HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN

(On his assessment after watching the game tape)
“I think from an offensive standpoint, our first two third downs we had opportunities to convert and we don’t make a play. It was a dogfight. I thought we picked it up a little bit from an offensive standpoint as the game unfolded. There were some opportunities that I feel we didn’t cash in on unfortunately. As I said yesterday, we played very good defensively with the exception of four or five plays. I look at one of the explosive plays, I believe the officials missed a holding call on that play. But that’s football. The game was right down to the wire. We just didn’t call the right plays, I guess, there at the end.”

(On if Brian Griese would be ready to start if Jeff Garcia can’t play)
“Brian’s ready to go. [Luke] McCown’s ready to go if we choose to go that direction. We’ll let you know.”

(On if Garcia was hurt by missing playing time in the preseason)
“I don’t know. It wasn’t just Jeff missing the preseason games; he missed a lot of training camp, he missed a lot of work period. I’m looking at a lot of quarterbacks that played yesterday that were inactive. I just pray Tom Brady’s going to be okay. Peyton [Manning] played last night after not being under center. [Matt] Hasselbeck’s had issues with his back. It’s a tough game. You can call it rust or inactivity or whatever it may be, but there are plays there that Jeff normally makes and unfortunately we just didn’t get it done yesterday.”

(On positives on offense)
“I think we ran the ball extremely well. Unfortunately we had two holding calls and a 15-yard personal foul penalty that put us way behind in the down and distance. It kind of took us out of the running mentality. We had the two-minute drills, one at the end of each half. We feel like we did some great things running the football. We had some good looks in the passing game. We’ve just got to convert a couple of those early first downs and get the momentum going. We’ve got to start better. It’s a credit to the guys for hanging in there, coming back and answering two of New Orleans’ scores with scores themselves. The last drive of a game was a good drive, put our team in a position to win. I thought [Jeremy] Zuttah had a good game, first game as a Buc. I was impressed with Antonio Bryant, first game as a Buc. Jeff Faine’s first game, and B.J. Askew hadn’t been playing a lot of football for us, either. So there were a lot of positive things from an offensive standpoint. We’ve got to score more points to win and dominate, there’s no question about it. We’ll do everything we can to get it right this week.”

(On the defense giving up big plays)
“You have to tip your hat to Brees. He is a great quarterback. A couple plays that no one is talking about are the plays that he made in the pocket with guys hanging on him. You know throwing the ball for first downs. He made two tremendous plays in the pocket. He is a great quarterback. He had a lot to do with their success yesterday. He’s on the money. You know down the field, on the money. We mistimed a jump one time. We had a chance to intercept the ball and we didn’t make the play. But our guys played hard. We had six or seven series in a row where we were very impressive and as you say we uncharacteristically gave up the big play yesterday. Hopefully it gets everybody’s attention and we can do a lot better than that.”

(On RB Earnest Graham)
“Yeah, we would like to get him more involved. Warrick Dunn did some good things. But as I say when you start the game and your third play, you’re three and out, you’re not going to get a lot of guys involved. We got a good drive with our second possession. We got Joey Galloway a great look to keep the drive alive inside their red zone and we don’t convert. We had three holding penalties, two holding penalties and a personal foul and when it is first and 20 and first and 25 it is hard to run. You know you have to throw in the two-minute situation so sometimes circumstances make it a little harder than others. I will be the first to say that Earnest played well and we have to get it to him more and Warrick Dunn included.”

(On announcing a starting quarterback)
“We have to get the quarterback reps. We got to get wired in. We will do that here in the next 24 to 48 hours. We will make sure we get all the information we need to do what gives our football team a chance to get back to 1-1 and win our first football game.”

(On the Falcons)
“They have a good quarterback. This guy is a number one pick arguably in football. They have another back named Norwood who had close to 100 yards. So we will have to work hard on our run fits and we are going to have to tackle extremely well this week. No question about it. The Falcons are going to be a very good defensive football team. They have good personnel. They have a very good coach here and it’s a disciplined scheme. They are playing really hard. I give them a lot of credit.”

