Here are quotes from various figures from both the Dixie Chicks and the Bucs following the one-point Bucs loss Sunday. Quotes courtesy of the media relations staffs of both the Bucs and Dixie Chicks.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

GREG SCHIANO

(On missed opportunities throughout the game)
“It was a hard-fought football game by both teams; a very physical game. But I do think missed opportunities (were) a big part of it. There were some chances both offensively and defensively and in the kicking game. We hadn’t been making all of them but we had been making a lot of them and today we only made some of them.”

(On game-planning)
“Someone asked earlier in the week, ‘Do you plan on it being a shootout?’ I don’t think you can plan on it being anything. Every game has a personality and a life of its own. This one certainly did. We had three possessions in the first half. It felt like we couldn’t get the ball, we couldn’t run plays. We had 19 plays at the end of the first half. This personality, this game wasn’t what would be predicted. It usually happens that way.”

(On the Tampa Bay secondary)
“Well, 80 (yards) of it is in one play. You don’t give up the big play, like that monster play. It’s against a very good quarterback, you have to hang in there, but we did give it up, and therein lies the issue. That’s been a little bit of our Achilles heel and we’ll get it corrected and we’ll keep getting better at it. It just didn’t happen today.”

(On the 48-yard field goal attempt)
“There were a lot of thoughts. There were thoughts of pinning (Atlanta) down, there were thoughts of going for it on fourth down, there were thoughts of, ‘We’ve made a field goal longer than that, from that exact spot on the field and the wind was coming from the ship.’ The reason we did it was my confidence in Connor (Barth) that he was going to make it. I still have confidence in him. If I had to do it another time, I believe he is going to make it. That’s the kind of kicker I think we have. That’s not unfounded, at least my time with him. He’s proven that to be the case. Again, just one of those missed opportunities. Not easy. It’s not like every day he has to hit a 56-yarder and we call it a day. That’s a tall order, but we have one of the best kickers in the National Football League. I’m confident in him.”

(On QB Josh Freeman)
“I thought he played well. Like everyone else he’s going to say, ‘I wish I could have done this a little differently,’ but he hung there in the pocket, he took some hits and made some big-time throws. There are probably a handful he would like to have back, but, overall, I thought he played well.”

(On scoring following turnovers)
“I think that falls in the missed opportunities column. We have been very good at scoring touchdowns off of takeaways. When you come up with field goals, it’s hard to win games by threes. Sevens add up considerably quicker.”

QB JOSH FREEMAN

(On leaving points on the field)
“Every time you lose, you question whether or not you could have gotten more points on individual drives, no matter what the situation was. But the bottom line is we didn’t score enough points to win.”

(On the game)
“At this point we’re looking strictly at the next game; it’s a one game season. We’re not looking at divisional opponents, (as) that’s something that will take care of itself down the road. We’re focusing on putting on the best performance we can against the team we have out against us.”

(On Atlanta containing RB Doug Martin)
“They loaded the box, they did a lot kind of outside of their tendencies, and I think all in all, when you contain a guy like Doug, as explosive as Doug, I think that’s saying a lot. Doug had a few runs that he got away on, but it’s tough. At the same time, the main issue is just not scoring enough. It’s having those drives and getting down and getting three points rather than seven.”

(On the lack of possessions)
“(Atlanta) has a very good offense; their third down conversion rate is one of the highest in the league, so you know that they’re going to sustain some drives. They’re going to go out and do the thing; they’re going to convert at a high rate. Knowing that, you know it’s not going to be a game where you have ample chances, ample possessions. We had three possessions and 17 plays (in the first half). I thought our defense did a tremendous job holding them to three (points) on that first drive and the stand at the very end of the half. Like I said, it’s one of those games, and it’s even more amplified in the fact that you kick a field goal rather than score a touchdown.”

(On failing to capitalize on turnovers)
“No question, I’m trying to look back and see what exactly happened on third down, but our defense coming into this game, against a team with that many weapons, I thought those guys did a great job. They gave us two turnovers and set us up in a prime position and we just couldn’t score a touchdown, kicked way too many field goals.”

(On moving forward)
“I think we’ll be just fine. I think guys will go in and go to work and continue to do their job. They’ll try to out prepare themselves. I think we have a very strong team. We hate to lose; it’s tough, but we have a great group of guys, great coaches, and we’re going to get prepared to take this team to Denver.”

CB LEONARD JOHNSON

(On the Tampa Bay secondary)
“(Atlanta QB Matt Ryan) made some plays. We were able to make some plays also. (Ryan) was just able to make a few more plays than we made.”

(On giving up big plays)
“I can’t really make an excuse for us giving up yards. All I can say is that we need to correct the small stuff, go back and get back to it.”

(On today’s game)
“Every loss is a tough loss – whether it’s a division loss or a regular loss. Of course you don’t want to lose, but we just need to get back to it. We need to regroup and get back to what we’ve been working on.”

DE DA’QUAN BOWERS

(On the 48-yard field goal attempt)
“It could have gone either way. We were confident that Connor (Barth) would have made it. If you had to do it all over again, I would have put all my faith back in him. That’s the type of guy he is and we put all out trust in him.”

