Bucs head coach Bruce Arians held a conference call with the local media on Wednesday, shortly after Tampa Bay’s re-signing of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and a day after quarterback Tom Brady’s introductory conference call.
Arians touched on a number of topics given the lack of recent media availability, specifically focusing on the Bucs’ new QB and their ability to retain so many players on the defensive side of the ball.
Read the full transcript below.
(On bringing back so many defensive free agents)
“I wanted the entire defense to stay together if we could, they played so well together and it’s a piece to the puzzle. They knew eachother, Suh was a big, big part of it obviously. Not as much in the sack game, mostly his interior pressure and the great job he did last year against the run. We were number one in the league against the run last year and a lot of it was because of he and Vita [Vea].”
Bucs DT Ndamukong Suh – Photo by Getty Images
(On getting Tom Brady caught up with the offense despite restrictions in place)
“We’ll get him a computer with all the stuff in it but he’s kind of like me and Tom Moore, his computer is a playbook and a pencil. We’ll get the paper to him and he can start getting the verbiage and all that stuff down. We’ve got some video conferencing that we’re looking into and it’s amazing what you can do today with technology. Just like with the draft right now being able to interview players over FaceTime, other things you can utilize technically to get what you need to get done to get your work done.”
(On collaborating with Brady on the offense)
“I think that’s one thing that drew us both together, I’ve always collaborated with my quarterbacks. Whether it be putting a playbook together with Ben [Roethlisberger], starting from scratch with Andrew [Luck], finding out the likes and dislikes of a quarterback. We’ve watched all of [the Patriots’] film and they’re so similar in a lot of ways to what we do, it’s just how you call it. Obviously the people are going to be doing the jobs differently and that’s the hardest part. Julian Edelman runs certain routes and Chris Godwin runs certain routes and they’re similar but they’re different people. That part is going to be the harder part. Getting them together and letting them throw and as soon as it’s safe to do all that I’m sure they’re going to do it on their own. For me, it’s getting to know him. It’s obviously going to be a different timetable this year, we’re used to starting on April 22 but sooner or later we’ll be working together. Playbooks are huge in the spring, playbooks are huge in training camp and then you start taking things out of it for gameplans and working together for the team. That’s the most fun and I look forward to doing that with him.”
(On what message Brady’s signing sends to the NFL about where the Bucs are heading)
“I think it speaks volumes. Arguably the best player to play the game is available, our ownership was totally in, let’s go get him, and Jason [Licht] got it done. Everybody this time of the year, you’re trying to do the best thing you can for your football team to get better for next year. For us, my priority was the defense and then the quarterback. Right now we’ve got just about the whole defense back and we’ve changed quarterbacks and I think that getting the best quarterback to ever play the game sends a good message.”
(On what parts of the roster still needs to be added)
“I think that with free agency it’s going to be tough because of guys that need physicals. To go any further you need to get a physical on them. I’d love to have a pass-catching back. Obviously more depth in the secondary. So there are little pieces of the puzzle, I think that the draft is going to be huge for us. Obviously we have a lot of extra time to spend on it, it’s going to be more fun doing it different ways. I always love change, I think change is great sometimes. I don’t think any general managers are fired up having to draft this way but I’m kind of excited about it.”
Bucs LT Donovan Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
(On how he feels about the offensive line and if an upgrade is needed outside of right tackle)
“I don’t think so. When you look back at the grades last year, I don’t put a lot of stock in what other people grade our guys, but they were graded pretty high. I thought that Donovan [Smith] got a lot better. I think he’ll get even more intense with Tom back there at quarterback than he has been but he played extremely well last year. I think he made the most improvement on the things we asked him to do than anyone up front. Ali [Marpet] is solid. Ryan [Jensen] had a heck of a year. [Alex] Cappa had a fantastic year for a young guy, played with a broken arm and got better and better. Joe Haeg is a solid right tackle, we’ll see what happens in the draft. I think we need some depth. We do have some really young guys that I like. [Brad] Seaton, [Aaron] Stinnie, some of those guys that practiced all year, [Anthony] Fabiano. So I really like what those guys bring as depth. I don’t see it as a glaring need but you’re always looking to upgrade somewhere.”
(On how vital a pass-catching back becomes with Brady and his screen game)
“Our backs did a very good job in the screen game last year, especially [Ronald Jones], I thought he really excelled for the first time in the screen game. Dare [Ogunbowale] was pretty solid. But just using backs out of the backfield as receivers, as primary receivers, that’s not RoJo’s deal. Hopefully we can find somebody like that that can compete with Dare on third down and become more of a wide receiver threat.”
(On if he believes the perception that Brady checks the ball down too frequently for his offense)
“I think that perception’s just wrong. I thought his deep ball was outstanding last year. Through their play action game they hit a lot of deep balls and our quarterback, I think he put it as good as anyone. Throw it to the guy that’s open. We do have reads that start deep and come to short. I’ve had a couple of quarterbacks that just keep looking deep, they won’t throw the checkdown. And Tom Moore has the best thing in the world, ‘You never go broke putting money in the bank, take the damn checkdown.’ I don’t think you have to teach Tom that but I think that the freedom of looking downfield on certain routes and in certain situations, when the matchup’s perfect, take it. Don’t be afraid to take it. Some quarterbacks are afraid to take it, I’m not looking for a checkdown Charlie-type quarterback.”
