Head Coach Jon Gruden

(on the game) "The outcome of the game was unbelievable and it's a credit to San Francisco. They rallied and we didn't get it done. If you're not ready to go…you're not getting out of here with anything but what you deserve. We had a good week of practice and we came out here and we were spirited. We played a young quarterback and we have some growing pains that we need to work through. We turned the ball over in key situations and missed some opportunities where we should've made some plays. It wasn't enough today."

(on having trouble getting started) "We didn't get started much, we barely got the car out of the garage. We didn't come off the ball and San Francisco did. They blitzed today and they forced our young quarterback into some tough situations and we just didn't get it done today."

(on the performance of QB Chris Simms) "I've been around long enough to know that the first performance by a young quarterback isn't a real gauge as to where he can go and what he can become. He's going to learn from this, there are things he's going to learn in a hurry because Carolina will have no mercy next week."

(on Simms and the San Francisco defense)

"I'm an optimistic human being, but I'm not going to say anything else until I evaluate the film. He missed some throws he normally hits. Credit to San Francisco's scheme, they were not going to let us have any easy runs. They forced our guy to stand in there and make some tough plays."

(on playing without DE Simeon Rice) "You've got to score points to win football games and we regret what happened here, having to send one of our key players home, but looking at it in the rearview mirror, we would do the same thing again. Hopefully Simeon comes back ready to roll and he learns from this."

DT Anthony McFarland

(on the defense and if Simeon Rice's deactivation was a distraction) "No, it wasn't a distraction. We lined up and played just like we do every day on defense. We just didn't tackle well enough to beat this team. When you don't tackle well, it doesn't matter who you have out there. You can bring back [Ray] Nitschke and [Jack] Lambert and all of them; if they don't tackle, it doesn't matter."

(on if the 49ers just ran right at the defense) "We were there, we just didn't tackle, bottom line. It's real simple. I can say it over and over. If you don't tackle the football, people make yards in this league."

QB Chris Simms

(on his play and if he saw the field well) "I thought I saw the field pretty good. I didn't throw any balls that I didn't see a defender or anything. I just got hit as I was throwing on one and I guess I heard it bounced off the referee. Another one, the other interception on the sideline, I saw the guy, too, and I just got a guy in my face and couldn't get enough on it to get it out there."

(on taking a sack before a missed, 52-yard field goal) "I just went through my reads and probably should have just, after the second or third one, aborted the ball and thrown it out of bounds. Coach and I talked about that. That's a costly play."

(on a similar play before a made, 47-yard field goal) "Yeah, we were throwing a screen pass and they came off the edge. I really never saw the guy. I'm not going to take anything away from them. They played good defense today. They stopped our run game and they pressured the passer well."

(on how he bounces back) "Just keep fighting. It's a loss and it's going to happen in this league. We've got a big game next week and I just want to stay focused on what we need to do and play better."

(on expecting to have trouble in a first start) "I don't know. I know I missed some throws, maybe, that I could normally hit. But, again, I thought they played some good defense and made it tough on me early, too."

(on if he focused on the primary receiver too much) "Maybe. But I didn't feel like today I really forced anything in there to a primary receiver all game. I definitely hit the backs a few times coming out of the backfield. I really didn't feel like I could get to two or three, either, today. I was getting hit a lot."

(on if the 49ers defense did some unexpected things) "No, they really didn't. They did exactly what we thought they were going to do. The guys off the edge, [Julian] Peterson and [Andre] Carter, did a good job in pass coverage. That's where I think they were big today, dropping back under routes and things of that nature. Their D-line played good; that's all there is to it."

(on if he felt like the Bucs were going to come back and take it after Joey Galloway's touchdown) "Yeah, I felt good. Really, I felt good all game. I felt focused and I felt like I was seeing the field real well. We just didn't get it done."

(on if he was rusty) "There's always a little bit of just getting into the game, getting into the flow of the game. I don't want to say it was rustiness, but I know I can play better."

(on what fronts the 49ers were playing in order to stop the run) "They didn't play any different fronts than we thought [they would]. Again, I just think the linebackers and their interior D-linemen did a real good job of just clogging holes and not giving us a whole lot."

(on having lots of third-and-longs) "That's always going to make it harder for the quarterback because I think we realized midway through the second quarter that we were going to have a tough time running the ball. They did a pretty good job of mixing up coverages and doing things like that."

(on if he's anxious to get back on the field next week and try again) "Oh, definitely. I'm always anxious to get back on the field, especially after a game like today. You don't really want that to be your last memory."

(on Galloway's touchdown) "It was kind of a play where we read the safeties. Their safeties were doing a lot of late rotation all day, waiting until I snapped the ball to show me coverages. We'd gotten the look early in the game and Joey was just basically singled up with one of the safeties. I got the ball to him quick and he made an unreal play."

(on if he had trouble getting the team into the right protections) "No, we were good all day. We really were. We didn't have any mental miscues or anything like that. We just got beat on some plays, period."

