Tampa Bay - 21, Seattle - 16
Q. Do you feel like you ran out of time over there?
GENO SMITH: Yeah, man, I felt like that second half, to me is an example of truly who we are. I don't think that first half really is who we are. We couldn't get anything going.
But we really fought back in the second half. That's a team that won a Super Bowl two years ago, three years ago. They have a lot of great players, great quarterback, great coaches, and they're also fighting for their season. So we knew they were going to come out playing intense.
Unfortunately for us, it just took us too long to get going. Our defense made some key stops. Cody made a great pick to set us up for a chance to get back in the game, and that's what we did.
Obviously we've just got to start better and be better on third downs. I don't think today we did well. So those are the things that hurt us.
Obviously I've got to protect the football. That can never happen. Guy made a great play as I was going down, but if I don't turn it over in the red zone, I think it's a different game.
Q. Geno, I guess on that play, what did sort of happen there? Just nobody was open and you decided to take off?
GENO SMITH: It was a QB drop and tried to run it. Didn't work. Sometimes it happens like that, but you've got to protect the football most of all, and that didn't happen right there. I got the ball stripped from me, and I can't have that. I can't have that happen. I hurt the team.
Q. Geno on the fast start, what do you all have to do? Is that a mental thing? How do you get that fast start that you need?
GENO SMITH: Just play better, execute better. Just get into a rhythm early, convert third downs. We didn't convert any third downs, I don't think, in the first half. That's something that we can't have happen.
We've got to start fast. We've got to be better, give our defense a chance. They're out there playing great ball. And also possess the ball and make sure our defense is getting rest on the sideline.
Q. Did the Buccaneers do anything different to what you expected in the first half, or is it just a case of you guys not executing?
GENO SMITH: I think it was just a case of us not executing for whatever reason. We didn't start fast. We didn't play as well as we'd like to in that first half.
Some things that obviously we can control with the penalties and things like that, that we've just got to be better at. Then obviously the second half was better, so you can see that we can get it done, but we've just got to play better in the first half.
Q. Geno, what was the atmosphere like? Did it feel different than a typical NFL game?
GENO SMITH: It felt different as far as just the stadium and the overall atmosphere, but I thought the crowd was amazing. It was electric the entire time. They had a few soccer chants. I was looking forward to that.
So it was a great experience. I definitely enjoyed it.
Q. Was it your first time in Europe? What do you like most about Germany? And do you know already some German words?
GENO SMITH: I don't know any German words. It was not my first time in Europe, but my first time in Germany, and I really enjoyed it.
I got a little taste of the culture here. It was amazing. The people treated us well. They were first class everywhere we went. So we really enjoyed our time, enjoyed our stay, and we're thankful for Germany for having us.
Q. You didn't get your running game rolling with 14 attempts, a total of 39 yards, 22 by yourself. We also saw some players experiencing some tough times on the ground. What was the problem today with the turf, the grass? Was it slippery? How did you experience it?
GENO SMITH: Yeah, it was about what we expected, a soccer field. It's not going to be like what we're seeing at home obviously.
So it wasn't that bad. You just had to put your screw-in cleats, your studs in, and some longer spikes so that you could have better footing. Even though guys had them in, they still were slipping just because of the surface.
I don't think that played a part in what we were doing. I just think we needed to execute better.
Q. The running game today was a little bit of an issue. Anything they were doing, or what did you see there?
GENO SMITH: I didn't really -- it's hard to say because I haven't watched the film yet. I would have to go through the film on that. I just think overall execution. That's one thing that we pride ourselves on is our running game, and we have to execute better.
I can't tell you exactly what we need to do better, but I know we just need to be better at that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports