The Seahawks played their worst game as a team Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday afternoon in Munich. A lethargic start to the first half by the both sides of the ball left the Seahawks chasing the game. A second half comeback was thwarted by self inflicted wounds . Here is what the players had to say after the disappointing lost
QUANDRE DIGGS
Q. What were they able to do offensively that you weren’t expecting today?
QUANDRE DIGGS: I just think they came out and broke some tendencies. They ran the ball more than they have in the past. It kind of gets you out of whack when you prepare for them to throw the ball a little bit more. They ran it really well today, so I don’t blame them for continuing to stick with the run game. We’ve just got to play our assignments better. At the end of the day, we’ve got to be better.
Q. Thoughts on the crowd atmosphere here today?
QUANDRE DIGGS: It was amazing. They came out and showed their love for the American game. I’m glad we were able to give them a good game and turn it up in the second half. We wish we would have won, but we enjoyed it. It was a great atmosphere.
Q. Was there anything about the travel or the time change or anything that affected you early in the game with the slow start?
QUANDRE DIGGS: I don’t think so. I think we’ve got to lock in and everybody has to understand their assignment and understand what we’re doing. It’s just small, mental things you can’t have when you’re playing against the best ever. Can’t look at it like that. You’ve got to look at it as another game and another opportunity to get better and be on your P’s and Q’s.
Q. Geno just said the problem was kind of the overall execution for the team. Now you’re on bye week next week. What are you trying to change, or what are you going to change while on bye week?
QUANDRE DIGGS: I think it just starts with us both sides and special teams, we’ve just got to start off faster. You can’t switch up everything that’s going on. We’ve been successful doing what we’ve been doing. We’ve just got to start faster and play better at the beginning of the game, and I think that will help us out and we’ll have different outcomes.
Q. Quandre, this team had problems defending in September. Is there any similar things to what we talked about in September?
QUANDRE DIGGS: I just think with the, like I said, they broke some tendencies that we studied during the week. You’ve got to expect that with Tom [Brady]. He’s managing the game, and he understands, and him and [Offensive Coordinator Byron] Leftwich have a good thing over there. I just think at the end of the day we’ve got to get some of that leaky yardage out. When we get the leaky yardage and we start stopping, and when we get them behind the sticks, we’ve got to get them behind the sticks and keep them behind the sticks.
Q. Did you get the impression he was changing with those runs?
QUANDRE DIGGS: He’s been doing it so long, I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m sure he has full authority of that offense. A player of his caliber, he should. So I wouldn’t be surprised.
Q. When you give up yardage, is that players getting in the right positions, is it missed tackles, or is it just your run defense discipline?
QUANDRE DIGGS: I think it’s a mixture of everything. Everybody can be better. I think we all could be better. I think, when we can get guys behind the sticks and keep them behind the sticks, we definitely, we play a lot better because we control what guys want to do. That’s another one of those things where I tell you they broke some tendencies where we get them stopped on one down, and they run it again on the next down. It was kind of different than what they’ve been doing in the past.
QUARTERBACK GENO SMITH
2022 NFL Munich Game News Conferences: Seahawks vs. Buccaneers
November 13, 2022
Allianz Arena, Munich
Seattle Seahawks Quarterback Geno Smith
Postgame Press Conference
Buccaneers 21, Seahawks 16
Q. Do you feel like you ran out of time over there?
GENO SMITH: Yeah, man, I felt like that second half, to me is an example of truly who we are. I don’t think that first half really is who we are. We couldn’t get anything going. But we really fought back in the second half. That’s a team that won a Super Bowl two years ago, three years ago. They have a lot of great players, great quarterback, great coaches, and they’re also fighting for their season. So we knew they were going to come out playing intense.
Unfortunately for us, it just took us too long to get going. Our defense made some key stops. Cody [Barton] made a great pick to set us up for a chance to get back in the game, and that’s what we did. Obviously we’ve just got to start better and be better on third downs. I don’t think today we did well. So those are the things that hurt us. Obviously I’ve got to protect the football. That can never happen. Guy made a great play as I was going down, but if I don’t turn it over in the red zone, I think it’s a different game.
