Brees going to be a Hall of Fame quarterback, but Ben will be a Hall of Fame quarterback. And then those two receivers – [Antonio] Brown as good as there is in the league [JuJu] Smith-Schuster, a young guy, extremely explosive. They target those two guys. The tight end's a good player. This is a good football team They're all good, but these guys are really good."
(On if it is tougher to get players to focus on things that need to be addressed after a successful start)
"We could debate that all day – some would say, 'Yes,' some would say, 'No'. I think that's where your leadership in the locker room has to come in. If your best players are working on the things they need to work on, then your younger players will follow suit. If the players see the leadership of our team slacking off, then it doesn't matter what I'm going to say. But I think we've got a good edge right now. That has nothing to do with – I don't know what's going to happen Monday night – I know we just came off another solid practice which would've been a Wednesday practice for us because of Monday night. You can make a case either way on that."
(On what factors that lead to explosive plays)
"Starts with protection. Always has to start with protection – having the time to get it off. And then second, the quarterback putting the ball to the right guy and giving him a chance to make a play. Then the playmakers making the plays on top of it. Perfect example was the first play of the game. That wasn't how that play – that is built into that play, but we weren't expecting that defense. We weren't expecting a corner blitz. They did, that's what they did – they corner blitzed so everybody made the right play. We picked it up – the backs picked it up. Mike [Evans] was the primary, Ryan [Fitzpatrick] got off him went to DeSean [Jackson] who's the built in on that and they made the play. That's just an example of how explosives happen."
(On the pass protection and having players he can count on)
"Well, I've been criticized for some in this room for putting emphasis on backs who can block. Just look at the tape, it was great. You've got to be able to block. Your backs have to be able to block. First touchdown of the year at New [Orleans] – the left guard gets beat, if Peyton doesn't block the D-lineman, the throw to DeSean doesn't get off if the quarterback's on his back. I mean you have to have tight ends and running backs that can block. It's part of it. It's part of football."
(On the if there was ever a concern to go for big plays or if it is the way the defense is lining up against them)
"I think by the league's count – I don't know what criteria the league uses – we have 22 explosive plays. By the way, Pittsburgh has 21. That shows they're a pretty explosive team. I don't really know what down they've been coming on, so obviously that one was the first play of the game. No, not by design, but somewhat by situation. We had an explosive play – we were in a two-minute drive before the half – so that happened to be first down but we were also in a two-minute offense situation. I don't go back and look at them like that. I couldn't really give you a good answer there.
(On hitting three plays of 15 or more air yards on first down this time last year compared to having nine with 15 or more yards on first down this year)
"Good to know."
(On letting tight end Cameron Brate or wide receiver Adam Humphries know that their day is coming)
"Of course, I would. I look at that as something I'm really conscious of – that's part of my job. Everybody wants to win, but everybody also wants to win and get their touches. Don't kid yourself. I'm always trying to be on the lookout for that as far as guys that aren't playing as big a role right now for one reason or another. Sometimes it's just nothing more than luck. Sometimes the ball is supposed to go one place and it goes another because it goes based on where the defense says it should go. I'm sure those two guys are a little disappointed in the number of times they've been targeted. But that's unfortunate and the bottom line is we've got to do whatever it takes to win. We also know that's it a long season and usually that has a way of working itself out."
(On how to handle having so much talent)
"I think one thing that you see is when guys are working their way up the ladder, they're thankful for whatever they get. After guys have had success, they want to have more success. That's just human nature. Every one of us would be the same way if we were in there. It's part of what goes into NFL football."
(On how gratifying it is for him to see wide receiver DeSean Jackson perform well after a rough season)
"It's gratifying for me to win games. I don't care how we do it."
(On if it's exciting because he's putting together an exciting game)
"Winning is exciting – winning is exciting. You can be as exciting as you want and lose and I'm not excited."
(On being excited for Jackson)
"DeSean knows he's good. He doesn't need me to be excited. He knows he's a good player. If you want me to be excited, I will be."
(On concerns of the red zone defense)
"Of course, look at that one the other day in that game we actually made a heck of a goal line stand and get them all the way down to fourth down and then I think they were on the one-and-a-half yard line so he's got 11 yards to work with and they squeeze in that back corner – that frustrating to everybody. Every game is different – you just have to play it out. It's easy to go back and look at the numbers afterwards and say, 'These numbers, these numbers, these numbers,' but cumulative numbers don't matter. All that matters is the numbers in that game. What does it take in that game? Yeah, we're going to go back and beat ourselves up over everything we're not doing good enough. That's a long list, but [the] object is to win."
