QUOTING: Open Locker Room 9/10/03

LB DERRICK BROOKS

(On the performance in the Philadelphia game)
“Believe it or not, we do have some areas we need to clean up. If we were perfect the first game out there, I’d be concerned. There’s still some areas for us to work on and tighten up, so that’s what we’re going to work on this week.”

(On whether he is surprised the Bucs are ranked seventh after the Monday night game)
“No. That’s why I said there are some areas that we need to clean up to get back to where we want to be and that’s the top of the heap.”

(On Carolina’s defense)
“That’s more of a question for our offensive guys. I just know they play well, and they play hard. You can see that just by watching them. How good they are and whether they compare to us, that’s a hard thing for me to tell. If we go out there and out-perform their defense on Sunday, we’ll win the ballgame.”

(On Carolina thinking they are better than the Bucs’ defense)
“Well, they should (think they are better). If they didn’t think they were good or were not confident in their ability, then…I don’t want anybody on my team that isn’t confident. They’re just confident in what they’re putting on the field. As usual, we’ll just show up and see what happens Sunday.”

(On what he learned from the Philly game)
“We can win, despite for three and a half quarters nothing going your way. It’s like, you’re pounding and pounding, and then you start to see some breaks. Our field goal unit had taken some rushing and some beating, but here they were. They stood tall in the heat of the battle and came through. We played tall for 60
minutes.”

G COSEY COLEMAN

(On Carolina being the most physical team the Bucs play)
“Could be, very well could be. I’m not really certain as of now, but it does stand out as being a physical game. I remember they have a solid defensive front. A lot of comparisons are being made between their front and our defensive line. I don’t really see it. I mean, we’re talking about two totally different types of
defensive lines in my opinion. They do well, and it is a good challenge for us. We’re amped, man, we’re ready. This is our home opener, and we’re ready to go out and defend our castle, simple as that.”

(On preparing for such a physical team during a short week)
“It’s something you have to do. You can either look at it and make an excuse about it, “Hey, we played on Monday night, and we have a game.” But everybody does that. Every team gets their chance to play on Monday night and follow up with a Sunday game. We’re not different, so we have to meet it head on and not
let that be an excuse.”

(On Carolina)
“These guys are big guys. They have a very good front, and they do the things that they do well.”

(On Carolina’s motivation)
“It’s not a war of words or anything like that. These guys are talking trying to motivate themselves to come out here and play us. They’re shooting for us. They’re coming to our house. All we got to do is defend the castle.

(On if Carolina has the next best defense behind the Bucs)
“Could be. Could be. I don’t really get into the speculation of things like that. It’s early on. We don’t really know who’s going to be good. Everything right now is just speculation and potential. Come Sunday, both teams will line up and after that, we’ll have an idea of who’s doing what.”

K MARTIN GRAMATICA

(On the offense in last year’s game compared to this year)
“Our offense is much better than the beginning of last year. They know coach’s system and we’ve got players that are playing incredibly good. We’ll see what kind of game it turns out to be.”

(On the kicking coverage)
“I thought we did pretty good the whole preseason. They did a great job Monday covering punts and kickoffs. We try to place the ball in the corners and stuff and our guys fly down there and don’t let the other guys move.”

(On the 12-9 game last season)
“We learned that we couldn’t ever give up because we were down and it took some incredible plays like that fumble and that recovery by Corey (Ivy) – that’s just something you don’t expect to happen. So not giving up and playing all 60 minutes because sometimes it takes that. And it just shows what kind of defense
we have - people aren’t going to score a lot of points. If we just get a few, just enough points, we’re going to win games.”

(On Philly game)
“Everybody just got really excited and we knew that even if we didn’t play a great game we could win.”

WR KEYSHAWN JOHNSON

(On Carolina’s Defense)
“Carolina obviously has gotten better. They’re a team that could be good in the next several years, to the point where you would start favoring them for Super Bowls and stuff like that. It’s just a matter of them continuing to grow.”

