Buccaneers
Buccaneers LT Tristan Wirfs said S Antoine Winfield Jr. stepped up as a leader in the locker room following Week 7’s loss to the Falcons.
“It’s up to us, it’s up to the guys in this locker room, and it’s really cool coming from (Antoine),” Wirfs said, via BucsWire. “We all know what an incredible player he is. You know, that play he made on the goal line, that’s insane. Coming from him, everyone listens, all eyes are on him. It was really cool.”
Winfield feels they need to close out games at a higher level and find ways to win those narrow contests.
“Yeah, just that we’ve got to close those games out. We’ve got to play better, and we’ve got to win those close games like that, to summarize it,” Winfield Jr. said. “We’ve just got to find a way to win.”
Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield said Winfield Jr. is a “key leader” of their defense.
“He is a key leader,” Mayfield said. “Obviously, [he made] a ton of big plays in that game and has been consistent here for a while. Those guys we have to lean on and follow that leadership and everybody else has to fall in line.”
Falcons
Quarterbacks like Tom Brady haven’t just redefined aging in sports for their position, they’ve inspired players at other positions and even other sports in the pursuit for longevity. Falcons DL Calais Campbell is a great example of that, as at the age of 37 he’s still going strong while playing a much more physically demanding position. He just notched his 100th career sack last week and got No. 101 on Sunday.
“I spend $200,000, $300,000 a year on my body with specialists coming in to work on me. The injury rate in football is 100 percent, so I’m gonna get nicked up and beat up,” Campbell said via NBC Sports’ Peter King. “There’s definitely been a lot of games where I wasn’t sure if I was going to play, last week included. Those people that I’ve worked with for so long know my body, understand how hard they can push me and get me back ready to play. Why not give your body the best opportunity you can? I don’t know when the wheels are going to fall off, but I’m fighting Father Time as hard as I can, round by round. I’m trying to get another round in.
“They say the best ability is availability. So having the right team, the right people who understand my body, making the necessary sacrifices with time and resources to be able to put my body in the best position to be successful … It definitely is dedication. A lot of times my son wants to come play and I’m like, ‘I’m working.’ He says, ‘You’re always working!’ He’s only three. But it’s tough — the sacrifices we make because we love the game so much.”
Panthers
Panthers HC Frank Reich said they’ve never had any questions about QB Bryce Young‘s mental or physical toughness.
“There’s zero question in my mind about Bryce Young‘s toughness,” Reich said, via Augusta Stone of the team’s site. “I didn’t question it in the draft process, just because of the way he handled himself in his college career. But I can just tell you this: Six games into it, physical and mental toughness, he checks that box big time.”
Reich is confident that Young will continue growing as a quarterback and is responding well to Carolina’s winless start.
“I think that (toughness) is going to continue to grow and demonstrate itself,” Reich said. “I’m sure he’s never experienced anything like an 0-6 start. But the way he’s handled that – the resolve and the determination you can see in his eyes and you can feel in his demeanor – is the way you would expect someone with his toughness and competitiveness to handle it.”
When asked about the other quarterbacks in the 2023 NFL Draft, Reich responded they felt Young was the best option available.
“I thought the whole quarterback draft class was a really good class; I really enjoyed diving into each one of them, I thought they were all good players,” Reich said. “If you look at my scorecard on all of them, I thought they were all good players. We just thought Bryce was the best. I thought Bryce was the best. Not taking anything away from anybody else. We talked a lot about what we liked about Bryce and why we chose Bryce. So I’ll just leave it at that.”
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