Tony Dungy Quotations

One thing about them, they find a way to win. You just have to give them a lot of credit. They played well. They were missing some guys, but it didn't seem to matter to them.

On Peyton's situation, I kind of misspoke. We did an X-ray at the stadium after the game and the doctors were satisfied with it. I just knew that he had been examined and was fine. I assumed it was an MRI and said that, told one of our writers. It was not an MRI, but he has been examined. He's fine and won't miss any time,

No. 1, we had some penalties that we don't usually have, and No. 2, we had a crew that calls about 20 or 25 a game and they tried to get to their average, ... Some of those were not penalties.

Like '94 with Warren Moon and Joe Montana, you'll see two future Hall-of-Famers in Saturday's game.

Peyton is the hardest worker I've ever been around in my years of coaching. He never wants to make a mistake.

I didn't really read anything into it other than he wanted more speed on his team. ... I didn't think it was a racist comment. It may have been politically incorrect to say it that way, ... but I didn't view it negatively at all myself.

I did not know Rod at all when I hired him. I got his name and talked to him on the phone. That's all I needed.

When you change your protection, when you're always aware of what's going on with one guy, it helps the whole defense.

We need to be able to win games like this, ... If you're going to win a championship, you have to win games that go any kind of way.

Mike is a really good guy, a unique guy, and I just wish the best for him.

Guys that hit with the top of their pads and used their legs, that's who the good hitters are,

But we can just watch the tape of last year's game down there when we had to go on a drive to secure the game at the end,

But anybody who is hurt at all, or at risk, will not play,

We're obviously happy for Mike. I don't know what the league's rationale is on it, but I'm sure they looked at all the facts and that's what they decided to. It's really out of our hands and we've just decided to be thankful for whatever happens.

If we win the game, we certainly don't want to feel like all of a sudden we've arrived, or we beat the New England Patriots so our season's over, ... That will get us in trouble.

Going undefeated has never been our goal, ... The teams that get remembered are not the ones who have great regular seasons, they are the ones who do something in the playoffs.

He's got some aptitude there. I think (Doss' suspension) might be a blessing in disguise, because it looks like it's going to be a pretty good position for him.

He's always been that size, so it's not like he's got to get used to playing against bigger guys. He's always done that, and for him I don't think it really is an issue.

He's all substance. He's not flash and dash.

Hopefully we can defend that a little bit better. But they play well and they play with a lot of emotion when they play against us. We've got to be able to beat them.

He's getting treatment every day and it'll probably be a game-time decision,

He made some throws that I'm sure he won't make this time next year. I think Alex is going to be good. I coached against John Elway in his first game, and it was very similar. You can't judge anyone by their first game.

He had a little problem getting loose, but we think he'll be fine. We gave him a little bit of the afternoon off.

We talked about that a little bit in the locker room tonight. We're a good team and we're good when we play our game,

He needs some rest. If it was a regular-season game, he'd probably play.

We're probably not as sharp as we would have been had we practiced all of last week and played a game, but I think by Sunday we're going to be fine. I think the energy and the quickness and the legs we had will more than offset the little bit of maybe not as good timing.

Marlin is still the same. He improved a little bit. There's a chance he could play. Probably without practice, it's just hard to say.

That could be bad news for us. Hopefully, we can get him where he is not just getting out to the secondary free and easy.

Really, it seems like the minority coaches have to do more, for a longer period of time before they get the opportunity. That's the injustice that I see.

Pittsburgh's offensive line is very physical. They have Pro Bowlers all over the place. We've got to use our quickness. We can't stand in there and hand-fight with them.

Pittsburgh was 15-1 last year, so beating them is huge,

Our offense is disappointed, though. They never like to get shut down like this. But it's great when you win a game and your offense doesn't play it's best or when the defense doesn't play it's best. It's the sign of a good team.

Our offense just is not quite on all cylinders. What our offense is doing is making clutch drives. We are doing a lot of things we need to. I think we're going to be fine.

Our mission is to win a Super Bowl. And we know we've got a very, very tough team in front of us. New England has won about 13 straight and they're playing the best ball of anybody in the league. Going up there is going to be tough. We know what the challenge is, but we're not going to be satisfied just getting to the championship game. We think we've got a team that can win it.