(On Carolina’s “rank” in the division)
“I don’t care about what Carolina does or any of those other teams. They’ll all be tough. Atlanta will still be good with their quarterback, and New Orleans will eventually get their act together. And this division will probably be very strong.”

(On the possibility of a letdown after the emotional win Monday)
“You try to get your body rested. A bunch of guys are probably sore that haven’t played 60 or 70 plays because of the preseason. But I think that you get to rehab, you get to take the necessary treatment that you need, you take the measures that you need to heal your body and you just move forward to the next game. This is what you get paid to do, so you just move forward.”

(On the difference between Carolina’s defense this year and last)
“I think that they have a pretty good defense overall. Fox did a pretty good job when he was the Giants defensive coordinator. He’s done a pretty good job with Carolina last year. I don’t know what their record was – 8-8, or something like that – but they should’ve won several more games. They had us on the ropes
down in Carolina. They could’ve very easily won that football game because of their defense. They say that they have the best defensive line in the NFL. Maybe they do. Maybe they have to come out and prove that to us. Those guys obviously can play. Julius Peppers is a great pass rusher who could be great in
this league. The secondary is coming along, they’re young, so they’ve got a pretty good defense. ”

(On wanting to pick up where they left off in the second half of the Philly game)
“I think we do. I think we want to start off a lot better than we started off Monday night.”

(On whether the Bucs offense has more weapons than anyone else in the league)
“Joe has always caught the ball whenever we’ve thrown it to him. Warren is just an added feature. I don’t know what gives us the right to be ranked up there with the best in the league. People may base that on statistics. We’re not a statistical team. We don’t look at the numbers. That’s more for people that look at
statistics. We look at the “W” column. If that means that none of us caught a ball and we won the football game, then we probably be very happy and try to improve.”

(On playing the first regular season home game in front of the fans and the crowd’s reaction)
“I think it’ll be pretty fun. I understand there’s supposed to be a ring ceremony or some type of celebration before the game. I think it’ll be big for the fans.”

S JOHN LYNCH

(On Carolina building their offense around Stephen Davis)
“Dan Henning is a good coordinator who is going to put them in a situation where they’ll try to get third and shorts, and Stephen (Davis) is a good guy to build it on.”

(On shutting out Philadelphia)
“It’s alright. It’s about wins and losses. It’s important to keep your perspective. It’s after one game, and these things all balance out after awhile. We have to get back to football. You pitch a shutout against Philly on the road, you have to be very proud of your performance. We had a feeling walking out of there we could have played better. Talking to the coaches it’s the case. It wasn’t our best effort. We’re proud of what we were able to accomplish. Wins and losses are most important, but we can play better.”

(On competitors)
“It’s a team we have a lot of respect for, and it’s a division game. Division games are always important.”

(On the abundance of offensive weapons the Bucs have)
“That’s something that I loved about the first effort in Philadelphia – so many people contributed. Both on offense and defense, it was truly a team effort, and that’s the mark of this team.”

(On a short week)
“You have to be mentally tough and get through the grind. It’s tough to do, but you can’t make that excuse. You’ve got to come out and play well. It’s something we’ve been able to do in the past. Coach Gruden will take care of the schedule and account for any changes that we might have in a short week, but most of all, you’ve got to get a good grasp of Carolina and what they’re doing so that your preparation is up to par. As far as being sore, you’re going to be sore. That’s football.”

WR KEENAN McCARDELL

“They do. They talk a lot, though. When you put everything in motion and start to play, all the talk goes out the window. We’re just worried about playing. You do your talking when the ball is snapped, that’s how you talk to people. I think they’ll just have to come in and show us. Someone always says that if you talk
the talk you need to walk the walk. We’re just going to wait and see what happens and play our game this Sunday.”

DT ANTHONY McFARLAND

(On the NFC South Division)
“You’ve got a lot of good, young teams with us and the Saints and the Panthers and the Falcons—a lot of good, young, exciting players on both sides of the ball and on special teams. So I think when you get in a division game, there’s going to be a big rivalry because you’re going to play them twice a year, and so
everybody starts to know everybody and it starts to become very competitive.”

