Bucs/Eagles quotebooks

BUCS QUOTEBOOK

Coach Jon Gruden, on his emotions:

"I am very disappointed. I don't even know if that's a good word. Losing is gut-wrenching. It's a horrendous feeling. So yes, I feel horrendous right now."

Gruden, on the offensive line's protection:

"You have to make some adjustments. But at the same time, you can't lock your doors and hide all day. You have to play."

Defensive end Simeon Rice, on the loss:

"They capitalized on some things and won the game. But we're in it for the long haul. There will be some tough times and some good times. But we will stand tall through it."

Defensive tackle Warren Sapp, on his injury being cheered:

"That's all right. I've been cheered for being down before."

Center Jeff Christy, on the offense:

"We can be making adjustments the whole year. We have some new players. The adjustment period might take five years. You just don't know. We can't make excuses. We have to be better."

Receiver Keyshawn Johnson, on the offense's struggles:

"We are sputtering along, and we just have to keep plucking away at it."

Receiver Joe Jurevicius, on the Bucs' play:

"We stubbed our toes, and we did it at the most inopportune times. We can't go out there and give them the ball in the red zone. There should not be as many mistakes out there as we're making."

EAGLES QUOTEBOOK

Coach Andy Reid, on spotting something in the Bucs defense that led to the 42-yard touchdown pass:

"I don't necessarily want to get into it, but we did. We felt we could take advantage of it."

Reid, on the Bucs defense:

"We've got a good defense. Statistically, their defense was No.1 in the NFL. I firmly believe ours is No.1."

Quarterback Donovan McNabb, on the Bucs defense:

"They were bringing safeties into the box. They were showing the safeties and bringing them back. They played a lot of man coverage, more than we expected."

Kick returner Brian Mitchell, on the Bucs taunting him:

"They were saying all kinds of stuff. I hear the 'old man' and the 'ancient' stuff. I'm like old wine. I just get better. They did all kinds of talking. Warren Sapp spit in my face one time. Dexter Jackson, Dwight Smith, John Howell, they were all doing a lot of talking."

Linebacker Ike Reed, on Mitchell:

"The guy never ceases to amaze me. There was a little quote from Karl Williams about 'champing at the bit' to play us. We laid low with it. We didn't want to reply to it."

McNabb, on his offensive line:

"John Welbourn has done a wonderful job on Warren Sapp. Our whole offensive line did a wonderful job."

Receiver Todd Pinkston, on his touchdown catch:

"The coverage was cover two. The corner was sitting in the flat. The safety (Jackson) bit on James (Thrash) going down the middle and forgot all about me (in the right corner of the end zone)."

Offensive tackle John Runyan, on Sapp's trash talk:

"He's always going, and I'm not going to share it with you."