FLOWERY BRANCH – Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith is off to a 0-2 start with his new team.
The Falcons host the Bucs at 8:25 p.m. Thursday night at the Georgia Dome.
Here’s what he had to say on Tuesday.
Q: Can you give us an update on Gerald McCoy’s injury situation?
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
A: He hurt his hand in the game. It's not looking good for this week. That's about all that we have.
Q: What do you attribute the 0-2 start to? Not being able to pull out close games?
A: That's how we are looking at it. You have to crawl before you walk. We've been in both games and feel like we've had an opportunity to win both games. As a young football team, we haven't figured out how to win a game. We see some bright spots and some of the good things that we've done, but we have to learn how to finish it.
Q: What happened at the end of the Rams game?
A: We just didn't handle that situation as well as we needed to. Our receiver took a hard hit and was not totally with it at the time, but we had time . . . .if we could have some way got him off the field or at least been able to get him up, we would have had a chance to win it there at the end. But we lost that game before that. Whenever you have a blocked punt, a blocked field goal and you have a turnover and an interception and you have a first-and-goal on the 9. . . .you are probably not going to win many of those games. We'll play those things up and hopefully put ourselves in position to finish the next time.
Q: Did you study Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan while you were away from the game?
A: I think Matt is one of the top quarterbacks in the league since he came into the league pretty much. He can do everything. …from what I see, he's a great leader. When the game is on the line, you want a guy like him in charge. It will be a big challenge for our group. Just personally, he's caused me a lot of long nights. Probably one of the toughest losses that I have had as a head coach, of course was orchestrated by Matt. We haven't played as good of defense as we need to and again, this will be a big challenge for our guys.
Q: How is the revamped secondary coming along?
A: It's coming along. Alterraun Verner gives us a very good corner on the edge. Johnthan Banks played a lot for us last year. Our safeties Dashon Goldson and Mark Barron are very good football players. We feel pretty good. We really feel good about our entire football team once we get everybody out there on the field healthy.
Q: What makes running back Bobby Rainey so dynamic?
A: I think he has great vision. What makes all good running backs good is that they know when to make the right cut. Bobby can catch and is an extremely smart player. I feel like he can do it all. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. He can make you miss in the open field. He can run it in between the tackles. Also, his hands are so good that he could easily be our punt returner and we would feel confident with him doing that. He does a lot of things for our football team.
Q: How is guard Logan Mankins fitting in with our football team?
A: He's doing great. We wanted a veteran player to come in and he has helped us. He's a veteran All-Pro player and he's been great. … He's a hard worker and has blended in with our group. He's been accepted by our group. You can't force someone to be accepted in a locker room. But Logan had a way of immediately reaching out to all of the players. Our offensive line has played pretty good in both games and of course Logan is a big part of that.
Q: How strange will it be for you facing Devin Hester?
A: I'm not really looking forward to that in one sense. I went and worked out Devin Hester at the University of Miami personally. I knew what we were going to get from him. He's a lifetime friend. I feel like he's going to be a part of my family forever. He's only the greatest returner of all time. When you're on the opposing sideline, you're not real happy about that. It's been great that he's gotten an opportunity to really play wide receiver. He's just a special player with his hands on the ball.
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