During the post-game interview, an opening question was asked to Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians concerning the offensive strategy in games after the first half.

With a defensive performance that seems to be above-par the past two games, offensive momentum has shown to be decreasing coming out of halftime. Coach Arians had this to say regarding the topic.

“We’ve started fast in every ballgame – we get a lead and we have to develop a better finish. I won’t say killer instinct – just a finish. We came out, we answered – when they scored, we scored. But again, way too many penalties offensively. First-and-20 every series, it seemed like. [I] liked the way we ran the ball and finished it out. Defensively, we did a heck of a job other than that third-and-20 [conversion].”

With a heavy defensive presence and stability at almost all positions, Arians made it clear that defensive success was the focus going into this season.

“We built this team on defense – Tom [Brady] was jus the icing on the cake. When we came into the offseason last year, [we said], ‘Hey, let’s keep this defense together because it can be special. All then of a sudden, Tom was like the icing on the cake for us offensively.” A following question allowed coach Arians to elaborate. “I’ve been on some really good defenses and that probably goes back to early Steelers when I was with them. All four linebackers are really good pass rushers. The inside guys are trying to outdo the outside guys and the outside guys were doing a good job when the inside guys were blitzing in coverage. All four of those guys – and you throw [Anthony] Nelson in there who’s having a good [season] – then our secondary, also. Out defense is built on multiple pieces being able to do a lot of different things. I put our guys up against anybody’s.”