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POSTGAME QUOTES
NOVEMBER 15, 2009
Initial comments:
That’s a big win. It’s a grinding football game, probably the most physical, grinding football game I’ve ever been on the sideline to experience. I thought our guys did a good job of hanging in there today and grinding blow for blow back and forth. I had a great belief at halftime if they just keep doing things the right way we’d make some plays. We made some plays down the stretch. Made some third downs that were big, some second downs that were big and kind of flipped the field position which allowed us to get some field goals. I thought defensively the key to the football game was once we could get Ben contained and corralled how we played on third down, which was big. You have to give up some things in order to be conscious of him and don’t allow him to make the plays out of the pocket that he made earlier in the football game. We played great red zone defense obviously today. Special teams kind of fixed the penalty thing we were having in the first half. At half time the guys did a better job. Obviously Bernard’s return was big and he did a great job returning all game. Quan did a great job both handling the ball and making positive plays there. Kevin came up with a big punt when we were backed up, we had the one poor punt which led to their one score. All being said, we are glad to get out of here with another division win. And get out of here with a physical game and get ready for Oakland.
Q: Did having Polamalu out change anything?
I don’t think it changed anything for us. A lot of times we don’t even know who’s out there. It took us about a series and a half to realize Troy wasn’t out there. They mix and match, they bring Carter in and they put Deshea at safety. And when they’re going to blitz they switch it around.
On Fanene balancing between rushing and passing defense:
It’s a tough balance. John said at many times he’s really kind of coming into his own. He got the penalty last week and he must have apologized 170 times for taking off his helmet at the end of the game last week. He’s one of those guys that’s very conscientious, he keeps getting better for us, he keeps coming up big and he’s making big plays in the run and the pass.
Q: What does it mean to you to have a team that can win in big games?
I think it says that we’ve got guys that can make plays down the stretch. I think that’s a good thing. I think there are some things we’ll learn from this game that are important too. I think now there’s a confidence that we have guys that can convert third downs and convert plays and flip the field position. I think there’s a confidence on the defense to keep people from scoring. We’re playing great scoring zone defense and that’s huge in the NFL. We’ve just got to keep doing that.
Q: Does this win put a stamp on the team that they resemble teams such as the Steelers that can win games at the end of the year?
Well it’s a stamp until we come back to work on Wednesday and we move forward. We won this game this week. I’m glad where we are. And we’re going to put our heads down and go back to work. That’s why we are where we are, being able to leave these things behind and move forward to the next week. To me, that might be the best characteristic of this football team is to not dwell on what you just did and move forward to the next opportunity, good or bad. I think that’s probably been their best asset this entire season.
Q: You expected to beat Baltimore. Did you expect to win here without an offensive touchdown?
We expected to win. We knew it was going to be a struggle. Offensively, you have to take your hat off to them too. They’re a very good defense, they’re very well prepared, and they had a number of good schemes. But I think, at the end of the day, we out-schemed them with some of the stuff we were doing with the run game and the play action game. We had a really good plan and we knew it that we weren’t going to come in here and score 40 points. But we knew it was going to be a battle, we kept grinding, and at the end of the day, I think the offensive line won that battle up front and pushed them around and gave us a chance to finish off that last drive with a field goal. We had a couple of nice first downs on some runs, and kept battling. And if you’re winning with field goals, you win. If you’re winning with touchdowns, you win. We’ll take a win any way we can get it.
Q: You took Bernard [Scott] over to the side and called him “young fella” and explained to him about the crowd. He kind of grew up today, didn’t he?
Couldn’t be more proud of him. The kickoff return was amazing; the moves he made, the cuts he made, and just to come in against a defense that he’s never played against, it’s very confusing. They do a lot of different looks, lot of different personnel groupings. And we had to leave him in the game and say, “Okay, you have pick up LaMarr Woodley, and [James] Harrison, and [James] Farrior if you have to, and you’re going to have to run the ball against those guys too.” And he came in and it was kind of his coming out party. He’s a special player, he’s going to be a special player, and he showed his complexity.
Q: Your team isn’t defined in Week 16; you define yourself along the way. What is the identity of the Cincinnati Bengals this season, and how are you defining yourself?
Physical. I think that if there’s one word you’re going to define us with, it’s physical. Up front, on the offensive and defensive lines, it’s not a bunch of top five draft picks. On the offensive line, there’s 
Q: Can you describe how this feels when things didn’t go right-injuries and such-how different is this now?
