As the new defensive coordinator of the Bucs, Todd Bowles spoke to the media in Tampa Bay for the first time. Bowles spent the last four seasons as the head coach of the New York Jets, before he was the defensive coordinator of Arians’ Arizona Cardinals.

Bowles discussed transitioning back from head coach to coordinator, his relationship with Bruce Arians, and his defensive schematics for the Bucs. You can see his entire press conference here:

(On saying he would lose his left arm for Bruce Arians, and his loyalty with the coach working)
“Well it was a joke first of all, I’m not going to lose my left arm for Bruce. Just from him coaching me in college, to us coaching together before in Cleveland, to going to Arizona and the trust and the relationship we developed from that standpoint. And the knowledge from a football standpoint that I gained from him and the things I learned from working with him and from under him as a player when we were back in school, it’s been a great set up for me. He’s helped me a great deal.”

(On GM Jason Licht describing Bowles as having an “attack” coaching mentality, and where that came from)
“I think it was from Arizona, you know we had at that time, we blitzed quite a bit at that time. Most of it was the illusion of pressure as opposed to pressure in itself, a lot of guys came free, we had some good athletes on that team that made me look good.”

(On the confidence in the staff all getting to work together again)
“I think it helps coming to a new place. It helps with comfortability, coming to a new place and understanding what each other likes as far as in the building everyday, from a game plan standpoint, an idea standpoint, who can do what, who can do this, who can do that, without having to figure it out.”

(On how quickly he thinks he can make an impact with the Bucs defense and what he’s seen on film with this roster)
“Well I haven’t watched any film yet, I’ll get down to it in about a week when start watching film and see what we have. I did a bunch of these guys out of college, but that was a while ago, so, I don’t know what we have yet. I’m interested and happy to get going, and eager to get going as far as figuring out what we have and putting it together as quick as possible.”

(On the reports that the Bears try to get him to Chicago)
“I mean I had a few offers, it wasn’t just the Bears. But in Tampa I’m very happy being here, I’m very happy with being with Bruce, I’m very happy doing what I’m doing.”

(On how he feels going from a head coach back to a coordinator)
“Well I get to concentrate on defense 24/7 now. As a head coach now your job expands doing a lot of other things, but being a defensive coordinator now, just concentrating on the things I love to do. It’s going to help me a great deal.”

(On coaching the 3-4 defense previously, and what type of scheme he will have here)
“Well I’ve coached half my career in the 4-3 and the other half in the 3-4. I think you coach according to what kind of players you have and what type of guys you can put where, so we want to be versatile regardless. As I watch the tape and watch the film, we’ll morph into one of those things if not both of them. We need to be versatile regardless.”

(On what was his first impression of Bruce Arians when he was a player at Temple)
“When he first got to Temple we were already there back in 83’. He came from Alabama from Bear Bryant and he employed this eight man front to stop the wishbone and all this type of football, and we were playing against Dan Marino, and Blackledge, and Gannon, and Flutie. On the East Coast we threw the ball, and we were trying to stop the run, and nobody was running the football, so, it wasn’t very good the first time. That was my first impression to be honest.”

(On if Arians adapted after that)
“He adapted very quickly. Bruce is a sharp guy.”

(On if there is something special about Bruce Arians in terms of his long carrying relationships)
“No, I think he’s just real. He’s a real person, he’s a real man, he’s going to tell you how he feels. Until you understand it’s not personal, and you understand he’s going to say what’s on his mind and tell you how he feels, then you can respect that from him and he grows on you, believe me, he grows on you. He’s trying to get you better, there’s always a method to his madness, he’ll never admit it, but there’s always a method to his madness and he gets his point across. Everybody loves coaching with him and everybody loves playing for him.

(On if he understood right away that it wasn’t personal)
“No, I didn’t, I took a lot of things personally. Especially as a player in college you do that, but as you grow as a man and the lessons learned, you go back and think about it, everything he did for me was for good reason.”

(On what type of influence Arians had on him coaching and wanting to coach)
“Early on he didn’t have any on because I had the guys like Patty Bowman and Parcells and Gibbs and all those guys, but later on once we got together in Cleveland, him being the offensive coordinator, me being one of the DB coaches, I learned a great deal from him. I understand that it’s great to have different guys to learn from and schemes to learn from and he was one of them. But our friendship was always there, and you can go back and thank him for the things that he taught me in college as far as a player and growing into being a coach. So, I’ve learned quite a great deal from him.

(On when Arians said that a turnaround for the Bucs “Shouldn’t be too difficult,” if he believes too that a turnaround can happen quickly)
“That’s where me and Bruce differ. Bruce kind of talks and I don’t, so we’re a good match in that way. I’m going to say we’re going to get to work, and obviously we want to go to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl, that’s the goal, that’s what we’re going to shoot for. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into it and we’re going to roll our sleeves up and get going.”

(On what he learned in New York being the head coach that he can still use here)
“Just dealing with people, dealing with adversity, understanding situations on and off the field, dealing with most of that. Even media wise it’s helped me a great deal, so, overall I think I’ve grown as a coach and it’s been a great experience for me.”

(On if he would like to be a head coach again)
“I’m going to be the defensive coordinator, I love coaching football. Whatever that capacity is, whether it’s a waterboy, whether it’s a defensive backs coach or coordinator, or a head coach, I will do my job to the fullest.”

(On what he sees from inheriting a player like Jason Pierre-Paul as a pass rusher)
“I’ve seen him from his time in New York, I haven’t seen him much down here. I know he’s a dynamic rusher and a dynamic player as well, he can do a lot of things. I’m excited to have him and get going.”

(On Lavonte David)
“Again we haven’t seen the division much. I know we played him a year ago and he looked very well against us when he played.”

(On how significant is it to have three minority coaches as the coordinates given the coaching climate today)
“I haven’t thought about it that way, but it’s significant looking at it from the outside. I know that both of those guys are good coaches regardless of what color. Like I said, there’s only 32 head jobs in the league and there’s a lot of people that feel like they’re discriminated against, and there’s a lot of people that don’t get the chance regardless of race. You just have to coach your hardest and do your best, when the opportunity comes up and you have a chance to grab it, you grab it. If not, you be the best coach you can be.

(On if he’s disappointed that many of the new coach hirings have been offensive guys and not defense)
“I don’t know if you can say disappointed, I think there’s a trend, everyone wants the up and coming signal caller. I think it’s more of an offensive mentality right now as far as the league, as far as the rules that are going, what’s going against the defense, as far as the plays that can be run. So, everybody’s rushing to get the next offensive genius so to speak, I don’t know if it’s a slap in the face one way or the other, but that’s just the way the league goes. It will switch back and we’ll see who’s standing when those things switch back, it could be other guys getting opportunities.”