HEAD COACH TODD BOWLES

(On the injury status of OLB Rueben Bain Jr.)

"He's got a groin [injury], but he came out. He didn't practice, though."

(On LB Josiah Trotter wearing a shoulder wrap during practice on Wednesday)

"No, he's had that the entire year, but his shoulder is sore."

(On if Bain's groin injury is something that happened in the game against Cleveland)

"Yes."

(On if he knows when, specifically, Bain injured his groin in Week 2)

"I don't know."

(On how the team would fill Bain's snaps if he is unable to play)

"[We've got] 'Nelly' (Anthony Nelson), [Al-Quadin] Muhammad and David [Walker] – we've got three guys we can rotate in. [It's] probably too early in the week to actually see who's going to be in there."

(On OLB David Walker's performance on defense in Week 2)

"I mean, the sack was great. He's got some things he's got to learn, fundamentally, from a defensive standpoint, but he's come along at a pretty good pace for us."

(On whether he is considering making any changes following the team's 0-2 start)

"We've done some things to help ourselves, to make some changes that will probably show up more tomorrow and Friday as opposed to today because it's more mental today."

(On whether there will be any changes to the starting lineup)

"No."

(On CB Jacob Parrish's progress)

"He was full today, yes."

(On the team's struggles defending opposing tight ends)

"I don't think we struggled against it this past weekend. I mean, the first week, I thought we missed two zone drops, and this week we busted a coverage and they caught one pass. I don't really see the [connection] from last year to this year. I thought we made big strides, and it's too early to tell right now whether we will struggle against the tight ends or not."

(On what makes Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores' defenses challenging)

"Really the looks. You know, the looks and the many people he can bring. They're very comfortable going with anybody up there, dropping any of the front nine or front eight, whatever you want to say. They have very good chaotic chaos, but they understand where it's going. That's been their calling card for the past couple years. I think 'Flo' (Brian Flores) does a great job in doing that and causing that, and it works for them."

(On whether disguise is a significant part of Flores' defense)

"Yeah, big time. A big part of it is disguising."

(On Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell's offense)

"[He is] very smart. I mean, he's been a smart [offensive coordinator] for a while – he's a smart [offensive coordinator] that's a head coach now. They understand how to play. They play complementary football to their defense. They run it very well. Obviously, Justin Jefferson, his name speaks for itself and the things that he can do with the football. They've got some talent over there as well."

(On Vikings QB Kyler Murray)

"It's been a long time since [the] Arizona days, but, you know, he's very good. He has a very good arm – he can throw a deep ball. He's very good in the pocket, throwing on a dime, and he can run with the ball. His feet are probably faster than our four defensive linemen's feet, so we've got to be very disciplined in our pass rush."

(On opposing teams throwing the ball quickly against Tampa Bay, and how he can scheme up ways to defend the quick passes)

"We've got to tackle. I mean, we've got to tackle. If they get rid of the ball that quick, we're not going to get there. Just like [how] we've got to get our hands up, we've got to bat balls down, and we've got to make sure we're [where we're] supposed to be on the back end."

(On whether the team has a playoff-like sense of urgency this week)

"I mean, for us, the urgency is every week. It just happens to be this week. We treat every week the same, with the same amount of urgency. The fact that it's this week [means] it's the most important game, and then next week will be the most important, and it'll go from there."

(On whether the team can increase the physicality in practice to improve tackling)

"We have pretty good contact. We have pretty good contact in practice."

(On whether a lack of contact in practice has contributed to missed tackles)

"No."

(On who is most responsible for missed assignments in crucial situations)

"It's on everybody. It's on the coaches to have them ready to play; it's on them to be ready to play. It's on the players and the coaches."

(On correcting those missed assignments)

"Some things, if they mess up enough, you stop doing. Other things, it's human nature. We can't have them."

(On whether the defense has played tougher through the first two games of this season compared to last year)

"I have definitely seen that, yes."

