Tampa Bay lost a 27-23 matchup against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, moving their losing streak to three games and their record to 2-5 through eight weeks. The Bucs missed multiple opportunities to put up six points, despite being inside the Tennessee five-yard line and put their defense out to defend extremely short fields, leading to 14 points for the Titans, off of turnovers.
Head coach Bruce Arians spoke to the media following the game, here is the full transcript.
(Opening statement)
“Obviously a very disappointing loss, the way we lost the game. To have a fumble, pick it up and run for a touchdown and have an inadvertent whistle. It’s always tough. Like I said, the inadvertent whistle was a huge, huge play. We pick up a fumble and run it for a touchdown to win the game and it’s called, it’s not good. Everybody’s going to want to say, ‘OK, Jameis threw interceptions.’ Jameis didn’t throw one damn interception that was his fault, his receivers let him down today. Guys stopped on routes that were supposed to be going down the middle. The last play was supposed to go down the middle, it should have been a big play. He played his tail off. You can write what you want but not one of those interceptions were his fault and it’s a damn shame. We wasted some opportunities. The turnovers early in the game, we fought back. Anything that happens in the first quarter you can overcome, we overcame it. The big drive, two interceptions that were called back. It’s frustrating.”
(On the fourth-and-1 play)
“We weren’t on the goal line, they were in a totally different defense. We had a pass called and they were playing man-to-man and we didn’t block the backside.”
“It was a run-pass play, both of them were called. If one thing showed we throw the ball, if one thing showed we pass the ball.”
(On Mike Evans not being targeted in the fourth quarter)
“It was pretty much all rotation to him after that. It’s a shame too because he had another big one, we completed a first down pass to Chris [Godwin] but Mike was wide open again.”
(On the defense not closing out a game)
“It’s very frustrating because that’s how you win on the road, your defense has to win it. When you fight back from what we did early in the game, your defense has to win the game and we just didn’t make plays.”
(On the miscommunications between Winston and his receivers)
“It was on the receivers, not the quarterback. The receivers totally screwed it up.”
(On Dare Ogunbowale and Breshad Perriman colliding on a play)
“Jameis just didn’t run the motion at the right time.”
(On if a 2-5 record changes the strategy at the trade deadline)
“No. I don’t play for next year. Are you guaranteed next year? I’m not. I’m trying to win every damn game we play so I don’t give a **** about next year and you can write that anywhere you want but I don’t give a **** about trades, I’m trying to beat Seattle.”
(On Winston’s turnovers)
“We snap a ball that hits him in the chest, that’s not his fault. Again, Chris [Godwin] hooks up on a play where he’s supposed to take the middle, you throw it right off the linebacker’s ear and he’s expecting him like he always does and he hooked on that one. It’s inexplicable.”
(On Jason Pierre-Paul)
“I kept asking him, are you playing too much and he’d say no, I’m not playing enough and I said wow. It’s amazing what he did early and it’s great to have him back out there.”
(On breaking their three-game losing streak)
“Finish. Finish the game. Finish the game. I didn’t have to say a word when we came in, the true leaders did all the talking, I didn’t have to say a thing.”
(On the defense facing short fields)
“We have to hold them to three. If we play the right technique both times, we hold them to three, but we played the wrong technique and that’s frustrating. The young secondary’s got to get their head out of their asses and do what they’re coached to do.”
(On Carlton Davis having two interceptions called back to pass interference)
“It’s unfortunate because I thought the first interception was clean and they called pass interference on him. The second one I challenged because the guy flopped and I guess New York still thought it was a push.”