On if they worry about the Buccaneers kneel-down philosophy: "Not a whole lot, but we've alerted our guys, all right, this is what they've done…"
On what they do to counter the Buccaneers kneel-down philosophy: "We make sure we're in the mode of aggressive blocking up front. Sometimes that down is kind of relaxed down, we're making sure, no I don't take a relaxed down. Very similar to when we set up the field goal against Jacksonville when Carson [Palmer] went out there and went over a step and took a knee, that kind of blocking scheme where we're making sure we don't let any penetration come through the inside."
On if he's ever had to worry about the kneel-down in the past: "No, no."
On how far Palmer has come with the footwork: "He's done a fine job with that. We actually have not called a whole lot of movement plays, we call them, to get him outside the pocket, more so because of the schemes we've faced. We faced a lot of 3-4 teams and typically when you face 3-4 teams, it's hard to get the quarterback out of the pocket on design. That one [rolling out and passing to Denarius Moore] was actually probably a scramble drill and he did a fine job. He's shown enough in training camp when he was doing it that it's not a big issue and he was spot on with the throw there. It was an accurate throw on the run."
On improving in the red zone: "We've got to execute at a higher level. We had three drops and one drop was on third down, down there. Our execution has to step up. It's always been, in my background, going to a new offense, the longest part of the team to develop because things happen faster. Because of where you are on the field, the defense doesn't get as much depth, so it takes a little more precision and that just takes time and repetition."
On the slow start in the run game and it picking up in the 4th quarter: "We'd like to have a little more consistency on the 3-6 yard gains throughout the half, but I was glad the guys stayed patient. Up front, they understood…I kept reminding them, hey we're going to stick with this, the score says it's okay. We're going to stay patient with our game. And like we've preached all year, if we get in the fourth quarter and we've been balanced in our run/pass, something good is going to happen in the fourth quarter. It showed up when we had three explosive runs in the fourth quarter because we kept wearing them down and Carson did a great job with the no-huddle of keeping a balanced run/pass ratio."
On the Buccaneers: "I think their offense has helped spark the confidence for that team because they've really played well on offense in the month of October. Defensively, they're going through, like we are, it's a brand-new scheme and it's now week 7 and guys are starting to understand it better and so they're reacting better. Their front seven is very active and they've done a fine job as far as creating creases up front and I think they have a better understanding of the angles and the blitzes they're doing just through experience."
On the Buccaneers low-ranked pass defense: "Hoping to. They've had some injuries as well on the back end with their cornerback situation and so that's one of the things we'd like to attack because that's one of the things we've done a good job of is throwing the ball. We'll keep the mindset of what we've been doing as of late and try to keep a balanced look so we use some clock and it'll pay off in the fourth quarter for us."
On if Tampa Bay has changed defensive strategy: "They've done a different look but they don't do a whole lot of it so the mentality of still doing something without a whole lot of variety is what they're doing. It's different than what the Tampa scheme was with Monte Kiffin. They're not giving a whole lot of different front looks, but they're playing at a very high level. They're playing very fast. It's a young team so they've got a lot of juice, a lot of energy on defense."
On the Palmer and Rod Streater pass miscue in Kansas City: "That's part of our no-huddle communication. We had a miscommunication on the signal and the young receiver saw one thing and the quarterback gave him another, so that's one thing we have to work through is making sure our communication is precise so we're on the same page."
On Streater correcting it later in the game: "We talked about it on the sideline and got it corrected right away. That's for sure. It paid off for a conversion."
On if there is still an AFC vs. NFC rivalry: "I don't think so. I think because of the change in free agency and coaching, for that matter, there's so much turnover, you don't feel that as much of the divisional rivalries or championship rivals, the conference rivals I guess it is. There's so much change, it's week to week."
On Moore's ability to score in the red zone: "Awfully hard to coach. His y.a.c. ability, yards after catch or contact, whatever you want to choose, he's got a unique ability to be able to make the first one miss if he has a little bit of space and that makes it awfully hard on defenses. It's a special trait he has. It is hard to coach."
On cutting back on zone-blocking plays: "Actually, the fourth quarter, it was a good balance of zone blocking and the gap scheme, so it paid off pretty good. We definitely have increased our gap, run-blocking scheme to get a better balance and to keep defenses honest. We've done it well so we'll keep that same kind of formula working where it's a good change up for us to have some kind of gap scheme along with that outside zone. But the big runs came in that outside zone for us in that fourth quarter."
On if the switch was because of lack of success of zone blocking: "Yeah, we had to make an adjustment and that was a good adjustment for us. It really has paid off."
On how they decide when to run which scheme: "More so by game planning going in and what their scheme might be. Do they have a 3-technique to the front side, 3-technique to the backside? Are the backers strong or linemen strong so it'll be a lot of by game plan than actually by series."
On Carson Palmer: "He's been the rock. As you guys hear his quotes and the way he handles a tough loss, he puts it on himself. He's a true pro, he's a true leader. He's really helped us probably in the pass game from a stance of we're a top-5 team in sacks allowed, but he's getting the ball out pretty quick too. He's done a fine job for us managing a game in that pocket situation and not having frustration. He really keeps his cool throughout thick and thin."
On Palmer not throwing into double coverage as much: "I hope part of that is coaching. I preach very hard on when we teach any quarterback the offense, how important it is to take a checkdown or how important it is to throw the ball away. It's okay to be 2nd-and-10. It's okay to have to punt on a 3rd down if the throw is not there. So I take great pride in the fact that he's decreased his interception percentage dramatically and we want to keep it that way because it helps us win games. He's special, guys. I don't know how many guys you've been around, but this guy is special. He doesn't say much, but I'm telling you, Carson Palmer is special. The way he leads a team and the way he prepares for a game, he's very, very good."
