Brian Flores – August 19, 2019
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Monday, August 19, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(If QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is starting Thursday – and you can tell us if anything has changed – is it accurate to say that is an indicator that he’s a projected starter for the season opener?) – “No, I wouldn’t say that is accurate. I would say that we go into every game trying to evaluate every player on the team. I know this is the third preseason game and the thought is this is the dress rehearsal for regular season game No. 1. In a lot of ways, it is that; but every game is important to me. So every time we step out there against another opponent, it’s a great evaluation for everyone on the team. This week is no different. That’s what I would say about that.”
(So do you want to have one quarterback or do you feel like on a week-to-week basis you’ll be deciding…) – “I want to put the best guy who will help us win, who we feel will give us the best chance to win games. If that’s one quarterback, if that’s four quarterbacks – I think in a best case scenario, it is one person. But things happen. We have to be ready to adapt. Guys go down at all positions and you have to be ready to adapt and have that next-man-up mentality.”
(Do you anticipate being able to make that decision after this third preseason game for Week 1?) – “Potentially. I think we may – obviously it’ll be our third game. We’ll have most of the evaluation done. So yeah, potentially we would be able to make that call. But we may not. I think part of that is as a staff, we’ll get together and talk about what we feel is best for the team and if we feel strongly that it’s one guy or the other, then we’ll make that decision. If not, then we’ll continue to evaluate and go from there.”
(Now that you’ve looked at the film of the game, how would you grade the progress that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and QB Josh Rosen made last week?) – “I think there’s a lot of things we can do better offensively. We had some drops, we had some penalties, we had some negative plays – in the run game, sacks. We spend a lot of time talking about one position but as a total offense, there are a lot of things we can do better. Specific to that position, I thought there were some good things from really all three guys. I thought there were some not-so-good things from all three guys. But I think there was some good things and not-so-good things from everyone on the team. Again, I mentioned the drops, I mentioned the penalties, I mentioned the negative runs – those are things we have to clean up as a collective group. Some of those are not all on the quarterback. Being second-and-15 or first-and-20, that’s not advantageous for anyone. We need to clean those things up to get a good evaluation of the entire offense.”
(Will WR Albert Wilson be ready to play a full game this week?) – “Albert is doing everything he can to get back on the field. We’ve seen him – he’s done a little bit more each week in practice and he’s continuing to do that. He’ll be out there as soon as he can. Maybe that’s this week, maybe it’s not. We’ll see. We’ll go through these next couple of days of practice and we’ll take it from there.”
(What’s your general philosophy on starters playing on special teams?) – “We’re going to have the best 11 guys in the kicking game out there. So yeah, we’ll have some starters playing on special teams. That’s a very important phase, a very important phase. So yeah, you’ll see some starters playing in the kicking game, whether it’s linebackers on punt or receivers on punt return. We’re going to get the best 11 guys because that’s a very important phase to me, as I’ve said in the past.”
(Oftentimes in the third preseason game, the starting quarterback will go the first half and sometimes into the third quarter. Is there a scenario in which we could see QB Josh Rosen and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick both play in the first half?) – “Yeah, there’s a scenario you could see that. There’s a scenario you could see them playing a half. There’s a scenario you could see them playing the entire game. (laughter)”
(What scenario is most likely then?) – “(laughter) That’s yet to be determined. It’s still early in the week. We’re going through the process. I’ve got a few thoughts in my head of how I’d like it to go but again, there are various scenarios so we’ll see which one – it could be a half, it could be a quarter, it could be a series. We’ll see.”
(What does QB Josh Rosen have to do in the next two weeks to be a starter in Week 1?) – “That’s a good question. I think he has to continue to improve on the things that he’s done well and then the things that he hasn’t done as well. We need to see improvements there. He can’t take as many sacks as he’s taken in practice and games. We’ve talked about that. He has to step up in the pocket. He has to have command of the offense. I think those things are very important at this position. He’s got to get the ball out quicker. He has to do all of those things. And I would say the same is said for ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) and Jake (Rudock). They have to do all of these things better. At the end of the day, it’s about our offense moving the ball and putting points on the board.”