(On if was afraid the second half would turn into a 'war of attrition')
"Yes, I was, and I think to some degree it did. I think we're very fortunate that we had two days off – be it that we have Monday Night Football. That was brutal. I think I mentioned to you on Monday – we had eight players on defense play over 70 plays, we had five or six players on offense play right at 60 plays – that's too many for whatever that heat index was. I don't really know what it was, but it was a lot. That's too many plays. Chance of injury definitely goes up."
(On who's catching the football with so many completions)
"Somebody hopefully in a Bucs jersey."
(On the natural progression of the defensive line)
"Our plan going into the season was to rotate, but that plan's sort of gone out the window – again of those guys that played over 70 plays I think three of them were on the defensive line. JPP (Jason Pierre-Paul) didn't practice a whole lot last week. That's where an experienced guy knows what it takes. Gerald [McCoy's] another guy we didn't want that many snaps for. Vinny Curry's another guy. When Beau Allen got injured during the game and you've only got a certain number of guys up – that's never going to change. With 46, your numbers by position are never going to change especially at D-line [or] O-line that much. That something that we would like to have the depth to rotate and it just depends when we can get guys back hopefully."
(On if the player had communication with Tony Dungy with the Ring of Honor Ceremony this Monday Night)
"I think we had our communication with Coach Dungy when we did the press conference back in August during two-a-days. When they had the press conference, Coach Dungy spoke to the team that day – did an excellent job. I know the players appreciated it. He came out to practice, spent some time with the players. Our video guys actually took a few clips of his talk to the team in August and showed them – that was in our pregame video the night before the Saints game. They blended it in with some other stuff that we do on our pregame tape – it turned out really good. It was a cool thing that they did. Obviously, this Monday night's going to be exciting for Coach Dungy and his family. Just like I said when Coach Gruden went up there last [year] – as a coach, to have your name on the stadium in the town you live in, I don't think it gets much better that that. So, congrats to coach [Dungy]. We're behind him 100 percent."
(On how aggressive the Steelers are when it comes to blitzes)
"They were pretty aggressive against Kansas City last week. They do have a lot of different packages that they do not only out of their base 3-4 [defense], out of their nickel, out of their dime. They move guys around a lot. Kansas City did a good job of spreading them out. Sometimes the extra blitzer couldn't get there in time. [Patrick] Mahomes did a good job of getting the ball out of his hand. That's party of the give-and-take week to week in the NFL. Whatever a team does well, the other team's going to work on it – whatever team, us included, does poorly you're going to try to shore it up because teams are going to test you. Whatever you were good or bad at, you're going to get tested to see if you've fixed it the next week. Doesn't matter if it's us or anybody else."
(On if the record-breaking numbers for Fitzpatrick are because of the new rules)
"The rules, I got asked that on the conference call with the Pittsburgh people today and I hadn't really thought of that. It could be. It's tough to be a quarterback-sacker right now. When we get the videos every week, the rules on what you can do hitting the quarterback are definitely slanted towards protecting the quarterback – there's no question. Does that account for the difference between 60 percent and 72 percent [completion percentage]? I don't know. I think it's unusual. I think one thing is when the weather gets colder, I think the offenses will slow down. I think that's one thing that hurts the offense a little bit is when it gets colder. I don't think that happens in Tampa, but it happens in some parts I'm told. I don't really know. I don't really know why."
Defensive Coordinator Mike Smith
(On the progress of the defense between Week 1 and Week 2)
"I think the biggest progress that we made as a defensive football team was that we were a lot better in our pass rush and putting the pressure on the quarterback. We got to him three times and we hit him about a dozen times. That was probably the biggest thing. It was a lot of individual effort, but it was also a group of guys that were working together in terms of knowing what each other was doing and being assist-men for each other."
(On having cornerback Brent Grimes back)
"It's going to be great to have him back today first – out there on the practice field – and getting him reacclimated to playing football. He's a very good defensive back that is going to make us a better defense, so we love having Brent out there. He knows and understands the game and he's going to help the other guys as well because he's a guy that really studies and understands splits and how people are trying to attack us. Defending [Ben] Roethlisberger and the offensive attack that they have – it's going to be a big challenge.
