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Bucs head coach Bruce Arians drew positives from Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks despite the game ultimately ending in a 40-34 overtime loss that dragged the team’s losing streak to four games. Arians said that he’s proud of the growth and effot that he’s seen from the team but remains pissed off because it was the second consecutive game that he feels was a winnable affair.

Below is the complete transcript from Arians’ press conference on Monday:

(Opening statement)
“Not a lot more to add from what I saw last night. Again, I love the effort. We can communicate better defensively, especially some of those younger guys that came in. Offensively I think it was one of our better ballgames. We did have a communication on one sack that we didn’t get done but I thought we ran the ball well, I thought we protected well. I thought our special teams, especially T.J. Logan in the return game, but I think our special teams have been better and better. I knew that 50-yard field goal was going to be huge at the end of the game and it was. But I’m happy that the guys who stepped in stepped up but again, those injuries, when you start to have those pulled muscles in games and pregame the travel finally caught up with us a little bit so Shaq [Barrett’s] numbers and [Jason Pierre-Paul’s] numbers went way up in the game and it hindered their ability to stay fresh in the pass rush.”

(On Ronald Jones getting the start)
“I thought he handled it really well. He’s been consistent, he’s been more explosive. It’s not that Peyton [Barber] did anything wrong but I think RoJo’s earned the right to play a little bit more and start the game and then in nickel it’s always going to be either T.J. or Dare [Ogunbowale.] All those guys, I thought, had a really solid ballgame.”

(On his message to the rookies who struggled)
“I think Sean Murphy-Bunting played really, really well, maybe the best of anyone in the secondary. Mike Edwards needs to tackle a little bit better, he missed a tackle. Devin [White], I think, is back to full speed since the knee injury, he had a really solid game. Jamel [Dean] got thrown in there. He won some, he lost some, just some technique stuff in the red zone and he had a tough matchup. I think he’s a guy that’s got enough confidence, he’ll bounce right back. He’s got a hell of a career ahead of him and losing Carlton [Davis] pregame hurt but he jumped out there and held his own for a while.”

(On if playing Ryan Smith was a possibility)
“When he came back from suspension it was more special teams stuff, he’s like the fourth or fifth guy, but he is working a lot at nickel now so we’ll see if that’s a viable option in the future.”

(On if the young guys can only learn through tough experience)
“I think Todd [Bowles] had a really, really simple game plan and we still didn’t execute it like we should because we’re a young at times but that’s really not an excuse. We’ve got to be able to play the last five minutes of ballgames better because we’re there to win ballgames. I told them today, there’s no one left on our schedule that we can’t beat and there’s no one there that can beat us if we finish ballgames.”

(On if they were limited with an injured O.J. Howard and Cam Brate)
“No, not at all. We used a tackle at times, Josh Wells went out and did some good things in the run game. Antony Auclair, I thought, played a heck of a ballgame. We’ll see, he’s got a bad turf toe so we’ll see where that’s at but Cam sucked it up and gave us some snaps. Tanner [Hudson] had a chance for another touchdown, I’ve seen him catch that ball every time in practice, and he didn’t pull it down. O.J. should be ready to roll this week and we should get him back.”

(On losing two of your four active outside linebackers)
“It had a big [impact on how often we blitzed.] We had to get pressure. When you get up into the 70’s as a pass rusher, that’s a lot of snaps. We try to create some pressure in other ways but it hurts. We aren’t going to dress more than four normally anyway, but when guys go down at the same position like tight end or outside backer, it’s tough.”

(On if any of the injuries suffered Sunday will last through next week)
“It’s too early to see. You get off the flight, with the swelling and everything, we’ll see what the MRI’s say today.”

(On the time between home games)
“It’s been a long, long time and it’ll be fun to get home this week and like I said, once we start winning I think we’re going to get on a roll and obviously having these home games is going to help a bunch.”

(On if his mindset moves to preparing for the future at 2-6)
“No, never. It’s all about winning this week. Everything that we do is about winning this week. We can’t play any more younger players because they’re all playing now.”

 

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