Bucs TE O.J. Howard – Photo by: Getty Images
(On what Brady could do for O.J. Howard’s career)
“I think that any time you have a quarterback come in who’s thrown a bunch of touchdowns to tight ends, your eyes light up. His eyes should light up. It’s still going out on the practice field and earning that trust so I think that will be his number one focus. If you’ve got a quarterback that throws to tight ends, go earn it and get balls thrown to you.”
(On if he’s noticed any differences with Brady’s age)
“I think he moves in the pocket as well as he ever has, sliding around. He’s always been great at that. He and Peyton [Manning] were never fast, they never scrambled, but they were hard to sack because they have great pocket awareness. He’s quick with the trigger, he can move his feet and still be accurate down the field. There’s age, we’re all getting older, but I don’t see a huge drop off in any phase of his game, whether it’s deep outside, deep down the field or his accuracy underneath. If anything, he’s as mobile around the pocket as he’s ever been.”
(On if this is the ideal time to draft a quarterback)
“[Ranking the QB’s in the draft] is one of the things that I love to do, just for fun. This is a nice class, I don’t think it’s as good as some classes that I’ve seen, but it’s a pretty nice class. If the guy is there, he fits what we want at the right price, then I’d say yes. You’re always looking for a guy that you think is the future, whether he’s in this draft or the next draft. I don’t think it’s a dire need this year, no, but if the right guy is there, yes.”
(On the importance of physical reps with the facility closed for the near future)
“It’s huge. Whether it’s on the practice field or in a college stadium or wherever they go, all the guys usually get together anyway but it’s going to be of more importance when everything is cleared and they can travel to get together before we start. I think Tom wants to get a real good handle on the offense and get his family settled and then reach out and see if guys can meet somewhere, start throwing and get to know each other a little bit better and build that rapport.”
(On if the Bucs are capable to win the Super Bowl now)
“I think so. The last meeting we had as a football team, I think that every single player in the room believed they should have been in the playoffs and the major factor was our turnover ratio. We didn’t get enough turnovers and we turned it over way to many times. If we corrected that, talent will not be an issue. I don’t think talent will be the issue, whether we make the playoffs or not. Now the Super Bowl, there’s some luck comes along with that, staying healthy and some other things but talent will not be an issue that keeps us out of the playoffs, no.”
Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Getty Images
(On if guys have reached out to play with Tom Brady)
“We had some guys call but there’s only so much money that can go around. We wanted to get our defense fixed and we’ve had some other conversations with some guys, we’ll see what’s left in the cash box and be careful with who we bring in. We’re always searching and we had some guys call and say they would play for this, but we didn’t have that much money. It was a little bit less but it wasn’t a hell of a lot less.”
(On his surprise with Brady’s only request being his teammates’ numbers)
“It didn’t surprise me at all, it’s the kind of guy that he was and he is. It’s just a matter of getting to know his teammates. I think that’s the most important thing to him. The number thing, he’ll take care of that. I think he’s already done it, he and Chris have already talked I believe. That’s one of the things I hate. We had like 26 guys in the building working out last week and all of a sudden everything’s shut down. We had a great buzz in the building, working out with all of our guys. I saw Lavonte [David] and a couple of guys but now not being able to see them and get their reactions is tough.”
(On if Brady’s knowledge brings a huge advantage to the offense)
“I think Jameis [Winston] did a great job with our run-game checks last year, there were no shortcomings there. I think Tom, with his experience obviously, we can do a lot more of it. I allowed Peyton, when we were in Indy, doing some three- and four-play checks at the line of scrimmage because he can handle that. We didn’t put that Jameis, we wanted him to just play. We did run a lot of run checks and he was pretty good at it, and it should help our run game.”
(On so much of the young defense returning and how important that familiarity will matter)
“That was the number one goal for me coming out of last season, continuing to build on defense, and the only way to build is to keep everybody in place and grow. That’s huge and they’ll be so far ahead of our offense if and when we get back out on the field but I think our offense will catch up pretty fast. Defensively we did some really nice things last year and we got better and better, especially those last six weeks of the season. I really liked how we played against Houston, who was a playoff-caliber team, and I think that our defense played more than well enough to win that game.”
Bucs CB Carlton Davis – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
(On how hard it is for players to stay in shape with current restrictions)
“It’s a huge problem. Anthony Piroli, he handles each guy individually so each guy has a workout routine for them. Now it’s finding a spot to do it, not everybody has a gym inside their home. That’s probably the hardest thing right now, for guys to stay in lifting shape, especially in conditioning shape for this time of the year because this is a build up time for OTA’s and we always like to build in March to get ready for April. Reaching out to some of the guys, one or two guys do have gyms in their homes or stuff available to work out with and they’ll share it.”
