Buccaneers Head Coach Dirk Koetter Conference Call -- November 14, 2018
Q: Can you talk a little about what Ryan (Fitzpatrick) has brought to this team and what he’s been able to do for you guys? We saw the announcement that he’s starting this week.
A: I think you guys are probably familiar with Fitz and what he brings to a team. His experience, his calmness, his ability to relate to all the guys and to deliver the ball on time to the right spot, he brings a real settling presence to the team and especially to the offense.
Q: We just had Jason Pierre-Paul on a conference call. What has he brought to the team? He has a good amount of sacks, what did you think about him beforehand and what are you learning about him now?
A: Good question. We’ve played against the Giants before and of course we always had him as a game wrecker, but what we didn’t know is how good of a practice player he is. This guy works his tail off every day, helps the young guys and then his leadership, the way he’s shared his experience and his knowledge with not only our defensive linemen but also our offensive linemen, he’s been very outspoken as a leader in a positive way. He was very near to being elected captain, just barely missed out, and he will be a captain for this game. The intangible stuff he’s brought, we knew the physical stuff, but the intangibles he’s brought have been above and beyond expectation.
Q: The Giants have had Eli Manning basically a decade and a half, how difficult is it when you go week to week to try and juggle who’s going to be the starter that week?
A: I don’t think it’s difficult because it’s not like some times because of injury or they’re bringing in new guys, guys that haven’t been there. Both these guys know our system and have been with us, we have three quarterbacks that have been with us and know our system. We’re comfortable with all of them.
Q: Have you ever been part of a game like last week where there were so many yards and so few points? Do you look at that and say there’s a lot of good there, or a lot of bad there?
A: No I haven’t, because it’s the first time in NFL history that it’s happened like that. There’s a lot of both. The good is we moved the ball up and down the field, we had a lot of explosives, we had a lot of first downs and we had a lot of third down conversions. The bad is, the main one, we only had three points, we had four turnovers, and we were 0-for-5 in the red zone. The good is we moved the football consistently, the bad, however you get there you’ve got to score points to win.
Q: The Giants had been struggling, and had a big win in San Francisco this past week. Do you worry that maybe they’ve awakened a little bit? What did you see from them, especially on offense?
A: This is a week to week league. We got beat by two scores by Carolina two weeks ago and Caroline was sitting at 6-2, and I thought they were playing as good as any team we had played, and they go up and play the Steelers on Thursday Night and it wasn’t even a close game. It’s a week to week league. You have to respect the talent that the Giants have on offense. Their explosiveness between the wide outs, the tight end, and of course the running back. Those guys are very explosive and any time you have players that can change the game or create a big play on any single play, you have to be very worried about it. Then of course they’ve got an extremely experienced quarterback in Eli.
Q: How much of a different team did you see (this past week)? They had 15 days to get ready for that game coming off their bye week, did you see a lot different from them from maybe tape you saw earlier this year?
A: The day they played the 49ers was the first day we really started watching them. I thought they played really well in the 49er game, they hung in there. When you look at their defense, their defense is extremely sound, very hard to get them out of position, playing well together. The other thing about the Giants other than the changes on the O line, they are relatively healthy. Their main players have stayed healthy for the most part compared to some of the other teams in the league, and it just looked like they did a really good job of putting it together with their offensive skill players in the 49er game. They got the ball to their playmakers and those playmakers made plays.
Q: There’s a lot of really fast guys in the league especially at wide receiver. DeSean Jackson continually makes plays. What is it about him that allows him to be such a big play type player?
A: In DeSean’s case, elite speed even after this many years, elite speed among the best in the league. Second, with his experience, any kind of route you can draw up, any kind of route combination, he knows how to run routes. He’s seen it all before, he’s seen most of these DBs before. That’s the experience factor. Then the other thing that I didn’t know about DeSean until we got him here is for a small guy in stature, he can really track the deep ball. He makes some just crazy catches where he’s not even looking at the ball and looks up at the last second, the ball’s over his outside shoulder, inside shoulder – really good tracking the ball and finishing with it, with some difficult catches.
Q: Is that a tough skill? Do you not see that in other guys? Is that a rarity?
A: Why don’t you answer that question? Yeah, of course it’s a rarity. You’ve got a guy there that does it as well, he might not have the same speed. Some of these guys in the league right now, the way their ball skills and their range is just off the charts. Of course you guys have watched enough football that not every guy has that. The elite guys have that.
-Britt