Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter spoke to the Atlanta media on Wednesday via conference call.
Here’s what Koetter, who was the Falcons offensive coordinator from 2012 to 2014, had to say:
Q: Coming off a tough loss, how do you prepare your team for a short week?
A: "The most important thing, win or lose, on a short week is to help the players get their bodies back. In my opinion that's the most important thing. Thursday night football, that's the hardest thing, is the players recovery time and you still have to get your game plan in. Those are the two main things we are focusing on, getting their bodies back and teaching them the game plan."
Q: What have you seen from the Falcons offense on film?
A: "I think Kyle is doing a great job with his game plans. Obviously, they've got three really good skill players in Julio (Jones), Matt (Ryan) and (Devonta) Freeman, but (Tevin) Coleman, the way they are using Coleman, he's really come into his own. Getting (Mohamed) Sanu back and Gabriel is playing a nice little role for them. DiMarco plays his role. I think adding Mack was a really good add for them and solidified the center of their line. They are impressive on offense. They are rolling right now."
Q: What have you seen from their defensive line and how they’ve been able to effect the quarterback?
A: "Beasley has really got his confidence going as a rusher. I'm sure that's why they picked him where they picked him. He looks like that guy. They've really good complimentary players around him. (Adrian)Clayborn does a great job with games and he can win one-on-one. (Jonathan) Babineaux has always been a guy that's really good inside. Of course (Grady) Jarrett has that lightning fast, quick first-step. They are deep with their (defensive) line. They do a really good job with their games and they are playing with a lot of confidence right now."
Q: How’s Kwon Alexander playing for you this year?
A: "Kwon is playing really good. He meets with (defensive coordinator Mike Smith) every morning. He's the quarterback of our defense. He's our signal-caller. He's our leading tackler. He's ranked up there high in the league. In his second year, he's done a good job of working on his craft. He wants to be a top-flight professional player. I couldn't be happier with how he's working at it."
Q: Have you seen so many injuries at the running back position before?
A: "We've had a lot of guys, that's for sure. I've never been hit this hard at one position, but no one is feeling sorry for us on the outside and we're not feeling sorry for ourselves on the inside. The guys that we have coming up, we expect them to go out there and play and play well."
Q: Jameis is 3-0 vs. the Falcons. They’ve seen some of best ball. Where are you all at with his development?
A: "We didn't have our best week last week against the Raiders, but we were still able to put up 24 points, which in most games that's going to put you right in the thick of it. Jameis has played well and he's played well against Atlanta in the past."
Q: What has it been like for you to see Matt Ryan have so much success this season?
A: "Well, I'm a Matt Ryan fan for 14 out of 16 weeks of the season. I think very highly of Matt not only as a player, but as a person. But we are going to be trying to knock him down 60 times on Thursday night. He knows that. He's definitely having a great year. It doesn't matter what I think. His numbers and his play speaks (volumes). Our job is to figure out how to slow him down."
Q: How’s Noah Spence coming along for the Bucs?
A: "Noah, he's playing through a little nagging injury right now. He's done a good job. I think you can somewhat look at Noah how the Atlanta folks looked at Beasley a year ago. These guys come into the league as fast pass rusher guys out of college. It maybe takes them a little bit of time to adjust to the linemen in the NFL and the speed of the NFL game. You know, we are hoping that Noah continues to improve just like Beasley has done for the (Falcons)."
About the Author
