VS.

POSTGAME QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

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Q: Initial comments:
"I'm disappointed in a couple things. We got an opportunity there to stop and get the ball back, and we didn't do a good job there. Offensively, we didn't do at all what we needed to on third downs. We didn't run the football effectively enough. Again, the two explosive plays defensively, given up in the running game, seemed to be the difference in the football game until the final drive. We knew this would be a field position-based day, and we had an opportunity right away to set the tempo. We had the ball down in there, and the ball goes off our shoulder and they intercept it.

"Conversely, on the other side they end up getting three points out of their [turnover] when they got up and we didn't stop them and they get three points. Those kinds of things make a difference. You've got to convert and get points. Then, they end up turning that next possession in a touchdown. I think, obviously, the key fourth down – third-and-one, fourth-and-one – we don't stop them on defense there at the end, and they stopped us defensively. Those were critical plays in the football game, so those are the things that physically, we've got to play a better football than we played today. We kept playing, played hard, played through, lost some guys with minor concussions and other guys had to step up and play. But I think all in all, that's the disappointing thing, to get down and dirty and to be more physical at the end of the game on both sides of the football. That was a big difference in the fourth quarter."

Q: On what kind of tone was set:
"You keep hanging in there and just hope you can grind and get some points. I think conversely, the defense hung in there and was able to keep them from getting some points when they ended up with the field-position plays a couple times. There were lot of positives, but again you want to win the football game. We didn't win it today. We've got to start from scratch and get back and open up at home next week."

Q: On considering challenging the fumble at the end of the first half::
"It wasn't about considering it or not. A fumble is a fumble. No question the ball was out. He stripped the ball while he was up in the air."

Q: On the offensive line:
"We've got to stay on and keep chiseling. We're half a guy away. At times, we had some good runs in there today. Other times, we didn't identify very good, and they were able to get a guy running. They ran around a couple plays and made a couple plays. Sooner or later, you're going to hit some of those, but you've got to get where you can play after play after play keep some rhythm to do that."

Q: On QB Carson Palmer being hurried in the first half:
"I think our tempo in and out of the huddle caused a lot of that. We have to do a better job getting in and out of the huddle to give him the opportunity at the line of scrimmage for identification and get moving that way. He put himself in some bad situations. By us being too long at the huddle and not getting him an opportunity to make the proper [checks] and everybody get identified the right way."

Q: On not everyone being available in the preseason:
"I think looks a little different, so they weren't sharp today as an offense. We've got to be better than that. That's the way it is. Everybody has that. They have a couple guys on their defense that haven't played. That's what you've got to do. You've got to go play."

Q: On Ravens QB Joe Flacco's touchdown run:
"A guy missed a tackle, and he kept coming. But we've got to make the tackle."

Q: On WR Chad Johnson saying the offense "sucked" today:
"That's about as good as you can sum it up. [We scored] three points. Defense played great. They gave us a chance to win the game, plenty of chances to win the game, and we didn't do it offensively."

Q: On play up front:
"We got beat. We got outplayed. It was just an ugly game offensively. When you score three points, it's never good. Our three points were on a two-minute drive where we physically beat them up front and moved the ball and kept moving the chains. It's a sick feeling, and it's going to be even sicker when we watch the film. If there's a positive to it, it's game one. We have 15 more. It is a division game, and that hurts you. But we still have 15 more games to play, and we've got a big one next week at home. We need to go look at the film, see what we did wrong and improve on it and move on."

Q: On not getting a chance to play with Johnson and WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the preseason:
"I don't think that was a huge factor. It definitely would have been nice to have had everyone healthy, but we just needed to come out and play better. We had some chances to have some bigger plays than what we actually ended up getting. But we're all veterans. We're all better than that, and we need to improve on what we did today."

Q: On the first-half interception caused by S Ed Reed's hit:
"That was a big play. T.J. nine out of 10 times catches that ball and takes the hit. That's what he does. He's physical, as tough a guy as there is on the field [including] offensive linemen and defensive linemen. He's a receiver, and he's that guy on the field. Like I said, nine out of 10 times he makes that play. I think Ed Reed did a good job. He realized the ball was coming in, and it was unfortunate. That was at least three points, if not seven."

Q: On what the Ravens did on defense:
"Pretty basic. They do a lot of the stuff they've been doing for years. They did have two new wrinkles for us. The first two times they ran them, they got us. We made adjustments, and by the time we made adjustments they went back to the other stuff they were doing. We knew that going in. We knew that they were going to have something that they hadn't shown at all in the preseason or last year because it's the home opener and they haven't had some of the starters that were doing it on the field with the new looks. They hadn't had those guys in the preseason. They were injured. They did a good job saving it, coming out on big, critical plays that they got us the first couple times. We just really need to do a better job of seeing it, recognizing it, communicating what's going on and executing the plays."