(On the Carolina game being as big as the Eagles game)
“The Eagles game is over—we’re 1-0 and we’re moving to the next week. You cannot look behind in this league and you cannot look ahead. You’ve got to take care of what’s on your plate at the time. Right now the Panthers are on our plate and they’re a pretty good football team. They remind us how we used to be –
young, up-and-coming, hadn’t really got over the hump yet. They’re hungry, they’re ready, they’re playing some good football—special teams and defense—we got our work cut out for us.”

DE SIMEON RICE

(On refocusing quickly)
“I mean you just have to do it. We’re all in great condition and understand the circumstances. The game is in front of us. We just apply what we know, and after that everything will just follow suit. We all have great energy for the season opener and it kind of gives the Tampa area some of what we’ve done last year
and more of what we’re going to get done this year, so it’s going to be exciting.”

(On what he specifically is looking forward to on Sunday)
“Just playing, just the game in itself. The long awaited season opener. We’re at home, and we’re going to open the stadium right. This week is a week involved where there are going to be a lot of great joys and great pains, and we’re going to enjoy every minute of it.”

(On whether he looks forward to facing a less experienced quarterback)
“Not really. We’re just going to take advantage of each step. Each step is something that we accomplish. Every ccomplishment that we make is every step in its entirety. What we’re doing is keeping everything in front of us and understanding our circumstances. We understand that our season isn’t won and lost by one game, but we’re in hot pursuit of what we’re definitely trying to accomplish in the long haul.”

(On breaking the sack record)
“I want to set my own. If I have to go through his to break it, so be it. I kind of want to put my finger down in a Hollywood block for myself, not because anyone else is there. Just because it feels good to me to go where no man has gone before. This season to me is about doing the impossible. For me, going out there and doing what I have to do this Sunday in a big way values me because we want to win, number one, and I want to look as good as I possibly can in it. I’m going to give all I possibly can week in and week out and see where it all falls at the end of the season.”

(On what the impossible is)
“We’ll soon find out.”

(On Jake Delhomme)
“I don’t know too much about him. I don’t really care too much about him. What I know about their team is they’re a really good team. In terms of this week I’m sure he’s going to be excited, he’s going to be energetic and want to get going. We’re going to do everything to prevent that. It’s going to be another exciting
one (game). They’ve got a great defense, and he’s a young quarterback that wants it all right now, so we’ve got our hands full.”

(On throwing Donovan McNabb off with the pass rush)
“I think it caused him to not really settle his feet. It caused him to be uncomfortable. In terms of what we did it just caused pain to him because we were hitting him every time, damn near, when he was throwing the ball. We kept it all in front of us. Me and Donovan (McNabb) talked after the game, and when we talked after the game it was all about the game. We talked about certain
situations in the game and how he felt. Well, he was uncomfortable. When I’m coming off the corner he was like, “Simeon, you’re coming around Tra (Thomas) like you were coming, and you were doing what you were doing.” It kind of threw him out of sync, and we understood that. We got the victory, so we move on.”

DT WARREN SAPP

(On lobbying for offensive plays)
“Who’s the person that’s saying I’m lobbying on offense? If Jon (Gruden) came to you and asked you to stick your head in the hole and you just won the Super Bowl, you’d stick your head in the hole.”

(On the new look defense)
“I’m glad to see everybody getting a shot. In this league, you never know what you’ve got until you actually step out on the field. We found out about Ryan Nece, Nate (Webster), Tim Wansley, and Dwight Smith. It’s just going to get better, because this game teaches you to get better after meeting you keys, and
reacting to the game.”

(On the difference between what Carolina will bring this Sunday compared to what Philly brought on Monday)
“It’s more of a power running game. It’s just a power running game that we’ve got to be ready to sit up and stop.”

(On whether Joe Jurevicius’ second TD catch Monday night is the best in franchise history)
“I haven’t been around here that long, but it’s the greatest one I’ve seen. It’s special, you know.”

