HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY(general comments following Sunday night's 20-10 win against Baltimore) 12/20/04
"Well, looking at the game, it was a big game for us, very emotional win. I thought we expended a lot of energy and did a lot of good things. Some things we didn't do really well, and that can come back to haunt you, as we move on. So, we'll have to work on that, try to get it corrected, see if we can be a little bit sharper. But I thought Baltimorereally had an outstanding defensive scheme. They took some chances and put a lot of pressure on us. We made enough plays to win the game and got 20 points. We were close to a few more, but a lot of that had to do with their defense. Defensively, we didn't play our best game. We didn't tackle as well as we needed to, but they have two good backs and they ran hard and ran through us on a couple of occasions. We had some penalties that were untimely and kept some things going for them. So, we'd like to correct that as well. But overall, when you win a game like that, that you have to win, you feel good about it."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY(on the fans booing at the end on the decision to kneel the ball) 12/20/04
"I can understand why they were. They came with a different agenda than we did, so that's okay. They were great during the game and they helped us win the game, which was our achievement, but a lot of fans came to see that record tied or broken. Unfortunately, that wasn't our number one goal last night, but I understand it. I think those same fans will be back this week and if we get a chance to break it, they'll be cheering. So, I really just chalked it up as some people being hopeful that they'd see history."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY(on the advantage of having the No. 3 seed as opposed to the No. 4 seed) 12/20/04
"Well, there are two advantages to me. Number one, if both the three and four seeds win that second round, then you're playing at home. That hasn't happened very often, but it could happen. Certainly, you have more of a chance playing at home in the championship game if you're the three seed rather than the four seed. The other thing that I think is more to the coaches is that when you're the three seed, you know exactly what your situation is. You don't have to plan for two different outcomes. You play your game, you know if you win, you're going to the two seed. So, you can start working on that ahead of time. You don't have to get film of both (teams) and wait until maybe the next night to know where you're going. You know exactly what your course is, and I thought that was an advantage to us last year. We knew we were playing Denver, and if we won that game we were playing Kansas City."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY(on his thoughts concerning the new stadium proposal) 12/20/04
"Well, I'm excited for our organization, number one. I think that's good to know that we're going to be here and we can plan that way for the long term. I think our players are excited about it. I think our fans will be excited when they finally get to see the stadium."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY(on what he expects playing against Marty Schottenheimer) 12/20/04
"I know how he thinks and I know he's not going to change very much. And I know what he preaches—a very sound, fundamental team, very tough, well-disciplined team. We know what we're going to get. I'm not surprised at where they are. They play just like our teams in Kansas Citydid."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY(on the job Chargers' coach Marty Schottenheimer has done this season) 12/20/04
"I think he's done the same job that he's done everywhere. He's won everywhere he has been. His last stint in Washington, they were about to do the same thing. They won most of their games the second half of the year and probably would have done the same thing there, had he stayed. He has a philosophy that he believes in and when he gets enough players to buy into it, they win. I'm not surprised at all."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY(on how DE-Dwight Freeney is playing right now) 12/20/04
"Dwight is playing well. He had the two three-sack games in a row, but I think this one probably is the most impressive, when you play against Jonathan Ogden, and get two sacks and all of those pressures and hits on the quarterback and you're playing against the best left tackle in football…that says an awful lot. He is bringing everything, and I think (Defensive Line Coach) John (Teerlinck) has done a good job of getting him going. And Dwight's done a great job of understanding that you're going to have to learn different things to beat different types of protections. Montae Reagor has done a good job of calling the games for the protections that we see. But a lot of it is just Dwight really expanding his game."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY(on WR-Reggie Wayne's development) 12/20/04
"I think the biggest thing Reggie is doing is playing with great confidence. He's always been able to catch the ball and it's just been a matter of running the routes and knowing what to expect and making the adjustments against the different coverages we see and knowing when and where to expect the ball. That's the thing now, he really understands what's going on, and we've had some back-shoulder throws to him, some throws in traffic where he's had to adjust. He and Peyton (Manning) have just gotten on the same page in the last two years. It's been fun to see, because he was a really polished receiver coming out of college and a guy that you thought was going to play well. And in the last two years, he really has."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY(on Hunter Smith's performance) 12/20/04
"Hunter was outstanding, and we knew it was going to be that type of game. We talked all week about punting quickly to take Ed Reed out of the equation, getting the balls off quick and then getting hangtime. He really took (B.J.) Sams and Reed out of the game and gave us that field position."