Q: On fourth downs:
"We had two big fourth downs. That's our bread and butter. That's what we want to do. We have big, physical offensive linemen, and [the Ravens] did a good job pinching the gaps and hitting us in the backfield. Again, it feels like nine out of 10 times, it's a play that goes our way. But they did a good job pinching the gaps and shooting their guys through free on the one on Chris [McAlister], and Jarret Johnson made an unbelievable play when I believe it was fourth-and-two, the quick shovel pass that we ran. He looked like he knew it was coming. He played it like he knew it was coming. He just went straight for the tailback. Normally, that guy is a lot farther outside, so he did a good job reading the play and making the play and getting us off the field."

Q: On whether the loss is demoralizing:
"It's not demoralizing. It's just disappointing and frustrating. You've got to move on in this league. In this division, there's going to be teams that go to the playoffs possibly with eight wins, if nine. At the most, 10 or 11. In our division, with who we play this year, it's going to be a battle week in, week out. We've got to look at the tape, like I said, make the adjustments, move on and get ready for Tennessee."

Q: On the Bengals offense:
"We didn't perform up to par."

Q: On fourth and 1:
"That's on me. I'm supposed to make that. There's nothing else to say except that I'm supposed to make that play. It doesn't matter what happens I'm supposed to make that. It's 4th and 1 and that's on me."

Q: On the Bengals defense:
"They did a great job. We let them down."

Q: On the Ravens defense:
"They came at us and they did their job better than we did our job."

Q: On the Bengals poor performance on offense:
"Well the rushing is on me. I can't speak on the passing. The rushing I'll take, that that's on me. I'm supposed to make those yards. That's what I'm here for. That's the spot I wanted to be in and that's the spot I have. You can't put that on anything else other than me."

Q: On the Bengals offense:
"We sucked basically. Everybody on offense who got a chance to play. What was there, maybe 13 or 14 of us? We just suck on offense right now. That's terrible, we can't move the ball we can't get a first down. We can't run, we can't throw. We just didn't play good on offense, bottom line. The defense played great and we just didn't play."

Q: On how much the Ravens affected the Bengals play:
"I would say it was all us. Obviously, they get paid too, but the way the defense started off the game you would have thought that we would at least come away with some points. We had the ball in their territory right off the bat and we got zero points. We've got a lot of things to fix offensively."

Q: On the Ravens defense:
"Obviously with them having Willie [Anderson] I'm sure he went over there and ran his mouth, but that's what he's supposed to do. He's not here any more so what would you expect him to do. They pretty much did what we thought but they had a few wrinkles in there. We adjusted to them but we just suck on offense right now. Bottom line."

Q: On Bengals' offensive struggles:
"I'm not sure what happened. I know we got beat and the Ravens beat us in the basic fundamentals of football. But, you have to understand that we were playing the best defense in the NFL. They gave us some very exotic looks and I know they had some new stuff for us. By the time we made adjustments, it was too late.

"It was very frustrating for us. Who's their defensive coordinator? Rex Ryan? I give him two thumbs up for what they did today. They did a great job. Thank goodness we don't have to play that defense every week."

Q: On shoulder injury:
"I'm good. I'm healthy. I'm 100%. That wasn't a factor today."

Q: On whether the Bengals used him enough against the Ravens:
"Based off what Baltimore was doing, our offense couldn't use me any more today. They wouldn't let me do anything. Part of their plan was to keep me and T.J. [Houshmandzadeh] from catching any passes and they did a great job. I only caught one pass and that must have been a blown coverage or something. They didn't let up on me the entire game and I don't think they let up on T.J."

Q: On wearing Johnson on his jersey:
"I'm not worried about the name on my jersey. It didn't have anything to do with the game."

Q: On his first NFL start:
"Just trying to get better. We didn't play anywhere near our capability. I single myself out as a guy to get better. I mean it's football. At the end of the day you just got to play."

Q: On the Ravens rushing game without Willis McGahee:
"We knew those dudes were good and that they have a good running team. We just weren't able to make the plays. I had a ton of missed tackles and that will kill you every time. We just have to get better."

Q: On regrouping after the loss:
"It's game one. There's 16 games. There's 15 more games. We have a long way to go and this is just the beginning - we just have to keep working."

Q: On the defense stepping up:
"Every time you are out on defense whether the offense is picking up points or having a bad day you have to stop the opposing team. Just keep fighting through all four quarters."

