Post-game quotebook: What the Giants, Bucs were saying after Monday’s game

How did the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers react following Monday’s 25-23 Buccaneers’ victory? Let’s go to the Zoom calls to find out.

Coach Joe Judge on how he assesses his team at the halfway mark of the season ...

“A lot of improvement. I see a lot of improvement. I’m proud of the way our guys are working day by day, sticking together. We got a really good foundation and culture being built in this building right now, and we got a lot of really good guys to build this thing with for the long term. So if you were going to ask me, the first year, how I’d classify it, I see an improving team that is developing in the division going forward.”

Daniel Jones on eliminating what he called “costly mistakes” like his two interceptions on Monday ...

“I think that’s certainly what I have to do is those situations. When you’re out there competing and playing hard, you have to be able to understand that part of the game and understand when it’s over. I have to do a lot better job there. ...

I think the message is to understand when it’s not there and to get the ball out of my hand to make sure that I am preventing the big mistakes. The communication is clear. The coaching is clear. I’ve got to do a better job applying it.”

Darius Slayton on losing close games ...

[The Giants’ last three losses have been by a combined total of 6 points.]

“I mean, it’s definitely frustrating to lose in any fashion. We’re fighting hard and we’re right there at the end, especially. We were right there. We had a good play call on that didn’t go our way. At the end of the day, you have to keep fighting and go back to work next week and try to find a way to close out the game.

Jabrill Peppers on reason for optimism despite being 1-7 ...

“We’re playing good football, man, we’ve just got to execute better. We’ve played a lot of good teams, we’ve been in games where we should’ve won, but we just didn’t execute. But we’re trending in the right direction and I truly believe that. We come to work with the right attitude week in and week out, wanting to get better. We work hard, and pretty soon the results will follow. Not going to get discouraged. It’s the midway point, the season isn’t over, nobody knows what’s going to happen, but I will tell you this, we will continue to play hard, stay together and overcome any adversity. ...

“I mean, a loss is a loss, but like I said, it’s not like we’re going out there and getting our ass kicked. I definitely think we’re trending in the right direction. Yeah, we would like to be in that win column, but at the end of the day, we’ve got half the season left, the weather is about to break and we’re hungry. We’re going to stay together and be resilient.”

Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians on Daniel Jones ...

“The young quarterback (Jones) – he’s still trying to do too much. When you’re in the grass with those guys, it cost them basically the ballgame throwing those two picks. God bless him – he is hard to handle and he’s a kid that thinks he can make a play.”

Arians on the two-point conversion ...

“The ball hit Antoine [Winfield Jr] in the back. to me, it was no pass interference. I thought it was a good call. I don’t know why it took so long. He had his hands out, there was no contact and the ball hit him in the back.”

Blake Martinez on the work of defensive coordinator Patrick Graham ...

“I think for us, in my opinion, Pat Graham is one of the best defensive coordinators out there. His ability to design a game and understand and adjust throughout the game has been amazing throughout the whole season. And then, all the guys out there on defense, no matter who is out there, works their butt off every single day, understands what we need to do in certain situations. Obviously we’re not perfect, but to be able to go out there and do what we did today is something we can build off of.”