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Tampa Bay Buccaneers


DEXTER JACKSON: Yeah, it did get, start to get frustrating. A lot of the guys we seen doing things. They were pounding the ground and cursing the guys out. You get frustrated because you want to execute well. And it was frustrating, our guys. And we know once we get into his head and make him get frustrated, it's like instead of
saying, that that's your fault, that's your fault. You can win the game.

Question: Did you imagine you would be holding
that trophy?

DEXTER JACKSON: I imagined -- well, me and a couple of guys on the team, we were watching TV and they were talking about the MVP.
And I said, hey, man, they ain't thrown the ball yet. I can be a big difference in this game. And tonight opportunities came my way and I was able to capitalize on them.


Question: The first interception, what were you doing on that one the one there?

DEXTER JACKSON: Well it was a trip formation and it had three receivers over. And I matched up with him man to man. And he did an
outside release and he tried to swing through, but when he was going through I looked back and saw Gannon was going to be flushed out of the pocket. And on the run Gannon tried to make the play and I was able to step in front of the tight end. Well, during the season people don't really challenge our defense down the field. It's a lot of here and there and here and there. Trying to frustrate our defense. But that falls into the strength of our defense. Dropping here, dropping
there. Everybody runs to the ball and tackles them. So tonight it fell into our game plan. And tonight, taking nothing away from Gannon, he tried to make some plays, threw the ball down the field, and we were able to capitalize.

Question: Did you think they didn't really believe how good your defense was?

DEXTER JACKSON: Well they watched film. They knew how good it was. No. 1 offense, they was No. 1 and we was No. 1 defense. You
can't take that for granted. But they know now. They know tonight that we're for real. Our speed is that fast. Coach Kiffin was saying, one guy said that they can't be that speedy. When they said
that, I don't know what it is, but we just run to the ball. That is our game. Everyone runs to the ball. You get 11 guys running to the ball, no one guy can beat you.

Question: Did you guys anticipate that he was coming to Jerry Porter on your second interception?

DEXTER JACKSON: Well, we didn't anticipate it, but we know tendencies. And certain formations they always run certain plays. And that was the formation. And they like to take the shot down the field.

Question: What was your responsibility on that play?

DEXTER JACKSON: Free safety, I'm a deep third. Question: The manner in which you dominated this game, can you all stake a claim in history being a better defense than some of the previous ones?

Question: Was it three deep?

DEXTER JACKSON: It was three deep. But Gannon, he came out and did a bump to the left and then he came back to the right. If you look
at his film, that's what he always does. He pumps one way and comes back the other way. And the safety got to be the first one there, on the first pump especially. And tonight I didn't bite on the first pump.


DEXTER JACKSON: We just happen to be one of the best in history. You can't never say you're the best at anything. Because there is so
many great teams. And if the ball bounces the right way, you never know. But you can say you're one of the best teams to ever play.


Question: How good is this defense?

DEXTER JACKSON: Yes, we wanted to accomplish that. When the season first started Coach Gruden came to the defense and said hey,
I challenge you guys to pick it up, step it up. That offense is going to take time to get started, but we know you guys are on top. And we know you guys have the caliber of players to be a great and special defense. And tonight we were able to do that.

DEXTER JACKSON: How good is it? Well we're the champions. We're one of the best all time. One of only five teams to hold people
under 200 points in a 16 game season. We had a lot of people asking us how good we was. I say, we can't say until we win. But now we won and now I can say we're a great defense.

Question: Do you feel like you stole the headlines a little bit. You had some big stories on defense?

DEXTER JACKSON: Well I was telling everybody this defense, it's tough for other guys to play against. I try to put it in perspective. It's like a car. The car, like a Mercedes Benz, or you have a
Cadillac, it's like a Cadillac, the outside is shiny, luxury ride so everyone can see. Nobody sees the spark plugs and the engine and the stuff that make the car run. And I'm one of the guys that does
that. And tonight it pays off in a big way tonight. I'm surprised. This is about opportunities again. Being in the right place at the right time.
They always look at the cornerbacks, you look at Brooks and myself, I'm always deep. If somebody throws the ball my way, if I get challenged with it, and tonight they threw the ball my way and I was
able to make the play.

Question: Was there a point when you kind of noticed you had reached that point with Rich Gannon that he was getting frustrated?

DEXTER JACKSON: Yes, he knows that. He was moving his feet a lot faster than normal. He was what we call happy feet. He had happy
feet. He wasn't staying in the pocket real well. He was always on the run. Trying to make something happen. And that's exactly what we did. We made him move his feet and throw bad passes.

Question: How much trouble was the cover nine?

DEXTER JACKSON: We didn't have too much trouble with that. We had a couple cover two and we had a couple of that. We had, like I said, tendencies. We have tendencies. Teams try to attack your tendencies on some plays and formations.

Question: What did you have on each interception?

DEXTER JACKSON: One was a man to man and the other one was a zone. Three deep zone.

Question: If you could go back to high school when you first started playing did you ever dream of a day like today?

DEXTER JACKSON: Well, not necessarily. I thought I would be an offensive player, playing quarterback. Coming out of high school I was one of the top quarterback in the state of Florida, I got a lot of offers. And I thought I would be one of the quarterbacks, actually, but I switched roles. And I'm a quarterback of the defense, so I guess I am the quarterback. Yes.

Question: How does it feel today?

DEXTER JACKSON: It's terrific. It's unexplainable to be the Super Bowl MVP. It's a great time for the whole state of Florida, it's great.

Question: Do you share this award with Dwight Smith?

DEXTER JACKSON: Yeah, I share it with Dwight Smith. I share it with the whole secondary and the team. But back to the secondary, we felt like he was an overlooked unit. It was a tough pass defense. We had the No. 1 defense this year, pass defense, and nobody ever gave us credit. We felt like we were one of the stronger points of this team. And so you just go back to the 49ers game, the Eagles game. We did stop the receivers and we were able to do it.

(FastScripts by ASAP Sports)

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