(On creating more turnovers)

"Turnovers [are] always the key to winning ballgames. No matter how good [we] play on defense, we don't feel like we do enough if we don't get the turnovers. We practice punching the ball out, stripping and going after everything we can go after. We've just got to get them out in the game."

(On Vikings TE T.J. Hockenson)

"He's an extra blocker and an extra receiver. He presents a problem that way because he's a dual tight end. His height says a lot as well. He's been doing it for a long time. [He has] very good hands, [is a] very good route runner, but at the same time, he's a very good blocker. They can spread you out or they can bring you in. If you play small, they can run it. If you play big, they can throw it. He presents a challenge."

(On WR Ted Hurst III's confidence)

"His confidence is good."

(On his confidence in LB Alex Anzalone)

"[I am] very confident in Alex tackling. It hasn't been a problem for him [in his career]. He missed one or two here and there, but a couple people missed a couple here and there. Alex is going to be fine. He's calmed down. We have great confidence in him. He's going to be fine."

(On the challenge of preparing for Vikings QB Kyler Murray with limited film of him in Minnesota's offense)

"It's the unknown. I think he's only gotten 22 snaps in between preseason and regular season as far as him playing, but I'm sure he's gotten a lot of practice reps in. He sees a lot of different defenses from his own defense, so nothing is really going to surprise him. I expect Kevin [O'Connell] to just run his offense."

(On whether QB Baker Mayfield is trying to do too much)

"No, I think anytime you don't play well, it starts with the coaches. It starts from me, then the offensive coaches, then the players as well all around him. We've got to make sure that he's doing the right thing, and he makes sure he does the right thing. He studies the right way. We've got to execute better. Obviously, we've got to call plays better and we've got to game plan better, so it's all-inclusive with the offensive line and the quarterback, the [wide] receivers and the running backs and the coaches."

(On whether he would like to see more intermediate passes in the offense)

"I mean, we're fine. We're game planning those type of things. When they don't work, you can talk about them. When they work, you don't talk about them. We can pretty much pick every play if that's the case."

(On the offensive line's performance through two games)

"I think a few of them are still getting comfortable with some of the things. I think we're running the ball well. We've got to handle some of the games in the pass [protection] a little bit better, but they're going to be all right."

(On potentially leaning more on RB Bucky Irving given his success to start the season)

"It could be if that's what's working for us. We'll try to take what's working for us, and we're not going to reveal our game plan. At the same time, we'll have some things that we kind of ride on and go with, and we'll see how it goes on Sunday."

(On how to get wide receivers Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin Jr. involved earlier in games)

"Just getting them something quick, if that's the case – getting them something quick and getting everybody their touches. Zac [Robinson] understands that. He's [called plays] for a while right now, and we've got to get our best guys the ball."

(On whether WR Jalen McMillan could have a larger role this week)

"I'm hopeful. We'll see how the week goes in practice, and that will tell me a lot."

(On McMillan's limited snaps against Cleveland)

"We were just building him up. It was as planned for us to go through and get him built up and see where he was. If he was rolling pretty good, we would have stayed with him a little longer, but he wasn't, so we didn't stay with him as long."

WIDE RECEIVER JALEN MCMILLAN

(On how it felt playing in the Week 2 matchup against the Cleveland Browns and his excitement for this weekend's matchup)

"It felt so good, bro. Just being out so long had me in such a dump. I was just trying to get my mental right for this day and, yeah, it came and I'm healthy and I'm feeling good, so I'm ready."

(On the team's mindset going into the Week 3 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings)

"I mean, we've been in this position before. I think we've all faced adversity. So, I mean, we're going to look at it in the face and we're going to tackle it."

(On the team facing adversity now and what they learned from facing adversity last season)

"I mean, I feel like it helps us out. I mean, like I said, we've been here before, so we're just going to do what we do and we're going to win."

(On what stands out from Minnesota Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores' defense)

"A lot of pressure. They like to do a lot of confusion just with everybody on the line. We're going to need to be just really sound in how we protect and how we run the ball."

-BUCCANEERS-