TB: This is one game where you can't take anything for granted because it's so difficult. Every time you take the field you need to put your best out there and you have to have... you can't take anything for granted -not to say we did- but it just goes to show that when you don't play well and you start the game with an interception it sets the tone for the whole day. It's nothing that you really want to be too proud of. So I think, from my standpoint, I need to play a lot better. And I'm going to work hard to improve in the next couple of weeks and hopefully be ready for opening day and I'm glad we have a few weeks because all of us are going to need it. We're going to need to improve.
Q: Can you expand on the mistakes that are bothering you the most-as a team with just two weeks to go in the preseason?
TB: I think as a team you're always trying to improve and there's a different identity this year than there has been in the past and we have to find that identity and continue to improve on our weaknesses while maintaining our strengths. I know we've got some very talented players. Our running backs are very talented. Our receivers have done a great job all the way through camp. From a quarterback standpoint, we just have to continue to make good decisions. When you make good decisions, usually good things happen. Like I say, if you start the game and you throw an interception and everyone kind of runs off the field discouraged after a pretty good week of practice, that's not really the way you want to start. We missed a few plays down there in the red zone- I did. There were three incompletions within the five-yard line. We could have hit a couple of those passes-- mixed communication on third down between myself and David [Givens]. There's a lot of different places to improve.
Q: People are going to have thought's about Doug [Flutie's] night, his touchdown pass and the role he's going to have going forward. What were your impressions from the sidelines of both Doug and Matt [Cassel]?
TB: They've both done a great job, and Rohan [Davey] has done a great job, throughout the mini-camps, passing camps and through training camp. All three of those guys have great leadership skills. The way Doug played tonight, he's as capable as anybody still. He throws the ball great. He's got great command out there. Matt's taken more big hits in the last two weeks than I think I've taken in three years. He better start getting down, because you only have one right shoulder. But he's done a really nice job, too. He's a mature guy and he's a lot of fun to be around. And Ro's been the same. Ro's really continuing to improve, so hopefully the quarterback position continues to improve. It starts with me and goes to all the quarterbacks making the decisions for this team.
Q: How deep is this receiving corps?
TB: I don't know. We haven't had a lot of guys out there in the last few weeks. There are some guys that can really make some plays. Tim Dwight really showed what he is capable of tonight. Deion has done a great job throughout camp. David Givens is really coming into his own and Troy [Brown] is as reliable as ever. Some of the other guys, Jason Anderson is really coming into his own. Bam Childress is making some plays. There's some really quality playmakers out there. I just think everybody has to find a role for themselves.
Q: What do you like about [Tim] Dwight?
TB: There's a lot to like. He's very explosive. He has great speed and hands. He's a very smart player. It seems like when you get the ball in his hands, good things happen. He's been at that for a couple of weeks now. He's doing a great job.
Q: Coach talked about Doug's continuing enthusiasm on the field. Do you sense that?
TB: Yeah. I sure do. He was talking about going out there tonight when we were warming up inside the weight room, and he was like, 'I'm so anxious to get out there and play.' After all these years you still have the excitement about it. It's evidenced by the way he practices and prepares, and by the way he played tonight. He really did a nice job. He's a great player. I didn't expect anything else.
Q: Do you expect to be doing that when you're 42?
TB: That's a long way to go. I'm trying to make it to next week. We'll see.
Q: How do you feel physically after this game?
TB: I feel fine. I feel great.
Q: Is it possible for you to three-peat?
TB: I don't think you're going to hear those words come out of our mouth. The main thing for this week is we have to improve and we have to be ready to play the first week of the year. There is nothing else really on our mind and there really shouldn't be, because if you looked at what we did tonight, it's a completely different team than it was last year.
Q: What does Doug bring to the table here and the other quarterbacks on the team?
TB: The obvious thing is a great amount of experience in a lot of different offensive systems. He's played a lot of football. The word to describe him -and it's one of the best compliments-he's a great professional. And he takes it very seriously. And as someone referred to earlier, he has great energy in what he does and it wears off on everyone else. Anytime a quarterback can bring that, it really motivates the other guys. And that's not even to mention the way he performs. He can go out there and perform as well as just about anybody I've seen.
Q: Do you think Doug can help in some way?
TB: Sure. All that experience... we talk every day in our meeting room. We talk about what we need to do to get better. I bounce ideas off of him and he bounces things off of me. I think collectively the quarterback position can always use experience. And Doug's mental ability to process information, Doug's great with that. Doug's a very smart guy.
Q: How frustrating was it to come out and have your first play picked?
TB: It was. I wish I would have played last week. But the first time out, the first pass of the year, that's never the way you want to start. And it's just a bad way to set the tone for the whole game... a turnover on the first series. Hopefully there's not too many more of those. You drop back and you try to throw it and sometimes you make bad decisions. That was certainly one of them.
