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About the Author: Matt Matera

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Returning to practice after the bye week, the Bucs had some changes at practice after a week of self scouting. The most notable difference was the return of edge rusher Jason Pierre-Paul, who had missed all of this year recovering from a fractured vertebrae suffered during an offseason car accident.

Bruce Arians spoke with the media on Tuesday and discussed the affect that Pierre-Paul can have on the team by returning to the locker room. Arians also addressed the rumors of a potential trade of tight end O.J. Howard and the report that the Bucs may move on from quarterback Jameis Winston at the end of season.

Here is a full transcript of Arians’ press conference from Tuesday.

Opening Statement
“Good start to the week. It’s always fun when you tell the guys to have a glorified walk through and they’re running around full speed, that’s always a good sign. Heck of an opponent, this team is probably the most physical team we’ve faced all year in both lines of scrimmage. It’ll be a heck of a challenge.”

On taking this week to self scout and what he looked at
“Without giving away gameplan stuff, it’s moving certain people around. The biggest thing about self scouting is finding your tendencies throughout the season and see if you can make them to your advantage, both sides of the ball. No major changes.”

On what he’s addressed with the captains of the team heading into this week
“It’s more with everybody. It’s about our preparation, making better adjustments in game, halftime and on the sidelines, studying a little more film. Just all about preparation.”

Week 16 Injury Report

Bucs DE Jason Pierre-Paul – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

On how Jason Pierre-Paul looked returning to practice
“He looked good, he looked fine. He’s healthy, he had a heck of a practice today.”

On if Pierre-Paul was able to have contact
“Oh yeah, he had contact last week with pads on.”

On if he was able to watch Pierre-Paul at all last week
“I was out there, it was good. He was a little rusty but it was good.”

On what it says about Pierre-Paul that he’s able to come back from this injury
“He’s come back from some serious stuff. He’s kind of a freak of nature as far as healing. He has a great belief in his faith and I think sometimes that helps heal you.”

On what it means to get Pierre-Paul and help with leadership
“It’s a huge, huge thing because he has been one of the vocal leaders for a long time. Not having his presence, I can already feel the difference. Obviously he’s feeling his way football wise, but last week going out to practice, coaching, doing all those things, giving young guys advice, it’s fantastic.”

On when he thinks they’ll have Pierre-Paul back in a game
“We’ll see.”

On how Donovan Smith has played this year
“I think he’s been really solid. He’s really picked up his run game stuff and he’s usually got the best pass rusher and he’s held his own all season.”

On if he’s in a position where they need to develop a third receiver with Breshad Perriman out
“Getting him back today, it’s a whole different look. Big fast guy out there that’s played well for us, he hasn’t gotten a lot of targets but he’s played well. And developing Scotty (Miller), Justin Watson, now (Amara) Darboh, just developing some young guys, getting a physical guy in Darboh, a fast guy in Scotty, but just trying to find them and just continue bringing them along.”

Bucs Te Oj Howard – Photo By: Mary Holt/Pr

Bucs TE OJ Howard – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

On the reports that the Patriots were interested in O.J. Howard
“You might have to ask Jason (Licht) about that one. Bill (Belichick) didn’t call me.”

On if he sees his time of being buyers or sellers at the trade deadline
“That’s something Jason and I haven’t talked about yet, it depends on how much you’re offering. If it’s in our best interest, we’ll probably do something, but if it’s not, we’re not giving away guys for sure.”

On how he balances knocking off the rust off Jason Pierre-Paul with him also being a quick healer
“It’s how he feels, it’s how he’ll feel tomorrow after this practice. A lot will depend on how he feels Thursday after Wednesday’s practice in pads, and we’ll just judge it from there.”

On how important is this game in terms of deciding whether to be a buyer or seller
“This is a big one, this is a big one. We got to win some of these road games so these home games give us a chance to get into the playoffs. I can’t say we want to split on the road, but we need to win this one on the road for sure, and then hopefully grab another.”

On what he’s seen from Jameis Winston since coming back
“He’s excellent, had a good practice today. He’s had bad games before, he knows how to shake them off.”

On the report that the Bucs could be preparing to move on without Winston
“Good speculation.”

On what else he’s seen from the Titans
Another great running back. Derrick Henry’s a big, strong, fast, guy and he’s also a great screen runner. He’s got a lot of long passes on screens, so we got to handle their big strong receivers. Mike Vrable’s a hell of a coach, defensively they’re very, very complicated in their blitz schemes. It’s good to have the extra days this week.”

Bucs De Jason Pierre-Paul - Photo By: Cliff Welch/Pr

Bucs DE Jason Pierre-Paul – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

On if the Titans’ defense is more complicated than their own defense
“Very similar.”

On how much does having the bye week let them evaluate what is and isn’t working
“I don’t like the word analytics, I still like to call it self scout. It’s something that you do very strongly that week and look at the success rate from everything from each formation to each personnel group, everything good, bad, ugly. Hopefully get rid of more of the ugly then good.”

On how much change can really be made on what they want to establish and what needs to be changed with what works and what doesn’t
“Not a lot. We start out, we want to run the ball, we want to stop the run, we’re doing both of those pretty well. Third down has been an issue on both sides of the ball, so address that. We talked a lot about our halftime adjustments. This past week we came out and stopped them but our offense didn’t go get points and that would have been the turn around in the game that we needed. Just play better those first five minutes of the third quarter.”

On starting Andrew Adams at free safety in London and how he did
“He was solid. He’s a good communicator, Mike Edwards tweaked his hamstring the last play of practice over in London, so he got his chance and he did really well.”

On the disparity of being first in the league against the run but last in the league against the pass
“It’s two-fold. It’s coverage and pass rush. Now that team’s are doing a lot more max protection, we’ve to do a better job of covering guys a little bit longer, and be a little smarter, be a little more physical back there.”

On if the max protections should help him from a numbers standpoint
“There’s no doubt, no doubt.”

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