Q. Geno, I guess on that play, what did sort of happen there? Just nobody was open and you decided to take off?
GENO SMITH: It was a QB drop and tried to run it. Didn’t work. Sometimes it happens like that, but you’ve got to protect the football most of all, and that didn’t happen right there. I got the ball stripped from me, and I can’t have that. I can’t have that happen. I hurt the team.
Q. Geno on the fast start, what do you all have to do? Is that a mental thing? How do you get that fast start that you need?
GENO SMITH: Just play better, execute better. Just get into a rhythm early, convert third downs. We didn’t convert any third downs, I don’t think, in the first half. That’s something that we can’t have happen. We’ve got to start fast. We’ve got to be better, give our defense a chance. They’re out there playing great ball. And also possess the ball and make sure our defense is getting rest on the sideline.
Q. Did the Buccaneers do anything different to what you expected in the first half, or is it just a case of you guys not executing?
GENO SMITH: I think it was just a case of us not executing for whatever reason. We didn’t start fast. We didn’t play as well as we’d like to in that first half. Some things that obviously we can control with the penalties and things like that, that we’ve just got to be better at. Then obviously the second half was better, so you can see that we can get it done, but we’ve just got to play better in the first half.
Q. Geno, what was the atmosphere like? Did it feel different than a typical NFL game?
GENO SMITH: It felt different as far as just the stadium and the overall atmosphere, but I thought the crowd was amazing. It was electric the entire time. They had a few soccer chants. I was looking forward to that. So it was a great experience. I definitely enjoyed it.
Q. Was it your first time in Europe? What do you like most about Germany? And do you know already some German words?
GENO SMITH: I don’t know any German words. It was not my first time in Europe, but my first time in Germany, and I really enjoyed it. I got a little taste of the culture here. It was amazing. The people treated us well. They were first class everywhere we went. So we really enjoyed our time, enjoyed our stay, and we’re thankful for Germany for having us.
Q. You didn’t get your running game rolling with 14 attempts, a total of 39 yards, 22 by yourself. We also saw some players experiencing some tough times on the ground. What was the problem today with the turf, the grass? Was it slippery? How did you experience it?
GENO SMITH: Yeah, it was about what we expected, a soccer field. It’s not going to be like what we’re seeing at home obviously. So it wasn’t that bad. You just had to put your screw-in cleats, your studs in, and some longer spikes so that you could have better footing. Even though guys had them in, they still were slipping just because of the surface. I don’t think that played a part in what we were doing. I just think we needed to execute better.
Q. The running game today was a little bit of an issue. Anything they were doing, or what did you see there?
GENO SMITH: I didn’t really, it’s hard to say because I haven’t watched the film yet. I would have to go through the film on that. I just think overall execution. That’s one thing that we pride ourselves on is our running game, and we have to execute better. I can’t tell you exactly what we need to do better, but I know we just need to be better at that.
HEAD COACH PETE CARROLL
PETE CARROLL: This feels like a real opportunity missed. Coming here in this beautiful setting, all the buildup, and everything that the game could have been it was in hype. The fans were extraordinary, and everything about this whole trip has been great. So the opportunity to win a game here would have been one to really cherish, and I’m sure that they will.
They played a really good football game. Tampa Bay did what they wanted to do, particularly early in the game they were able to keep us off balance. We have not been like that for a while.So we had to regroup, particularly I don’t think we converted a third down in the first half and didn’t run the ball at all. So we came back to mixing things and doing things right and getting some momentum kind of a feel that was different. So you could feel the comeback was happening.
That’s exactly what we would expect from our guys and this team and the leadership of this team, that we would get back in it. We took it all the way till there was a couple plays that happened there, I think early in the fourth quarter, that changed it. They converted on — we had Tom [Brady] in the backfield. He gets out and throws the ball, and they make a big third down win. There were a couple plays like that that really changed the rhythm of the comeback that we were in.
