Head Coach Jack Del Rio
Head Coach Jack Del Rio
(Opening statement)
"Heck of a finish to our 10-day trip to Florida. Two big road games and knocked them both down. A lot of really good things and a lot of appreciation in our locker room for the different men and women that helped us to be able to come on the road like we did and prepare like we did and basically take care of our own business as a football team, football coaches, football players. I'm talking about the equipment guys, Bob Romanksi, Tom Jones, and Pete [Caracciolo]. All the stuff behind the scenes – Dave Nash and the video department – all that stuff allowed us to do what we did. To come get these two victories was huge and did not put too much strain on our football team.
**(On why there were so many penalties)
**
"I don't have an answer for you on why so many penalties. I don't think my couple hours away yesterday at my boy's games yesterday was the difference. I say that facetiously. Obviously we played through a lot of that. I think the great thing is we did play through it and we got the win. A lot of what stopped us early in the game was self-inflicted offensively. We cleaned that up and when we cleaned that up we scored. If we didn't clean that up we were in second and third and real long and we didn't score. I thought once we cleaned that up, we moved it and scored real well. I'm real proud of our guys on a gritty effort. I would have liked to ended it right there. I thought we executed as a football team very well at the end. I thought we had a shot to win the game. We'll count on Seabass (Sebastian Janikowski) to line up and knock those down for us in the future but he missed on that one today. I know it was tough for him and tough for us because it put us in a tough spot but we came through. At the end of the day we had each others' backs and we got it done."
(On if overcoming penalties and still winning feels like they can't lose)
"I don't know if I can get into all that. I think for us it's another win. We stacked up another win and we recognize we have things we got to be better at. It's makes it easier to get their attention because it's obvious and that's easy to see. We just can't do that, so obviously we will have to clean it up."
(On going for it on fourth-and-3 in Overtime)
"We talked about it. I really felt like our defense wasn't allowing them to do anything. I felt good about us being able to stop them right there. It was a combination, a combination of factors allowed us to choose to go that route. Kind of like at the end of the game. I really thought in my heart that we would be able to do what we did, which was get the ball back and still have a chance to win with a field goal and we were able to do that. It's always great when you trust and that trust is rewarded. That builds confidence and we will continue to grow as a football team. Our quarterback (Derek Carr) made a ton of plays today. He really did. Obviously Coop (Amari Cooper) came up big, Crab (Michael Crabtree) came up big, Seth [Roberts] at the end, the backs; I think everyone involved did."
(On if Donald Penn has been bugging him to catch a pass)
"He's been bugging us since I got here. He was telling me what an athlete he is, what great hands he has, he played basketball growing up; all those things. The play didn't look that great in practice all week, but we kept it up and we executed it a lot better against them than we did our scout team."
(On if he was worried announcing No. 72 as eligible would tip off play)
"No because we had so many tackles eligible. I think you see us doing that. I think we had three different guys report eligible today from the tackle position, playing tight end. We knew we would have to do a little adjusting to have some size in there when we lost Lee [Smith]. We've done that using some of our offensive tackles."
(On ending their Florida road trip with victory)
"It was really awesome. I told the guys, 'way to have my back' because obviously there was going to be scrutiny. You guys would pick on me and have a lot to say if we hadn't won. I would be answering that question. We won, so I don't have to answer that question."
(On if today was the best performance he's seen out of Derek Carr)
"I don't know if I would say the best game throughout, but it was awesome. It was an awesome performance. I don't know, I've seen some good ones. I think we'll continue to see good ones from him. He's very confident, he's got some weapons that he's utilizing, and he had a heck of a performance today."
(On the importance of overcoming self-inflicted wounds)
"I think for us it's all about finding a way to win; whatever it takes. We want to come out of here with a smile on our face. We talk about that a lot. I thought the way we prepared all week was really good. I though the way we competed was really good. Despite the highs and the lows, and some of the lows being self-inflicted, I thought our guys kept a really positive spirit on how we were going to respond to things, how we were going to continue to play, and how we were going to continue to expect good things. That's something that you have to work on, and we have worked on, and we'll continue to work on. We believe in each other and we believe that we can win these games. We believe that we're going to find a way somehow."