(After the first preseason game, you said sometimes you want QB Josh Rosen to take a sack. It’s the right play to make. What happened after the second game? Is it the offensive line? Is he holding the ball too long?) – “Sometimes the right play is to take a sack. We’ve got to know when the journey is over. Other times, you’ve got to get the ball out quicker. So there is a fine line between all of those things and it’s something we talk about in the quarterback room. Again, every play is a little bit different and each quarterback is a little bit different. But we don’t want to just take sack after sack after sack. We can help that by getting the ball out a little bit quicker and stepping up in the pocket. That’s about footwork and fundamentals and those are things we’ll be working on this week.”
(You have a lot of key players that have been injured. How realistic of a look can you get of your team if they don’t play this week? LB Kiko Alonso, S Reshad Jones and S T.J. McDonald – you know the list – RB Kenyan Drake, RB Kalen Ballage.) – “Well, we’re going to have put to somebody out there. It’ll be a real look for someone. As far as our evaluation, we can only evaluate the guys who are out there. If they’re not out there, we can’t evaluate them. I know guys are working extremely hard to get back into the game, whether it’s Kiko, Reshad or whoever else you may mention. We’re going to have 11 (players) out there. I promise you that. Hopefully it’s 11 and not 10 or not 12. That’s something that we harp on a lot here. All we can do is evaluate the guys who are out there. We’ve got 90 guys on the roster and each guy is competing and trying to make this team. If they get an opportunity, they’ve got to take advantage of it. There’s nothing we can do about the injuries. These guys are trying to get back and we can only evaluate the guys who are out there.”
(How clear do you feel it is at this moment that you have the best five on the offensive line – that you know who they are?) – “Well, I think the two young guys (Michael Deiter and Shaq Calhoun) are improving and developing. I feel good about the five guys that are rolling right now. I think the communication is improving on a weekly basis. I think the technique, the fundamentals are improving. I think they’re working well together – guard to tackle, center to guard and then the entire group. There can always be improvement, but I like what I’ve seen from those five guys, and hopefully they’ll continue to improve; but each game is a little bit different. Each game is an experience, and hopefully we just continue to improve and get better.”
(Where do you stand with the pass rush? We saw sometimes that worked well the other night. What was going on there that led you to that improvement?) – “I thought Charles Harris played really well the other night. I thought we had some really good individual efforts, and I thought as a group we played well as far as not allowing the quarterback to step up, as far as running a few games and just our pursuit to the quarterback was very good. Now, I would have liked to see us tackle the quarterback a little bit better. That would have helped us. But I think those guys are really working hard as a unit to try to work their pass rush games and then their individual technique on a one-on-one rush has improved, and you saw that the other night.”
(On the offensive line, some mix of players are going to play together at some point during the season. What could a lineup of G/T Jesse Davis at right guard and T Isaiah Prince at right tackle probably yield you guys?) – “I think that if that were the case, I think we’d have two big, strong guys on the right side. We’d have a young guy working with an older guy – kind of similar to how we have Shaq (Calhoun) and Jesse right now, where the young guy would probably have to lean on the older guy a little bit for calls and adjustments, etc.; but we’d have to make that work. Again, it’s a team effort. Jesse – from a leadership standpoint – is a quiet guy; but when he speaks, people listen. I’ve really enjoyed working with him. I think he’s really doing a lot of things well, and he’s a guy who’s helping some of those young guys – really, Jesse, (Daniel) Kilgore, ‘Tuns’ (Laremy Tunsil) – I’m really appreciate of the way that they’ve worked with these young guys in trying to help them come along because they were young guys once, too, and they had some older vets help them along. So I like to see that from our veteran players, and that would be the same if it was a Jesse and Prince lineup.”
(You’ve had the same five guys working together since the coaching change and it’s been like, three weeks and two preseason games. Would it be counterproductive to start experimenting moving guys around now, or is that the five?) – “I don’t know if it would be counterproductive because I think we’ve got to be ready if something happens. I think we’ve got to be – that’s part of our jobs as coaches is to kind of think worst-case. If something happens or if somebody’s shoe comes off and another guy’s got to go in, the wheels can’t fall off. I think we do that really at all positions, so we’ll work a mix of guys. I could see how you would think it could be counterproductive and that you’re not working the five guys you think all the time, but we’ve got to be ready if something happens, and that’s on the o-line, on the d-line, different groups of guys in the secondary. I think we have to – it’s all the same verbiage, but the communication between you and I might be different than me and (that guy). I think that’s something that you’ve got to work through. We try to create situations where we force that communication between different guys.”