(On not falling to 0-2)
“You know your back is up against the wall everyday in this league. We have to fight right now; we had a tough loss yesterday. We lost our opener on the road last year. We have the right stuff in our locker room, and we are going to play well this week, I am confident about that.”

(On the deactivation of WR Michael Clayton)
“We wanted to have Mike up, but we had five receivers dress. Dexter Jackson was up for return purposes. Maurice Stovall and his dynamic special teams play was important in this game. As you know, Ike Hilliard, Joey Galloway and Antonio Bryant were the three guys that started in our three receiver set. We will see Mike Clayton hopefully this week and we will let you know.”

(On the deactivation of RB Michael Bennett)
“Same thing you know it is a numbers game really. We can’t have everybody active. They force you to get down to 46, 45 if you count the third quarterback. If you just sit around and say we need seven offensive linemen, seven defensive linemen, six linebackers, and how many receivers can you have. We have a long snapper, a punter, a placekicker, two quarterbacks, three tight ends. You know you have to do the math yourself and it is hard sometimes. I know it was for the Saints, they sat down a couple of really good players yesterday also. We will do what we think gives our team a chance to win on any given Sunday.”

(On Dexter Jackson)
“I thought he got better, I thought he really did. I thought early, you know catching the ball in the dome in your first NFL game, in that atmosphere; I thought he was maybe a little tentative. This is quite an experience for a young guy in his first game, he and Jeremy Zuttah both, and Aqib Talib, I think got their eyes open to the NFL yesterday. Hopefully they are better football players this week because of that. But I thought he hit it up in there real nice for us as the game unfolded, almost broke one.”

(On if Jackson has what it takes to be a returner)
“I think he does. It is evident the way he stuck it up in there the last three or four opportunities that he had. Part of your decision making is do I try to get outside where the play is blocked and designed to go, or do I take it north and south decisively and get what I can get. There is decision making that goes on there and there is also, as you say, deep down you have to have a lot of guts. I think he has that, he is disciplined, he has been able to take care of the football, and I believe he will get better and better.”

(On if they should have challenged the Reggie Bush touchdown)
“In terms of being on the three-yard line, yes we probably could have. We didn’t get the feed up in the press box, and we were limited in timeouts as it was. I felt without getting the feed where our coaches could look at it, I didn’t want to risk it. I wanted to challenge on holding on that play more than anything.”

(On the defensive line pressure)
“I thought we had some good pressures. We got to Drew Brees a couple of times, not so much on sacks but we did hit him as he was delivering the ball. I think the first interception for a touchdown there was a little pressure. We have to examine our four man rush, and as I always say, when it is really good it is not good enough. We have to get more rush and when you are playing the Saints on that surface, they are throwing the ball on their own two-yard line, coming out of their own end zone; we have to get more done. We have to get more done in the pass rush and that is the key to winning in this league and I believe it.”

(On if four is enough to pressure the quarterback)
“You have to ask your guys to get it done with four guys if you are going to play any zone defense or mix coverages and things of that nature. We did at times, we had some good four man rushes, you are not going to get there every time, but you can’t let a quarterback set his feet. You have to make him reset, shuffle slide, and you have to stay after him. We do need to get some impact pass rush, I think this week, to really max out our defense. We need to continue to get better.”

(On DE Gaines Adams)
“He has to continue to get better. He had two pressures and two hits on the quarterback, which is pretty good. The Saints, with Jammal Brown and their offensive line is pretty good. I am not going to make excuses, it is the first game and he did some good things but we expect more because he is capable of giving more. We just have to lean on him and keep pushing.”

(On the offensive line)
“I thought we played pretty well up front. We gave up the sack, I believe early in the first half. The second sack in the game, I believe was a maximum protection, we held the ball a little bit on that, we don’t have a lot of outlets because of the style of protection. I thought the pocket was pretty good, and I thought the guys played hard. Sedrick Ellis, and Charles Grant, Will Smith, they are all a talented group, and Bobby McCray is a big time pass rusher. I thought we did pretty well pass protection wise and I think the tape proves that.”