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Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Head Coach Bruce Arians Media Availability - Monday, December 9, 2019

Below is a transcript from Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Bruce Arians. Full video of press conferences can be found on Buccaneers.com.

(Opening statement)

"Not much more to add than yesterday. Like I said, I love the fact that our team doesn't get down during a game. We throw a pick-six two minutes to go in the half and we just go right back out and go score a touchdown. And then get it back to a one-score game. We get a turnover, we turn it back over, we stop them, we force a kick, get great pressure on the kicker. We should've blocked a kick earlier in the game, we came free and went right past the ball and I think that was still in the kid's mind. The resiliency of the team, the we're not quitting, the fact that we are now mathematically eliminated from the playoffs is not going to change anything. We're going to come, we're going to work. We're going to try to win four-in-a-row, five-in-a-row, and then six-in-a-row."

(On stopping opponents from scoring after turnovers)

"I think that's a huge part of us playing together in all three phases. Special teams has been huge for us, but to go out and get it back, that's what winning defenses do."

(On the early turnovers for Jameis Winston)

"Again, some of it's decisions, some of it's throws, some of it's [on] the receiver. In looking back at this one, Mike [Evans] was pressed. He was little short on his route and Darius Leonard is a very tall linebacker and you just have to be more aware trying to throw its over a guy like that, and not throw it too high to the corner. He trusts Mike and I trust Mike, so I don't blame that part of it, but that's what it is."

(On whether Wintson saw Leonard on either of his receptions)

"The second one was totally different. The first one was zone coverage, the second one was an all-out blitz and we don't pick up the guy coming up the middle. Jameis would think he's hot then just throwing the ball into the slant. Darius [Leonard] pulled out and got underneath it. We block it properly, he's going to throw it to Cam [Brate] down the middle, wide open for the touchdown."

(On updates about Mike Evans and his chance to play in the last three weeks)

"They're going to let it bleed out. He was a quick healer when he had it in the spring, so I would be very doubtful for this week."

(On an official diagnosis on Mike Evans injury)

"It's just a pulled hamstring."

(On the defense not allowing points following the third interception of the game)

"It was huge. Like I said, we've been playing sudden change defense really well for the last month, other then the first one. We're playing man-to-man and we don't cover our man. We think the quarterback is sacked and look back in the backfield and there goes our guy. That's the inexcusable part of some of the points they got."

(On Mike Evans' hamstring being a tear or a pull)

"I think it's just a pull."

(On the confidence a win from behind gives a team)

"I actually like this win better for that reason. It shows the growth of this football team. It's easy to be front runners and win when everything is going your way. Hardly anything was going our way during this one, but we hung in there and found a way to win. I like that at this stage of where we're at in the season. I like that win a whole lot more."

(On this win helping change the culture)

"Oh I think this will be a huge one for us. When we finished that season [in Arizona] beating Seattle, who were division champs, it led into a hell of an offseason. For us to possibly win four-in-a-row, then five-in-a-row against a real good Houston team, and then it's going to be a struggle in Detroit this week with the number of injuries we've got, but that's building blocks. The culture is set because the other guys aren't accepting it anymore. They don't accept losing anymore. That's kind of what the guys stood up and said in the locker room. I didn't have to say much, we ain't accepting this [stuff] anymore. You know it's getting across."

(On any clarity about Jameis Winston's injury)

"No. He's going to have a second opinion this afternoon."

(On when the injury occured)

"I have no clue."

(On Winston injuring the hand at halftime)

"No. He was shaking everybody's hand, and shook mine and said, 'Let's go' out of the locker room. Next thing you know he's getting an x-ray."

(On any other potential injuries spilling over into this week)

"Donovan Smith, I doubt he practices much this week. Hopefully we can get him back out there Friday with a knee and an ankle. Hopefully we can get Alex Cappa back. But, other than those two, Jameis [Winston] and Mike [Evans] are the two big ones."

(On the adrenaline wearing off and getting a second opinion)

"It's swollen, but we've got to get a hand specialist involved to see the long-term future."

(On Jamel Dean stepping up last week and Justin Watson stepping up this week)

"Oh you feel great for them. One man's injury is another man's opportunity and some fail at it because they can't handle the moment. I mean Justin's never caught punts in a game in his life, and he went out there and did an unbelievable job on a ball that was bouncing and got 10 yards and made a huge third down catch, touchdown catch. Yes, those are the guys you're really, really happy for after games like that."

(On replacing RB T.J. Logan)

"We'll have to see what we've got the rest of this week to see where we go. I'm ok – I've done three running backs a lot of times. And Cedric (Aca'Cedric Ware) is on the practice squad, so we'll see where we go."

(On if the team could add a third quarterback to the roster)

"Yeah, it'd be Chad [Kanoff], probably, if we had to."

(On how QB Chad Kanoff has looked in practice)

"He's been solid. He's learning. He's done his job."

(On waiting until the end of the season to evaluate QB Jameis Winston)

"I evaluate all of our players at the end of the season. I don't evaluate any of them now. We'll see everybody's value, where they're at, when the season's over."

(On if he saw the interaction between Buccaneers P Bradley Pinion and Colts G Quenton Nelson before yesterday's game)

"No."

(On WR Breshad Perriman)

"He had such a great spring, had a great camp, lit it up against the Dolphins [in the preseason] – it's just going to be opportunities. Tom Moore said a long time [ago], he had [Lynn] Swann, [John] Stallworth and Frank Lewis, I think it was. [Moore said], 'One of you, come Monday, is going to have your lip poked out because you ain't getting the ball enough.' That's just the life of being a three, four or five receiver. One and two are getting theirs. Who gets the other ones – somebody is probably going to have their lip poked out. [Perriman] has never done that. He just comes to work ready for his chance. The last two weeks, it's been there."

(On what it's like as a coach experiencing Jameis Winston's game yesterday)

"You go with the highs and you go with the lows. There was a stretch when now he's afraid to throw it now. Slap him in the face and [tell him to] throw the damn thing. Don't hold it."

(On how the ups and downs affect his stress level)

"I've been in it so long, there's been millions of guys that play like that. It's just – it adds to the fun."

(On how he keeps his emotions in check)

"I don't even try. That's when you have heart attacks – let that [stuff] out [laughs]."

(On if he's been around a player who engenders as many different opinions on their play as Jameis Winston)

"No. Like I said, I'll judge from these games, from this year, from my work with him, not what's happened in the past. Ben [Roethlisberger] and Peyton [Manning] – I had Peyton his first three years. It was a roller coaster. Twenty-eight interceptions or whatever it was. It's not an easy position to play. But when you see an interception [returned] for a touchdown, you come right off from the sideline and right back down for a touchdown – there's something there."

(On if the number of interceptions could be a result of what the quarterback is asked to do)

"The first year, yeah. Our offense is not an easy offense. But once you get it, it's very, very explosive. You see the explosiveness and you still see the learning curve. The Cover Zero blitz that gets picked for six. The learning curve of the [running] back blocking the right guy and not panicking and taking a different one and knowing that you had an easy touchdown pass when you threw a touchdown to the other team because of that. So [not] just the quarterback. It's all of them learning the offense."

(On if Arians' offense requires a defense that creates takeaways)

"I don't think so. That defense was a much more veteran defense in Arizona, but the interceptions stopped – the next year they went way down and I would anticipate the same with the quarterbacks here."

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