OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR DAVE CANALES

(On his thought process as the offense got off to a slow start against the Vikings)

"I'm looking at the call sheet like, 'Whose plays are these? These plays suck. Did somebody switch my call sheet out?' Nah, it was really cool for me to go against a guy like [Vikings defensive coordinator] Brian Flores – just his reputation. He made it hard. He made it really difficult on us. He knew what I was trying to get done, systematically, but we have answers and we have tool belts – things that we've worked on for years in Seattle that we carried here. Baker [Mayfield] and the guys mastered it beautifully and [we] picked up a lot of good information and made adjustments at the half. I say that, but if Cade [Otton] catches his seem route – they knocked that ball out…I should have went faster so they couldn't review it – I didn't. [If] we make that catch – we had an incompletion, I thought there was an easy completion on the first play of the game, the second one was hot – but we're two completions away from just getting a couple drives started. Then, [Flores] probably still gives us problems somewhere in there. We missed Ko [Kieft] on the seam for the touchdown there – the throw was just a little bit high. Those three balls right there, we're telling a different story about that first half. That's where we just can't panic. I watch all the games – some of them started really rough, just like ours. Some of the guys came out – I watched the Seahawks game, they come out firing on all cylinders. You just can't decide the game in the first quarter. We just kind of stayed the course."

(On what he thought about the rushing attack)

"I think that's where we define it differently. For us, run efficiency is four yards or better. Our goal is 50% - we were 52% efficiency in the run game. So, I'm fired up about that. I don't think we had any negative runs – we might have had maybe one. We had one negative run. The goal is zero negative runs, but it's not uncommon in a zone scheme to have three or four. I come out of it – we're sitting there as a staff saying 52% efficiency guys. That means we blocked everything right. That means we got the running back started. Now is where the volume, the experience, Rachaad [White] getting those runs, seeing where those second-level voids are, Sean [Tucker], Chase [Edmonds] – really being able to like make it happen after the first level. I was excited about it. Then, to just be able to get into a four-minute mode and run it, throw it a little bit and then run it again at the end to take over the time of possession. I thought the run game was fine."

(On positives and negatives that he took away from the game)

"Positives were zero turnovers, right? From the time I got here trying to sell it to the guys, 'What if I told you, if we won the turnover ratio by the end of the season, we're going to be 72-75% win? What if I told you that?' And there it is. The Vikings tried a little too hard at times offensively, they put the ball in peril, they gave it to us, we turned it into a couple points, we took care of it and we won the game. I know there's a lot that happened in between, in the 60 minutes, but even for coaches out there at any level who are watching – when you win the turnover ratio, it was 82% for us in Seattle, it'll be something like that for us if we continue to take care of it. That's the first thing. The effort was fantastic and then the finish. Trying to sell to our guys – our calling card with this Bucs offense is going to be finish. Finishing plays physically – Baker [Mayfield], we're not talking to you. Everybody else finishes physically, you slide… Just, for us, it's about finish. If you look at the end of half, end of game, that's what we did. I was really proud of that."

(On how he thought the offensive line played)

"It all starts with [Robert] Hainsey. Him getting everybody targeted to the right spot, it's fantastic. I was around Austin Blythe, guys like Max Unger, Justin Britt, can't leave Ethan [Pocic] out either – but these guys are really smart dudes. When you have a guy in the center spot in the run and pass game [that can] get them directed, then everybody can play with their best technique and athletic ability. That's what he did. Then, we showed what we have is a bunch of athletic guys and a massive left guard. We had a 13 duo that went for about nine [yards] before somebody touched us. Just watching them really handle an elite pass rusher like Danielle Hunter, really, with very little issues in the pass protection…Then, of course, from a scheme standpoint, we just didn't drop back a ton and put them in peril – put it in their strength, their wheelhouse, which is running the ball and throwing play action and quick rhythm passes."

(On how he would rate his offense from 1-10)

"Six, probably. Six, seven – something like that. Mike [Evans] catches two more balls, he has a huge day, Baker [Mayfield] hits a few more, we've got a really fantastic day. The running backs will find their way to turn a couple of those efficient four yard runs into those big ones as the season wears on and as they feel it. We're not there. We're miles away, but the attitude is right and the personality is right."

(On what concerns him about the Chicago Bears defense)

"Really, it's the effort. You have to be conscious of the ball playing against Coach [Matt] Eberflus and his team. It jumps out on film how hard they chase everything down. As the running backs are making decisions on runs, they've got to secure the ball. Receivers down the field, they've got to secure the ball coming out because these guys are all converging. Then, they play so much visual zone – a lot of those compression tackles happen so you usually have two guys in the zone and you catch it in between, then the sandwich tackle happens. We drill it a ton, but our guys just taking it to the game and securing it is going to be important."