(When you have players like CB Xavien Howard and T Laremy Tunsil playing cornerstone positions at the level they are, how freeing is that for you from a game-plan perspective?) – “From a game-plan perspective, it allows you to do a few things that if you didn’t feel as good about some other players, you wouldn’t do. For instance, we’ll leave Laremy one-on-one or leave ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) one-on-one. I think offenses and defenses, they can force a situation where you can’t do that. Every coordinator knows how to do that; but yeah, it gives you an opportunity to slide the protection away from Laremy or move the coverage away from ‘X.’ We can not do that, also; but I think having good players is always a good thing. I’m not going to tell you that it’s not. So we’re happy with those two guys. We’re happy with a lot of the guys. It’s a nice feeling to know that, ‘hey, I like that matchup with ‘X,’ or I like this matchup with Tunsil. Let’s leave those guys alone and let’s work around – we’ve got some other problems somewhere else. Let’s focus our attention there.’”
(Where do you feel like you’re at with the running game right now?) – “It’s really – I’m focused on the run game today. It’s been – I would say from a practice and a game standpoint, we’ve seen some bright spots; but we need to continue to improve there. There are some combination blocks, there’s schematically a few things we can do a little bit better; but it’s an ongoing process. Like I’ve said with everything, hopefully what we’ve seen from the run game isn’t the best we’ll see for the rest of the year. I hope not because we’ve got a long way to go here. I think you guys feel the same way, hopefully. We’ll just continue to try to improve, but I think we’ve got good backs. We want to get them the ball in space, try to create some space for them in the run game and hopefully we can pick up some yardage, control time of possession, control the clock and grind out some tough yardage.”
(What has stood out to you about RB Patrick Laird?) – “Laird’s a young guy who works hard, who has done everything we’ve asked. He’s played well in the kicking game. When he gets his opportunity in the running game, as a receiver, he’s taking advantage of them. He just does everything right, and he’s had a good camp so far. He’s earned some more opportunities, which he’s gotten, and he’s taken advantage of them. He needs to stay on this path and he’ll have a chance. Again, it’s about consistency. It always is.”
Preston Williams – August 16, 2019 (Postgame)
August 16, 2019
Postgame – Tampa Bay
WR Preston Williams (Transcribed by Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
(On the pace of the offense with quarterback Josh Rosen at the helm…) – “I thought the pace was pretty smooth. Josh was ready, prepared.”
(On quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick lowering his shoulder into an opposing defender…) – “That was impressive. I didn’t know he was going to do it. I went to him when he came to the sidelines, ‘you must think you’re a running back or something.’ He was like, ‘Yup, I lowered my shoulder.’ I was like, ‘That was pretty cool Ryan.’”
(On what does it say about a veteran player like Fitzpatrick making a play like that…) – “It means a lot. He’s a tough guy. He’s one of the leaders, so you know everyone looks up to that. You see that, it gave us a lot of energy. It lit a spark on the sidelines.”
(On his approach to the rest of the preseason…) – “You could have a good day. You could have a bad day. You can bounce back. My main thing is to staying consistent – stacking days, even games. Just come in, watch the film, correct my mistakes and just come ready to play the next game.”
Christian Wilkins – August 16, 2019 (Postgame)
August 16, 2019
Postgame – Tampa Bay
DT Christian Wilkins (Transcribed by Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
(On losing in the preseason…) – “We get to play again. This is our reward. We work hard all season, all week. So it’s our time where to get to play, get that opportunity. This is just something else we can learn from too. Just having to deal with a loss now – getting back working, keeping the same intensity no matter what. From the week of practice, I feel like we had a really good week of practice and now just this game, I feel like this is a lot we can learn from and just get better from as a team.”
