LB QUINCY BLACK
(On his interception in the end zone)
“Man to man defense. You know, Drew Brees doesn’t make those kind of mistakes too often. [Tampa Bay was in the] right place, right time, made the play, [and] took a knee. ”
(On playing following a loss last week)
“Well, you know, all that stuff it doesn’t matter. We won the game. We got a game in London next week and we have to prepare for that.”
(On the turnovers)
“[We] created turnovers at home. The crowd was going, it was an exciting atmosphere and happy to get away with the W.”
WR ARRELIOUS BENN
(On the offense)
“We had a rough week last week in San Fran, and we came back. It started in practice, you know, with a day one. Each day we carried it over to the game [tonight]—us having great practices and us just transferring it over to the game. We knew what we did wrong. We just had to bounce back and just get back to playing Buc football.”
(On the importance of the game)
“Oh yeah it’s definitely important. It’s a divisional game; it’s kind of like a playoff game. [The] Saints are a very good team, we play them twice a year, and we’re gonna have to play even a better game the next time we play them. For us to come out and beat the Saints and Drew Brees is great, and we know we played the game that we needed to play.”
(On Buccaneers RB Ernest Graham)
“That was big. We knew Ernest [Graham] was going to do that. Ernest is a guy that we depend on. We look up to him. He’s a leader on and off the field, and he’s a great guy on and off the field.”
CB RONDE BARBER
(On bouncing back from last week’s loss to San Francisco)
“What happened last week? Well, it wasn’t us. It didn’t feel like us. This was more our type of game. We’re familiar with the Saints and they’re familiar with us. We gave them some different looks here and there. We can feel comfortable out there playing situational ball.”
(On being a resilient young team)
“Yeah, Raheem [Morris] said it last week. Good teams take that beating and find a way to bounce back and we did. We had a great week of practice, and, if you ask Rah, some of what happened last week started on Wednesday and Thursday, so we definitely had a more energized practice this week. We were on the details of what these guys [Saints] do, and, like I said, we’re familiar with these guys. [We] didn’t try to beat ourselves. I felt like we beat ourselves last week [against San Francisco].”
(On the matchup with Saints TE Jimmy Graham)
“He is by far their most targeted player, and you know why. He’s tough to deal with no matter who’s on him. Whether it’s me or Sean J [Jones] or any of the linebackers. He’s a basketball player, you know. He posts up and takes jump balls. [You] just have to be prepared for his catches, and he had some. We were ready for him; we knew he would get [targeted by Brees].”
RB EARNEST GRAHAM
(On the impact of last week’s loss on today’s win)
“We feel that wasn’t us last week, for whatever reason. We saw that on film, and we left it on the field, but we left it there in San Francisco. We came out and we knew we had a chance today to punch first place [in the division].We had the Saints coming in. We didn’t have time to sulk about [the loss] and that’s really one of the traits of our team. When things happen within a given drive, within a given game, we are able to put things behind us.”
(On being a starter)
“No, I don’t focus on anything; I don’t feel entitled to anything. You know, I just count my blessings and I’m happy I play football. I never felt entitled to be the starting running back or to anything. When you feel that way and just handle your work and handle your career, you want to be able to step up and be ready when it’s time, because you know you not dealing with sulking over certain things. I’m not like that.”
WR MIKE WILLIAMS
(On the win)
“It feels great. When you get a win, it feels great. It doesn’t matter how we get the win. It doesn’t matter how we do it.”
(On the impact of the run attack from Earnest Graham on the passing game)
“I’ve been telling him all week, ‘Come on man, get that old body moving.’ I’ve been playing with him and stuff. He got it moving today, it helped a lot. Got the passing game going. With him doing that, it helped us a lot.”
(On the receiving corps)
“We always put it upon ourselves. They always say to us that we are the drivers of the bus; the whole team tells us that. When we say our whole team is on the bus, the receivers are the drivers. So if we got no drivers then the bus doesn’t move. So we got to get it going, and that’s how we always looked at it.”
CB E.J. BIGGERS
(On his interception)
“We needed it. I mean, it was a long time coming—we had one [in the] first game. We needed one.”
(On the win)
“It was a division opponent, a rivalry game, for first place in the division. It was a chance to take first place in the division, and that’s all that needed to be said.”
(On going forward having to make the trip to London)
“We’ll watch the film, catch some mistakes. [We] left some plays out there on the field. It’s going to be like that in every game. Something’s going to happen that you could correct and get better at. We are going to do that and get better and keep growing as a team and as a defense.”
P MICHAEL KOENEN
(On tonight’s game)
“The coverage teams did good. Offensively, we moved the ball. It was just a good night.”
(On the importance of field position)
“It’s huge. Our coverage teams did a good job all night limiting [RB Darren] Sproles. It’s big when an offense has to start inside their 20, let alone inside their 10, consistently, so they have to drive a long field. It’s big.”
(On playing a big part in the win)
“It feels good to get this win. It feels good to see everybody smiling. It feels good to do it at home, to see our offense move the ball like they did, and our defense getting turnovers. It was just a great night.”
(On being 4-2)
“It feels good, but you have to flush the good feeling just like you flush the bad feeling and reset for next week. We’ll enjoy it for a day, get on a plane, and then it’s back to business.”
WR PRESTON PARKER
(On the win)
“We went out there, everyone played together, played with one mind, and that’s what we did.”
(On the effectiveness of the offense)
“Coach [Greg] Olson wanted us to go out there, score first, score fast, and he said that we’d be able to handle them and let the defense go out there. And that’s what we did. We went out there, scored fast, and got some points on the board early.”
(On his second-quarter touchdown)
“It was an option route. I have the option to go out or the option to take it up the seam, and I just crossed the space and Josh [Freeman] saw me, made eye contact, he drilled it, I caught it, and I was in for six [points].”
(On the punt return in the second half)
“Anything to help the team. That’s part of the game, getting hit hard. It kind of amped me up a little bit, so it was good to just get that W.”
S TANARD JACKSON
(On being back)
“It feels great. Words can’t even express how I’m feeling right now. It’s just an emotional day for me from the start. I’m just glad we got this win, that’s the biggest thing.”
(On the interception)
“It was big because it helped this team. Any big plays we get gives momentum to this team. I’m just grateful. Grateful to get another opportunity to be back in the locker room with these guys.”
(On getting more comfortable as the game went on)
“Yeah, muscle memory. After that first drive, that first play, actually, and first hit, all of that was out the window, I was back in my element.”
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