(On what gives him confidence in RB Rachaad White or if he might use running back by committee)

"It's always been a committee thing – whether it was Seattle or here, or Dallas with Coach Skip [Peete]. When I look at it, it's kind of like he's going to get his volume. He'll be able to tell me how much I can give him the ball consecutively by his fitness level. That's not saying he's not working hard, but game fitness is totally different. You guys all know, you go out and play pickleball and you haven't played in a couple weeks and you're pretty sore. Same thing. You get in a competitive mindset, you start moving around really twitchy and it's a different kind of conditioning. I'm excited about how he was pressing and how he finished. He'll become more decisive as he starts to see stuff – 'In this front, I'm usually going to take it here or there.' Those things will happen as he grows."

(On QB Baker Mayfield's confidence and if he needed to help him get it back)

"Any win is huge for confidence. Obviously, throwing touchdowns is a big part of it. That one before the half to Mike [Evans] really kind of [exhales]…He settled in, you know? He was pretty stoved up to start. I think he's just so excited. He's a fiery guy. He was really fast with it, but then he settled in and finished masterfully. From the first time he and I met when he came, it's like this second chance, this breath of fresh air – let's ride on that. This is going to be a great story – those kinds of conversations. Just his self awareness – I didn't know him from before, I just knew of him – but he just seems like he's in such a better place in his life. I think that part always flows into the football, not the other way around – or, it shouldn't, at least."

(On how he balances Mayfield's competitiveness and his willingness to leave it all on the field versus being conservative and safe)

"Just honestly telling him, 'Rule number one – protect the quarterback, you're the quarterback.' It's just that reminder, right? Throw it away. He did a great job of that. He threw the ball away. He got out of situations, he saved us a couple sacks by scrambling a few times, he didn't try to overthink the pass or find the big one. Being efficient – first open guy, second guy, move on. Coach [Tom] Moore said it a different way, historically, but I won't repeat that on air."

(On calling the game from the sidelines)

"I got so much help. David Raih, first of all, is an NFL veteran coach – he's been around for a long time, like me now at this point. Jordan Somerville came to us from the University of Oregon, so he's just got eyes on kind of like, 'Hey, don't forget about this play or that play.' And Jeff Kastl is feeding me information about down-and-distance, hash, situational reminders. I really have great help. Joe Gilbert gives me the personnel of the defense before it happens, so I'm kind of spoiled with having all those eyes up there. Also, there's not enough room for me up there, so I couldn't even go up there if I wanted to. [laughs] But being on the sideline is really important – who is Baker [Mayfield] on gamedays, he's cool. Who is Mike [Evans], Chris [Godwin], what is Rachaad [White] going to be like and what's this O-line group? It's important to me to set the tone of the culture and the philosophy of our offense being down there. So, as we face four out of five drives three-and-out, I can just go, 'Hey guys, remember what we said – we don't know what they're going to do, we'll figure it out and we'll have a plan.' We did that. Just being able to breathe that belief and them hopefully borrowing from my calm when we're out there."

(On Head Coach Todd Bowles wanting an aggressive offense)

"Todd doesn't want a conservative offense – that's not why I was hired. He wants to run the ball. That's not conservative in my mind, especially with the RPO's that we have on there. And then, of course, you don't get your 25-30+ carries unless you're ahead at the end of the game, usually. Unless you just can't do anything else – they make it really hard and you just kind of have to just keep banging away and banging away and hoping you kind of overtake them. That's not what Todd wants. He doesn't want me sitting back, he wants me to be aggressive based on what the defense is giving us – in a smart way. Hopefully, we're trying to attack it intelligently but we've got Mike Evans and Chris [Godwin] and Baker [Mayfield] can throw it a mile. It's not going to be small ball…Hopefully that kind of clarifies Coach's mentality for the offense."

(On if there were any easy throws on Sunday)

"I don't feel a pressure to appease anybody. I want to win. So, just give the best players the ball. You're playing basketball at the park – pass it to him – that's my mentality. I wasn't trained to try to force feed. It's like, [if] they're leaving [Mike Evans] one on one – they played us a bunch of cover two. They were trying to keep us from throwing it down the field to Mike and we still took a couple shots to him. He could have had a really big day. I know he was pissed about it. When that happens and they play cover two, the inside of the field is wide open and that's where the tight ends will come alive and the running backs."

(On QB Baker Mayfield winning the Angry Run award from Good Morning Football)

"That's awesome. Keep the ball in the outside hand and then if the guy grabs your arm, pull it away quickly. Those can be some catastrophic situations right there. It worries me a little bit – get out of bounds or slide."

