Head coach Mike SmithOn how Jake Matthews and the offensive line looked today:
"It's great to have Jake back out in practice today. He was a full participant. It was good to get him back in the starting lineup. We're pleased with the progress he's made with the athletic trainers in terms of what they've been doing with him. We've been able to basically go through a full practice with him today."
On waiting to see how his ankle will feel tomorrow:
"Again, anything can happen, but we're really pleased with what he was able to do last night and in practice today."
On Roddy White not practicing:
"It's not important for Roddy to practice. We'd like for Roddy to practice, but it's all about getting Roddy, on a short week – and some of these guys across the League that have some age with them on a short week – you got to get them to Thursday and that's our intention. He may practice tomorrow. It's a walkthrough. It's a Saturday practice. We're going to be out here for about 25 minutes and we'll be walking around in tennis shoes. Our practice is done, what we got done. Right now our goal is to have Roddy as healthy as he can be for the ball game on Thursday night."
On Paul Soliai role in the middle of the defense and stopping the run:
"Well, we've got to be more efficient. We can't just be, 'Oh I've got mine.' You can't have that mentality when it comes to playing defense. There's no rule against whipping a block and making a play. That's something that we've got to get better at. I think everybody's been feeling their way around, 'Oh, I'm doing my job. I'm doing my job.' We've got to cut it loose, and go make plays. Especially in our run defense."
On Paul Worrilow:
"Paul Worrilow is a very smart player. Again I think we're making too many hits – when I say hits, first contact – too far down the field. We've got to be better in defending the run. I think we will improve. I think that there were more mental mistakes, and our tackling wasn't as good last week. We get an opportunity to go out there. This is a good running team. Lovie's going to try and run the football. They've got two backs. We anticipate that Martin will be back, and Rainey, we had a hard time tackling him when we played him last year in Tampa."
On being consistent:
"I think we came out and played very well the first week. The second week we weren't as consistent as we needed to be. I would like to have an answer, and say you can put your finger on it. I don't think we handled playing on the road as well as we needed to, I think across the board. That's one of the things that we talked about as a staff and as a group of men about what did we do in our preparation. Did we do something different? Were we as prepared as we needed to be from week one to week two? Anytime you don't get the outcome you want you have to address it."
On the short week impacting his ability to make corrections to the defense:
"We had to make corrections on the fly. We did not watch tape with the team; you just don't have time, but we did take some selected clips that we definitely needed to address. We had to move on and put that game behind us as quickly as possible. Some of the things our tackling that we've got to be better at. I think we can have a better understanding when you talk about the techniques of tackling because that's something that we do all the time as a defense."
On Matt Ryan bouncing back:
"I don't think that there's going to be any doubt that Matt is going to bounce back. The dynamic of a game can change a passer rating very quickly depending, and I don't know that formula. If you guys can tell me what the hell it means I'd like to know. I know everybody likes to talk about, but I know we've got to take care of the football that's the most important thing. If we win the turnover battle we're going to enhance our chances of winning games. That's something that we definitely have to do better on the offensive side." Quarterback Matt RyanOn his success against the Bucs and getting a win this week:
"Obviously, short week. I think everybody's done a good job of putting last week behind us, learning some things from it and use that moving forward, but we've got a good opponent. Division games are always tough. Very good front four with Tampa Bay coming in, so we've got our work cut out for us. Anytime you play in the division we talk about it counts one plus, so we've got some work to do before Thursday night, but we got to get ready to play the way that we're capable of."
On whether or not the quick turnaround is good after a bad game last Sunday:
"I think it's a positive, regardless you're going to have to play. It's on the schedule; you've got to be ready to go on Thursday night. I think everybody had to put that one behind us quickly, which might've been a good thing. We've moved on to this next one. I think the focus all week has to be playing the kind of football that we're capable of, and if we can do that that's going to be our best recipe for success."
On what's the signature for Tampa Bay's defense and the injuries to their defense:
"Well, we're going to prepare for those guys to play. That's the way that we've done it around here, and then adjust on Thursday night if something happens differently. To me, I think their signature is their front four. I think they've got a really good front four. Gerald McCoy is one of the better defensive tackles in the League. He's been extremely distributive when we've played them in the past, and I think he's capable of being a game changer. The addition of Michael Johnson during the offseason, I thinks adds a dynamic pass rusher, and certainly we'll be prepared for him to be ready to go."
On what he's most pleased about offensively and what they need to clean up:
"There's a lot of things. On the positive note, I think there's some things that we've done well more so in week one than week two, but I think the run game has been pretty efficient up until this point. We need to continue to be efficient in the run game. In terms of the pass game, I think that's an area where we need to be more consistent. One of the things that we've seen is that one week we're capable of making a bunch of explosives, the following week we're not. We've got to get to a point where week in and week out we show up and play the way we're capable of."
His thoughts about his self after the last week's game:
"I think as a quarterback you can't make those types of mistakes. Regardless of why they happen, in order to win football games against good teams you can't turn the football over. You look at them; you look at the reasons why they happen. You try to make adjustments from that, but any way you slice it, you can't do that and expect to win. I've got to be better than that."
On the tempo of the game:
"Obviously, with the rules, the way they are when you change personnel groupings they've got the referees in position to where you can't snap the ball, but that's just part of the deal. I think the key for us to continuing that tempo is being able to convert on third downs, and we did not do a good enough job of that last week."
On what he tells Lamar Holmes who admitted to taking a step back last week:
"It happens. It happens to everybody. Week-to-week sometimes you don't play your best, but in this League it's all about moving forward and trying to be better than you were last week. Can't dwell on it. This League is humbling, and you're going against the very best football players in the world and sometimes they're going to get you, but part of being a professional is being able to move past that, staying confident and trusting in your abilities. I think Lamar will do that."