(On the offense)
“It’s our job to get those guys the ball. Once you give it to them, it’s not the defense’s job to determine what they do with it. Our job is just to get it for them; that’s what we do. How it ends doesn’t matter for us, our job is to go back and get it for them again.”

CB E.J. BIGGERS

(On the game)
“A lot of credit to (Atlanta). We always have to go back and watch the film to see what we can correct. Like I said, they are a great team. That’s what they do. They made a couple more plays than we did, but, like I said, we are going to go in and watch film. We are going to get better and we’re going to get ready for Denver.”

(On his sack-fumble)
“Great call by the coaches. Everybody did their job on the play and, like we always say, when everybody is doing their job, great things happen.”

DT GERALD McCOY

(On the close nature of the game)
“It’s one of those, ‘They made one or two more plays than we did’ type of games; (an) evenly matched game. They have an explosive running back, we have an explosive running back. They have two explosive receivers, we have two explosive receivers. They have a good quarterback, we have a good quarterback. Even on defense, it was an evenly as matched game as you’ve seen all year. But when that play needed to be made, they made it and we didn’t. All credit goes to them; they played a really good game and the Falcons did a great job of not making mistakes.”

(On scoring off turnovers)
“I mean, we get turnovers. It’s our job to get the ball back, then we just depend on our offense to go score. If they don’t, you don’t see it as, ‘Aw, [the offense] didn’t score.’ You just go do it again and give them another chance. That’s why it’s a team game.”

T DONALD PENN

(On the game)
“It didn’t swing our way. We were out there trying to score touchdowns like we always do when we get in the red zone. We tried to score; we came out with field goals. They made one or two more plays.”

(On the comparison to last year’s team)
“It’s a different team out there definitely. Everybody sees that. Last year has nothing to do with this year right now. It doesn’t mean (anything). We still have a lot of football left to play and we just have to get this behind us and win.”

ATLANTA FALCONS

MIKE SMITH

(Opening statement)
“You can always count on close games when you come down to play an NFC South game and that was no exception today. I thought it was a very hard-fought game. I thought our defense did an outstanding job, again. They were put in some tough situations after turnovers and I thought our special teams did a very nice job covering kicks today.”

(On Atlanta’s run defense)
“I thought that our run defense played very well. (Tampa Bay RB Doug Martin) is an outstanding running back that had over 1,000 yards coming into this game. We knew it was going to be one of our ‘musts’ and I thought we did a nice job with our run defense. I thought we played the run extremely well, controlled the line of scrimmage. That is an outstanding running back.”

(On trying to run out the clock)
“Well again, we were in our four-minute mode but we felt like we had to do what we do offensively. Sometimes you’re going to have to throw the football and we did. I thought we did an outstanding job of managing the clock at the end of the ball game. It was something (if) we made the field goal, but we didn’t. It ended up being a heck of a finish for the fans and we’re glad we got the win.”

(On LB Sean Weatherspoon)
“Sean Weatherspoon is one of our best football players. We’ve missed him the last three weeks and having him back was a big boost for us. Not only in the way that we play the run but the volume that we can have. We have him in there; he’s very efficient at what we want to do and getting us into the right fronts based on some formations.”

(On running the ball early)
“We felt like we need to try it. We felt like we could do it, too. We challenged our guys. We wanted to come down here – this was the number one rushing team in all of the NFL – and we wanted to see if we could do it. We felt like we could, we got the looks that we liked and we were efficient doing it.”

(On the final drive)
“We felt like we were going to be able to throw the football coming in to the game. We got into our no-huddle package there in the fourth quarter and Matt (Ryan) did a very nice job getting us into the plays that we needed to be in, in terms of the looks that we were getting.”

QB MATT RYAN

(On his 80-yard touchdown pass to WR Julio Jones)
“Julio made a great play. We had one-on-one coverage. He inside released him (Tampa Bay CB Leonard Johnson) and just tried to get back to the outside. I tried to throw it down there high and outside so he could make a play on it. He did, he made a great adjustment. That was a really big play for us this game.”

(On the upcoming short week with Thursday Night Football)
“It’s going to be important for us with the short week to get some rest tonight, to get home, enjoy this win, but get some rest and get back to work tomorrow. We played New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, so that game and their schemes are probably still pretty fresh in our minds. We’ve done this before. We know how to handle it. It’s just going to take a good effort this week.”

(On the sack-fumble play)
“Just a mistake on my part. We had the protection sliding that way and able to handle one off the edge and they brought two. Just a mistake.”

(On the running game)
“I think it’s important. We ran the ball effectively when we needed to today. I thought two touchdowns down in the tight red area was huge for us. Mike (Turner) did a great job of that. Quizz (Jacquizz Rodgers) did a great job of coming in and picking up some yardage for us as well. I thought in the four-minute situation at the end of the game we ran the ball really effectively. I thought we ran the ball pretty well today.”

