It was once again another game where the Bucs fought for a comeback after a switch at quarterback and cut it very close. Yet just like last time, the Bucs fell short of their goal despite the spark off the bench, this time from Jameis Winston. Head coach Dirk Koetter took to the podium and answered questions about the Bucs 38-35 loss.
(On the turnovers)
“We can’t put a depleted defense in the situation that we’re doing, including a pick six, we can’t do that. It’s not a good recipe to be successful.
(On how Jameis Winston was out there)
“Fantastic, you didn’t need to ask me that question, that’s pretty obvious. He came in and lit it up.”
(On if the decision to start Ryan Fitzpatrick over Jameis Winston was a close one)
“Yeah, close. I’ve been saying all along that Jameis’ day was going to come back. That’s water under the bridge right now.”
(On how hard it was to see the large play to Evan Engram towards the end of the game)
“Well, there’s tons of big plays in the game, right. I mean, shoot, go back to the fourth and inches play on the first drive. There’s a lot of big plays in every game and too many went against us today.”
(On Peyton Barber’s performance today)
“When Peyton’s got his touches, his running style has showed up, his yards after contact, pushing the pile. I think he’s had a solid season for the number of touches he’s got.”
(On if he second guesses himself now about starting Ryan Fitzpatrick)
“No. You can second guess every play out there, I mean, any play that doesn’t work, any decision that doesn’t work, of course you’re going to. That’s the NFL.
(On winning the coin toss last week and taking the ball, but deciding to defer after winning the toss today)
“Yeah, today we deferred.”
(On wanting to start fast but then electing to not have the ball first)
“We decided that we were going to play defense first today.”
(On if he was trying to stay aggressive early when going for it on fourth and inches on the opening drive)
“We got to be able to make that. That’s a no brainer, you got to go for it there. As many guys as were missing on defense, it was going to be a high scoring game, we got to get touchdowns.”
(On what he thinks sparks this team to make comebacks, and if it’s because of the drastic changes at QB)
“Yeah, I’m not sure, if I had the answer to that we’d solve it, and we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
(On if he’s proud of the fight in this team)
“Oh yeah, we competed hard today. We competed hard and there was no quitting, it isn’t a matter of competing, we just have to execute more consistently. One side of the ball can’t but the other in a bad position.”
(On how much of the frustration of the defense is not getting any takeaways)
“It’s just a combination. If there were zero turnovers on offense and zero takeaways on defense, we wouldn’t be talking about this. But the fact that we’re getting zero takeaways on defense and and we’re turning it over four time on offense, that’s the number one killer in football. We’re minus 20 something, that makes it tough.”
(On the pick-six interception, if the throw was late)
“It was a RPO and they blitzed it. I haven’t really gotten a chance to get to the bottom of it, it looked like we were signaling to a different route on the back side and they blitzed it. I think when we look at it, it should have been a give, and Fitz pulled it out and tried to make the rhow to the secondary receiver, and it didn’t work out. Anytime those balls get tipped around it’s not going to be good.”
(On if he will start Jameis Winston at QB next week)
“We’ll see, I’ll let you guys know tomorrow.”