(On his progress of becoming a professional football player…) – “I’m becoming more and more comfortable by the day. I have good (veterans) around me that help me, encourage me to be my best and who are there for me whenever I have questions or anything. So that’s good and they have shown me how to be a pro a little bit. It’s also just getting more comfortable playing against this type of talent. These guys aren’t just talented, but also as savvy as they are, as cerebral players as they are. It’s all just good fun, good experiences.”
(On his first week of joint practices with another NFL team…) – “That was big for me. Just because I have some good plays. I have some bad plays. I don’t get too high on the good ones, I don’t get too low on the bad ones. It’s just about getting better and improving, so that was big. I really enjoyed this week of practices – going against someone else because it was like the intensity of a game, but you could make mistakes or you just knew it wasn’t as detrimental as it would be if it were a game. It was just good – that live look of live competition. Just really getting after it.”
Sam Eguavoen – August 16, 2019 (Postgame)
August 16, 2019
Postgame – Tampa Bay
LB Sam Eguavoen (Transcribed by Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
(On his forced fumble…) – “I forgot what down and distance it was. I know we needed to get off the field. I didn’t know I was going to get a forced fumble. I just had a clean shot on the running back coming into the flat, wrapped him up and he was carrying the ball poorly, so it came out and [Eric] Rowe was their to scoop it up.”
(On the key to him having success tonight…) – “Just playing fearless. That’s one thing (Head Coach Brian Flores) pointed out to me on my film. He knows I’m a good player. It’s just that I need to unleash the beast. I need to play fearless out there. I had my first NFL game ever last week, so coming into this week I just write on my walls – just play fearless. It’s football. There’s 11 people out there, so I have 10 other defenders who have my back, so I’m taking my shots.”
(On the play of the first-team defense…) – “We started fast. We started fast, we had the juice. All throughout the week with the joint practice with Tampa Bay – that was our thing. We started fast. They got into us quick on the first day, which was Tuesday. Wednesday, we started fast on them and that just gave us momentum going into the game.”
Josh Rosen – August 16, 2019 (Postgame)
August 16, 2019
Postgame – Tampa Bay
QB Josh Rosen (Transcribed by Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
(On how he would evaluate his play tonight…) – “Okay. I think I had some good and some bad, but overall I’d say a positive. But there was definitely a good amount of mistakes that I could learn from”.
(On a near interception he intended for Preston Williams…) – “It was just a bad throw”
(On what he took from his experience starting the game…) – “A good amount. I think most of the learning comes in the next 24 hours. We’re going to get back and I think a lot of [learning] comes from film. There were some good plays and some bad, but there was a lot to learn from.”
(On how important it is to establish the run game…) – “I think that is always important in football. The quarterback’s best friend is a good running game and I think that is a universal truth regardless to offense. But we all have things to work on, I think I could definitely improve throws, reads. A couple run plays I didn’t bring certain guys in to block for us so a lot of that is on me as well. The run game and pass game are on all 11 guys. It’s not like guys are taking plays off; receivers are blocking, running backs are running routes, so regardless of run or pass, all 1 guys are involved.”
(On his ability to make a play under heavy pressure…) – “Pretty good. But there were times where I did kind of shudder a little bit. I knew one of the sacks I took, I could have stepped up a little harder, and given my tackle an easier loop. I know that one to Kenny [Stills], I got a little lucky but I got the ball out in time. The pass to Durham [Smythe] I stepped up, but I don’t really think I needed to escape. I think I maybe could have sat in the pocket and if I gave him a little better ball he maybe could have run with it. Those are kind of the little things. Even if there was a positive play and a good chunk, there are always little things you can improve upon.”
(On how the week went against Tampa Bay…) – “The week overall I think went really well. Coach [Flores] also told us as a team that he thinks that the week overall we got a lot better as a team. We just have to clean up a lot of little things. We were shooting ourselves in the foot in regards to penalties and simple mental errors. I think it was an overall positive, but it’s a preseason game and we have two more dress rehearsals and then the real thing comes on.”
(On if he felt like he had to make a play in tonight’s game to strengthen his case to be a starter…) – “Nothing in particular, I know it’s a game and it’s a little more formal than practice, but each day I am just trying to execute our plays to the best I can. I’m just keeping my head down, more of a microscope perspective, as opposed to a telescope, I guess you could say. Those decisions about playing or not are above me. I’m just trying to basically show my skills.”
