Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23, Houston Texans 16
JUSTIN REID: I had the time of my life. I've been looking forward to this moment for so long, I can't tell you how excited I was when the coaches said, "You're up this game." I was like, really I get one? They said, "No, you're up the whole game." I was excited to be out there. It was a dream come true.
Q. David Culley said he would have tried you on a field goal, what would you have thought about that?
JUSTIN REID: Man that would have been incredible. I don't know if you catch me on the sideline. I had my helmet strapped every time -- said at the end of the game we would have the opportunity and we didn't have the chance but something to look forward to next time or maybe that will be next preseason.
Q. A couple times on fourth down --
JUSTIN REID: Absolutely. Absolutely. But this will be good practice for the offense to go out and get their work in, too, you know what I mean. I won't actually be doing that in the regular season. We have a much better kicker but it was a fun experience for me to go out and do it. I was a kicker in high school, I was an emergency kicker in college, never got to trot out on the field and do it. I've been that emergency kicker here. Just never needed me yet.
Q. Is that where the enthusiasm comes from?
JUSTIN REID: I tell you what, man, I made some plays at safety, but as much as I've been excited to actually kick the ball, this is going to go down as one of my favorite moments, absolutely, man, to actually go out and do it.
. I was talking to some of the other players and they said, "Coach was like, scoot him up." And I kicked the first one deep, and they are like, all right can this guy kick? And I kick the second one and they are like, treat him like a kicker, treat him like a kicker. It was fun to go out there and be involved. Just wish I could have the third one back.
I was too excited, I bet the guys would I beat them down the field and I was running before he kicked it. Always going to stay on the fundamentals and keep your head down when you make contact with the ball.
Q. Were you remotely nervous on the first one?
JUSTIN REID: I was excited. I wasn't nervous at all. I was so excited. I've been looking forward to this for a long time.
Q. I saw you talking before --
JUSTIN REID: We were talking noise to each other. It was like, I bet you can't kick it out of the end zone, and it was like, I don't want to. I want to come down there and tackle. We was down there having good fun, me and the referees having good fun, too. They said that's the most fun they ever had in a preseason game just watching me go kick.
Q. Does this fulfill the kicking itch? Do you want this more?
JUSTIN REID: Probably not. I'm very happy being a safety. I know what I'm best at. But any time, you know what I mean, preseason game, anything like that. If the opportunity ever presence itself, might give the opposing team something to think about to have an actual safety going and kicking down the field. You know, whatever the situation is called for, I'll be ready for it.
Q. The defense, made some plays, got some turnovers --
JUSTIN REID: Tom Brady went out and did Tom Brady things. He's the greatest quarterback of all time and we started out fast and the next two series he came in and tempo-ed us and made some plays. I couldn't ask for a better competitor to go against for the last preseason game to give us film on what we can tighten up to get ready for Week 1 with and you couldn't ask for a better quarterback to do that.
Q. When did you start campaigning --
JUSTIN REID: Every time a coach comes through I try to put a bug in their ear, even the last two weeks, coach, I'm ready, I'll go kick on the side. You know, so hoping that one day they let me do it and they did, so I have a whole lot of gratitude for letting me to that.
Q. How much did the absence --
JUSTIN REID: It was a great opportunity for guys to get reps in their place. Would I love to have those two guys on the field. They are my two partners in crime. TB stepped up and Jalens came in after that, and that's valuable work those guys wouldn't otherwise get so that's opportunity for them to come up and be with the first round and first team and make some plays and be able to field that in the first defense, so that's just -- you couldn't ask for experience like that for those guys.
Q. The sacks, which one --
JUSTIN REID: I'm sorry, can you repeat that?
Q. What did you aspire to --
JUSTIN REID: When I was growing up as a kid, I used to watch D.A., I watched Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi. I was really into soccer growing up. I didn't start playing football as my main sport. Played in middle school but if was still soccer first and high school, I transferred over and played football full-time because I found I was halfway decent at it and was able to go to school that way.
Q. Justin what do you think about the turnovers?
JUSTIN REID: Yeah I think that's ten for the preseason in three games. That's awesome. You could just see what Coach Lovie Smith is preaching about getting to the ball, being aggressive, finding ways to get to the ball. Everything is about the ball you know what I mean and it's coming out on the tape so we have to take that with us to the regular season and continue to force turnovers to help our team continue to win games.
Q. Guys like Taylor --
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, those guys are going to work, man, I love it. I'm such a huge fan like that. We'll be in a drive and you'll see all four linemen come out and a fresh four come in and then they are just going out there -- I love to see it. When you have guys creating pressure on the quarterback like that, it makes the defense work.
Football starts up front on the line of scrimmage, you know what I mean. I've had D-Lines that were creating pressure and I've had D-Lines that weren't and these guys are doing a hell of a job up front to create pressure on the quarterback; that will allow us opportunities on the back end to make plays but also us holding them off will let those guys get home, too, and get some of the strip sacks you saw tonight.
Q. (Growth in of the team)?
JUSTIN REID: I've seen a growth in the locker room and there's a buzz in the locker room, a buzz and excitement to go out and play doesn't matter what the situation. Guys we are excited to go ou and play football. It's a love for the game, a passion for the game that you see coming out and it's just exciting to be a part of it. Like I love this system. It's aggressive and let's us make plays and let's us make calls, so I'm having a ton of fun out there, having a blast just going out and playing football.
Q. Offense goes out there -- what does that do?
JUSTIN REID: It let's us catch our breath, first of all, you know what I mean. They did an awesome job running the ball today, offense did a spectacular job. We have some things to clean up punching in in the red zone but they want to get that back. This is preseason. Everything was very vanilla and so whenever gets a game in, that will do well, too.
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