Definitely different. I don’t think some of the guys who have been on this team for a while have ever been this good. But I wouldn’t say that we walk into a stadium and we’re athletically more gifted than our opponents or than anybody. I just think that we want it more, we work harder, and at the end of the day, we understand how to win ball games. And it’s a veteran group of guys that have come together and put the work in to deserve where we are right now, and deserve to finish out the season strong.
Q: You said that early in the year you do look ahead, you do look at the schedule. If you’re doing that now, what do you see?
It’s scary. It’s scary because we go to Oakland, we have Cleveland - I don’t know who else is on there, I know there are some teams that are down. Detroit, Kansas City - it’s scary because everybody’s going to be patting us on the back and telling us how good we are. We’re not good enough to win the Super Bowl now, we have a long way to go. We’re not good enough to make a dominant playoff run, we have a long way to go. We can’t start thinking about stuff like that, and that’s what’s scary about it. Because there are some teams who have two, three, four wins and we’re going to go into games and expect to win, and we still have to play good football. We still have to play the same way we played today in Oakland, in San Diego, and back home when we have Cleveland come into town. Because those teams are good enough to beat you.
Q: Added pressure of new role on return team:
No, there wasn’t any pressure. I was just waiting on my turn to get called. When it’s your time to get called, you have to make a play. We’ve been working hard in the special teams area, and Coach said it was going to come down to special teams. We just went out there and ran the ball hard, trying to score.
Q: On the kickoff return for touchdown:
It was a bad kick. I just picked it up and tried to go back to where the return side was. I tried to make a play and just ran it to the end zone.
Q: Did you see something on film that you wanted to attack?
All week during special teams practice, coach said it was going to come down to special teams play. We just try to make special teams special. We just went out there and worked hard and tried to make a play. We just tried to get something started and put our offense in good field position. That was the whole thing.
On replacing injured
Ced told me that I probably would finish the game because his hip was bothering him. I just go out every week and prepare like I’m the starter. You just try to work hard, and whenever my opportunity comes just try to take advantage of it. Just try to make plays and help the team win.
On the Polamalu injury:
We had heard that he was out. We’re not paying too close attention to it. I didn’t see it until the coaches mentioned it. If it helped us do some things, that’s great. I hope he gets better, I hope he’s not hurt too bad.
Q: What did you see that you kept running left at Keisel and Harrison?
Something the coaches saw, that we could move the ball and get it down the field by pushing on those guys. It was huge for us so we could burn up some clock at the end.
On
He did a good job to come in to this environment, to get all these snaps. When we see him in there as a rookie, we want to step it up to help him and make some holes open up for him.
On the significance of the victory:
It’s great. We’re on top of our division now, got a big game next week against Oakland – another AFC team – so it’s a great win for us, great win for our organization, but we have to look forward to next week.
On the significance of the victory:
Very sweet. Very sweet. I’m almost diabetic right now it’s so sweet. I’m so excited right now I can barely contain myself. It feels good. 5-and-0 in the division, I’ve never experienced anything like this. On to the next one. Bring on the Raiders.
On the importance of the win:
Our divisional opponents are so tough, and we focus so hard on winning each divisional game. We have such an intensity and such a focus. We know if we can beat Baltimore and Pittsburgh, then we’re going to be right in the thick of things come December and on into January. That’s really been our whole thing – win at home, and beat your divisional opponents.
On defending against Steelers red-zone offense:
You just keep the ball in front of you, and make them check it down and take the dink and dunk. We knew that if it came to that all day, then we were going to win the ball game. We just took what we saw on film and took it out there on the field. They do what they do, and we’re going to do what we do. We out-executed today. All year we’ve been a very good red-zone defense. I can’t really give you a reason why. Maybe it’s because we know how important it is to make teams kick field goals. We’re already giving them three points when they get down there – let’s not allow them to get six. That’s our mentality.
On the effect of the defense on Roethlisberger:
We know that Roethlisberger is a great quarterback, and that he’s able to scramble, and able to make a lot of different plays. We have to make sure we contain him, and he’s a big guy. Just make sure that we keep him in the pocket.
On team chemistry:
We’ve always had faith in one another. We just needed a little bit more understanding of where each person was on the field – whether that’s understanding the defense, and Coach Zim and what he’s brought to the team in terms of his direction and his motivation. We look up to him, and we believe in what he’s coaching, and what he’s preaching to us as a defense, and that’s important as we go out to play.
On the importance of the win:
You can’t rest on the laurels of just a win. There’s a lot of season left to go. Yeah, it’s a big win, but at the same time we have more games to play. That will affect the outcome of the season.