Our guys were very disappointed, ... They wanted to keep them out of the end zone, but that gives them something to work on so that probably keeps me smiling.

Our guys worked hard in the off-season program. They trained well, and we were fortunate to have guys who didn't miss practice and games. That helped our continuity.

I think (the Steelers) are playing a little bit sharper and maybe with a little bit more resolve. I think they made a commitment to run the ball when they left here, and they're certainly doing it very well.

I think that is probably how he'll be judged in the short run.

I think that is probably how he'll be judged in the short run. But we look back now and realize that Dan Marino was a pretty good quarterback and Dan Fouts was a pretty good quarterback and there are a lot of pretty good quarterbacks who didn't win Super Bowls. But to be thought of as a great player, in the short run, I think you do have to win them.

Robert has been as consistent as anyone in this league rushing the passer, ... Cato is blossoming into a really, really good pass coverage linebacker and that's what we thought he could. I think it's really a reflection of how well they're playing right now.

Parents, hug your kids every chance you get. Tell them you love them every chance you get because you don't know when it's going to be the last time.

I think our offense will score points. That's the last thing I'm concerned about. We are doing a lot of things we need to. I think we are going to be fine.

I think our offense will score points. That's the last thing I'm worried about.

I think we have some urgency with the fact that our team realizes that we are a good team, and we've got a chance that not every team has. We've got a chance to make the playoffs and a chance to do some damage when we get there.

I think we have the makings. We have special guys rushing the passer. Whether we can be consistent and do all the other things, that's what the next few weeks will show.

I think we have a pretty good team. We're still young, we still do things defensively that need some explanation at times. We play very hard, we practice well, we stay focused and those are all good signs. We have a lot of talented guys, so if you can keep that focus, we should be pretty good. I think we are developing into a good team.

I think it's a good group of guys.

To lose a game - I'm sure I'll get over this a lot faster than I'll get over my son. It's our job and it's football and it's disappointing and you want to play well, but it's certainly not the end of the world.

We have talked all year about playing the next game,

With the (defensive) looks we're getting, I would bet we'll end up running the ball more than we did last year. We feel like we can operate whatever the defense allows.

We have to learn to channel our emotion and energy. We didn't play with a lot of composure.

I was proud of our defense because they held the fort and allowed us to play patiently.

You just have to play football. You have to read your keys and believe it, and you can't relax. You have to be on top of your job whether you're front line on the kick returns, on the punt return or fake field goals. It's just part of your job that you have to read your keys, and you can't assume that anything is going to take place.

You just really have to play football. Read your keys and believe it. And you can't relax.

Those guys deserve everything they get. They have been in the same system for more than seven years now and that part has really helped them. But they work at it and they're very professional all the way around. You couldn't coach two players that you could want this to happen more. They deserve every accolade because they're professionals on and off the field.

Those guys deserve everything they get. You couldn't coach two players that you would want this to happen for more.

We'll investigate them all. We do every year. Most years we say the cost is not going to add up to what we're going to get, but you never know.

We drove the ball and just didn't finish some drives. If people want to make us go down the field at a slow pace, we can do that when we don't have all the penalties, dropped balls and missed assignments.

We hope he's ready, ... He's doing a little better every day.

We've knocked a lot of balls loose and had some fumbles on the ground, but we just haven't gotten them. We've got to keep pressing and persevering because that will not win for us down the stretch.

We got down early but we didn't panic on the sideline. We kept our spirits up and we played a lot better in the second, third and early in the fourth quarter. We made some big plays. We got the turnovers. We got the momentum.

That's their style of play. I think Mike might be disappointed if they didn't play that way.

We're happy for Mike. I don't know what the league's rationale is on it, but I'm sure they looked at all the facts.

We still haven't really hit our stride and been on the details the way we need to be. If we continue to improve, we'll be in good shape.

We are learning how to win another way,

The Patriots have been a very, very good team. The last four years they have been the dominant team in the league, and a lot of people are chasing them, including us.

We can't rely on the fact that we beat them once before. It's a month and a half later and hopefully it turns out the same way. But we're going to have to play the game.

We shouldn't give up big plays, and we had several in Baltimore and several in this game. With the pressure we had yesterday, we should have had interceptions.