(On the toughness of Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown)
"He's very tough. They throw him the ball 99 times in the first two games. The two receivers have 60 of the targets. [Antonio Brown] and [JuJu] Schuster-Smith are the two guys that they're going to try to get the ball in their hands. They do it in a number of ways. It's not always taking the top off the defense, which both of those guys are capable of doing. They're also very effective in the screen game. I saw an interesting graphic about where the balls were being thrown there and were a lot of them underneath, but we know he can take the top off a defense."
(On how mentally tough the players were against the Eagles playing 75 snaps with the heat being a huge factor)
"That didn't count the penalties. We had them playing – some of the guys upwards of 79-80 – those are official snaps. That's a lot of snaps in that heat. It was hot. I know it was really hot on the sideline, but it was hot up in the press box too. Maybe not as hot as down on the field, but it was a warm day. I thought we did a good job with the rotation if you look at our snap count. I thought we felt we had to rotate to keep our guys fresh in there at the end of the game. We had some guys that had way too many snaps, but it was our job to get out there and stop them and we didn't get that done"
(On if a team that needs a win is dangerous)
"I think when you don't get the outcome you want in the previous week, it ramps up your desire. I don't think it matters if you were a playoff team or you were a team that was in the middle of the pack. Guys in this league are super competitive – we don't like to lose. I can assure you that Coach [Mike] Tomlin is going to have those guys ready to go when we play them on Monday night. I hate to say underwhelmed, overwhelmed – when we go play the team that didn't get the outcome the wanted the previous [week] they got a little something in their neck."
(On if defensive tackle Vita Vea can make an impact immediately when he returns)
"Oh absolutely. Vita's a big man. He's going to demand four hand on him. If they try to put two hands on him. He's going to be a guy that going to be able to get penetration into the offensive backfield. We're just waiting for the word where he can get out and help us."
Wide Receiver Mike Evans
(On what he remembers from the first time he played the Steelers)
"My first career touchdown was against the Steelers. Their stadium is probably my favorite place to play besides Raymond James. It was an awesome experience – maybe because my first touchdown was there. I like the way they had the [river] behind the stadium – it was an awesome experience."
(On the Steelers defensive style)
"They're a 3-4 [defense] team. They give you different looks. It's only Week 2 of the season – going into Week 3 now – we just [have] to worry about us because they do a lot of tricky things. If we worry about what we do, we'll be fine."
(On quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's accuracy and how that has helped him)
"That was great placement. It was like running routes on air how he threw it so perfect in that tight window. He's been very accurate and people probably haven't been noticing much, but he's been putting the ball on the money short, intermediate and deep. He's been playing really well."
Tight End O.J. Howard
(On if having yards after the catch is something he's worked on)
"No, not really. I know that I can be an explosive player when I get the ball in my hands. I've always known that was a big part of my game – to try to get the ball in my hands and score try to with it. I think that just comes with it – with the type of ability I have."
(On the public's negative views of the team now turning to positive)
"That's how it usually goes. Not really many people believe in you then you start to do something that's shocking a lot of people, they tend to want to start to believe in you now. We just [have] to worry about us and we knew how good we could be – just keep doing what we're doing."
(On the biggest challenge facing the Steelers)
"The matchups. We've got to win our one-on-one matchups and we've got to continue and block well in the passing game – give our quarterbacks opportunities to make plays. Blocking the run game – it just all comes down to the little things we do and do it well."
Defensive End Jason Pierre-Paul
(On what stands out to him about Ben Roethlisberger)
"Big Ben – obviously he's going to be a future Hal of Famer. He's going to be in the Hall of Fame one day. He's a great quarterback – hard to bring him down. You've got to get two hands on him – it [isn't] just an arm tackle."
(On what was better in Week 2)
"It's week-to-week. It's not what really happened better, it's guys going out there giving their all. I think if you beat the man in front of you, everything will work out for itself. All 11 guys out there just run to the ball – I think that a big step of it really because then really what's happening is just week-to-week playing week-to-week and we're going out there and giving it our all."
(On what he's seen on tape from the Steelers)
"They're separate for a win, so they're going to come in here and any team starting off like that – I think they tied one and lost one. It's only the first couple of games – well this is game three – it's the first couple of games of the season. You know how it is. From the second half you could get rolling or you could just [quit]. Play one game at a time. They're desperate for a win and we know they're desperate for a win. You know that old Pittsburgh Steelers defense and they run the ball. They're going to try to come in here and run the ball, but I think we're really doing a pretty great job of containing or setting the edge on both sides of the run. Last week they got out on me, but that was my fault. I'll correct it this week though."
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