On his success on field goals:
All I can ask for is opportunities, and today was one of those days where I got opportunities to do my job. I really don’t think I did anything out of the ordinary, except for make kicks. Making kicks is what I’m supposed to do – if I don’t do that, I don’t have a job. Our offense did a great job getting us in position, our defense did a good job of keeping them out of the end zone. Just getting the opportunities is all I can ask for. When our team does that, we came out on top.
On character of the team both last year and this year:
I don’t think we ever felt like we had a bad team last year. Things just didn’t work out the way we wanted them to. We learned from whatever mistakes we made. We came back, and this year we’re a very close team. We all depend on each other a lot, we hold each other accountable. We don’t point fingers when we hold each other accountable, we hold each other accountable by holding each other up and making sure that we keep each other strong. I think any of the tough times we’ve had, we’ve had them together and we’ve supported each other. Even in the good times we’ve supported each other. Everyone’s patting each other’s backs, and no one’s really taking all the credit.
Initial comments:
Wasn’t able to get the job done today and I think the Bengals had a lot to do with that. I congratulate those guys, that’s a good football team, but as always when we evaluate our performances, we look within. We were below the line, that’s not winning football on a lot of fronts, specifically when you’re playing a quality team as the Bengals are. When you kick field goals, you potentially expose yourself to losses. We weren’t able to execute in the red zone today offensively. Kicked field goals, we expose ourselves potentially to that. Anytime you allow people to score touchdowns and your defense is not on the field, you expose yourself to losing football. We’ve got some work to do, we’re a team that’s developing. It’s a step back today, I trust that this group will respond appropriately, I know that we’re going to move forward when we get back in tomorrow with that in mind, but today, job not done. Job done by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Q: What’s Troy’s [Polamalu] status?
He’s getting an MRI on his left knee. The same knee he injured earlier in the year. I assume that I’ll have more information at a later date or time. Right now, all I can tell you is that he’s in the process of getting an MRI.
Q: Did he get hit?
I don’t know the details of it. He came of the field, he said he was going to get his knee rechecked again, that’s what they’re in the process of doing. Obviously he wasn’t able to return to the football game.
Q: Would you characterize your performance as flat? Out of sync?
I choose not to characterize in any way other than that it was ineffective. We came in here today with the intent on playing winning football, whatever that entails, you know style points is not something that we’re highly concerned about. We weren’t able to put together enough plays to win the football game and that’s the reality of it. That game was far from perfect in a lot of ways, but we had the opportunity to make the difference in that game and we weren’t able to do it as a team.
Q: Talk about third and short late in the game and the decision to throw on those downs:
I’ve got to think back on the situations and circumstances but more than anything you’ve got to acknowledge that those guys did a nice job not only on third downs, but on all downs, but we got some passes batted and so forth. It just wasn’t a fluid winning performance by us and we all take responsibility for that starting with myself.
Q: Have you anticipated your defense making big plays? What happened today?
I wish I had that crystal ball. I don’t. Part of the reason why big plays weren’t there was because of the Cincinnati Bengals and
Q: Did you think the kickoff problems were solved before this game?
No I didn’t but I always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It’s not anything complex in terms of where we are in terms of our kick coverage. We didn’t make tackles. Two people bounced off that guy and he scored. You can’t miss two tackles on a kickoff in the NFL, if you do, chances are they’re going back on you.
Q: Would putting James Harrison back in kickoff coverage help?
I’m open to all considerations at this point. Let’s be honest, we’ve had three returned on us haven’t we? I’d put myself out there if I thought I could do the job.
Q: Did you have a good view of the James Harrison penalty in the fourth quarter?
I did not but we’ve got to play sharper than that, regardless of the circumstances that led up to it or what happened, that’s just part of our day, it wasn’t winning football.
Q: Did you want to get a look at Mike Wallace returning kickoffs?
Yes, we’ve been preparing Mike [Wallace] throughout the season. He’s got a nice resume in that regard when we drafted him. I was intent on getting him at least one today if they scored, of course they did, so we did.
Q: Were the deep passes today a timing issue or the Bengals defense?
Probably a little bit of both. We throw them we didn’t catch them. We didn’t get them. We got a pass interference on one but we didn’t connect on enough.
Q: Did you feel like you were close all day with passing?
Yes but that’s the story of the NFL to be quite honest with you. When your not performing well usually, it’s the minute things. It’s not anything significant, it’s the quality of detail. So you’re hopeful that you can find your rhythm and move forward but we weren’t able to and that’s the reality of it, so we’ve got to get back in the lab.
Q: Was that punt block team the normal one for Cincinnati’s punt in the end zone?
