Head Coach Jon Gruden
(Opening Statement)
“I’m very proud of our team it was a hard fought game. Joey Galloway hurt his ankle. We’ll update that later. Aqib Talib had a hamstring. We had a lot of penalties today, we have to address that; an area we have to stay away from to be a factor in this league. Clearly, we were able to overcome those. I thought our defense played extremely well.”
(On today’s pass rush)
“When you are behind two scores and you get them behind in the down and distance, that was our goal to try to stop the run, get some second and eight’s, nine’s and hopefully some third and longs, where we can unleash a pass rush. I thought our guys got some good looks today and got some things done.”
(On Brian Griese’s play)
“He managed the game. In his first start back here, he won the game as a starter. That is a big compliment in pro football. I thought he missed some guys that he normally hits, but he managed the football game and made some timely plays on third down. I think he will get better and better.”
(On if Griese is now the starter)
“I am going to talk to both guys (Griese and Jeff Garcia) before I say anything. I think I need to do that. I think Brian Griese is a good quarterback. If we can get him some help and stay away from multiple penalties, I think he can play a lot better.”
(On third down production)
“We got some early third down conversions. I thought we were a bit sluggish in the second half, and a lot of it had to do with negative field position and penalties. We had some holding calls on receivers and offensive linemen. When you get third down and 12 or 13, and you are backed up on your own end with a two score lead, you have a tendency to get a little conservative. Griese made some plays particularly in the first half to keep some things alive.”
(On the play of John Gilmore)
“I don’t want John to get confused with his role. He is an outstanding tight end. We had a play where we had an “all go,” where we got him down the seam. Brian did a nice job looking off the safety; it was a heck of a throw and a really nice play by John. He’s a good addition to the team. I think some of the things he does won’t show up on the stat sheet, as a blocker and special teams performer. He’s going to be one tired guy tonight. I am proud of him.”
(On Derrick Brooks play today)
“I just want to tip my hat to all the Buccaneer fans for Derrick Brooks. They need to know what he did today for our team. Geno Hayes practiced to prepare to play a lot today. I am sure he is pretty disappointed that he did not get the playing time that he looked forward to. When you have an opportunity to see what Derrick Brooks did behind the scenes to play and today, I will reserve comment on Geno Hayes until next week. I will just talk about our captain and I am really proud of Derrick Brooks.”
Defensive end Gaines Adams
(On the victory)
“You have to give it up for the guys, the defense came out playing well, and the offense did a great job. It was an overall great performance by the whole team.”
(On forcing two turnovers early)
“You have to say that those plays right there are huge. Coming out in the beginning of the game and establishing yourself and making good things happen is huge. You have to give it up for the defense, they came out ready to play and we knew what we had to do this game.”
(On playing both end positions)
“I play wherever the coaches tell me to be first of all; I go out and try to do my best. Right or left end it doesn’t matter, my objective is to get to the quarterback and we did that today.”
(On the need to win this game)
“It was big, real big. We kind of let up the first week but we knew what we needed to do this game. We came out with the mindset to do it.”
Cornerback Ronde Barber
(On the defense’s performance)
“They played right into our hands. We were able to stop the run more so than Detroit did last week. They put it in Matt Ryan’s hands.”
(On the game next week)
“You always want to build week in and week out. Getting it on the road to Chicago is obviously a plan of ours; a goal of ours. We gave ourselves a chance last week in New Orleans on the road and didn’t get it done. It will be a challenge for us and we’re excited about it of course.”
Linebacker Derrick Brooks
(On playing in today’s game)
“I’m good at following instructions. That was our plan, to rest me during the week and let’s see what God has in store for us on Sunday. If you looked at my leg on Monday, you guys would really understand that it was a miracle that I was out there playing today. It’s nothing short of that in my opinion.”
