Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches and players comment on their upcoming Thursday night football game against the New England Patriots.
On the Patriots...
"That's a great team. [They're] the defending champs. We want to attack them regardless [of] if they are giving up points or not. [We] want to prove ourselves. We want to make sure we let them know we're a competitive team."
- Guard Kevin Pamphile
"We're expecting them to throw some different stuff at us. It's definitely going to be a game where you've got to trust your eyes and trust their look. They're a team that is going to do what they do and they've had success at that. Definitely us being on the same page and executing – that's the main thing – us executing at whatever they throw at us. We just need to execute and complete the football."
- Quarterback Jameis Winston
On the Patriots Offense...
"I think they've added some speed. Brandin Cooks has been a big addition in terms of creating explosive plays. They've done a nice job schematically getting guys open. Tom [Brady] has done a nice job. He is probably the greatest of all time, or arguably the greatest of all time. He is playing really good football right now and offensively they're hitting on all cylinders."
- Defensive Coordinator Mike Smith
On Tom Brady...
"To get a chance to witness greatness in front of us with Tom Brady coming into town, it gets you pumped up. It definitely makes you think about how hard you worked to get to this point. I'm thinking about what I'm going to say to him when I see him and meet him. But yeah, you've got to be excited. Thursday Night Football – you're the only [teams] on TV and it's in your home stadium, so we're definitely pumped about that."
- Quarterback Jameis Winston
"He's just got the ability to process what the defense is and where the ball needs to go – that's probably the most impressive thing. He doesn't make very many bad throws and he usually puts it in the right spot and it's always away from the defender."
- Defensive Coordinator Mike Smith
"Growing up - Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, guys of that nature and more - every successful quarterback that was playing when I was coming up, I admired them. Tom Brady, in particular, he is the winningest. He has won more Super Bowls than each of those guys, so to me that is the most important part. His ability to protect the football and take advantage of those opportunities when they are given to him is impeccable. Just studying him, just seeing how calm he is [and] how precise he is, is very impressive. That is the reason why every offseason, every rep I get during the season that I'm trying to be better and better because I know that he's still out there playing. He's still getting better and better. He should be an inspiration. Him and Drew Brees and a couple of the older veterans that are still playing to this day are just inspirations for young guys like myself and the other guys coming into the league to continue to work, continue to get better and that's it."
- Quarterback Jameis Winston
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On the Patriots Defense...
"What's tough about them is, even though we haven't gone ourselves against New England a bunch of times, when you study them, they're an amoeba defense. They can play any personnel group, they can change from week-to-week, they can be in even-front one week, an odd-front next week, they will play dime the whole game. They've got a nickel package, a dime package [and a] quarter package. They've always been able to adjust. They will switch at halftime and they've always been a very difficult team to plan for. In that respect, maybe it's better that we do play them on a Thursday night."
- Head Coach Dirk Koetter
"Every week we go in seeing what we can take advantage of [for] a team. But, we've got to be real with ourselves and know that this is a week-to-week league and know that teams are going to come back with a better plan. It's not like they're just going to allow people to get yards on them. They're going to come with a great plan. They have a great coach, a great quarterback [and] a great defense. We've got to be ready to play and take advantage of the opportunities when they're presented."
- Quarterback Jameis Winston
On Bill Belichick...
"I have the utmost respect for Bill Belichick. His respect is well deserved and beyond reproach."
- Head Coach Dirk Koetter