We used our quickness, ... I think that let our guys know that was going to be our edge.

When everybody gets healthy, I think we're going to like our roster, ... We like the guys we have.

We've got a tough group. You have to do something special to get a game ball from them, but (Smith) did a great job.

We've got guys who aren't wrapping guys up, ... No matter how hard you hit them, you've still got to wrap them up.

We want to see if we can get that done, ... So our focus is winning the first one. This is a very critical two-week stretch for us.

When we do what we're supposed to do and execute the play, we've been pretty good on third-and-1 or 2.

With my son's situation and our family, it puts it all into perspective.

We knew they wanted to run the ball and use the clock. Once we got ahead, we were able to not let that happen.

With the personnel they have, how coach Fairchild calls plays, those are the wild cards. They've thrown more passes than anyone in the league, and I don't think that's going to change.

Dwight sat out of practice but we think he's going to be fine and ready to play. He's got a little foot soreness, not really a sprain but just a sore foot. But all indications are he should be ready to go. So we just wanted to rest him today.

Dwight should be good to go. Dallas Clark is about the same. We'll know once he takes the (neurological) test. If he passes the test, he'll be able to play.

Vince Young is a special, special guy. If you're willing to tailor your offense to what he can do well, people are going to have to defend things they've never had to defend before, even with Michael Vick.

Even last year, when we were 12-4, we didn't get the bye week, and we had to beat Denver in the playoffs before we ever got to New England, ... That was a disadvantage for us, and an advantage for them. This start we've had has allowed us to get a jump toward getting that first-round bye, which is a real goal.

We need to get him in some early downs.

As soon as I saw it I smiled, because I knew that's what he was responding to.

The Super Bowl is a long, long ways away. I don't think they're looking at it that way, and we aren't. We just trying to improve and play better this week than we did last week.

We've played Jacksonville and St. Louis, who have some wins, but for the most part, we haven't played teams with winning records, ... I look at the schedule ahead and everyone, including me, is saying we've got a lot of work ahead of us.

We've really not talked about it. I think that's one of the reasons we've been able to stay loose. We've really not sat here saying for the last eight weeks, 'Wouldn't it be great.' I'm sure if we win this one and get 14, I'm sure it will be talked about a little more.

We're disappointed the way this season turned out, disappointed not to play better in front of our home crowd today. But we'll survive.

You don't win championships in September, obviously. You don't win them in Week 8. You don't win them with one game. This is going to be a tough deal for us to come back. Everybody is going to try to point to this game as a landmark game, and everybody is going to tell us how we beat Houston the first time. Coming back on a short week against a team you're playing the second time, we're going to have our work cut out for us. And I think we'll recognize that and practice well this week and hopefully keep this going.

You don't win championships in September or October. You don't win them in week eight. You don't win them with one game.

You can look at the list of people who are on there, and there is nobody who you don't really admire or realize that,

Bob looked fine. He told me last night that he intends to play, so we'll see. It's a big game, the national spotlight, so I think it will be tough to keep him out of there.

We went to New England and beat the AFC East leaders, we beat Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Knowing we can beat the good teams and defending our turf is a good feeling.

I've never been in this position. Hopefully, we'll get to deal with that talk a little while longer.

After the first one, it wasn't too bad, ... It took a long time to get that first one. After three weeks, it seemed like every week was 10 or 12 days.

Field position was very important in that game and punting them back up inside the 10 several times was critical. It was good to see that rewarded.

Finishing 16-0 would be a nice footnote and we're going to try to do it. But it's not the ultimate goal. We didn't go into training camp thinking of an unbeaten season.

Actually, I thought the offense, looking at the tape, played better than the defense,

Baltimore is very physical. They run the ball very well. they pound it. They've got an improved groups of receivers. Defensively, they do a lot of things. They have very good personnel and they're physical. It's going to be a tough, rough game.

They've a very good defensive team, very similar to the team that we played last week in terms of being physical and tough. They don't do nearly as many things to try and create havoc. But they just play sound and tough,

Our family has gotten a lot of letters and cards from people who have lost children in a variety of ways. The biggest thing is, it's not as rare as we would think. People have been in that situation and a lot of people have gotten through it. As much as you never want to be in it or want anybody else to be in it, people do make it through.