Q: On the Ravens TDs:
"We gave a couple big plays. I think on both of those big plays we had the guy tackled. Unfortunately he stepped out of the tackle and scampered for a touchdown. If we could have made those big plays I think the game would have still been 3-0. So that's pretty much how it went."

Q: On losing to a division rival:
"I think it's real big. Being a rivalry anytime you go out there whether it's a division opponent or another opponent you want to win the game. That was our main focus here to come in and win the game."

Q: On Joe Flacco as a quarterback:
"I think he did okay at the line. He made a few checks at the line, but I think for the most part they pretty much kept the tempo. We had a couple of times at the end of the game to stop him on the run and we failed to do that. That's pretty much what cost us the game. We could have gotten a stop and gave our offense the ball back with plenty of time left to make a run and get a touchdown.

Q: On his fumble return for TD:
"They were just running the ball trying to kill the clock. Rashad [Jeanty] made a great play in the backfield with the tackle for a loss. He stripped the ball. I just happened to be pursuing to the ball and picked it up with a clear path."

Q: Initial comments:
"I just want to thank you all for being here, and give credit to our football team. That was a team effort starting with our coordinators - Cam Cameron, Rex Ryan, Jerry Rosburg, just tremendous game plans. I think you saw the style of football they've been promoting throughout training camp and the offseason, and it was there today. It was a team game. You can talk about the leaders and the veterans, but our leaders and veterans - we're talking about Ray [Lewis], and Derrick [Mason] and Brendon [Ayanbadejo] who were the captains, right on through. Through some adversity in the games, through some tough times, having each other's backs. Defense supporting and picking up the offense, offense supporting and picking up the defense and special teams kind of undergirding the whole thing.

"That's basically how we won the game."

Q: On if he was happy with the physical play of the team:
"You know it starts in the trenches. It's an old saying, and you've heard it since you were a little kid, but it does start in the trenches. John Matsko with the offensive line rushing for 240-something yards, I think, and the defensive line giving up how many yards rushing was it? It wasn't very many. It starts in the trenches with Clarence Brooks and those guys too, and that's where football games are won and lost."

Q: On the play of FB Le'Ron McClain:
"He was running north and south and the ball was high and tight. He did a great job with it. He's a load, he's tough to tackle. Here's a guy who came into training camp and had to work himself into shape, and worked harder than maybe anybody throughout training camp to get himself ready to play in the opening game, maybe than anybody I've ever been around."

Q: On the play of QB Joe Flacco:
"This was the beginning for Joe. We talked about it before the game; this is going to be a beginning. This is going to be a jumping-off point. Now we've got an idea of where he's at and what he needs to do is get better. He played well but he needs to take this week to next week and make the most improvement, maybe that he will ever make in his career. That should be his goal."

Q: On if Flacco will be the starting QB from now on:
"We'll see."

Q: On how he felt about keeping the ball away from the Bengals in the fourth quarter:
"That's the thing, that's what a football team does. We've got a thousand things we've got to work on between now and next week and for the next 15 weeks. But when you've got a bunch of guys, that's heart, you know. It's an offensive line coming off the ball, and it's a bunch of running backs. We're just as tired as they are, and our guys found it down within themselves to make sure the defense didn't go back out on the field. That's an offense making a defense better."

Q: On Flacco's touchdown run:
"The neatest thing was that I saw him the whole way. He's so tall, The field's flat, you have a bad angle, and I could see him run all the way around the far sideline because his head was kind of above everybody else's. Which was surprising to see the fact that he was still running, but maybe Cam [Cameron] can tell you about it. The more impressive part about it was that he made the adjustment on the play. You know Jason [Brown] said he expected a back to have the ball, that's because they ran a certain blitz and the play we had called was dead and he kept the ball and took it around the back side on his own. That's something Cam teaches and he works on and he saw it. It was really more of a mental play than it was a physical one."

Q: On what the win means to him:
"It could have gone better. As a football coach that's what you see and you'll look at the paper, and we'll see, again, a thousand things that we need to get better at. It's a thrill. I'm appreciative of Steve Bisciotti and Ozzie Newsome and the rest of the Ravens organization for giving a no-name a chance to be a head coach in this league. We've got a long way to go as a football team. The coaching staff, players, everybody else, to prove ourselves, but this is a good start."

Q: On RB Willis McGahee:
"Well, we were concerned about the knee and the fact that he didn't play a lot. We were hopeful to get him into the game at some point in time, but the way the game shook out, we were unable to do it. He'll practice in a more physical manner this week, and then we should have him ready to go next week."