(on if he thinks the team will remain confident in him) "I hope so, but again, you have to go out there on the field and show them that you can get the job done, too. I've just got to do that."

(on what some of his teammates said to him) "Just 'keep your head up and keep playing.' I came into this week fully aware that if their offense didn't put them in some bad situations they've got a good defense. I know they lost 52-10 last week, but it wasn't because of their defense."

(on if it's frustrating that San Francisco won without scoring a touchdown) "It's very frustrating, it really is. Again, it hurts me because I know that I had those two sacks in the red zone fringe area that took us out of field goal range."

CB Ronde Barber

(on the game) "There weren't a lot of things that went right with us."

(on how much blame should go to the quarterback and how much to everybody else) "We win and lose as a team here. If he doesn't play well, yeah, it shows, but we've found ways to win games like that before. We had three turnovers, they had none. That stat right there will tell you most of it. They converted three or four field goals off of all those turnovers. Outside of our one huge play by Joey [Galloway] not a lot went right on that side of the ball."

(on if it's frustrating to keep a team from scoring a touchdown and still not winning) "That's football. You play hard to win a game. We just couldn't get anything going on either side. We couldn't create turnovers and we couldn't move the ball down the field. Frustrating is the perfect word for it."

(on a couple of big runs given up) "It's just controlling our gaps and making tackles. I think we had three guys overrun that play. The irony of it is, if he makes two or three more yards, the clock runs out. That's the nature of this deal, man. When things go bad, they went bad for us today."

(on if he has talked to Simeon Rice) "I haven't talked to Simeon so I don't know his deal. Obviously, Coach has got to make a decision in the best interests of this team. You worry about the guy, but he'll come back to work for us next week and we'll move on and away from that."

(on if it was a shock and distraction) "It is what it is. Dewayne White's got to stop us. The other backups on the defensive line have to play a little bit more. It happens. You just hope the guy's alright, that he's able to deal with it, cope with it and come back to this team. We'll welcome him back because he's a hell of a football player and we need him to win."

(on Kevan Barlow) "We got our share of hits. I don't know what the stats were. He's a tough runner, he's definitely a tough guy. Things get going for him well and he likes to run it and keep going hard like that. That was definitely the case today."

RB Cadillac Williams

(on what kept the running game from getting going) "You have to tip your hat to those guys. They did their jobs as far as stopping the run. We also helped them a lot by our play. It starts out with me; maybe I wasn't getting the right reads. As a whole team, we just didn't play well."

(on if he was at all limited by his foot injury) "No. I wasn't limited at all. It was just kind of how the game went."

WR Joey Galloway

(on if Chris Simms was rattled at times and unable to find his secondary receivers) "That's not something I would know. That wouldn't be a call I can make. What I do know is that he has to play better, I have to play better and the other guys on the field around him have to play better."

(on his touchdown) "It was a little inside hitch and Simms put it on me. Once I caught it I knew that it was just me and the safety, and if I could get an angle on him I'd have a chance to score. Fortunately, I did score. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough."

(on how tough the Bucs' situation is) "We'll find out next week. We've got Carolina next week. Everyone here is looking forward to Carolina. This game is over with and done. We will find out what we can do next week. That's when our season starts. We've got to see Carolina twice, New Orleans twice, Atlanta twice. We've got Washington and New England. Our season will start next week and we're all looking forward to it."

RB Michael Pittman

(on if he thinks Chris Simms will remain the starting quarterback) "I think so, but I leave that up to Coach Gruden. But at the same time, it was a tough game for everybody. The running game wasn't there. He was getting pressured all day. So it was a tough game for the offense. The defense did great, I think. They held on as long as they could but the offense couldn't answer."

(on who the problems should fall on) "It's everybody. It's a different look out there without [Brian] Griese, of course, but we prepared all week long so I'm not going to make that excuse. I think Chris did pretty good. At the beginning of the game he was probably a little nervous; everybody saw that. But as an offense we just didn't play well."

(on pushing past this loss) "It's hard. Me, I hate losing; I especially hate losing to a team I know we should have beaten, but you've got to block it out. You've got to move on. It's going to be lingering, of course, I know. But we've just got to press on next week, practice better and get ready for Carolina."

(on if it's good to follow with such an important game) "We've got to bounce back, especially against that team. The offense, we didn't show up and it's very embarrassing. We didn't do a good job at all of running the ball. We've got three great running backs who can move the ball and we showed like we can't run the ball. As an offense, we've got to get better at moving the ball and block this out the best way we can."

CB Brian Kelly

(on how the Bucs' defense did) "They ran a little. I don't think they had much success passing the ball. But it's a frustrating loss, that's all you can say. They did enough to win the football game."

(on if the field goal at the end of the half was disappointing) "Yeah, that was disappointing. There were a lot of opportunities out there for us to shut them down. We can't look at what's going on on the other side of the ball. We control what we can control. There were some opportunities out there for us to control the game."

(on the feeling after the Galloway touchdown) "That was rejuvenating for us. The whole sideline got up a little bit. I never thought we were out of the game, but you could see some faces there, when that touchdown happened, some guys got a little energy. It was a great individual effort by that guy. I haven't seen anybody run that fast in a long time."

