HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN
(on injuries)
"The injury is pretty much the same as yesterday although Josh Bidwell returned to practice. He's getting better but he still has some symptoms of the flu, I guess. But he's going to be okay and be ready to go."
(on how Jeff Garcia looked)
"He looked pretty good. I think he's feeling better and once again that's a good sign. He's making progress."
(on how Derrick Brooks is progressing with his ribs injury)
"I think he's doing better. He sounds better, looks better and hopefully we can get him out on the field tomorrow a little bit."
(on the offensive line giving up 18 sacks over the last four games)
"Why do you say the offensive line? Why have they got to say that? It's not just the offensive line, it's the offense. I've given up 18. It's not the offensive line exclusively, it's the offense. Some of those are scrambles. Several of those are scrambles. Some aren't on our offensive line. Some might be a tight end, might be a back, might be we held the ball too long. Our offensive line is the strength of our offense. I wouldn't say they've had 18 sacks against them.”
(on if the Bucs will miss Jermaine Phillips' contributions against the run)
"Yeah, we're going to miss Jermaine against the run and the pass, and just as an inspiring leader and a guy that was a consistent player. But we want to get our defensive line back out there together and our weakside linebacker. We need all those guys to stop this running game."
(on facing a 3-4 defense like San Diego's)
"They're hard. When you pick up their film, they're a hard team to get ready for. They're a great defensive team. They've given up some yards passing early in the season, but when you put the Colt game on, when you watch them against a great offensive attack, they're very competitive. They can rush creatively – three-man rush, five-man rush. They've got a very explosive cast of linebackers. That guy on our left, 31, [Antonio] Cromartie's special. [Quentin] Jammer the other way is special. They mix it up. They'll get into the nickel package with four down linemen, they'll get back into a three-down package and they'll apply a lot of pressure to you. I'm really impressed with their defense, always have been. And the 3-4 does create a lot of recognition issues, especially when you're practicing against a 4-3 all the time. It will be a challenge for us."
(on if he expects the Chargers to match Antonio Cromartie on Antonio Bryant)
"Well, they've got two guys. They pretty much have settled in on Antonio's on the right, Quentin's on their left – obviously, Antonio's on our left and Jammer's on our right – but that could change, you know? That could change, and we could change, too."
(on if opposing defenses are trying harder to account for Bryant)
"Well, a little bit. He's got over 300 yards in the last two games. Not a lot of receivers do that in their lifetime. He got some rotations last week; I think they were probably game-planned. But that's pretty much common ground in the league. If you've got a hot receiver they're going to try to take him away. Hopefully we can move him around and get somebody else going this week."
