HEAD COACH TODD BOWLES

(On CB Zyon McCollum's offsides penalty on Atlanta's field goal attempt that extended their drive)

"It was a big lapse of concentration. They had a fourth-and-3, I'm pretty sure – they were going to kick a field goal. That cost us four points right there. He was antsy, from the tape, at the start. You've got to stay onside. That takes a lot of discipline. He's got to be better than that."

(On OLB Haason Reddick's strip sack where he came out of the pile with the ball but was not credited with gaining possession)

"I tried to get it reviewed. They didn't review it. They said it was a tie and then they gave it to the offense. I saw Haason come out with the ball. So, it was a scrum in there and maybe they made [the call] prematurely. I didn't see it. On tape, I really couldn't tell, but I saw him come up with the ball, but they said it was a tie."

(On if the referees indicated if that play was not reviewable)

"They didn't say anything when I was asking them to review it and the play was going on to the next play and they just kind of let it ride."

(On why CB Benjamin Morrison was inactive despite practicing fully last week)

"He needed one more week on a short week to get ready. So ,I felt like [Kindle] Vildor [had] been practicing and he knew everything. So, Morrison will be in play next week."

(On whether CB Kindle Vildor should have drifted more towards the line to gain on the fourth-and-14 at the end of the game)

"That's his job."

(On how much harder having Atlanta Falcons RB Bijan Robinson being in the flat makes that situation for Vildor on fourth-and-14)

"It doesn't make it hard at all on fourth-and-14."

(On if he's frustrated with the team's 'lack of killer instinct')

"[It is] very frustrating thus far. You can do it all right in practice all week. You can do it in the game right four out of five times and on the fifth time, we don't play it right, and that's frustrating. That's very frustrating as a coach – very frustrating as a player, I'm sure – but we're all in this together. So, it starts with me. I've got to do a better job. They've got to do a better job, and we have to somehow scratch and claw and find a way to make this thing work."

(On whether a team can 'snap into' having a killer instinct over the final three games, with Carolina twice)

"I don't think you can snap into it. I think you have to grind it out. You've just got to take it one day at a time, one play at a time, and you've got to grind them out. You're not going to snap into being good or snap into being worse. You've got to take it play by play and you've just got to do the little things right, then the big things will come."

(On the defensive gameplan for Atlanta Falcons RB Bijan Robinson and TE Kyle Pitts, and why they were able to have so much success on Thursday night)

"With Bijan, we missed quite a few tackles because he's hard to tackle in the open field. We were in the right place at the right time and we missed him about four or five times in space. With Pitts, we had Zyon [McCollum] assigned to him a little bit. When Zyon got hurt, that put us back in nickel, but we still had calls and things [where] we knew where he was going to be and where he was going to go that we just didn't play proper technique [on]. We did it right in practice. The few times we did it right in the game, we were great. The times we didn't do it right, we weren't very good."

(On how big of a hurdle it is to face the Carolina Panthers twice in the final three weeks of the season)

"I don't think it's a big hurdle physically. It's a bigger hurdle mentally because of the two losses we just got over – two in one week really, so to speak. So, we've got to regroup this weekend. We've got to come back Monday and we've just got to take it one day at a time, one play at a time. Look, when you don't play well, it's the coaches and the players. When you don't coach well, it's the coaches and the players. So, we've got to come back with the attitude and just try to do the little things right. We just want to work on the little things. If we can do those, we feel like we give ourselves a chance to win. We've just got to go from practice to the game."

(On the balance of understanding the opportunity ahead with the locker room's current mental state)

"It's all about the frustration and dealing with adversity. We've got to learn how to deal with adversity. We've done that the past three years. We've done it some early this year. We've dealt with injuries and those type of things. It's all about how you channel your vision when you come back to work next week and how you deal with adversity moving forward. So, you can sit there and let it linger and you can mope in it or you can go ahead and do something about it and you can go ahead and still try to win this thing. So, that's the attitude we're going to have going into the week."