**(On the experience of the road trip)
**
"It was business-like. I'm proud of our guys for that. I expected no less. We were business-like, purposeful, and prepared. The lifts we had were really good. The way we operated was like a way a professional football team should. I'm proud of the effort."
(On continuing to fight after slow start)
"Absolutely. We went up and said it's all self-inflicted. We're moving the ball but penalties caused ourselves to be behind the chains. So don't fret, don't get frustrated, just keep playing."
(On if Buccaneers are moving in the right direction)
"I hope so because I've got a lot of good people that worked with me at one time that are here now coaching the Bucs. I'm pulling for them other than today. We needed the victory. I wish them the best going forward but I'm not going to judge their work. I'm going to support them from afar and just do what I can with our team."
(On how this win will help with facing adversity down the line)
"I think the biggest thing for us is stacking up wins. One way or another, keep stacking up wins however we can, keep correcting the things that need to be corrected and keep growing as a football team."
(On Sean Smith's injury)
"He was injured and couldn't return – shoulder. Obviously we'll do the tests and determine how severe and what the return might be. Right now he was just not able to return and it was his shoulder."
(On not using timeout at the end of regulation)
"I thought we'd get to the line a little quicker than that. In hindsight, I definitely should have called that, without a doubt. I already own that one, that's on me. I thought we would be able to get to the line and execute a play and keep it in our pocket, but at the end of the day I didn't give us probable another 20 seconds at least that I could've saved us. No question, I can do that better."
(On Mychal Rivera's touchdown)
"Awesome to see. One of the questions I answered this week was about getting our tight ends more involved. Mychal for a touchdown was a good place [to start]. We've got to back it up, I can't just talk about it."
(On if they prefer playing on the road)
"We like playing wherever they put the ball down. We like them at home, we like them on the road. We just like competing."
(On thoughts of multiple 12-men on the field penalties)
"It wasn't a lack of communication on the sideline. It was a lack of communication from the guys signaling what personnel group it is and the guys need to see that and respond appropriately. That's something you work on and we do it throughout the ballgame. We'll investigate it and spend a great deal of time as a staff about that because that's something you can't see. Obviously those kind of mistakes can not happen. I've said before the pre-snap things, the things that are like that, the lack of ability to substitute properly is unacceptable. When you're out there battling and you get called for a hold or your hand comes up and you get a helmet, it could happen. We want to compete and be aggressive so they will happen, but that other stuff has to be eliminated."
(On his thoughts when a substitute goes on the field but nobody comes out of the game)
"I'm thinking it's not very smart what's going on right here. I'm thinking please run off the field like you're supposed to right here. Obviously a couple other thoughts came into my mind, which I shared with a few people on the headphones, but that's not G or PG."
**Quarterback Derek Carr
**
(On 23 penalties)
"Man, talk about ups and downs, I think that's a record, right? The penalties? My goodness. You know, we are going to have to watch the film and talk about that, but the refs, I think, did a great job. We are going to have to clean it up on our end."
(On winning in crunch time)
"Yeah absolutely, you definitely feel confident because you've done it before. We practice it a lot so you definitely have the confidence in it that way. It is so funny man, we have such a long way to go as a team. We see the end goal in sight, what we want the team to look like, we're just not there yet but we have a long way to go and we'll keep working until we get there."
(On what is going through his mind during final play)
"Yes, throw an accurate ball, stand in there make an accurate throw, give our guys a chance to make a play. That is what my thought process is. As soon as the third down, I don't know what it was, incomplete, I don't know, I looked to the side and Coach Del Rio, sure enough, said, 'Go, just go' and we [have to] come up big for him. He trusts us to do that, we [have to] keep doing it."
(On celebrating with offensive line)
"I love them. I am thankful for them. They work their tails off just so I can stand back there and throw the ball so sometimes I get excited and run down there but at that moment it just hit me like man, I want to celebrate with them. Me and Seth, we will catch up later. Save my big guys from running all the way down there. They fought their tails off all game, so I thought I'd save them some time."
(On tough plays and mistakes)
"There were bunch of guys in there, myself included, talking about plays we messed up on and saying "Lord please let us win.' It will look a lot nicer on film when we win. That's just the thing about this team, [we've] got each other's back. In OTA's you heard us talk about family so much and we want to really mean it. If we see a guy has a rough day, we have your back. I have had my share of rough days, goodness we all know that. My team has had my back and we will win football games. It feels a lot better to know we have a team like that. I think what I am so fired up about is, not just the wins, but the character of this team is we genuinely love each other and we will fight for each other, no matter what."