Ryan Fitzpatrick – August 16, 2019 (Postgame)
August 16, 2019
Postgame – Tampa Bay
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (Transcribed by Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
(On how his shoulder is doing after hitting Buccaneers DB M.J. Stewart…) – “Good.”
(On how he felt about the hit…) – “No. I like to do that sometimes, so I just felt like I needed to get one in there.”
(On how the hit felt…) – “Good.”
(On the Buccaneers sideline’s reaction…) – “Their sideline was laughing, because they know me and kind of my style of play. So, they were giving me a hard time over there with some back and forth.”
(On if he feels he needs more opportunities…) – “I mean I’m here. Whatever Coach (Brian Flores) wants to do, whenever he wants to put me in or not put me in, I’m here and ready to play. So, whatever he wants I’m here for.”
(On what needs to happen for the team to get to the next level offensively…) – “I think we’ll game plan a little bit more. We’ll try and get some situational stuff. We really fine-tune it for the Jaguars. So, hopefully with the focus we put throughout the week in practice and everything, we’ll have a nice plan and be able to go out and execute a little bit better than we did today.”
(On how the team has done during the offseason…) – “We’ve done a decent job all off season of just being fluid with throwing to different guys all the time and working the communication with different guys up front. The way this offense is run and taught and the way that we’ve practiced, we’ve all gotten enough work with each other I think to be able to go out there and do better than we did today.”
(On how we feels the week went for him…) – “It was a good week. I think maybe personally more than on the field it was just very nice to see everybody and just a lot of special people here. So, it was fun for me to get back and talk with all of them.”
Brian Flores – August 16, 2019 (Postgame)
Friday, August 16, 2019
Postgame – Tampa Bay
Head Coach Brian Flores (Transcribed by Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
(On how QB Josh Rosen performed…) – “I thought he played well in the first half. I thought he made some smart decisions early. I’d like to see him not take those couple of sacks on that one series. He did step up in the pocket on that one. Overall, he had good command of the huddle. He did a lot of good things overall. It didn’t help when you had two dropped balls that would’ve kept those drives going a little longer. I think overall as a team there was too many penalties, too many missed tackles, too many dropped balls. Those are the things – in a close game like that, those are the difference. We’ll keep harping on those things, We did a lot of good things over the course of this week and tonight in the game. I’m encouraged by that.”
(On his decision to start Rosen in the first half…) – “We felt like we wanted to get him in early against Tampa’s first group and also get him some snaps with the center and some of those receivers in that group.”
(On the quarterback battle…) – “I mean it’s hard to say going through the film. Fitzy (Ryan Fitzpatrick) went in there and did a good job. Jake [Rudock] went in there and did a good job took us down the field at the end and scored that two-point conversion. Look, it’s always a competition, that’s the way it will always be around here.”
(On whether or not he saw enough out of Fitzpatrick to make a quarterback decision for Week 1…) – “Nah, we will probably start him next week.”
(On the play of the offensive line…) – “I think it was better. We protected inside out, kept the pocket clean. A good amount of the night there were some instances where the quarterback position was able to help those guys out and stepped up in the pocket. But again, I’ll get a better look at it tomorrow. There were some holding penalties that we didn’t like that kind of stalled some drives. Those are the things that hinder an offense more than anything. We were down in the red zone early, a holding penalty pushed us from 2nd-and-7 to 1st-and-19 – not exactly sure but it was somewhere in that realm. We’ve just got to a better job overall as a team of limiting the penalties, doing a good job of ball security, tackling, basic fundamentals. Look its an imperfect game, so I know we are going to get a holding there, a missed tackle here and there and a drop the ball there. As much as we can limit those things, that will help us.”
(On how WR Preston Williams performed…) – “He had a drop early. He’s a young kid, it was his second full game. Every experience is good for him. He had a couple punt returns. Guys in this league are fast, if you are going to go east to west, you better be extremely fast, and even then, you got those fast guys chasing you. That’s an experience for him … hopefully he’s learning from that. He’s had a good camp, he had a good week. Look he’s young he’s going to make some mistakes. We’re just going to correct them and he’s going to be good.”