(On how he is feeling today)
“I feel a lot better then I did after last week. I don’t think I did anything to hurt myself. I think I contributed when I was on the field. Obviously, I played fewer plays than I normally play, but the most important thing is God blessed me to play today. I’ll get a little bit better next week and we’re going to need it going up to Chicago.”
(On how proud he is of the defensive performance)
“To a man, it’s humbling. We did some things that were uncharacteristic, but we hung in there today big time. To give up the points that we gave up against the Saints and today, to see Atlanta, the type of game they had last week and to hold them to nine points, it’s a tremendous effort. A lot of people contributed. I think that’s what I’m most proud of when I look at us today. We got the turnovers, but more importantly, we played a lot better and a lot more people played today, which is going to help us down the line.”
(On being an extra coach on the sideline)
“That’s me, yelling out stuff when Geno (Hayes) and Cato (June) were in, just stuff I’m seeing from the sideline. That’s more keeping me into the game too, because at any moment, I have to be ready to go for one of those guys. It’s just who I am, a very humble man that doesn’t care who gets the credit as long as we win.”
Cornerback Phillip Buchanon
(On the defensive game plan)
“We came with a plan and our whole goal was to stop the run. They came out passing the ball. That is kind of what we wanted them to do.”
(On the Falcons coming out passing the ball)
“From the start of the week the plan we had we had hoped was going to work. We had to go execute it and Brian Griese did a good job and Earnest did a good job and the offense turned it on this week. It was definitely a team effort. They caught a couple of plays. If you look at it overall, it was a good team win for us.”
(On the biggest thing overall on defense)
“The biggest thing on defense is we kept them out of the end zone.”
Running back Warrick Dunn
(On the victory)
“It is just important to get a win after last week. You always want to come back and rebound from that, and we did that today. We played hard for 60 minutes and it was important. Defensively, our guys played well; they played their butts off and this is a great win for the team overall.”
(On his touchdown run)
“I think it was a draw play and I pretty much just tried to make some guys miss and go to the end zone. The guys did a great job blocking, I tried to set blocks up and it was really just a great team effort.”
Running back Earnest Graham
(On the victory)
“It was a great victory. We weren’t on all cylinders like we would have liked to have been, but it is a win and in this tough division you have to be happy with a win. I am glad that we fought down to the end and we made the plays we needed to make to win the game.”
(On his long touchdown run)
“It felt good, actually I have to give credit to Warrick [Dunn] because I watched Warrick run the same play about a series earlier and I saw him cut all the way back, so I kind of had it in the back of my mind when I got the ball. I just made a cut and played football.”
(On running out of gas at the end of the run)
“It didn’t look like an Adrian Peterson 70-yard run but I made it. It still counts. I had some guys in front of me blocking and I was good for the last 40. I fought the last little bit. It was a good play and I have to give credit to everybody for that one.”
Quarterback Brian Griese
(On his performance today)
“I thought that early in the game we had some good tempo on offense. We took advantage of some situations early in the game and got a lead. I think after that we shot ourselves in the foot with some penalties. We have to eliminate that, it’s two weeks in a row now for us offensively with the penalties; we had a first and 20, a second and 15. We just can’t do that as a football team and succeed on offense. There are some things that we need to work on specifically and get better at. But it’s better to do it after a win than after a loss.”
(On how helpful it was that the defense set the offense up)
“Our defense is unbelievable, they are really great and I love every one of those guys. They fly around and get to the ball and make plays. For us, as an offense, it obviously makes our job easier when they do that. We’re very thankful for those guys.”
(On the versatility of the running game)
“Earnest (Graham) is a great running back, in my opinion, and has been for awhile. When I was here prior I had the chance to watch him in the preseason and in practice, he just has that power and that elusiveness that a great running back needs. Obviously Warrick (Dunn) and what he did today, not many backs can do that. I had a great shot from behind. He made a couple of guys miss, spun out of a tackle and dove for the end zone. That was just a special play and he is a special player as well.”
