Quotebook

By RICK STROUD, Times Staff Writer
Published September 10, 2007

From Bucs coach Jon Gruden

On Tampa Bay's injuries: "(Jeff) Garcia got dinged up but returned to play. We believe that he will be okay. Carnell Williams is being evaluated with a rib injury. We don't know the severity of it yet. David Boston is a scratch. He got hurt in pregame warmups. He hurt his foot. We don't know the severity of that. And Brian Kelly left the game with a groin strain. It's unfortunate we lost some key guys that could have possibly helped us. But Seattle's a good football team with a chance to become great."

On the play of the offensive line: "I thought that they did some good things. Again, we moved the ball pretty well in the first half. It was very hard to communicate, very hard to hear. Seattle is a very talented defensive football team. I was pleased with some of the things that we did do. Obviously, we struggled in some areas in pass protection, but overall it wasn't all bad."

On losing quarterback Jeff Garcia for a few series: "As you can imagine, we've had a lot of injuries at that position. But I thought offensively, we moved the ball extremely well in the first half. We were eager to come out and get going in the second half. I think uncharacteristically, Jeff maybe came off a couple of reads early to start the third quarter. But losing your starting quarterback and losing your starting tailback - guys you're counting on to help you win the game in a 10-6 ball game - is tough."

From Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren

On Shaun Alexander: "I thought he ran hard today, and I like it when he does that. He wants to have a good year. He came into camp prepared to have a good year and in very good shape, I thought. If he could have a year close to his 2005 year, I think we will probably have a pretty good year as a team."

On the whistle from the stands that stopped Bucs punter Josh Bidwell: "I've had a lot of people whistling at me over the years. A different kind of whistle. But that one shocked me. Did I hear it? No. It's loud. And there is a lot of noise. No, I did not hear the whistle. The punter apparently heard the whistle because he stopped."

When asked if the Bucs defense is ahead of the offense: "I think so. In Tampa's development, right now, their defense is ahead of their offense, I think. It doesn't surprise me that the game went like that. Our guys came to play defense today. They are still getting to know one another. We have some new people in there."

[Last modified September 9, 2007, 23:36:19]