HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (general comments) September26, 2005
"Kind of a good news, bad news, as it usually is. The good news is we are 3-0 and that's what we set out to do. The bad news is we didn't make as much improvement as we'd hoped to. I thought we played very hard and that's always a positive, and when you have talented guys that play hard, you are going to be in good shape most of the time. But we weren't on top of the details the way we need to be, and hopefully we can continue to work on that. Offensively, we drove the ball and just didn't finish some drives and some critical errors showed up. We had a penalty on our first drive, I think a lineman down field on a screen and that set us back and then we had to punt. We dropped a ball right before halftime, and we had to punt on that one. We miss a couple third and shorts and so it looks like it's not really a good game when there were a lot of good things going on there. We threw a first down interception also that you don't want to throw, so we've got to make some improvements there. Defensively, we're playing very hard. I guess that's probably the best thing to say. Our effort and our speed is making up for some deficiencies. We blew some gaskets on some things and didn't really do all of the things we need to do. If we can get better on the details, and we're going to have to get better as we play some offenses with weaponry that will make you pay for some mistakes we're making now. But I think we have the skill to do it and we have the energy level certainly, we just have to be a little sharper on the details. Special teams, we're continuing to dodge bullets. I thought our kickoff coverage was very good, but our punt coverage, we had some punts that we should have been able to cover and most of them he had to fair catch and the one he didn't, he runs back for a touchdown and there is no reason for it. We have to get better and keep improving, and it will be good to point these things out today after a win and it will give us things to work on in practice this week."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on the blocking of the offensive line) September26, 2005
"We've been pretty good. There's been a lot of three-man rush, not a lot of blitzing, the blitz pick-ups have been pretty good. Edgerrin [James] has been very solid. I think our tight ends have blocked linebackers real well in pass protection. For the most part, other than a couple of blitzes against Jacksonville, it's been good."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on taking the approach of running the ball more) September26, 2005
"I think all offensive linemen would like to [run the ball]. Our guys take a lot of pride in their pass protection, and zero sacks in three games is something they are certainly happy about. But I think if you ask any offensive lineman if they prefer a game like we had the other day, where you're going out and you're running and you can deliver the blows rather than sit in pass protection all the time, it definitely helps."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on championship teams being able to find a way to win) September26, 2005
"We have found ways to win and I think that's a real positive in this 3-0 start. The games have all been a little different. They've taken on different personalities. When we've needed a big play, we've gotten it. When we've needed a sack from the defense, we've gotten it. Yesterday we had a seven-minute drive to ice the game, where we never have to go back out on the field defensively. Those are the things that you have to be able to do, whatever the situation calls for, and I think we are starting to develop that a little bit."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on having the confidence to keep the ball in the fourth quarter) September26, 2005
"We've always felt good with our offense on the field and being able to come from behind and score in our two minute offense, but I think we're seeing some other things. Seeing our offense be able to keep the ball when we're ahead, seeing our defense be able to take away from people and stop those last drives, that's the confidence that you want to get. It doesn't matter what the situation is, you can go out there and make it happen."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on how critical it was for the offense to be able to keep the ball) September26, 2005
"Well that's what you want to do at the end when you have the lead. You want to continue to make first downs, make their defense have to use their timeouts when you've got the ball. The big thing is when we don't make mistakes and we don't kill our drives ourselves, we can be very effective."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on the defensive consistency) September26, 2005
"Well that's the problem. We are not consistent right now. I think we are like 21 carries for 55 yards, and then the 22-yarder that should be a no yard gain play. We have a 4th-and-1 that should be stopped 2 yards in the backfield and we miss a tackle and the guy ends up falling forward. We're playing much better than we were last year. It's not the 5-and 6-and 8-yard runs, but if you play LaDainian Tomlinson, you can't have two or three breakdowns in the game where you just don't go where you are supposed to go, because they can be 50-yard plays rather than 20-yarders.
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on DT-Corey Simon's contribution) September26, 2005
"The biggest thing Corey [Simon] has brought is a little confidence, and just a state of mind that people aren't going to move the ball on us. And he's still learning his way for us. He's probably operating at about 85 percent efficiency now just from not knowing all the defenses and not working with our guys. He was an elite player in Philadelphia, and he'll get to that point here and I think. The system we have is going to help him play maybe better than he played in Philadelphia. But it's going to take him a while to get there. "
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on being 3-0 and not having played perfect yet) September26, 2005
"That is an exciting thing and that's what we are shooting for, and we'll talk about that today in our meeting. We've got a chance to go undefeated in the first quarter of the season and be in front. And we still haven't really hit our stride and been on the details the way we need to be. So if we continue to improve, we're going to be in good shape."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on having to be patient with the details) September26, 2005
"That's where I guess I have to keep my patience. We got some young guys playing especially on defense, like Marlin Jackson. He's in there and he's hyped up playing against his college buddy (Braylon Edwards), and you can understand some of those things. But some of the other guys should be a little more detail oriented right now. We shouldn't be missing some of the things we've missed. That's the only way we're going to really get better and be a dominant defense, is to play with the energy we are playing with now, but play a little more sound and be on top of our fundamentals."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on if it was the same type of progression in TampaBay) September26, 2005
"It was and that's why I always have to make myself think back. (John) Lynch and those guys always used to tell me that I was never satisfied with them either, so maybe it's a good sign."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on DE-Dwight Freeney) September26, 2005
"He's been a force and he's playing hard every play that he's in there. He is somewhat like Randy Moss, in that everybody is accounting for him and changing the way they play offense. Clevelandhad some situations where they had a tight end, tack