(On how it feels that Jon Gruden said that he foresees him as the team’s starting quarterback next week)
“I wanted to come out today and get the win. First and foremost that was my goal, to win the game, because this was a huge game for us. Secondly, was to come out and knock some rust off of myself and get out there and play with these guys and get some rhythm going. I think that we did some good things; however there are some things that I think we can improve on and I look forward to that opportunity. But I’m excited about the opportunity that we have in front of us and 14 games is all that’s guaranteed to us. I’ll show up to work every day and work hard with these guys.”
(On going back to Chicago)
“It will be fun. I love the city of Chicago and I still have a lot of friends on the team. I’m very familiar with their defensive scheme and I’m looking forward to going back.”
Wide receiver Ike Hilliard
(On making major contributions and impact plays)
“Coach Gruden calls the plays based on the defense he thinks they’re going to run and it just so happened today that I was in a position to make a grab and fortunately I was open to make those plays.”
(On his ability to find the open space)
“It’s just the way the patterns are drawn up and we happened to execute a few of them to the T. There was only one situation where I had an option route where it was my decision to make the right choice based on coverage. But we were fortunate enough to get. Other than that, it was a situation where coach Gruden called the play. Based on the play, if I happened to be the guy that is first in the read or third in the read he got it to me and I was able to make the play.”
(On working with quarterback Brian Griese)
“We have a lot of work to do. We had some false starts and some other things going with situational football that we rep a lot. So that’s something that we can’t have. I wouldn’t say that the timing was off, but we just missed a few opportunities on the grass that we feel like we should have connected on. We will figure that out.”
(On how quarterback Brian Griese fits into the system)
“When you look at the stats of Buccaneer quarterbacks of all time, this offense is perfect for Brian. I think he loves it and has a good feel for it. He understands what coach Gruden wants to do.”
Linebacker Barrett Ruud
(On Atlanta coming out throwing the ball and the performance of QB Matt Ryan)
“It was not what I expected at all. I give him credit, he got better as the game went on, but I’m not sure where he was throwing the first few. He made a couple of good plays. In the second half, he made some good throws when we were blitzing. I’ll give him credit, he had pretty good pocket awareness when he stepped up in the pocket and made some good throws.”
(On their run defense today)
“Besides a couple of little gimmick plays, I thought we shut down the run. I thought we did a good job with it. They had the one reverse which was the only real breakout they had. I thought we played the run well.”
Cornerback Aqib Talib
(On this week’s game compared to last week)
“A lot better this week. We got the win, first of all. I got the chance to get my first interception, so it was definitely a lot better than last week.”
(On his first career interception)
“It felt good. He overthrew a screen and it kind of came right to me. Of course I’m not going to complain. It felt real good to get that one out of the way.”
(On fitting in with the defense)
“It’s wonderful. I couldn’t ask to play for a better defense, for a better defensive back coach and a better defensive coordinator. I love it.”
Defensive end Greg White
(On if the defense can tell if their hits on QB Matt Ryan were effective)
“He’s a good quarterback. He threw some real nice passes, give all the credit to him. But you know, we came to win and that’s what we did.”
(On why Ryan never seemed comfortable in the pocket)
“We don’t want him to get comfortable back there. We worked hard in practice and we’ll work hard again getting ready for Chicago.”
MORE FROM THE FALCONS-BUCS GAME:
- GAME CENTER: Stats and more in the NFL.com Game Center
- GAME RECAP: Falcons fall to Bucs, 24-9
- GAME NOTES: Official game notes from Raymond James Stadium
- TRANSCRIPTS: Head Coach Mike Smith | Falcons | Buccaneers
- VIDEO: Head Coach Mike Smith | Matt Ryan
- HIGHLIGHTS: Game highlights from NFL Network
- BLOG: News and thoughts from Managing Editor J. Michael Moore
- MESSAGE BOARDS: Talk about the game with other fans on FalconsLIFE
