HEAD COACH TODD BOWLES

(On if there are any injury updates, specifically for wide receivers Emeka Egbuka and Mike Evans)

"'Mek' (Emeka Egbuka) is going to get an MRI tomorrow, so we'll find out more then. We will hope to see Mike or Zyon [McCollum] and [Benjamin] Morrison do something this week, and then we'll see how much they do to determine if they can play and what they can do."

(On if any other players, like WR Chris Godwin Jr., could return this week)

"Chris is not in play to practice, so I'm sure he probably won't be back."

(On clarifying that Godwin Jr. will not practice at all this week)

"Right."

(On if RB Bucky Irving will also not practice at all this week)

"Yes."

(On the continued 'next man up' mentality as the team pushes through injuries)

"I don't think we look at it as wide receivers six and seven and guards four and five and all that stuff. I think we look at it as guys made this team for a reason. When somebody goes down, somebody has got to step up and has a job to do. It's up to them to do it, but it's also up to the coaches to know exactly what they can do well and how they fit in the scheme, and to work it that way and give them the best chance possible to succeed."

(On DL Greg Gaines dropping into coverage of San Francisco RB Christian McCaffrey during CB Jamel Dean's stripsack in Week 6, and the overall willingness of the defensive players to do unconventional things when a play calls for it)

"I mean, they draw blocks – they draw the guards and the tackles [and] they draw the bigger blocks. If they can take two steps and freeze the line, allow the smaller guys to get by, and then they can drop back in case they get a hot throw…I think everybody in the league's doing it. At the same time, it's a lot of 'look one way, do another,' or sometimes it's the same thing. All those guys have the ability – at least from me to you – almost like a five-yard drop. We're not asking them to get all the way back 10 and 20 yards. If they can knock off a crosser or do anything like that, it always helps."

(On limiting San Francisco RB Christian McCaffrey on Sunday, particularly from the perspective of LB SirVocea Dennis)

"'Voss' (SirVocea Dennis) did a great job. Our number one thing we had on our list to stop was the YAC (yards after catch) yards by [No.] 23 (Christian McCaffrey), because he can catch the ball and he can hurt you in so many ways. We knew he was going to catch the checkdowns, but we needed to have him bracketed inside and out. I thought those guys did a great job limiting the yards per catch."

(On if the defense was more 'fundamentally sound' in Week 6 compared to Week 5)

"I thought they did a very good job. They got two plays [where] we fell down that we've got to keep our balance, but fundamentally I thought they were in the right place doing the right things and they competed."

(On generating six sacks in Week 6 and what enabled the Buccaneers to generate so much pressure)

"[They were] just determined to get off the ball. It all starts up front for us. If we can get off the ball and you don't have to blitz and you can go with four [rushers] and they work together, we're a pretty good defense. They did that yesterday and they did a good job."

(On if he ever senses whether or not he is coaching a 'special team' and if he has that feeling about this year's team)

"I have a gut feeling off the field that it's a special team, but football is week to week and you've got to go out and prove that, and that's one week after another week after another week. You can feel as good as you want and this league will bring you down and make you feel terrible. You can feel terrible and they can bring you up to feel great. That gut feeling has not hit me since I've been coaching. But, week to week, you have a confidence of trusting your guys and knowing they can go out there and do a good job as long as everybody is on the same page."

(On whether CB Zyon McCollum is in play to return in Week 7)

"He's in play."

(On his coaching staff's ability to get so many players ready to play)

"They've been great. I can't name one that stands above the other. They all go around [and] they work well together – they understand what they have to do. When you tell them somebody is down and they might have to use this guy or that guy, they just put their heads down and go to work right away – maybe a sarcastic comment or two, but after that they kind of go to work, understand what they have to do, and do the best job I've seen getting guys ready to play whether they've been here for three days or whether they've been here for three weeks. That's hats off to them, and we wouldn't be where we were if it wasn't for those guys."

(On what the team saw in WR Tez Johnson during the draft process that enabled them to think he could find success in the NFL)

"[General Manager] Jason [Licht] came down and asked me to watch this kid and told me to take a peek at him. I know he really liked him, and when we like somebody, we go down and ask the other one to take a look at it. I took a look at this guy, and he was not just a small guy. He was a true receiver – he could run routes, he can catch the ball, he could return punts, he competed in the blocking game. I said, 'He might not be bad.' Then he was hanging around at a time where we could grab him, and we grabbed him."

(On WR Kameron Johnson's impact in Week 6, and what gives Bowles confidence in Johnson)

"Kam is a bigger guy, actually. He's built solidly, almost like a running back/receiver type of guy. Kam had great athleticism when we got him out of Barton. He had great athleticism and he had a skill set that you could see – he could catch the ball, he could run. He had all the intangibles, but he kept getting hurt, so we didn't know exactly what we had or if he could stay healthy. He came back this year and he was healthy the whole time. We played him the first game [and] he dropped a few balls in preseason to get the jitters out and after that he's been great. B-Mac (Wide Receivers Coach Bryan McClendon) has been working with him every day [and] he's done a hell of a job working with that guy. He got in the game yesterday and he looked like he's been there for three years."

(On OL Mike Jordan potentially returning to practice this week)

"We would hope to see him do something this week, as well."

(On if he has a sense for G Luke Haggard's timeline)

"I don't know how long he'll be out. I just know he'd be doubtful, maybe, this week."

(On his early impressions of the Detroit Lions)

"No different than last year – tons of talent, very well-coached, a very tough team. They've got talent at every position. [It is] always a tough place to go play up there. They're going to be battle-tested. They're tough on both fronts, offensively and defensively. They make plays on the back end in the secondary. They've got big-play [wide] receivers. They've got two-headed monsters at running back. It's going to be a big challenge for us."

(On Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell's culture and fourth-down aggressiveness)

"The team definitely takes on his personality. Dan is very tough, but he's very smart. He's very smart, he's very tough, he's always going to be disciplined and well-coached. [He is] a very good friend, I consider him a very good friend from that standpoint. So, it's going to be a battle."

-BUCCANEERS-