(On Carr setting team record for passing yards)
"It's great, I'm not going to lie to you, I was so overcome with emotion when someone told me that out there I almost started crying. Not in a weird way, just that is stuff you dream of as a kid and I'm just blessed that God's using me in this position. I am just very thankful."
(Recognizing confident throws)
"I am trying so hard to work on that, I don't want to look like a young quarterback. I want to make sure I get better each game. It's going to take a while, I think I'm 25, my wife may have to remind me. I'm only 25 years old so I have a long way to grow but I am just trying my best to every game play more confident, I am happy you said that because I have been working hard on that since I have got into the NFL. I still have a long ways to go but I am definitely trying."
**(Thought process on plays)
**
"It's more of the mental side. Are you confident in your read, are you confident in what you are seeing, are you confident in your studies in that game? Because that is what leads to being physically confident, I hope that makes sense. That is just kind of how I look at it."
(Describe feeling during Donald Penn's touchdown)
"I was so happy, man. I could have ran it in and it would've been my first rushing touchdown, that would be nice too. It is funny because in the week of practice we ran that play and I ran it in to mess with him and he just laughed, he was like "Man whatever." In the game we were able to throw it to him. For him to come back, we talked to Coach Del Rio coming back to where they have been and getting a win I think that is all he cared about but to get a touchdown I think he is pretty pumped.."
(He ran a good route?)
"He ran a great route. Wide open. He did a great job."
(On preparation for Denver next week)
"Never too soon. I am with you. I already started on them in the locker room, my mind is already there. The road to win the division goes through them. The road to the Super Bowl goes through them. They're on top. Everyone wants to crown us because we haven't won for so long and now we are. But we're not on top. We respect everybody, but fear no one."
(Benefits from the week in Florida)
"We got more rest, got a lot more rest. There is no commute, so that was nice, especially in the Bay area traffic, as we all know, could be at any time. I think it was a perfect time to have everyone together. We haven't done that since camp. It was good to have everyone around, everyone was eating together, going out, hanging out together. I think that that's a good thing."
(Thoughts on Seth Roberts)
"Seth is super clutch. We always talk about this, but that guy catches game winners all the time and it's crazy. I told him he went into NFL streak game-breaker mode on that last touchdown, he just didn't want to get tackled. Seth is a tireless worker. He is always off to the side when we are not in at offense catching balls. He'll grab Connor (Cook), he will grab whoever and they will always be throwing to him. When you [have] a guy that works hard like that, I am happy when they make plays."
(First read on last play?)
"It is hard to say, it just depends on the coverage. Once I saw [the coverage] then I knew I had a couple options and I just chose Seth (Roberts). He did a great job."
(On Michael Crabtree touchdown)
"He is such a good guy, we have a lot of those on this team, and so it always nice to see him do well. To start not dressing out in the beginning of the year to now catching big time touchdowns when we need them. That is a tough catch. I made it hard on him because I kind of had to but he did such a great job of using his hands, he does that in practice so I am not surprised and I am just happy for him."
Wide Receiver Amari Cooper
**(On today's game)
**
"It was a crazy game, a roller coaster-type of game, but we hung in there and showed our resilience as a team. I made a joke with [David] Carr and [Bill] Musgrave earlier, it wouldn't have been like that if I come up with that catch in the fourth [quarter]. It was an exciting game, though."
(On the over-the-shoulder catch he made)
"It was cool. It was good. We actually practiced that all week and it worked, so we decided to call it in the game."
(On if he knew he had 12 receptions for 173 yards today)
"I mean you never know going into the game. You hope to have a great game every game, but you never know how it's going to turn out. I just thank God. I always say, 'Thank you God for having your gracious hand on me,' because it's all him."
(On if he can tell when quarterback Derek Carr is feeling good throwing the ball)
"He always feels good throwing the ball. He's a quarterback, a great one. Yeah, he always feels good throwing the ball."
(On the team winning while committing 23 penalties for 200 yards)
"I can't believe it, but it just shows the resilience of this team. We just have to work to clean it up. We can't be championship team like that, so we have to clean it up, definitely."