(On his first-ever offensive catch)
“I’m just bringing the two-way player into the new millennium. I’m making sure the kids don’t forget that players used to go both ways. It’s just a chance for us to get a first down because normally when I’m in it’s just a short yardage situation where we need a power running game and I help with the block. I don’t have a problem with that. I’m just one of those extra bodies that can help move the line and get us a first down and keep me off the field. It felt like old high school, when Brad gives you that funny look in his eye that tells you ‘I might be looking for you!’”

CB DWIGHT SMITH

(On him possibly playing offense)
“I get paid to do the things I do on defense, and that’s good enough for me.”

(On Sapp’s reception in Monday’s game)
“We needed a tight end and the guy has the skill to play tight end so we put him in there. That’s basically what it is. A lot of people look at it as if we were trying to rub it in their face. We had been planning this all week, so it had nothing to do with the score of the game or the time of the game. He can play the position. He played it in high school and he still has the hands and ability to play it now.”

DE GREG SPIRES
(On Warren Sapp’s reception)
“It was funny. Warren (Sapp) is a big, athletic guy. He played tight end in high school. I wasn’t surprised.”

(On whether Sapp’s catch ignited the sideline)
“I think it did, you know, it got everybody up. The defense and the offense, everybody loved that when you see a guy like that. He’s the millennium player going both ways on offense and defense. He’s the only guy I see like that.”

(On the play of Simeon Rice)
“The guy’s on top of the league. There’s nothing else I can say about him. He’s the best at what he does. He’s strong, he stops the run, he rushes the passer like no one I’ve ever seen before. This guy’s doing whatever he wants to do. He’s never tired out there. He’s doing what he’s got to do. Sim (Simeon) is up here, and everyone else is down here, to me. He’s fun (in the huddle.) We talk, we communicate. Sometimes he’ll tell me, “Let’s switch sides.” We can switch sides on the fly just to get a rush on. If my tackle is not as good as his, every now and then we may switch so he can get a good match-up. That’s just team ball. You want to win, I want to win. That’s what it comes down to.”

T KENYATTA WALKER
(On the Carolina game)
“It’s going to be exciting—I’m looking forward to it. Last year, the first game I wasn’t playing, so it was a whole other different feeling for me and I’m just excited to go out here and get a win.”

(On Carolina’s defense)
“Their defense is pretty good and they’ve got some great talent over there. But we’ve got to just go out there and play our game. I feel that we are the defending champs and they have to come see us—they’ve got to attack us. We’ve got to go out there and do what we do. If we play our game, we’ll be fine”

G JASON WHITTLE
(On the Philadelphia game)
“Obviously there are some things we can improve on. There were some good spots, but at the same time there are obviously some things we can work on.”

(On starting after coming in late and suffering a leg injury)
“I think anybody in my shoes would have done the same thing. I just have to give my hats off to the training staff and the coaching staff. They’re the ones who kind of got me where I am and believed in me and had faith in me to just let me go out
there and play. Anybody at this level is expected to do that, it’s our job. We’re just expected to do it.”

(On his leg after the injury)
“No, it’s definitely not one hundred percent. It’s just going to take a little bit of time to get strength back and flexibility. It’s good enough (to play), and it doesn’t really bother me too much.”

(On the cohesion between him and the other linemen)
“We got to practice a couple of weeks together. We did a good job of communicating. The coaching staff does a good job of going over things, and we study a lot and do a lot of things off the field to try to make that cohesion work. Luckily it paid off.”

(On being with the N.Y. Giants during September 11, 2001)
“For one thing my best buddy from my hometown lost his older brother. We went to Ground Zero. As a team we went down there. I went down to one of the hospitals and spent the night with Randy and his older brother because they didn’t have any family down there. They thought he wasn’t going to make it
through the night. He ended up dying two weeks later. I just think about that. I think about their family. I think about all the families, all the firemen, all the policemen, all those people. I know it’s a hard time for them.”