BUCCANEERS OPEN LOCKER ROOM QUOTES
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2008

WR MICHAEL CLAYTON

(On why he, an LSU product, is decked out in Florida garb)
“I made a little bet with Larry Hoyt, our equipment guy, and as you all know we got ran through pretty bad. I’ll be in this uniform for two days, and two days only, and I’ll probably burn it afterwards.”

(On if the Florida products on the team have been getting on him)
“Yeah, they have a lot to say. We’ll keep that between us.”

(On a lot of upsets last weekend in the NFL)
“Every game you have to come to play and play to win. I think with our mentality right now, when we step on the field we really feel like we can’t be beat. When you have that mentality and you play hard the way we do and our defense shows up the way we have, we’re a pretty good football team.”

FB JAMEEL COOK

(On if he remembers the offense)
“I remember a lot. Obviously, it’s been about three years since I’ve been gone, so things are going to change. But I’ll pick up on it. A lot of guys are helping me. There is some stuff that is new, but for the most part, the basis of it, I still remember a lot of it.”

(On coming in to fill a position of need)
“It’s cool. I just thank everybody here for giving me another shot – everybody from Coach Gruden and on down. I just appreciate, and I’m happy to be back here. This is the best possible situation I could ever be in.”

RB WARRICK DUNN

(On playing with Mike Alstott)
“It was an honor because I got to see him early in his career when he was still running with reckless abandon, just banging heads and making great runs, those two and three-yard runs, hitting 10 guys and still getting that yard or scoring that touchdown. To me, he was one of those guys when you needed that one or two yards at crunch time, he was the right number to call.”

(On the depth that this team has)
“It’s a deep, talented, young team. I think what’s good is that everybody is competitive. Everybody is pulling for each other, helping each other out. It’s not one guy who wants to get all the attention. I think everybody just plays well together. We’re like a bunch of brother just going out there, just playing football. When one guy goes down, other guys try to step up and take the pressure off the other guys. It’s been good. It’s great to have guys step in and play positions they haven’t played or guys moving around on the offensive line. It’s just pretty amazing that guys are that sound in what we are doing. It’s good to have that.”

(On if this team is starting to bond together)
“I think during that time we were bonding; now it’s just a matter of brining it together for the next game. We played well the last game. You can’t really live off that. This week, we have to get back to the basics and just stay hungry and stay together like we were last week. I think we fought through a lot of adversity losing in Denver and coming back the next week playing well. Now, can we rebound from playing well and play even better. It’s going to be a big game Sunday night against the Seahawks and we’re looking forward to it.”

QB JEFF GARCIA

(On being the starter again)
“I think any time you play this game you want to be able to contribute. It is hard to be able to contribute when you’re standing on the sidelines, and in a situation where you are not necessarily in the game physically. I try to help out as much as possible from a mental standpoint, but really we want to be out there competing. To have that opportunity again feels really good for myself, and I just hope I can make it last as long as possible.”

(On the Seahawks defense)
“They are a team that is very good defensively. They have good players on the defensive side of the ball. We witnessed that last year. It was a struggle against them over there in Seattle. We were only able to get six points on the board. They fly around, they are athletic, and their linebackers are a great group of linebackers. The have some good players upfront that are going to get after the quarterback. They are going to mix coverage’s. They are going to disguise coverage’s. They are going to do things that force you to be very steady as far as your evaluation, and the studying of their approach and their team. That is going to be a great challenge for our offense, as far as how we find ways to move the ball, and find ways to get the ball in the end zone. They shut us out last year. We hope to not have that happen again.”

DT JOVAN HAYE

(On the rush defense)
“The guys are selling out, and being gap sound. We have 11 guys flying around to the ball every play and not allowing the big runs.”

(On RB Julius Jones)
“They are like fourth in the league in average per rush and 10th overall so we have our hands full, we will be ready.”

(On playing in primetime)
“No better time. Everyone gets to watch. We had a few good games this year and not everybody got to see what we could do. The spotlight is on the team this week and we will definitely be ready for Sunday.”

WR IKE HILLIARD

(On the team’s depth)
“Since I’ve been here, I think we’ve, as a team, gotten a lot better at acquiring depth. I’ll let everyone else talk about what we may or may not have, but we feel good about what we’ve been trying to build over the last couple years. In every room, we’ve got guys that can step in and play, if necessary, at every position. You look at the unselfish play of Earnest [Graham], just to top it off about what kind of ballplayer he’s been, just from his past, coming from free agency and working his way into being a starter. And now last week, unfortunately because of Byron’s injury, having to contribute their. You look at what Brian [Griese] has done, what he can continue to do when he’s healthy. Other guys that you normally don’t look at the roster and say, ‘We expect this guy to make this amount of plays or that amount of plays,’ we just have guys that come in and play good football when the opportunity is given to them.”

(On the team’s unselfishness)
“We do a good job of stressing the team concept. No matter what your role is, do it to the best of your ability when you get out there. We’ve done it pretty well as of late; hopefully we can continue to do that.”

(On Mike Alstott)
“I love Mike. I wish he was still playing. I hate that he’s not in uniform. He’s one of my favorite guys all-time, even when I was unfortunately on another team, on another sideline. We had to account for him. He made a number of plays that you don’t see from many guys that played his position. I think it’s due to have a tribute to him. We look forward to what’s going to happen on Sunday.”

(On Michael Clayton)
“I think we all expect a lot out of Mike. For him to come in and make some plays like he’s done up until this point, the bar gets higher. We expect him to do more. We don’t look at Mike as just a guy that comes in and punishes people in the running game. We need him to make more plays in the passing game and make our offense better.”

(On Clayton wearing a Florida jersey)
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I plead the fifth. He should have been a Gator, it looks good on him. But I plead the fifth. I have no idea how that happened. Please don’t associate my name with Mike wearing a Florida jersey.”

CB AQIB TALIB

(On how he has let his athleticism work within the system)
“You learn the system and then you play football. It will come to you naturally. Once you learn the system and get comfortable, then you’re athleticism will come out and you’ll be able to play your game.”

DE JIMMY WILKERSON

(On how well the Bucs have stopped the run)
“We’ve been talking about that going back to training cam, OTAs and mini-camp – the first thing we need to do is stop the run. We stop the run and get them to throw the passes, then we can use our front four to get pressure on the quarterback and make him throw bad passes. That’s what we’ve been trying to do. We’ve been trying to establish ourselves as one of the best defenses out there in the NFL.”

(On red zone defense)
“We’ve tried to pride ourselves on being good in the red zone. It wasn’t very good last year, so that’s been one of our goals this year, keep people out of the red zone and keep them out of the end zone and we’ve been very proud about that. But we can’t just stay proud forever. We’ve got to keep working hard and keep working on little things outside of the red zone.”

(On Seattle’s running game)
“They’ve got some strong backs, three strong backs. It’s going to be a very tough game despite the injuries and people that are out. We don’t underestimate these guys. Seneca Wallace, he could be back there, Frye, he could be back there and both of those guys are real good guys as far as throwing the ball so we’ve got to be on our A-game.”

(On playing in prime time)
“Every week is a prime-time game for us.”