Like I said, it’s unfortunate. The team, we talked about how important it is to realize that we were right back in this game and that we weren’t out of it, and we never thought that, and we didn’t show that. That is the same kind of mentality that’s going to help us finish this season and do something special with this year.
We don’t think anything changes in that regard. Just on this night, they did a better job than we did.
Q. Geno [Smith] had a stretch there those last two drives, the touchdown pass, what did you see out of him?
PETE CARROLL: I think the whole second half he was really on it, and he did a great job. We just went right back to really relying on him in the throwing game and didn’t try to force the run.We didn’t run the ball very well at all during the course of the night, but we were able to go to Geno and the receivers and Tyler [Lockett] and DK [Metcalf] and [Will] Dissly. Dissly had a big role in that, and Ken Walker did too with the check-downs and the things he did on the perimeter.I thought Geno managed that really well and bounced us right back into the ball game.
Q. They got a lot of yards rushing against you guys today. What did you kind of see there?
PETE CARROLL: I was really disappointed. They have not been running the ball very consistently, so coming into the game, we were hoping we could just keep it under wraps and be able to deploy for the throwing game. They did better than we thought they would. They finished running the ball in the fourth quarter, which kills me. That last drive, to not get the ball back and get our chance again, that’s just not the way we expect to play or the way we ever want to put it out there. So that’s unfortunate. But give them credit. They mixed it well. I think the way they mixed their play passes with Tom, as they’ve always done, it’s nothing new. We’ve seen it a million times. That was really effective to keep us a little bit off balance within the run game.
Q. Why were you not able to have more success on third downs on both sides of the ball?
PETE CARROLL: We didn’t function well at all on either side, like you were saying. It was 1 for 9 or something and like 10 for 15 or something on the other side. That spells what happened in the game, our inability to function there. Some change-up looks. We got late with a couple situations and didn’t get exactly the way we wanted to get it lined up on offense.
Defensively they threw and caught it in spectacular fashion. Their guys making the plays, they’ve got great receivers, and they showed it tonight. They came through with guys hanging all over them with some terrific throws, and they kept converting, and that was the difference in the game.
Q. You touched on it a little bit earlier, but the atmosphere here, can you talk about that?
PETE CARROLL: What a spectacle. This is an unforgettable occurrence. To be in that stadium with them all connected like that, I don’t know. It’s obviously, I was respecting the fact they must have done this a lot because they’re really good at it. It is an unforgettable, really, experience and really feel lucky to have a chance to be here.
Q. You’ve been on the high part of the season for your team. Rookies playing well. Four-game win streak…
PETE CARROLL: I would just say that it’s really hard to win them all, to win every game. We got up against a team that played really well against us. We weren’t able to overcome it. We came roaring back and outscored them in the second half, had a chance to do that and come back and win the football game. It ain’t over until you finish it. Regardless of what it looked like or what you thought, I don’t think it had anything to do with the young guys playing. We did make a couple of mistakes tonight, but they were really fundamental things that shouldn’t happen. It didn’t have anything to do with the fact that they’re young guys.
Q. This is the second time your team played in Europe. Do you feel any difference between the London game and this one?
PETE CARROLL: The London game and Munich? Yeah, I’ve never seen a crowd like this. I’ve never been in a stadium where a crowd was so much in unison and connected like they were.We’ve been in loud stadiums and really louder maybe even, but never where everybody — how do they do that? I don’t know how they sing exactly the same like that, but it was really a spectacle.
Q. I would like to talk about Cody Barton. Today he made some play with the interception. From what you have seen in the last month, he’s playing really well. He’s one of the best players on defense.
PETE CARROLL: Cody has been playing really well. He has really improved in the last two, three weeks in particular. Today he had some really nice plays on the perimeter. The interception was a gorgeous play. Jordyn [Brooks] had a chance at one too. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it.But Cody has done a good job. He had to jump in at the other position for Jordyn tonight too. So we’re really pleased. We need everybody to be continuing to get better, and Cody is on track to do that.