(On his impression of Tampa Bay)
“I think they are a good football team. I think they are playing with a lot of confidence. It’s always been a tough place for us to come play. They play with great effort and I think they have a good football team.”

TE TONY GONZALEZ

(On Atlanta’s final scoring drive)
“The last drive, that’s something we’ve done before this season. I really think that’s a positive for us, to be able to come up with plays when we have to like that; to close the game out, because we certainly didn’t want to give them back the ball. I mean, (Tampa Bay) has got a pretty potent offense, even though our defense did play very well today. I’m really happy with the way we responded in that drive, it was good.”

(On Atlanta’s record)
“10-1 is great, but I’ll tell you what I’ve said since the beginning of the season: we’re just jockeying for position. We just want to put ourselves in the best position, playing the best football. Right around this time is when you want to start gelling as a team and take it on into the playoffs, because that’s the most important thing. It doesn’t matter what your record is, you just want to be playing some good football come playoff time and right now we’ve got to hopefully put something together and try to get that home field advantage.”

(On the close nature of the game)
“It’s good, because we’re going against a good team. They won four in a row, they were hot. Everyone was saying they were the hottest team in the NFC South and they probably were. Just to be able to come in here, in this type of environment and stop their momentum… to be honest, we could have played a little better, but when you win close games like that, it’s only a positive. Knowing that you can come up with plays when you have to, and the defense stepped up when they had to, offense stepped up when they had to. Our special teams wasn’t working like we wanted to as far as the kicking game goes, (but) we just kind of have each others’ backs and that’s all it does, it keeps your confidence going forward.”

(On his impression of Tampa Bay)
“They’ve absolutely improved (from 2011). They’ve always played hard though; they’ve always been very physical. They got on a roll last month and we knew that coming into it. We read the papers, we watch the television, we watch ESPN and all that stuff and some people didn’t pick us to win today, but that’s fine with us. We just have to keep our heels to the grind and not worry about that, but I give them a lot of credit, and they played us very tough today.”

LB SEAN WEATHERSPOON

(On his return to the field)
“It felt great, man. Before the game I was emotional. Coming off of Thanksgiving, we have a lot to be thankful for, and I was just thankful to be back out there with my guys. I was kind of emotional at the beginning of the game, but once I got back out there with my guys it just felt like being out there at the beginning of the season.”

(On Tampa Bay RB Doug Martin)
“He’s a tough guy to tackle. He’s like a big muscle, obviously, but we did a pretty good job defending him. We have to be upset about the two touchdowns he got on the ground, but ultimately we have to be pleased with the way we defended the run.”

(On being a leader)
“Any time I can go to war with these guys, I work with them throughout the week, I see the way they go about their business and care about the game. Going out there, playing for each other, it’s one goal that we have and you can tell. So just to get back out there with them, it’s awesome.”

WR RODDY WHITE

(On the game)
“It was a good win because it was a road win. (Tampa Bay) has been playing tough all year long and came in with that mentality and we tried to match those guys today. We went out there and played physical with them and just found a way to win. Julio (Jones) did an excellent job today of giving us a big play and we just grinded it out until the end and it was a good win in the division.”

(On Atlanta’s confidence)
“We feel really good where we are at. We’ve got a game coming up against the Saints on Thursday night and that’s going to be a big one for us in the division. So we’ve got to move past this one and move on and get ready for the next game.”

RB MICHAEL TURNER

(On establishing the run early)
“We wanted to come out and try to get something going on the ground. We didn’t want to be one-dimensional today, and I think we caught them off-guard a little bit coming in with so many run plays.”

(On his role as a closer)
“It’s a question of being in that situation and just being there for my teammates when they need me.”

(On Atlanta’s record)
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, but we’ve just got to keep fighting and keep moving to try and get home field throughout the playoffs.”

CB DUNTA ROBINSON

(On stopping the run)
“We really worked on it, we focused on it all week in practice. We understand what kind of defense we can be when we stop the run. We came out here and did a great job about that. Some of the mental errors, if we can get better with those, we will be an even better football team. Stopping the run was the number one goal of this game, and the defensive line did a great job.”

(On the game)
“It feels good to win any football game. This was a team that was hot; they were a very hot team, winning four out of their last five. To come in here, away from home and get this win, it’s huge. We have a lot of football left, we just have to continue to play hard.”

(On RB Doug Martin)
“I like him. I think he’s a good, young running back. I’m just not into all of the hype. Let’s just play football, make people earn everything they get. We definitely had a chip on our shoulder and we definitely came out here and played like it.”

WR JULIO JONES

(On his 80-yard touchdown catch)
“It came through my headset, he said ‘Go get this’, he just put it up there and gave me an opportunity. He said ‘You have man-on-man on this play, I’m coming to you, just go get it.’ He just gave me an opportunity and put the ball up there and I made a great play on it.”

(On the upcoming short week)
“It was nice to win (this) game, everybody really wanted that game. Everybody is happy we won today, but we are going to go home, rest, and get ready for (Thursday Night Football). This game is over and done with; we have to worry about the New Orleans Saints.”