Head Coach Tony Dungy believes RB Warrick Dunn is hitting his stride
As it does each Saturday, Buccaneers.com listened in to the thoughts of Buccaneer Head Coach Tony Dungy a day before the game. With his team at 5-4 and preparing for a home game against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Dungy addressed the following topics:
QB Trent Dilfer's resurgence:
"He's been a little bit more relaxed and a little more accurate (in the last two weeks). But, guys are also starting to make plays now. Trent's arm got a little rest (during the week that Eric Zeier started) and his body definitely got some rest without a week of pounding. Another thing that happened during that week is that a lot of the guys realized that it wasn't all the quarterback, and that one guy was sometimes being used as a scapegoat.
"The essence of playing quarterback in the NFL is quick decision-making. You have to make quick decision, and you have to be right, and you have to be instinctive. The past two weeks, Trent has made quick decisions and he's found the right guys and made big plays."
RB Warrick Dunn's rushing totals:
"He's been a little frustrated. He got off to a slow start, and then I think you saw him trying to make a big run on every play, make every game a big day. He wasn't sure how many carries he was going to have, so he wanted to make each one a big play. We have to make sure that he knows that he's going to get enough carries."
The Bucs' receiving corps:
"Jacquez (Green) and Reidel (Anthony) will start, but having Bert Emanuel and Karl Williams back will be a big help. We'll spot them in here and there to give us a boost. Plus, we can put them in on first down at times when the other guys need a rest. We'll probably put Yo Murphy down (on the inactive list), which means we'll use Karl on punt returns and Jacquez on kickoff returns."
Instant replay:
"I think the calls will balance out over the course of a year or two years. It's a new system that we're all getting used to. I'm learning new things about it all the time."
The relative simplicity of the Bucs' defensive scheme:
"That kind of started in Minnesota. Monte (Kiffin) and I were there with Denny Green, and the team was committed to keeping it's offensive players. That meant we were losing defensive players a lot, and we had to have a system where guys could pick it up quickly and play. We have a lot of speed on this team, a lot of talented players, and we don't want to muddy the waters very much."
The Bucs' cornerbacks and the health of Ronde Barber:
"Brian Kelly will probably start like last week, but we'll rotate Ronde in. He's still not 100 percent, but he's close. It will probably be close to 50-50 in terms of playing time."