Q. This is a strong season already, but now you lost this game. What was the tactic about this game tonight, and what do you want to do for the next games coming up?
PETE CARROLL: We allowed them to do things they hadn’t done. They ran the ball really well, and they played really well on third down. Those aren’t things they’ve been really great at, and we were kind of hoping it wouldn’t be like that. So for us, we have to go back to making sure we respect the running game and do the things we have to do to stop that, and then we’ve got to make our plays on third down. We really didn’t get close to Tom tonight. We had a whole rush plan and a concept we were going with, and we couldn’t get to him. So he had his second opportunities to find his receivers, and he did a great job of it. I thought he played really, really well tonight.
Q. Coach, there was a report earlier today about your eagerness to keep the two quarterbacks, Drew Lock and Geno Smith. Is there a possibility those talks with those will happen before the end of the season?
PETE CARROLL: That’s a really good question. We’re not there talking about that yet. We’re in the middle of the season, and we’re doing the things we need to do. But there’s a conversation that’s coming. We understand that. Really, really pleased with our guys and think they’ve done a great job. Geno’s having a fantastic season. He showed it again tonight. And we really like Drew also, so we’ll see how that goes. I don’t have any updates for you on that.
Q. What did you think was the issue with your running game today? Also, what do you think of the field?
PETE CARROLL: The field was hard on everybody. It was really, it was slick, I guess you could say. Everybody, both sides of the ball, I think in all positions, it had some effect. But remember that it’s the same. It’s not a factor that anyone is more behind it. It was just hard on everyone, and you could tell. I wish the field was firmer.
Q. Did you get an explanation on them picking up the flag in the end zone with the illegal block on the pass?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, yeah. I’m not sure. The explanation is that even though it was offensive pass interference, the philosophy is, when it’s away from the play, you don’t call it.
Q. Even though we’ve seen many, many flags away from it?
PETE CARROLL: So that’s why they picked it up. It was a hard night. It was a hard night. There was a lot of stuff that we’ll go back and look at and see, and maybe we’ll feel differently about it. I don’t know. But it was a hard night.
Q. The Seahawks are one of the home market teams. Could you imagine coming back to Germany pretty soon, maybe next two to four years?
PETE CARROLL: If the league gives us a chance to do it, we’ll be wide open for it. This was a great event for us. Having it come the week before the bye is really valuable. It’s a total different experience if you didn’t have that. I wouldn’t want to do that if it wasn’t with the bye. But it’s just competitively such a challenge. Yeah, we’re wide open. I would love for us to be able to extend the relationship with the fans here in Germany. They were great to us. It’s just as classy as it could possibly be. Everything about it was first class. Let me say this. We were with a lot of people that were part of the group moving us around, security people and all that. The kindness was obvious. People were so good to us and so thoughtful and ahead of everything and really made this a really wonderful trip. I say that, now we got to get to the airport and get out of here too (laughter).
Q. Pete, Geno Smith’s fumble, it looked like he took off running. That was a called pass play, right?
PETE CARROLL: Yes.
Q. What happened on that?
PETE CARROLL: Really, I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t see what happened. I know he turned up, and he was going down to get down, and it got knocked out. Huge turnaround. We really were with another great opportunity right there, and those are crushers.
Q. We’ve seen that one of the main powers of the offense is the set of tight ends. In the first half we hardly saw them. The second half, they made some plays. What happened?
PETE CARROLL: We didn’t convert enough to get enough chances. It was all part of the plan. You saw we started making our first downs, and we spread the ball like we wanted to. We love getting the ball to those guys. You saw why. Will [Dissly] is really a good catcher and runner. Noah [Fant] is as well as Colby [Parkinson]. It’s a great position group for us. No one got going in the first half. We didn’t get enough opportunities. It’s the same old story. When you don’t convert on third down, you can’t see the plan and see what it’s all about. So that was unfortunate.
