TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
 QUOTES
MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011

HEAD COACH RAHEEM MORRIS
(Opening remarks)
“Good win, 3-1. [We’re] excited about that, obviously a good start to the season. [We’re] going to the second quarter, [it’s a] short week [and we] got to go get ready to play San Fran.  We got to go clean some things this week—some of the penalties we can control we’ll clean up—and the other ones we won’t worry about.”

(On the excitement of the win)
“It’s always exciting to win. You know, national stage, it helps my guys and my organization. It’s good for us to get back on a national stage and get a big-time win, to go out there and play the way we need to play.  Everybody wants to have a better performance, but it’s hard to apologize for wins, so we’re excited about them all. They’re hard enough to get, so you might as well enjoy every one you do.”

(On the defensive line)
“I am fired up about those young guys and they are getting better and better.  We go out there each week and I can see improvement.  Tonight again we have four sacks, like last week, but the d-line to keep coming like that, and keep playing, and keep hitting the quarterback and getting after people… we’ll be a better football team because of it.”

(On DT Gerald McCoy)
“He’s getting off the ball, he’s causing disruption.  He’s got some buddies now, Adrian Clayborn, Brian Price.  Michael Bennett tonight was big time.  Those guys are really playing well and really playing physical and I’m really just enjoying the moment and enjoying what those guys are doing up front, and hopefully it will translate into more wins and a better football team at the end of the day.”

(On the last drive)
“We embrace the four-minute drill. That’s where you want to be in football games, especially when you got a great offense, and we’re working our way to becoming a great offense.  So we want to be in four-minute offense with LeGarrette Blount and Josh Freeman making smart decisions. We did not make a smart decision at the end of the half there, that’s why we couldn’t get off our field goal.  But, to get better and better throughout the game, to finish the way we finished, is what I want and what I like.”

(On the penalty that negated the field goal at the end of the first half)
“[It was] not demoralizing, more disappointing.  We talked about situational football, that’s kind of the most important thing for us, and, for us to make that mistake at that time, I didn’t like.  I felt we could have had a penalty both ways there, but I don’t always get those calls, so we don’t worry about it, we’re going to keep moving.”

QB JOSH FREEMAN
(On teaching the nation about the Buccaneers)
“It really wasn’t pretty at all times, but that’s kind of us. You want to go in every week and play a spot-free football game, but that’s rarely how it goes. I think we showed a lot of people. In regard to penalties, we didn’t turn the ball over tonight. Whatever’s the adversity, we continue to play and fight through the four quarters and persevere. That’s kind of our makeup. That’s kind of how we’ve been getting it done.”

(On playing catch-up and running the ball at 17-17)
“Really, it was a short. Give it to LeGarrette [Blount], let him break through. We know that if we can get LeGarrette going, we’ve got a great chance. Stay at a manageable down and distance. We were second and short, handed it to him, and he busted through and scored the touchdown. When we can get LeGarrette going, like I said, it’s a great thing.”

(On the quarterback scrambles)
“When you got to do it, you got to do it. I obviously don’t like to run, but I’m kind of good at it. It’s whatever it takes to win.”

(On the success of the defensive line)
“I love it. You love to see those young guys, Michael Bennett, Adrian Clayborn, Gerald [McCoy], the interior guys. Those guys are playing well. It’s fun to watch. It really is. Sitting back and knowing that we’re going to generate that sort of pass-rush, knowing that we’re going to be in the other quarterback’s lap, it’s awesome. We get the ball back, so it’s a win-win.”

(On Blount’s work paying off)
“LeGarrette [Blount], he’s been grinding. He’s been turning himself into the complete back. You see him getting out in the checkdowns, catching some, and being involved in more than just the base run game. I think that’s a testament to him and the type of person he is. We challenged him going in the last offseason, and, even without the organized offseason, he still found time to study. He called me up, we went over things, and he got ready to go. I’m really proud of his progression.”

(On WR Preston Parker)
“Preston’s huge. He scored a touchdown this week. The Minnesota game, we couldn’t have gotten it done without him. He had a number of big plays tonight and did really well within the running game—going out, digging out a linebacker, safety—or in the passing game, catching balls and getting yards. He’s great for us.”

(On winning three straight games after a loss to Detroit)
“I mean, the first week, we felt like we let one get away. If we would have [gone] out and played better football, faster out of the gate, we could be sitting at 4-0 right now.”

WR MIKE WILLIAMS
(On his first Monday Night Football game)
“I had a little bit of jitters out there—[you] come out there the first series and have a little bit of jitters. But after that first series, I got back to doing what I do and it was fun, I loved it. It was even better that we got a win on Ronde Barber’s 15th Monday Night [game].”

