After a nail biting 31-29 win over the Cowboys Thursday night, Bucs head coach Bruce Arians had a few things to say about the win.

Bucs Head Coach Bruce Arians opening Statement:

“I learned a long time ago that you don’t learn anything more from losing than you do
from almost losing. We have a lot to learn. Obviously, not pleased with the start of the
game. Loved the finish, our guys are winners. They’re going to finish and they’re going
to win, but we can play better and not put ourselves in that situation. Obviously, there’s
turnovers, penalties, things we can improve on but our guys fought and won the game.
Special teams were outstanding. I thought special teams won the game for us today.
Mick (Jaydon Mickens) did a hell of a job. Kickers did a great job. Offense and defense
had spurts. Nothing that I would want to see, but stuff that we can work on.”

Bucs Bruce Arians on WR Chris Godwin recovering from his fumble:

“That’s Chris. He’s going to fight for every inch and sometimes – he got a good lick [put] on him. He’s going to bounce right back and then make that big play. We’re just trying to
burn the clock off for the kick and not give them anything at the end. I thought our guys
executed that part of it really [well]. There was a lot of confidence to go win the game.”

Bucs Bruce Arians on QB Tom Brady and TE Rob Gronkowski’s connection:

“Gronk’s a hell of a player. Gronk is in the best shape he’s been in, in a few years. They
have that history. He doesn’t have to be looking, Tom is going to throw it at the back of
his head, and [Gronkowski] knows it’s probably coming there. It’s unbelievable chemistry
that they have for a long time.”

Bucs Bruce Arians on the secondary:

“A lot of heart. Andrew Adams just got here the other day and he’s out here playing
when Mike [Edwards] cramped up. I think Sean [Murphy-Bunting] is going to be okay. It’s
a dislocated elbow, but I think he’s going to be alright. Those guys, they battled. [Jamel] Dean had a rough night. He’s a hell of a player so he’ll bounce back. He made some big
plays down the stretch, too.”

Bucs Bruce Arians on the team’s confidence to come back and win this game:

“I think in tight ball games we have a ton of confidence. For me, just don’t put ourselves
in that situation. Let’s play better and have that 14-point lead we should have had
instead of fumbling the ball on the inch line. The confidence is real, it’s earned.”

Bucs Bruce Arians on CB Jamel Dean:

“He’s going to get better. He made some plays, big tackle down there when they threw
the screen. He’s going to get thrown at. That’s part of playing corner.”

Bucs Bruce Arians on the pressure to perform tonight after the pregame Super Bowl ceremonies:

“No, I don’t think so. It just took forever to start that game. We do the coin toss and we’re
ready to go play a football game, but we still have to do the anthem and we still have to
do all of this other stuff. That part of it was different, but there’s no excuses. That’s what
we expected and we kind of practiced it that way. There’s no excuse to start the game
offensively. It’s like, ‘Okay let’s go three-and-out and then go score a bunch of points.’
Defensively, same thing. Something we have to work out.”

Bucs Bruce Arians on having a few days off after Week 1:

“I mean this is like three open days for us already. I’m not really fond of it. Those four
days off and playing here and then having three days off. I’m more concerned about
COVID than I am about the football team.”

Bucs Bruce Arians on the successful clock management on the final drive and trusting Brady with a minute left:

“Our guys do a great job of getting up and down. You have to have chunks. In those
situations, you have to have chunks. Somebody has got to make a big play and they
did.”

“There was no doubt that we were going to win the game. With him, it’s who going to
make plays? Guys up front did a hell of a job protecting and guys went and got open.”