(On how he would assess his own play calling)

"I think it took me too long to get to my cover two answers. They threw that out there a few times. We got answers built in to each play, but we have plays specifically designed to attack something. He just kind of kept showing cover zero, all out blitz – we had a great plan for that. So, NFL defenses, watch the film – I wouldn't do it. The cover two stuff, Brad Idzik did a fantastic job saying, 'Hey, its two.' He kind of had to yell at me a little bit…We ended up just stealing a couple first downs because they did that. He's just trying to take away the explosive element, which they did. But yeah, get to my cover two beaters sooner. Brad yelled at me, so that was good. We're good like that – I lived with him in the offseason so he's allowed to do that, and yell at my kids, too."

(On QB Baker Mayfield reportedly knowing their hand signals)

"I won't comment on that. Rachaad [White] already got in trouble for that. We don't know their hand signals, they may change them every week."

RUN GAME COORDINATOR/DEFENSIVE LINE COACH KACY RODGERS

(On DL Calijah Kancey's debut)

"Actually, I thought he did pretty good considering that was his first real contact work minus the preseason and a couple of days of practice last week. For what we ask him to do, I think he played 11 snaps and I was hard-pressed to find a minus. And I was looking for it, so he did OK."

(On Kancey's ability to play in Week 1 despite the suggestion that he may not be in football shape yet)

"Well, he has been doing a lot of conditioning and stuff – they're just taking precaution. Really, we thought we kind of had a pitch count going in, but we felt comfortable that he could get to that number."

(On the likelihood that Kancey can play on Sunday in Week 2)

"I think right now they're still saying it's day-to-day, so we will just see as we go."

(On how DL Mike Greene held up in his first NFL game)

"You know what? I thought Mike did pretty [well]. I'm on him quite a bit now because we just need more production out of him. That's the reason he made the team, when he flashed the playmaking ability and stuff. But our hat goes off to Mike. Mike was a weekend workout guy (a rookie mini-camp tryout player) that is now on our 53[-man roster], and is well-deserving. So the thing is, Mike is a hard-working guy but with him, we see a guy that can make plays and we want him to turn more plays."

(On DL Logan Hall's tackle for loss and his overall performance in Week 1)

"That's what I would say to him right after the game, and when we talked in the meeting, that was the thing you saw from him – the game slowed down for him. When you throw a rookie into this league, there is still a lot going on. He said he felt like the game slowed down for him. I think this guy is just going to keep getting better. He is a joy to coach."

(On recording three takeaways in Week 1)

"You like to see that. That is something that we really stress. If we get [takeaways], it increases our chance of winning. To produce three turnovers against that team says a lot. A couple of them [were] critical. If you don't get the interception, we might be feeling differently here right now. They were all big – Winfield's led to points and everything. Those are big plays, huge plays."

(On S Antoine Winfield Jr.'s ability as a blitzer)

"If you really look at the first pass that they threw, when he hit [Vikings QB Kirk Cousins]… the rush was better than anything. We got him free on the sack-fumble, but to beat the back the way he did… 'Win' is just a tremendous player. I really think he is highly underrated. I don't think people see him enough to realize what he means to us and what he does. His pass-rushing prowess is impressive, really impressive for a safety."

(On re-emphasizing the run defense after 'getting away from it last year')

"I don't know that we got away from it, I think they started blocking us [laughs]. I don't really know that we got away from it – we tried to stop them, it just didn't work out."

(On the impact of stopping the run effectively)

"Ideally, you want to make teams one dimensional in this league. Then that way you can concentrate on the one area. Last week, it worked out. Then coming in this week, you're talking about the No. 1 rushing offense in the league last year, so it will be an interesting test for us."

(On Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields' ability as a rusher)

"When we looked at it last year – I know they had [David] Montgomery in there, but they had an 800-yard rusher, a 700-yard rusher in [Khalil] Herbert and then he (Fields) had 1,100. That tandem, and still, the way they did it was problematic because now D.J. Moore is hanging out, out there. [Chase] Claypool, he beat us last year in Pittsburgh at the last second. Then you've got [Darnell] Mooney who can fly, [Cole] Kmet, and then you've got this quarterback. They pose a lot of problems."

(On preparing for a guy with the type of speed that Fields possesses)

"It is very scary. We were just looking at the scrambles today and just trying to make it an emphasis. It's hard because you've got to rush him, but then you rush him, and you get out of your lane and now he is taking off. Then if you don't rush him, you can't give the receivers that kind of time. It poses so many problems and now you're playing a chess match – when you rush, when you don't. It creates a lot of problems for you."