(On the receiving corps)
“We’ve been saying all year that any receivers we have, we combine as a group. Whatever happens, we’re a group. If one goes down, one steps in. We feel that we can all do the same things each other can do, [even though] we all bring different stuff.”

(On the second-half offense)
“Well that’s kind of our identity. We finish. We have always been great finishers. Our problem has been not starting fast. We know how to finish. When you give us an opportunity to finish, we feel we can finish off anybody. It’s great that we put it together on Monday night.”

(On penalties)
“The penalties killed us. We just had to keep bouncing back and keep bouncing back. The defense stepped up and gave us more opportunities.”

DE ADRIAN CLAYBORN
(On finishing strong)
“Just that we can persevere and battle through when things aren’t going good [is huge]. I mean, things were very ugly today, and we just battled through it.”

(On back-to-back four-sack games for the front four)
“[We’re] just hunting, just getting after the quarterback. We’re putting ourselves in situations to succeed. We are pass rushers, that’s what we do.”

CB RONDE BARBER
(On the defensive line)
“Those guys have got talent; they are being coached as well as I have seen around here. They should be doing what they’re doing, they should be putting on tape what we saw today.”

(On the future of the defensive line)
“There’s a reason why we drafted four top linemen the past two drafts. We expect that unit to dominate, and it starts up there.”

DT GERALD MCCOY
(On what the team showed to the nation after playing on Monday Night Football)
“We showed that we can make the plays we need to. Situational football. We can win in a adverse situation. We are just [a] young hungry team, we’re ‘youngry,’ like Coach Morris said. We got a goal: we want to win our division. Next opponent was the Colts, we had to win. Now we move on to San Francisco.”

(On being 3-1 after four games)
“It’s great. It feels good. You always want to be in a position like this, especially being first in your division. It feels good. We’re going to enjoy it for a few hours and move on to the next one.”



LT DONALD PENN
(On the play of Preston Parker)
“He’s always showing up and making big plays. When his number’s called, he’s there and making it happen for us. He’s a big part of this team. He stepped in for Sammie [Stroughter]. That’s how I got my spot. Somebody gets hurt, you got to step in. Gruden and Raheem say the same thing all the time. Somebody gets hurt, the next guy has to play better. Preston’s coming in making a lot of stuff happen, making a lot of stuff happen everywhere, [even] some of the smaller stuff you all don’t see, [like] blocking. He does a lot of stuff and it’s helping us win. Everybody is climbing aboard this boat and we’re getting it going.”



RB LeGARRETTE BLOUNT
(On his advantages)
“I know for a fact that I’m not the fastest player, so I use everything I have to my advantage. You know, there is my size. [I] give them a head fake just so I can take a step, just to get to the end zone. You know, that’s what I did [on the touchdown run].”



(On playing with the game on the line)
“It wasn’t the prettiest win. It was a pretty ugly win, but it was a win. So, we’re going to go back and we’re going to continue to look at film. See what we can correct and see what we did wrong with our mistakes and our penalties that we had and see if we can get rid of those and see if we can get ready for San Fran.”

(On the offensive line)
“I think my offensive line is the best in the league. I enjoy running behind them, [and] as long as I can keep them throughout the whole season, I feel like we’re going to continue to do the things that we did tonight and continue to win football games.”



(On a 100-yard game)
“I feel like I should have had a 100-yard game by now. My offensive line has been awesome, so there were a few plays that I left on the field the last few games and could have had a 100-yard game, but I’m happy that we got it out of the way. Hopefully I’m going to send one of those [offensive linemen] to the Pro Bowl.”

(On his touchdown)
“It made me feel good. Knowing that we had the go-ahead touchdown and I knew that the defense was going to give us the ball back. So once we got the ball back the thing was just keeping it as long as possible and try to run the clock out.”



DL MICHAEL BENNETT
(On his forced fumble in the first quarter)
“I just saw the block and I was like, ‘Man, I need to make one of those Troy Polamalu plays,’ and I just jumped over [QB Curtis Painter] and stripped the ball.”



(On the team’s performance in the fourth quarter)
“We got great leaders like Josh Freeman and Ronde Barber and all of these guys, these older guys, that show us how us how to not give up. That’s all [Raheem Morris] ever talked about is a four-quarter team. Not first-half team, not third-quarter team, [but] fourth quarter. So that’s how we work every day and work hard every day, consistently, and just try and make plays.”

Quotes courtesy of the Buccaneers public relations staff