S Jermaine Phillips

(on feeling good about the defense's performance) "It's never satisfactory. You never feel good when you lose. No matter how well you play as a defense, the main goal is to win. If you don't win, you don't feel good about it. There were some great efforts out there, but evidently there's something we can do better because we didn't get the victory."

(on his thumb) "I'm good. I don't feel too sore. It is what it is and it will get better with some playing time."

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS QUOTES

Head Coach Mike Nolan

(opening thoughts) "We certainly played a very good football team today in Tampa Bay. I do want to show my respect because they are an outstanding football team. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Jon Gruden, it makes the win that more difficult to get."

(on Bryant Young's performance) "The thing that is most impressive to me about Bryant Young is that he plays at an extremely high level during the most adverse situations and that says an awful lot about a player because there are a lot of guys that play good when things are good but there are not too many that play as well as Bryant plays during tough situations."

(on Cody Pickett coming in to play) "The guys play hard for him because he is a tough guy, he's one of them. He can run extremely well. He threw the ball well a couple times. The thing that is going to make the difference for him in passing the ball obviously is getting the work with the wide receivers so his timing can be on the mark. That's usually the most difficult thing the quarterback has to do."

(on shutting down the Bucs' running game) "The guys that did it on defense today, it's a team effort. It takes 11 guys to stop the running game, it's a team effort. It takes 11 guys to stay on the same page all of the time. You saw a whole lot of the defensive backs stop the running game today as well as the concept that we did pressure about a third or a half of the time in the ball game. There was some run pressure so you didn't always see them but mostly it just came down to players playing well and playing together."

DT Bryant Young

(on how the team played) "We came out and fought together. We played hard and just believed in ourselves and in the plan, but we need to give credit to the Bucs who are a great team."

(on the success of the defense on stopping the rush) "I have to give credit to our defensive backs who did a tremendous job. We played together and with the defensive backs covering the wideouts we were able to stop the run."

LB Julian Peterson

(on the 49ers defensive performance) "We did a great job. Everybody was on the same page. We made plays when we had to and that was the difference."

(on what this victory means to the team) "We just take it a game at a time—nothing real big. We just have to keep working and getting better."

(on the play of Cody Pickett) "He did a great job. That's what we try to do. If someone goes down, someone else has to come in and step up. That's what Cody did."

K Joe Nedney

(on if he is sore after attempting six field goals) "I welcome the soreness. It's nice to get out there and do something."

(on the team's success) "Right on the first drive, we marched down the field and we were moving the ball. There was something different and the guys could sense it. We were having success against these guys. They kept getting me in range. I just kept knocking them through, and that was the difference. It was a great win."

(on the 49ers special teams coverage unit) "That's one of the things that we pride ourselves for. We've got a heck of a coverage unit. Our core special teams unit does a great job. We trade field position with our opponents better than anyone else in the league right now. It's a tribute to the guys running down and making plays. We lost a couple of guys out there today. A couple of guys are nicked up, so hopefully they won't be out for long. My supporting cast out there did a hell of a job all day."

(on the atmosphere on the sideline and in Monster Park) "All three phases came through. We stopped the ball when we needed to. We made big plays. We got some big first downs when we needed them. We got as many points as we possibly could, which ended up being the difference. All three phases played a hell of a game, which is a great thing to be a part of. To stand back there, which I often do, and take in the atmosphere of the 'Stick' today, it was a little nostalgic. It was nice. We're wearing the throwbacks, and we got a little excitement like back in the day. It was fun."

QB Cody Pickett

(on the game) "It was fun. It makes your job easy when you run the ball like that. Our offensive line won the game today - our offensive line, (RB) Kevan (Barlow) and (RB) Frank (Gore). We just ran it on them all day, and those guys did a great job."

RB Kevan Barlow

(on the team's performance) "The boys played so tough today, I'm so proud of them. I got kind of emotional today because I am sick of us taking a lot of criticism and we go out there busting our butts every week. I mean, Jeremy Newberry is playing on one leg. We got some young guys that are just coming together, and I am proud of them. It was a good victory for us today."

QB Ken Dorsey

(on if there is anything he wants to do better) "Yes, I definitely think I missed a few big opportunities to get the ball down the field. I want to make those plays. I think the offensive line did a tremendous job and we did a good job managing the game."

(on the offensive line) "They did a tremendous job, I mean that's a great defense and they opened up some great holes for the backs which allowed us to pass-protect well and they did a great job all around. It was a whole team effort today."

(on seeking improvements for next week) "Just getting out there, getting back to work. I need to just keep throwing balls, keep improving and just keep getting that rhythm down."

(on how things have changed from last year to this year for him) "It definitely changed. It was hard getting back into the flow of the game; it took some time, but with the efforts that these guys put out in front of me and everyone else it made it a lot easier to get the rhythm again. I mean naturally as the game went on I think that I got more and more comfortable but at the same time there is a lot of improvements to do."