Q. What happened with Dee Eskridge, and what happened to Jordyn on those couple plays?
PETE CARROLL: Dee got hit, got whacked on the hand. Nothing broken. It blew up on him, so we couldn’t get him back in the game. Jordyn had cramps. Just cramped up from a hydration issue. We were very fortunate coming out of the game.
Q. (Inaudible)
PETE CARROLL: I don’t know about that one, sorry.
Q. Does anyone have jet lag? Or how do you deal with traveling for a long time?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, it is a challenge. It’s a real challenge. We could feel it each day. We weren’t all exactly the same because guys didn’t respond exactly the same. Some guys were able to sleep on the plane. Some guys weren’t. Some people woke up in the middle of the night. A number of people, 4:00 AM seemed to ring the bell. A bunch of people woke up early. The way we scheduled it, it did not seem like it factored in at all. We felt pretty good about it, but we felt like we needed all those days we took. I think we left on Wednesday to get it going. But I think we managed that quite well. I don’t think it was a factor.
Q. Do you think that playing abroad is an opportunity to improve the team building?
PETE CARROLL: Oh, yeah, there’s no question about it. Whenever we get a chance to travel together, there just is opportunities. Everybody’s hanging. That’s why I’m in favor of these kinds of things. That’s why, when we travel across the country, because we’re all the way on the west side of the country, we always go for two-day trips, and it gives us a chance to take more out of the experience. I think, as the season wears on, we become closer, and it’s just a natural fact that it happens. So this is why I’m not opposed to doing what we’re doing. You can’t travel any farther. We’re as far away as you can get, but our guys attitude-wise made the most out of it, and we’ll continue to have a good outlook on it to get everything we can out of it.
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
TOM BRADY
2022 NFL Munich Game News Conferences: Seahawks vs. Buccaneers
November 13, 2022
Allianz Arena, Munich
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback Tom Brady
Postgame Press Conference
Buccaneers 21, Seahawks 16
Q. We talked to a bunch of Germans today before the game and they said they support the other team but they wanted a Brady jersey because they like you so much. How was it playing in front of this crowd today? How did you perceive the crowd? You looked really comfortable on the field despite the long flight getting here.
TOM BRADY: Yeah, that was one of the great football experiences I’ve ever had, so that says a lot for 23 years in the League, and for a regular-season game, I think the fan turnout was incredible. It felt like a very electric atmosphere from the time we took the field.
At the end of the game with them singing “Sweet Caroline” and “Country Roads,” that was pretty epic. I think everyone who was a part of that experience got to have a pretty amazing memory for their life. Thank you for hosting us. We appreciate it. Thank you.
Q. Aside from the actual match, what was the most memorable moment for you coming here to Germany?
TOM BRADY: I think it’s always pretty cool when the team kind of travels together and hangs out for two or three days and can really lock in on what our job is. We’ve got a lot of games that kind of feel like when you’re in a long season, not that they feel redundant, but you’ve done them so many times you kind of feel the routine, and this is obviously outside of our comfort zone to a degree, and a long flight, but that wasn’t a big deal because it was a great flight, and we had great accommodations here.
I think everyone got a chance to see the city a little bit, but most importantly, we were here to try to play and win a football game, which I thought we did a lot of great things out there. So it wasn’t perfect, but I think the best part is winning the game and feeling like we made some improvements.
We have a bye week now so we can take a little bit of time to refresh and get ready to make a big push and figure out kind of some of the things we haven’t done well the first 10 weeks of the year and see how we can get better.
Q. How important was it to get the running game going, especially the job that RachaadWhite did?
TOM BRADY: Yeah, Rachaad did a great job, and the big guys up front played really well. This was as good an effort as we’ve had by that entire group. A lot of guys made plays in the pass game; Mike [Evans] made them; Chris [Godwin] made them; Cade [Otton] made them; Julio[Jones] made them. So everyone did a great job kind of spreading the ball around to different people. It’s what we’re going to have to keep doing.