That’s the one we chose to use at that time due to the fact that they were punting backed up.
Q: Is this as frustrating a game as you guys have had in a while?
Yeah, give them a lot of credit. They played well and forced us into things that we didn’t do well.
Q: What was different about that final drive [and] not being able to put that one together like you wanted?
I knew we were going down to win it. Today, we did things that we – this may not make sense – we did things we don’t normally do and we didn’t do things that we normally do. Just from the get-go, we weren’t on. Offensively, we weren’t good in the red zone, we weren’t good in the run, we weren’t good in the pass. We just didn’t play well. You know that’s going to happen sometimes. It’s behind us now. And, yes, it’s a big loss. It hurts. But how can we rebound now?
Q: How much of that would you put on them and how much would you put on you guys?
They did a great job. They’re a good defense. They did a lot of different blitzes and we had to change things. But, offensively, I played bad. It kind of starts with me up there. So I have to make corrections and adjustments and pick up my play.
Q: You still have a lot of season left:
It’s early. It’s not the last game of the year. It hurts, but we can’t dwell on it, we have to move on. We’ll come in tomorrow, take a look at it and get ready for our next opponent.
Q: Was this a day when it felt like things just weren’t quite there, and if you had hit on a big play that maybe things would have turned out differently?
Yeah, we took some shots. We moved the ball down the field a couple of times. There was just something missing all day. And I don’t know what it was.
Q: Could you sense that at all?
Oh, yeah, even from the get-go. Something was weird about the day. I don’t know if it was the weather in November or what it was. But it seemed like even the crowd at the beginning – everyone was just kind of different. No excuse. We need to play better.
Q: What was so frustrating about the red zone?
We got down there and we had some great plays. They batted some balls down. They were unblocked guys that we know we’re trying to beat with a throw. They batted a bunch of balls when we had guys open. We just didn’t make the plays that we normally make.
Q: How about third-down conversions? That wasn’t really there at all either today:
That’s the down when they were doing some stuff – they batted some balls down on third down. They got some pressure. We just didn’t make the plays that we normally do. It’s frustrating. But Coach always says you don’t evaluate too early. Just move on.
On the game:
We didn’t find any comfort today. We were just kind of picking and choosing, and were never really cohesive at all today. We were kind of guessing and we were a little timid out there. We didn’t really go into attack mode at any point, I don’t think. We had some good drives and we got the red zone, but couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities that we had.
Q: What were they doing defensively to get pressure and get into the passing lanes?
They are a good blitzing team. They bring a variety of different things and they have stand-up defensive ends kind of rovering around the field [and] kind of twisting and stunting with them. Also, [they were] bringing a variety of blitzes with the free safety and bringing multiple backers with twists. So they did a lot of good things and they played very well.
Q: How critical was it for them to return the kickoff for a score after you put points up?
That’s critical for them. That’s a score for a score. And that’s how you always want to play it as an offensive player. When a team answers with a score, you always want to come back and answer with a score. They did the same thing on us. It was a big plus on them and kept them in the game early on and allowed them to eventually take the lead and win it.
Q: You had a five-game winning streak coming in. Is it natural to expect a bump somewhere along the way, or is this just part of an NFL season?
It’s part of an NFL season. Of course, you hate to make that loss against a division opponent, especially the second time around. But, that happens. It’s the nature of this game. On any given Sunday, anybody can beat you. I felt like we beat ourselves in a of lot instances, but I give credit to them because they played a great game game plan and they stuck to their game plan throughout the whole game.
On the game:
When we allow them to move the ball down the field and get good field position, you have to kind of put that on us a little bit.
Q: What is the most frustrating part of this game? You kept them out of the endzone:
Yeah, but we allowed them to still put points on the board. That’s the most disappointing – them getting out of critical situations and allow them to continue to move the ball down the field on us.
Q: There is still a lot of season left:
[There is] definitely a lot of season left. We have to get back in the lab and watch the tape, and figure out what went wrong, and come back out here and play again next week.
Q: I guess it was the game that many expected, but when you keep them out of the end zone, you guys usually win:
No doubt, but we had some chances where we had to come away with making plays, to give the offense a short field, where they could get some points on the board. We didn’t make those plays. And, nine times out of ten, when you don’t make plays and they keep going down and kicking field goals, and we’re not making any [plays]. You see the outcome of the game. Not taking anything away from them – they came with a great game plan, they executed, they made plays when they needed to make plays. They kept kicking field goals. But, we did our job by holding them to field goals. And if you can do that, you save four points on the board. All we can do is just keep fighting.