(On facing Chicago Bears RB Khalil Herbert)

"Really, when the ball is in his hand, it's special. When the ball is in his hand, the vision that he [has]… they hurt us on the toss plays. When you see him on the perimeter when they get the ball to him, he can find it. The toss is going this way, but he finds it back there [with] his vision. He poses a lot of problems. That's why I say, 'Their running game – when you look at the holes and the way they get to it – is problematic.'"

(On the performance of the inside linebackers)

"I think going back and reviewing that game, I was really impressed with the way 'Vonte' (Lavonte David) and Devin [White] played. Those guys were making the plays they were supposed to. A big thing going into last week was those bootlegs and that little [inaudible] route – they were all over it. They really, really took a big part of the plays that they wanted to do away from them. And then, they were sure tacklers. They were one-on-one tackles, and they were putting them on the ground. They weren't just gang tackling – they were one-on-one tackling. My hat goes off to those guys. I'm glad they're with us."

(On what about Head Coach Todd Bowles' defense makes it so difficult to face)

"Well, that's what makes us unique. We like to think by the time you get to game four, that O-line coach should see four different packages. He should see people everywhere. I like to tell people, 'When you prepare against us, that card you showed those guys in there, you probably aren't going to see that.' So, the people [that] play against us, you've really got to lean on your rules and everything. Kind of what you think you're going to get; you're probably not getting it. That helps these guys play faster."

(On limiting the penalties in Week 1)

"When you look at it, I think we finished the game with three penalties. That was really good and a credit to a lot of things that are stressed here in practice. We don't want to beat ourselves and we don't want to help the opponent if we can help it, so those were huge."

(On what he has seen from OLB Anthony Nelson)

"The thing is with 'Nelly,' he's been here. If you just keep looking at all of the plays that he's played… I remember Arizona last year he caused the fumble that Devin [White] picked up. If they go and score there, I don't know that we win that game. Or, if you think back to that Carolina game that got us into the playoffs, he had a sack-fumble. 'Nelly' has always done that. It's a luxury to have him as our [third], who can start at any time. That guy just shows up and does his job, a good pro."

(On OLB Shaquil Barrett)

"The thing about Shaq is we know he's a gamer. When I worked for another coach, he said the best thing about this player is he comes to the game with you. Shaq is in that game. You know when we go out there, he's coming to the game with you. We've [gotten] to the point where we expect a certain thing from him, and he always delivers."

(On Barrett being able to play in Week 1 despite suffering an Achilles injury last season)

"No question. Coming off the injury as fast as he did to be ready for training camp was impressive. It shows the guy is a good pro and I'm glad he's with us."

(On his biggest takeaway from the Week 1 win)

"We had a lot of young guys that had a lot of minutes. Every team is different. When you look at what the different pieces that were out there were in Week 1 last year versus the pieces there in Week 1 this year, you just see the youth and the growth. But also in that, I think we got faster. Where we gave up something here, we picked up something here. It was just good to get [out] of Week 1 with a win."

(On CB Christian Izien's interception on the goal line)

"Huge play, huge play. You go ahead and play nickel in the National Football League, that's saying a lot opening in Week 1 because that's probably the hardest position. You've got all of those major slides and you factor in the run game and your coverages… just [with] what you ask of them, my hat goes off to him."

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN ROBERT HAINSEY

(On Offensive Coordinator Dave Canales calling plays for the first time)

"I thought he did a great job. I thought our plan was great, [and] I thought the way he called it was great. What I love about Dave [Canales] is that he is super calm and confident on the sidelines. [He is] very encouraging, [and he is] never too high, never to low. [He is] just ready to move on to the next play and get us in the best position to win."

(On stepping in after Center Ryan Jensen's injury)

"Yeah, I think having Jensen around has been awesome, because he has so much knowledge to contribute. Having done it all last year, and I got to start 17 games last year, prepared this offseason as I did last [year] but in a different way. I prepared this offseason [like] this was going to be my job not knowing what was going to happen. By taking those six months preparing for this, I was ready to step into the role and to take charge of the role. But yeah, it's a different level after playing a full year. You feel different, the game is slower, [and] you feel as if you know what is going to happen. So, when you prepare the right way, you are ready to go on Sunday's."

(On having Offensive Coordinator Dave Canales coach from the sidelines)

"I like it. I had it for three years in college, and then last year Byron [Leftwich] was. I enjoy when he comes over and talks to us, and you can hear the back and forth because the coaches are talking in the headset all the time, but when Dave [Canales] comes over we can hear the back and forth between him and your [coach] coach, [so] you have an idea what to expect before you coach [starts] explaining what the next step is of that game, so I enjoy having him down there."

-BUCCANEERS-