Hopefully we can keep building on it.
Q. 3rd down conversions and red zone were both really big for you guys, and those were areas you’ve really had to key in and focus on. What was different about those today?
TOM BRADY: Yeah, they were better. I think there’s still room for improvement, obviously. The two that we had a chance on the first drive, got a holding penalty and ended up not getting the field goal, and then we had the interception, two interceptions, one with Lenny [Leonard Fournette] and one with me. Cut down on our turnovers, be a little better on 3rd down. Certainly if we run the ball better, I think we give ourselves a great chance to win going forward.
It makes it a lot easier for all of us when the run game does what it’s doing and did what it did today, and just really proud of everyone really coming together, understanding how important that was for us and figuring out a way to get a win.
Q. How many touchdown passes in your career do you have and how close were you today?
TOM BRADY: I wasn’t very close today. Unfortunately that corner is a former college receiver who jumps a lot higher than me and is much more athletic. I was hoping to be wide open, and I probably was on the first one, and I think they were pretty clued in on the second one, and they said “cover him, cover him,” and I was on the sideline and tried to yell, “Lenny, no!” But it was too late, and the ball went up in the air and I was trying to just — whatever, jump up and knock it down, but I ended up falling on my face.
That would have been pretty fun. I think I’ve had a few catches. Never had a touchdown, though.
Q. On Friday you said you were going to buy a present for your daughter. What did you buy?
TOM BRADY: I’m not telling you. It’s a surprise when I get home. (Laughter.) She’ll be home waiting. She’ll be sleeping when I get home, but I got something for her.
Q. Are there similarities between this team and two years ago?
TOM BRADY: I mean, I think everyone would love to think that — what it was like — everything is totally different than two years ago. Just like most things in everyone’s lives, everything is pretty different than a couple years ago. Every year is a different year, and you’ve got to take your strengths and weaknesses, you’ve got to build on them, you’ve got to work hard.
We have a very different group of players this year, and we’re going to keep fighting hard. We are going to try to do what’s right every time we take the field and try to keep going to get wins.
Q. What did you feel about the atmosphere in the stadium? were you able to enjoy the people or were you still focused for the game?
TOM BRADY: No, that was one of the great experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve played at Wembley twice. I played in Estadio Azteca in Mexico, which was another amazing experience, and this is as good as it gets.
To just travel around the world and see kind of the welcoming from even around town, there was a lot of really cool fanfare, and then driving in today it looked like there was a lot of excitement. By the time we got on the field for warmups, the stadium was basically full, and it just gets everyone hyped up, and hopefully we kind of entertained everyone. That was our goal coming out here.
Q. The future games here in Germany from the NFL, will we see you again in the next four years?
TOM BRADY: Will you see me in Germany in the next four years? Oh, man, that’s a tough question. There’s probably a lot of people that want to know that question. Yeah, I’m going to take this one for what it was, which was very, very special, and I don’t know what the future holds.
But it was amazing, and just got to meet some of the Bayern Munich players, and just been a big fan of international soccer for a long time. I know they’ve got the World Cup coming up. Have a great appreciation for sports, what they do, how they bring people together, and I think this was another indication of that. It was really cool for a bunch of American kids to come over here and play in another country and kind of see — be welcomed the way that we were, so we’re very grateful. Thank you guys.
Q. Was this the major reason you didn’t retire?
TOM BRADY: Number one, yes. Yeah, it wasn’t probably the top reason why, but obviously this is an amazing thing that happened for our team. It’s going to be a fun ride home. I don’t know if we have alcohol on the plane. Not that I drink much, but it will be fun to watch all the other guys drink. I’m sure there might be a few guys looking for some beer on the way out to the airport. We’ll see.
Q. Do you feel like there’s been a turnaround in the season over the last five quarters?
TOM BRADY: No, I really feel like you get out of these games what you put into them, and I feel like each game is very different from week to week and what you put into the game individually is going to give you the best opportunity to succeed.