Q: On Lorenzo Neal's play:
"I'm guessing when we look at the tape we're going to see Lorenzo Neal opening some holes. And then he had a screen pass, he got up there and ran it like Lorenzo Neal does."

Q: On his NFL debut:
"It was a lot of fun here. I had a lot of help. The offensive linemen, the receivers, the running backs, they all did a hell of a job. And then you have the defense, that was ridiculous. They didn't let up all day. They got a couple of turnovers for us. We even had a punt return called back. Yeah, we played well. Obviously we're going to make strides from this week to next week. But it was really a great time out there."

Q: On if his touchdown run was the longest of his career:
"Yes, since high school. I had one in high school that was 60 yards."

Q: On his touchdown run:
"I started running, and I was thinking 'first down, first down, first down,' and I got to the first down point, and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I don't think there's anybody here.' I just started going up field, and I just thought, 'I'm going to get in the end zone here.'"

Q: On his emotions about his turnover in the first quarter:
"I went back, I completed the pass, I was like, 'Alright, let's go.' We turned the ball over, our defense did a [heck] of a job, they got the ball back, and we got it together. That's what we did all day. There were a couple of bad situations, but we made good of them. That's why it was a great day. Our offensive line at the end of the game just wore those guys out. And that's how you win football games. You get your offensive line and you get your backs going, and that's what we did."

Q: On his block on the double reverse:
"[Laughs] Yeah, I'm supposed to block. But I really think I'm just supposed to not mess anything up and get in the way. So I don't really know what I was doing there. Derrick [Mason] made a nice run and got in the end zone. It was pretty exciting."

Q: On if his touchdown was a designed running play:
"It wasn't necessarily designed, but I saw the defense they were in and I went out there and took it around the end. Like I said, the big thing for me was getting the first down.

Q: On his approach going into the first game:
"It's just football. It's a lot of fun though, just like it's always been. Once you get out on the field and you're around your guys, it is just football. It's the same thing we've been doing for the last twenty years of our lives, we've been playing football. It was a lot of fun out there. We went out there and played our tails off today, and that's why we won."

Q: On if he didn't feel in control at points:
) "No, I think our offense was in control all day. And obviously we had a lot of help from our defense as I said all along. But the offensive line and the receivers and running backs, those guys all did a great job."

Q: On the 'Let's go Flacco' chant:
"Yeah, I thought I heard it. I kind of thought I heard it, but I wasn't really sure. I thought, 'Why would they be doing that?' [Laughs] Hey, if I can keep them on my side like that, it will be a good time."

Q: On being a rookie and getting the win:
"I don't pay attention to that. I've got a great team around me, and I've got 52 other guys that are behind me and behind everybody else on the team. When you have a team like that, it gives you a lot of help. They were able to give me a lot of confidence going into the game, and we can just go out and play football."

Q: On third down conversions:
"That's what we were doing all week, to tell you the truth. Stay out of third and longs, and that's the way you're good on third downs. Good third down teams are good on first downs and second downs, so they don't get themselves in a third and long, and we did a good job of that all day. We were able to wear these guys out and win the game."

Q: On the Ravens overall performance of the team:
"It was so tough out there. There is no way to explain it. It is just completely different than preseason. I'm just glad this one is over. I made my rookie mistakes, but I think the leadership on this team bailed me out, and that is what family is for."

Q: On his overall performance:
"You have to step up your level. That is what I try to do. You don't have to be a rookie to know it. Just from watching it you see. After experiencing it I understand you have to go ten times harder. I got a great team, great teammates and they are all sticking up for each other."

Q: On whether he was pleased with QB Joe Flacco's performance:
"Great performance. He's a rookie quarterback but didn't make the rookie mistakes. Hats off to Joe, that is what they brought him in here for."

Q: On the defensive play:
'"Sometimes you just have to watch them in awe. They took over; they have so much chemistry there. Sometimes you just have to relax and just watch them."

Q: On the team's performance:
"It's just exciting the way the team played. The defense played very aggressive...Flacco made some great plays, the same plays you see at practice. I think our offense, with the injuries to Willis [McGahee] and you watch [Le'Ron] McClain and you watch rookie Ray Rice, I just think we made a lot of great plays, but we still have a long way to go."

Q: On Flacco and his running ability:
"He can really run, and he showed it today, and we knew that. We sit back there saying, 'Wow, is he's going to go all the way.' But he's a young kid who loves football, and he's very smart."

Q: On how good the defense played:
"I think today we accomplished every one of [our] goals. When you have as many starters as we had come back - Ed Reed did great to come back and play with his neck, and Chris [McAlister] on a limping knee, when you have that many people sacrifice, it's just beautiful to see."