Ronde Barber Quotations

We were trying too hard to start fast, but sometimes when you try to do too much it can be a little bit of a detriment.

We're here. That's all we've asked for -- give us an opportunity.

We're here. That's all we asked for. Give us a chance.

He turned it on. It was a pleasure watching him.

He grows up a little bit more every week.

He made a couple of good throws for a guy who has been home eating potato chips.

Guys are going to make the adjustment to different coaches, because it's their job.

We looked at that standard of Hardy (Nickerson) and John (Lynch) and the Rufus Porters of the world. Those guys laid the foundation of the standard that we're trying to live up to. We know we have to get back to it. It's that physical type of football. Safeties capping off piles, creating turnovers. We're getting there. We're getting there.

I think you rebuild a little bit every year,

Regardless of what 2004 was about, 2005 gave us a new opportunity. Everybody jumped at it, believe in it, worked for it.

Our pass defense suffered, immediately, like that game. We ended up having to move a lot of other people around. It's an adjustment when you lose somebody like that.

Sure, it's important. If you can't win at home, where can you win? It's the proverbial 12th man. You've got to get people excited about coming to Raymond James Stadium. It's been a while. ... It used to be when you came here, you expected a tough game. We've got to get back to that for sure.

It definitely seemed different. Obviously, without Randy, they don't have that guy where he sees an advantage, throws his hands up and he just launches it.

I think Jon has learned to trust young guys more.

I thought he was a little reserved. I thought he played it a little close to the vest. He was trying not to make mistakes, scrambling out, not forcing throws.

That was one of our goals, to win the NFC South, and we found a way to do it. Regardless of what 2004 was all about, 2005 gave us a new opportunity.

That's what I kept telling everybody. I told the guys from the beginning to focus on what we can do in 2005 and not what we did in 2004; and everybody bought into it.

We're definitely a headstrong group. We accept all challenges.

We have some knowledge of Marcus Robinson from his time in Chicago, and then they've got that rookie Troy Williamson . We haven't seen a lot of him, but we do know he's a straight-line blazer, so we have to be ready for that.

Yeah, not only is he 100 percent Buccaneer, he's comic relief. It's really easy to get on him.

We've been grinding all year. It's been sloppy all year. We find a way to make plays at crucial times. And that's what we're all about.

We obviously forced him into a lot of mistakes.

Winning is always first. Winning is always first. When you win, everybody likes each other, and that takes care of chemistry.

We've been doing it all year, finding ways to win. That's what it's all about.

We think they're going to try and get back their running game.

This year we've got a lot of young guys that are expecting to play. I don't see anything wrong with that as long as they prove they are good players.

Without Moss, Daunte has a few more options. He always had his four or five obligatory passes to No.84. I think it's freed him up a little bit. In preseason, he hit a lot of different receivers and he had a lot of success with it.

There is no such thing as luck. Bounces go either way every day you take advantage of those situations. You call it luck and I call it being prepared.

You had a team in 2002 that was approaching greatness. I'm not making excuses, but this just might be a reason, I think. Guys who are good players try to be great players by doing too much. In the long run that's going to hurt you.

We've really turned this thing around behind some young talent. If I had to put one thing on it, it's their play.

We've put a big emphasis on detail this year, and it's paying off. Guys know exactly what they're supposed to do. There is no doubt about what your job is.

We've been sloppy all year. But we've found way to make plays.

We are very critical on ourselves, but overall I think we did everything that was asked of us. We stuck together and had guys in the right spots. When it came to crunch time we were able to make the plays.

There's not a lot of words to describe him. Just put the film on, and you see what you have in this guy. There's a lot of great backs that have come through this league. For him to outdistance them all in the first three games of his career, he should feel good about it. We definitely feel good that he's running for us.

There's no doubt about it. I think winning breeds camaraderie. We had camaraderie last year, but losing didn't really make it that much better. There's definitely a combination of the two, the young guys and the old guys. The balance, I guess, you could call it. It's really good on this football team.

Is that any different from any other season? We pride ourselves on being a defensive football team. Bring in all the free agents, all the coaches or whatever you want. This team has been built on defense.

I've been playing football all my life. But that's the craziest game I've ever been in.

It was two guys with their triple testosterone running high, acting like idiots. I'm a feisty dude, and he's a feisty dude.

So restructuring wouldn't benefit anybody. It's hard to say what I'd say (in Brooks' shoes). I guess the situation would have to present itself. Until it does, I don't have an opinion either way. It'll happen eventually. Everybody gets to that point in their career. I don't know if I'm there yet.

You never like to think you're rebuilding. But if you have a bunch of young guys who have to play? Yeah, you're rebuilding.

This is a different team than we've had the last couple of years. This team has a little something to it.

They are definitely legit. They have good players at every position and what they do is pretty similar to what we did four or five years ago. I think we've evolved a bit from where we were. They have guys who understand it's not all about the scheme - it's also about your attitude and the way you approach the game.

There were a lot of reasons, and it probably had to do with the same reason we went 5-11, not necessarily because we were playing at home or playing on the road,

It's just us coming out, staying focused and doing our job. We'll do what we've always done. We'll attack. We'll play Buc Ball. But we need to make sure we don't let other teams get the jump on us.

It's a 12-man dance and we have one of the tickets, so let's go party.

It's not like we're messing with some jokes at wideout here,

Everybody is excited about where we are right now. It's a 12-man dance. We've got one of the tickets, so let's go party.

Not to anyone outside of the locker room.

That guy's like Mike Alstott beefed up, ... Aside from being a big man in general, he catches the ball well and he blocks well. They line him up all over the field. He's as important to that offense as anybody.

It seemed like they knew they weren't going to be down there again. I guess they thought their best chance was to throw it.

No matter how we get it done, whether it's ugly or it's pretty, a win is a win. That's the bottom line.

It works out in the end for the good guys and he's definitely one of those.

It was just two guys, testosterone running high, acting like idiots, ... I was trying to get his hands off me. You live with those things. Obviously, you don't want them to happen at that point in the game, but I'm a feisty dude, he's a feisty dude. It's football.

The rest of the league knows now that we can be even better this year. We got after them a little bit tonight. Week 1, on the road against a great quarterback and a quality opponent. That's doing something.

The nerves definitely hit you. It hit me a couple of times. You get over it, you shake it off. You have to realize it's just a golf game.

It's not always about the sacks. It's about the quarterback pressure.

Every year is a do-or-die year ... especially when the cap numbers start creeping up on the older guys. (Allen) found a way to get it done for this off-season. You never know if we're going to have to be creative and do it again next off-season.

I marvel watching him every week. He's a perfectionist. He probably knows what's going to happen on the field before everybody else knows what's going to happen.

If you win, everybody likes each other. If you lose, everybody hates each other. It's pretty simple.

He started to understand it's not just going out there and using all of his talent and flinging the ball around. The details are more important. Not turning the ball over is more important than forcing the ball into a tight spot.

I could see all their defensive guys really hustling that day in Tampa. They hunt like we hunt.