NYG Postgame (vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers) Transcripts: S Jabrill Peppers
November 2, 2020
Q: You guys seemed to have [Buccaneers Quarterback] Tom Brady and that offense off their game for most of the first half. What was it you were doing and what kind of changed there as the game went on?
A: I can’t really tell you what we were doing, but we were definitely mixing up the looks, pre-snap and post-snap alignments. We know he’s the best to ever do it, so we had to have a good game plan for him. In the second half, you know, they just made plays. We left a lot of opportunities out there defensively, but they made plays. That’s a good team, you’ve got to tip your hat to them.
Q: What was your final viewpoint of that final play there?
A: It is what it is.
Q: You guys played a good enough game to win in almost all phases except the two turnovers really seemed to change the game. When the defense and the full team plays this well, but the turnovers by the offense lead you to lose the game anyway and you’re 1-7, does frustration build up that it’s out of your control what the result is going to be?
A: First of all, turnovers didn’t just lose us this game. We missed a lot of opportunities on defense to get off the field on third down, myself included. As a defender, when we go out there on the field, our job is to alleviate the damage. We don’t care when we get called to go out there, we have a job to do and we try to do it at a high level. But ultimately this game, we just missed too many opportunities, it wasn’t just turnovers. Like I said, we’ve just got to go back, look at the tape and get it corrected. Short week, division game coming up, we’ll be ready to go.
Q: You guys have had a couple of close losses, really hard-fought games to the end, but ultimately you are 1-7 at the midway point. How would you characterize this first half of the season and what reasons do you have to be optimistic that it will turn around as you get to the second half of the year?
A: We’re playing good football, man, we’ve just got to execute better. We’ve played a lot of good teams, we’ve been in games where we should’ve won, but we just didn’t execute. But we’re trending in the right direction and I truly believe that. We come to work with the right attitude week in and week out, wanting to get better. We work hard, and pretty soon the results will follow. Not going to get discouraged. It’s the midway point, the season isn’t over, nobody knows what’s going to happen, but I will tell you this, we will continue to play hard, stay together and overcome any adversity.
Q: As a competitor, your record is 1-7, so what gives you the confidence that it is trending in the right direction without the results?
A: Me personally, I don’t care about the record. If you watch our tape against the teams that we’ve played, it’s a play here or a play there. It’s not like we’re just going out there and getting our ass kicked, you know what I mean? We’re playing some good football, we’ve just got to tie it all together, we’ve got to execute and we’ve got to be better situationally. We all know what it is, we all come into work with that mindset to improve on that and get better. We’ve just got to execute on game days.
Q: The last three losses were by only a total of six points. Does that hurt more or does that give you the encouragement that you are extremely close?
A: I mean, a loss is a loss, but like I said, it’s not like we’re going out there and getting our ass kicked. I definitely think we’re trending in the right direction. Yeah, we would like to be in that win column, but at the end of the day, we’ve got half the season left, the weather is about to break and we’re hungry. We’re going to stay together and be resilient.
Q: About a couple of the punt returns, you guys didn’t have anyone back. I assume that was by design, but just wanted to make sure that that assumption was correct.
A: Absolutely. That assumption would be correct.
Q: In that situation, are you trying to hustle back to get it once the ball clears a certain area or is it just kind of a scramble mode in that moment?
A: I really can’t tell you that, but it was definitely game planned.
