With the Bucs’ Thursday night victory over their divisional rivals, the Carolina Panthers, now in the rear view mirror, Tampa Bay is on to their Week 3 matchup against the Giants.

Head coach Bruce Arians spoke to the media on Tuesday as the team has returned to practice in preparation for an important game against New York where rookie quarterback Daniel Jones will get his first career start, replacing long-time franchise cornerstone Eli Manning.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

(Opening statement)
“It was a very, very good start to the week. Very, very fast and a good, solid practice. We’ve got a good opponent this week. Changing quarterbacks doesn’t really change their offense, it doesn’t really change things for us. We’ve got to stop [Saquon Barkley], it all starts and ends with him, then we’ll try to contain the quarterback because he is a heck of a lot more mobile than the other guy. You’ve got to be ready and offensively I’d like to see us get off to a quicker start.”

(On comparing Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley)
“They’re not the same, they’re from different planets. Saquon is stronger, faster and he’s got more 50-yard runs than anyone, I think, in a long, long time.”

(On what makes Barkley so good)
“He’s hard to bring down. He doesn’t run through many people, he runs around them and he runs past them. The size and the speed combination are extremely rare.”

(On the key to game-planning against rookie quarterbacks)
“I think the biggest thing is to keep them off balance. First and foremost, stop the run. Stop the run and try to take the easy bootlegs away and make them play from the pocket.”

(On transitioning from a legend to a young quarterback)
“It’s never an easy situation. A guy won two Super Bowls and he’s still playing at a pretty good level. It has to be organizational, from the top down, and for me it would probably have to be needed for me to switch because I’m too loyal.”

(On getting O.J. Howard back on track)
“Just keep playing. Just keep playing and the balls will come. We don’t dictate who gets the ball, the defense does so sometimes it’ll spread around to different people every week.”

Bucs TE O.J. Howard – Photo by: Getty Images

(On the importance of getting a road win before a long stretch on the road)
“All the wins at home are important. I never look forward, we want to win September. We didn’t do a very good job of finishing the game at home last time so we want to finish the game this time.”

(On closing out the game at Carolina and getting the win)
“I think that it was big for their confidence. I’ve had the confidence all along but it really depends on them, the locker room, and I think their confidence is pretty high right now. We talked about, we have to practice the same way this week the same way we did after a win as we did after a loss, the sense of urgency can’t change.”

(On Shaq Barrett taking advantage of his opportunity to come to Tampa and be in a starting role)
“He’s had four sacks. He’s around the quarterback a lot, disrupting and swatting with his hands even when he doesn’t get home and that’s how he was on tape.”

(On the improvements in the run game)
“I think Byron [Leftwich] has done a good job sticking with it but as a group, especially when you play a 4-3 team, your tight ends have to block well against defensive ends. When you play a 3-4 team it’s more the interior guys but as a group we don’t run the ball really well without our receivers and no one blocks better than Chris Godwin.”

(On having the long rest after a Thursday night game)
“It’s good. We limited a few guys today, that didn’t have a full practice, that will have a full practice tomorrow so it’s always good. I didn’t like it the second week, now I love it.”

(On his earliest memories of Ronde Barber)
“Just watching them being born. Ronde and Tiki lived right down the street, not even down the street, right over the hill. We bought condominiums right next to each other, we were roommates in college so we were very, very close. I followed them throughout their entire careers and I couldn’t be prouder of both of them but for him to get into the Ring of Honor, that’s huge and I think the gold jacket shouldn’t be far off.”

Former Bucs CB Ronde Barber – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

(On his favorite story from Ronde)
“We always babysat Ronde because Tiki was always in the hospital, he’d have convulsions and so we’d have Ronde and he’d just be bouncing around and playing. He’s got some really ugly pictures of me with some bad hair.”

(On if Ronde’s ceremony gives the locker room any more emphasis to win)
“I would hope so, that it would mean a little bit more, but each game carries enough weight and significance so it would just be the cherry on the cake to win it for him.”

(On if there’s a sense of opportunity among the team with injuries to Cam Newton and Drew Brees within the division)
“If there is I’m going to put a match to it because it’s about this week. You can’t think about all that stuff because Teddy Bridgewater is a hell of a player and there are other really great players in this league, so no. You take care of today’s business, not Sunday’s, just today’s. Tomorrow hopefully Wednesday’s and on Thursday, Thursday’s. If we can stay like that that we’ll be alright.”

(On the players on offense playing better around Jameis Winston against the Panthers)
“I thought we had two more touchdowns. I thought there were two really good throws that could have been touchdowns and it would have been a huge night for him but they’re continuing to grow in the offense. Protecting the ball is paramount, so as long as we can do that we’ll be in the ball game.”

(On if Thursday was a good example of the ideal game plan)
“Yeah, I’d like to come out of every game, if there’s 60 plays, have 30 runs and 30 passes. That means we’re running the ball well, that sets up easy play action plays and I’d like to convert more third downs. Obviously third down and red zone were not very good in that game so identify them and get them better.”

(On the challenge of protecting a quarterback and building his confidence in his first start)
“The ones that I’ve had, we just took the game plan and they knew it. I go back and Peyton [Manning] threw a ton of interceptions in those first five games and then all of a sudden we went back through our division and he didn’t throw any. I think Daniel Jones is a very bright guy and he had a heck of a preseason. They wouldn’t be making this call if he didn’t have a great preseason and they didn’t think that he could do the job.”

(On the importance of standing by the young quarterback you’re developing)
“I’ll imagine that Daniel Jones is their quarterback for a long time, you can’t go back. Once you make that move, it’s over.”

Giants QB Eli Manning – Photo by Cliff Welch/PR

(On players using social media to accelerate trades)
“I’m not a fan of it.”

(On stopping Saquon Barkley)
“You’ve got to gang-tackle. It’s going to take everybody getting to the ball and gap integrity. You can’t try to do too much. If you try to do more than your job, then you’re going to open up a huge hole and he’s going to find it. Stay in your gap and get everybody to the ball. Our defensive backs are going to have to tackle really well and if a safety takes a bad angle, Todd [Bowles] showed about 20 clips today in the meeting, if you take a bad angle it’s a touchdown.

(On the Bucs’ defense having a big turnaround while the Giants are struggling to find their groove)
“Keep it that way. One thing we’re doing is playing hard. We’re not playing perfect but we’re playing really hard and if you’re playing harder than the other team for 60 minutes then you have a chance.”