(On QB Baker Mayfield saying the loss to the Atlanta Falcons falls on his shoulders and the interception will haunt him)

"Well, he's taking responsibility as one of our leaders. Obviously, you don't want the turnover, but he can look himself in the mirror and be honest with himself and, you know, coaches and players have to do that alike. That's what makes him who he is. So, if everybody did that, we would figure out our problems [really] quick. So, I think it's an eye-opener for a lot of guys and a lot of coaches on this team. So, if we can come back Monday and look in the mirror and everybody can work on the little things, I think that'll carry us the rest of the way. What he said was very honest and very true."

(On his assessment of the overall pass rush performance against Atlanta)

"I don't think it was consistently good enough. Obviously, [Kirk Cousins] got some things and got the ball out. Then, they kept a lot of protection in as well. When we pressured, we got through there. When we rushed four, the ball was coming out with a lot of screens and a lot of checkdowns to Bijan [Robinson]. So, it was mixed."

(On whether OLB Jason Pierre-Paul could play against the Carolina Panthers next week)

"Possibly. We'll look at him next week and see what the practice looks like and get a better look at him and kind of gauge it from there."

(On how players can keep frustration from boiling over on the field and 'trying too hard')

"I don't think there's such a thing as trying too hard. It's just working on the little things and playing with a positive attitude the whole way. If you trust the guy next to you and you trust the guy that's going to go down in the rabbit hole with you, then you trust them and you'll play ball from that way. So, I don't worry about it boiling over. If it boils over, it's going to be in a good way from a [meanness] standpoint, legally, as we go take the field. So, we should be stewing all the way up until next weekend and probably the next three weeks of the season."

(On why players haven't been benched if it's "a small select few" making the mistakes, as he said in his postgame press conference last night)

"Well, a lot of guys, it's a different position every time. You can't change out everybody. So, there's one guy here, one guy there. Some of them are guys that come in, some of them are starters. So, we've got to do the little things right. Again, we do it right five out of six times [but] the sixth time we don't do it right. Then, it's another guy that doesn't do it right. Then if you bring somebody in, they don't do it right. It happens in spurts. We can play defense for a good extended period of time…We can play good defense and then you can come out and call the same thing and then something else happens and it kind of spirals. So, we've got to do a lot better job coaching and playing what we do consistently."

(On whether the "small select few" players changes from week to week)

"Absolutely."

(On his thoughts on how wide receivers Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan looked, and how the offense looked with them back)

"I thought they looked fast. They played tough. They looked outstanding. They brought a level of toughness to us and excitement. They both made plays – big plays – in one-on-one coverage and zone coverage. They made big catches. They took hits and still came up and got up. I was worried about that in the beginning, but once they took the hits and got up and played, I thought those two guys played outstanding football."

(On his thoughts on Carolina Panthers Head Coach Dave Canales)

"I think Dave has done a great job of sticking with who he is and getting his message across to these guys. No matter whether they won or lost, his attitude and the way they went about learning from their losses and getting better that next week and sticking to his message has really resonated with those guys and I think they're coming around and they're showing it and you can see it. That's a big credit to him. He was like that when he was here as well with the offensive guys on this side of the football and I think he's doing a great job that way getting his message across."

(On whether chatter about job security creeps into the locker room)

"I don't think I worry about it at all. It doesn't creep into the locker room. Players play and coaches coach and I've got more years behind me than I do ahead of me. I think we're in a situation where we're right back in it and our only focus is to win the ball game."

(On whether his postgame comments on Thursday night were by design to send a message to his players)

"That definitely wasn't by design. That was how I felt at the time. That was honest, raw, and right off the top. Usually my sons watch and I don't cuss as much, but I was still pissed off from the time I came in. I didn't design that at all. That was how I felt. That's what I said, and they heard the same thing in the locker room. We don't keep secrets from each other."

(On whether TE Cade Otton and S Tykee Smith could both be back next week against Carolina)

"Hopefully, you know, with a couple days of rest, they can come back and we'll see on Monday."

(On what concerns him most about the Carolina Panthers)

"I haven't watched them too much yet, but I know they've got a huge offensive line. They've got the first-round [wide] receiver this year, [Tetairoa] McMillan, playing very well. They've got two good running backs and Bryce [Young] is playing very good football right now. I'll dive into them this weekend and get a better look at them, but they played us tough last year in the first game, so we understand we've got our hands full and they're playing for something just like we are."

-BUCCANEERS-