ARIZONA CONFERENCE CALL WITH TAMPA BAY MEDIA

QUARTERBACK CARSON PALMER

(On the state of the Cardinals' offense)

"We're getting ready to go out for practice in some rainy conditions, and [we've] got to get better, got to improve. We're always trying to improve, but coming off of a tough loss against a good football team and having another chance to go against another good NFC South football team, we need to get a win. We're hungry for a win, we need one badly and we're just trying to improve every day this week and get ready for Sunday."

(On if a change at quarterback for the Buccaneers is going to change the Cardinals' game plan)

"No, it's not. We're not playing against an opposing quarterback. We're playing against a very good defense with high draft picks all over the place and very good football players all over the place. We'll continue to watch them and study them. [We're] just trying to improve our own crafts individually and really not worry about who's lined up where on the other side of the ball."

(On the Buccaneers defense)

"It's a very good secondary – a young corner on one side that's watching one of the best in the game on the other side of the field, learning from him, [and] a young safety that's learning from a veteran safety that's had a lot of success and won a lot of games and made a lot of plays. It's a good mix of experience and youth and speed and tenacity. Those two safeties are coming downhill and trying to hit people and they can run and cover the field on the back end. And you've got [defensive tackle] Gerald McCoy in the middle and a bunch of good pass rushers and a lot of speed at linebacker – just a very, very good defense with, like I said, the right mix of young guys and speed and talent and the right mix of experience and guys that have been there and done that."

(On if he was aware of interest from the Buccaneers last offseason)

"Yeah, I was. [I'm] just happy, thankful, the way everything played out and excited to be here and excited about the opportunities we have this year."

(On the opportunity he had this summer playing in Tampa)

"With everything that was going on I was very interested in a lot of different places and teams, and obviously was flattered. My agent had said that Tampa had been contacting him a lot. I would have been very excited to be there. Their organization has a lot of good players across the board, but like I said, I'm excited and happy to be where I am. I'm excited about our future."

(On playing with wide receiver like Larry Fitzgerald)

"It's been great. Obviously we want to see some more production, but it's been great. We've really come together really fast and gotten on the same rhythm and on the same page. When the ball is going to his side of the field, it's been completed just about every time it seems like. We've come a long way, but we still have a lot of growing to do and getting on the same page even more and more, is something you don't ever have completely down, it doesn't matter how many years you've played together with somebody. The passing game can always improve and we're still working on that."

(On the Buccaneers pass rush)

"They've been showing a lot of different things, they've come from a lot of different areas, from the secondary, from the linebacker position. They've used some secondary guys at the linebacker position, but there's a lot of speed at that position. They're not overly big but they play physical and they play fast. They show a lot of different looks and a lot of different fronts, it's not easy to tell what's coming and when. When you don't know for sure and they don't give away where it's coming from, they come so quickly. They're so athletic they make it difficult and they have one linebacker with three sacks [Lavonte David] and obviously [defensive tackle] Gerald McCoy is phenomenal player and done a great job for the time he's been there. It's just a good combination of speed [and] athleticism. The pass rush is very quick, they do a lot of stunts, they do a lot of gains, they're very tenacious upfront."