(On whether this was the most successful outing of training camp for the front seven…) – “I would like to see us start faster. We made a couple first downs there, missed a tackle there, a sack, a potential sack. That’s one of the problems we’re not really attacking the quarterback very often, you know at all. We haven’t done it at all actually. It hasn’t happened at all. Jameis [Winston] is a big, strong quarterback. There are a lot of quarterbacks in this league that are that way. Defensively, we talked about right after that series, break down then accelerate, wrap up, put these guys to the ground. We made that adjustment, and again, another good experience for us.”
(On what makes LB Jerome Baker a good blitzer…) – “He’s got a good feel for it. Also, he has got good speed, good athleticism and he’s got good timing as well. He does a good job of studying cadence and he times them up pretty well.”
(On QB Ryan Fitzpatrick lowering his shoulder…) – “Fitz is tough. This isn’t the first time seeing him do that, he’s as tough as they come. You kind of cringe a little bit, you don’t want to see a quarterback doing that, but that’s a part of this game. Talk to these guys about coming loose and turning and cutting loose. I think they did that overall as a group. I saw a lot of encouragement from the guys for their teammates. You know they’re having fun out there. Should have seen the sideline light up. I’m not encouraging that, but we love his toughness and leadership. Guys want to play for a guy who can put it on the line like that.”
(On the pass interference call that was challenged and overturned…) – “No, I’m still not convinced … Those are the rules and that was the call, we’ve got to move past it, move on, move on to the next play. We know there’s going to be some adversity. We know there are going to get some bad calls, not saying it’s a bad call, but there’s going to be bumps in the road and you just have to play through it.”
(On how to judge whether or not to challenge a pass interference call…) – “I think it’s still a work in progress, that’s why I’m asking the officials all the questions I can ask. Practice setting – we had the officials there at practice in our training camp, so I ask those guys a lot of questions. I show them certain things and say, ‘Is this a good opportunity for me to challenge?’ So, it’s a work in progress. We’ve got a team of people and staff who are charged with the rules and challenges and penalties. It’s something that we need to work on. I think a lot of it is an opportunity where we feel like field position is a part of it.”
(Does Fitzpatrick’s toughness play into the evaluation process…) – “I think it’s all a part of it – the toughness, the grit, the leadership. We want to see it from all our players, specifically the quarterback position. Yeah, it plays into the evaluation, but at the end of the day it’s about production on the field. He had a good scramble, made a couple good throws. Josh [Rosen] made a couple good throws, Jake [Rudock] made some good throws and they made some not so good decisions. It’s all a part of the evaluations.”
(On how the pass protection was…) – “I thought early on it was good. The quarterbacks had a clean pocket, more space. I was disappointed we had some drops. We had space, we had time and the drops were disappointing. Overall, I thought it was good at the start, then the second quarter there were some issues. Protection-wise we had guys coming off the edge … Overall, I think it was better than last week. That’s really the goal is to try to improve on a day-to-day basis.”
Bobby McCain – August 16, 2019 (Second Half)
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Friday, August 16, 2019
S Bobby McCain (Second Half)
(Last year, you were all over the place. Now you’ve got a spot at deep safety, how do you like it?) – “You’ve just got to go get better each and every day. We have a lot of guys that can move and do a lot of different things, including myself. I may be at safety, I may be at nickel, I may be at corner, I may be at (line)backer. You never know, so it’s good to have a lot of guys that can move around and just get comfortable with the defense. Don’t get comfortable with where you are, just try to get better every day. We’ve got to try to get comfortable with the defense and understand it.”
(It looks like in that safety room, everybody’s interchangeable.) – “Yeah, for sure. Like I said, everybody can move. Everybody can be anywhere. So I may be on the edge, and I may be – you never know. That’s the good thing about this defense. You don’t know.”
(You see in that defensive front. Linebackers in different positions, different things going on. A lot of changes to this defense, and hopefully you all…) – “Yeah, hopefully. That’s what ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) is here for. He’s a great defensive mind, and we’re just here to take all the credit. (laughter)”