(On what the team thinks when they keep committing penalties)
"It's not a good feeling. You want to move forward. We want to score. It is just something we have to clean up. We have to know. I mean, we've been in what, eight games now. We know how the refs are going to call the game, so we just have to play like we know."
(On if the team has more confidence in close games because of having been in these situations before.)
"Yeah, of course. You hear guys on the sidelines saying, 'We've been here before,' and it's true. Every time we've been in that situation we seem to come out on top. We just have to clean up the penalties and stuff in the game. Some of the games probably won't even be close like that if we clean up the penalties.
Running Back Latavius Murray
(On getting the win)
"It was huge, man. Just to finish up these two road games with a win obviously, heading back home 2-0. Just the way the game went. It was back and forth battling. We had a lot of penalties, but we were able to overcome and find a way to win. I think that shows a lot about this team.''
(On playing in Florida again)
"It felt real good just being able to come back to Florida for the first time and play in front of some family who haven't seen me play in a long time. Just some family in general. I was happy to be back. Definitely happy to go back to California with two road wins.''
**(On excitement of game as a player)
**
"I think Seth [Seth Roberts] has done a lot of things like that last year and this year as well. He comes up big for us, all these guys, all these receivers. When you're on the sideline watching. You can't be nothing but excited for him. Nothing but excited that we found a way to win. Again I think it shows what this team is capable of doing and finding ways to win. I think we have a lot to get better at. That's a good thing. We're just scratching the surface.''
(On the 23 penalties)
"I heard. Somebody just shouted out that number. I don't know if it's a record or not. We're making history. We need to clean them up. We definitely have to play better. We know that. But most importantly we got a win."
Tackle Donald Penn
(On playing against Tampa after being cut)
"I wanted this one so bad. I wanted this one so bad, you know. I thought I was going to retire as a Buccaneer. I wanted to be here, but stuff happens man. It really hurt me when I got cut. God works in mysterious ways. I was a Raider fan growing up. He knew I was ready and he put me in a great position. A great spot."
(On playing in front of Buccaneer fans)
"I'm not even going to get into that. I'm going to be modest right now. I'm going to sit out. I was really excited. I was really excited. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you.
(On his touchdown reception)
"We ran a naked, I blocked down. Everybody went to the right and I just came back out. I had to move a couple people out the way. Then DC [David Carr] put a nice ball in the air and I was wide open for a touchdown.
(On talking with the Glazer family)
"It's great to see them, I saw one of them at the Laker game last offseason. We had a good talk. I went up to them like I do all the time. It's all love. I love the Glazers' because they are great owners you know. I'm glad I'm able to play for another great owner in Mark Davis. I told them, 'I love you and thank you for everything.' I tell him that every time I see him."
(On Buccaneers building a future)
"Yeah they are.. Jameis Winston, I like him a lot. I even talked to Smith [Evan Smith] after the game and I like what he's doing. I still watch the Bucs. I still cheer for them. Me and Joe [Joe Hawley] hook up every off season. I still got a lot of friends here. I cheer for you guys on the low."
(On team playoff possibility)
"I'm not going to get ahead of ourselves but we just got to keep going week by week, game by game. Keep getting better. We took a little step back with all these penalties we have today. We have to learn from that and keep getting better. We're on our way. We're going to take it one game at a time. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves.
(On overcoming 23 penalties for a win)
"It makes it even better man. It makes it even better knowing that it shows our team growth. We're growing. We never stop fighting. We kept fighting out there. We kept going."
**Wide Receiver Seth Roberts
**
(On having another game-winning touchdown)
"I'm just playing, man – playing for the guy next to me. Like you said, we're a team. We overcame adversity and we just kept playing through it."
(On his game-winning catch)
"It was fourth down. I just got my depth and saw the ball and tried to stay on my feet, which I did. When I was running I was trying to see if anyone was behind me. I was looking at the scoreboard, I knew I was clear so I was good."
(On quarterback Derek Carr)
"Derek played well. Amari [Cooper] played awesome. [Michael Crabtree] played awesome. We feed off each other. I feel like we stayed alive and we just did the best we could do."
(On staying in Florida between the team's game against Jacksonville and Tampa Bay)
"Staying in Florida for a week was a challenge for us, but we stayed at it. We kept our composure. We were focused all week. We came in like we were at home, at IMG."