I thought we had a good week of preparation. Obviously a different week, but we prepared very well, and we were prepared to play today. We came out with a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm. We ran the ball hard, we played very tough, very physical. We covered kicks, we returned some kicks, ran the ball very well, stopped the run. Their passing game really got them back in the game. Geno [Smith] played a great game, made some great fourth-quarter throws. But our defense stepped up, the offense played good. It was a good team win.
BUCCANEERS HEAD COACH TODD BOWLES
Q. How did it feel to run the ball the way you did successfully?
TODD BOWLES: It felt great to run the ball. I thought they did a good job mixing things up, trying to keep him off balance a little bit, running the ball and then throwing the ball. Rachaad [White] and Leonard [Fournette] got off to a good start. Rachaad ran the ball. Leonard got hurt. Rachaad got his carries, and he’s a slithery guy. He comes to play every day. Seems like he’s always falling forward. The offensive line played well, and they blocked for him.
Q. What can you say about the performance of Devin White, considering what he’s dealt with the last few weeks, to come out here and put up two sacks?
TODD BOWLES: For him to even get on the plane, it happened right before we were leaving, and he still got on the plane to play the ballgame. Lose your dad right before you’re getting ready to go to Germany and to come out and still play says a lot about the guy.
Q. Did you have the chance to register the energy of the crowd?
TODD BOWLES: The crowd was electric. A lot of Seahawks fans here. The crowd was electric, though. It was loud throughout the ballgame from beginning to end. I thought the German fans were outstanding, and it’s a great place to play.
Q. How much easier is it with the momentum of two wins going into the bye week and all that kind of positives going into the break?
TODD BOWLES: Feels great to go into the bye week with a win. Obviously two wins, so hopefully we’re trending forward. You almost don’t want to have a bye since you’ve won two in a row, but we’ve got some guys nicked up we need to get healthy, so we’ll get some rest, and we’ll get ready for the stretch run.
Q. There’s always one moment in a season where you find out that you’re flipping around. Does this moment feel like that?
TODD BOWLES: I can tell you that after week 17, but it’s a good start.
Q. 3rd down on both sides of the ball I think you held them for 1 for 9. How important was that and the improvement you’ve shown on both sides?
TODD BOWLES: That was huge for us. It’s something we’ve been working on. We know it takes the offense off the field. We know it keeps the defense on the field, so to get off the field against this club, they’ve got a good ballclub on both sides of the football. It says a lot about the guys working.
Q. A lot of players slipping. Was the ground any problem?
TODD BOWLES: It was slippery. We had on seven studs and it was still slippery, but we understood that. It was equal for both sides.
Q. Did you talk about what cleats everybody had to wear before the game?
TODD BOWLES: Yeah, we knew that. We talked about it. We kind of understood what we had to wear. But it was real slippery and short, so again, both sides had to play. We didn’t use that as an excuse.
Q. One guy that slipped was Tom Brady on that pass reception attempt. Did you tell him to play a little deeper from now on?
TODD BOWLES: Had he not slipped, you would have seen his 42-inch vertical. (Laughter.)
Q. You mentioned Leonard Fournette’s hip. Do we have any update on that injury?
TODD BOWLES: Not yet. He just has a hip pointer. We’ll evaluate it more as we get going.
Q. The defense on the whole, just able to come up — they got close, but what did you think about the overall defense?
TODD BOWLES: Again, three and a half quarters, got to finish ballgames. We understand that going forward. You’ve got to finish ballgames.
Q. What happened on those two touchdowns given up in the fourth quarter?
TODD BOWLES: Well, we couldn’t get off the field on fourth down. We had them fourth down twice and we had plays to make and we did not make them, and then we had lapses giving up the touchdown.
Q. Do you feel any closer to kind of playing that full 60 minutes that you guys have been encouraging players?
TODD BOWLES: We play hard. Just got to stay engaged mentally the whole game.
