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ARTICLE
HEAD COACH MARVIN LEWIS Initial comments... “It was not a very good finish to a decent start and a good first half. In the second half, we didn’t have the ability to keep things going. We had a couple of turnovers that were critical. We didn’t make a couple of plays on third down, which was kind of the story of the football game. We’re not satisfied. Unfortunately, our season is over. We had a good season, but not a great season. We’re not satisfied with finishing here, but we’ll learn from it and move forward.” Carson Palmer goes down. You have a veteran in there, a former comeback player of the year. What was the feeling like? Was it as smooth as can be expected? “Yes. It was smooth as can be expected, but we have to make plays. Jon did a good job handling the first half. We had the first drive in the second half, and we ended up getting it down, but not getting anything out of it. We have to make enough plays in critical times. We had a couple of pre-snap penalties that crept back in today and that hurt us.” Do you feel cheated? “I feel like we as a football team need to learn from this. We came in here as a football team, and we need to leave here as a football team. We need to understand it is about working through the tough times. You work through the critical points in the game and keep your eye on the target. Do your job. This is a lesson that we needed to learn. We handled the first part of the game, and then we let them right back in the football game.” How devastating is it for Palmer and the franchise? “It’s not devastating. Carson has an injury. He’ll be back.” What did Palmer’s injury do to the offense? “Obviously it changed some things. We had to come out and play the second half the way we played the first half — get the ball back, take them out of plays, make plays on third down.” Did you have any issues with the manner in which Palmer was injured? “It’s unfortunate.”
BENGALS PLAYERS CARSON PALMER Quarterback (The Bengals medical staff confirmed that Palmer suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. No further information was available. Palmer is currently on crutches, wearing a brace on his knee. A decision on when he will undergo surgery has not been made, pending follow-up examinations. It was determined that there was no need for him to be hospitalized, and he is spending the evening at his Cincinnati home.) On his recollection of the play when he was injured... “I knew right away that it was bad. I felt my whole knee pop. I didn’t feel a lot of pain. It wasn’t really painful at all physically. It was just a sickening feeing, because I knew what it was and that my season was over.” On what he felt while laying on the turf, waiting for the cart... “I’m thinking about how we can win the game. I’m thinking that there’s not a better quarterback in the league than Jon Kitna for coming in as the backup in this kind of situation, with a young team in a tough spot against a good opponent. I knew the team would have confidence in Jon and rally around him. He’s a natural leader, and we were still ahead at halftime. But losing Chris Henry hurt us, too, and the Steelers were on their game on offense.” On his upcoming rehab... “I’ve never had an injury this serious in my career. I know it’s going to be a long road back, but it’s a long way until the next training camp. I’m going to work my butt off and come back better than ever. It’s over, but I’m looking forward to next season right now. I believe we have a great team, and we had a season that’s something to build on. I feel bad right now for what happened, for our team and for our fans, but at the same time, I’m excited thinking about next year.” JON KITNA Quarterback People say you’re always just a play away from getting into the game. And on the second play of the game, Carson Palmer goes down. What were you thinking? “The range of emotions on that particular play was incredible. I’m excited. The play happened and we got a big 60-yard play or whatever it was, so we’re excited about that. As I’m excited, I look around and I see someone lying on the ground, then I start looking for Carson, and he’s not the one standing up. I had to run and grab my helmet, and it’s time to roll. So you ran the gamut of being excited, and then upset for Carson. But then you have to go out there and do your job and fulfill your role. You never know in this game, and that was a testament of that today. Football is a microcosm of our life. We never know what’s going to happen in life, and you have to be ready to adjust when things come.” What adjustments did Pittsburgh’s defense make after the first half? “In the second half, they did a lot of the same things, but they just started really paying more attention to Chad (Johnson) and T.J. (Houshmandzadeh). We had the drive to start the half and got down there and weren’t able to get a touchdown, and were going for the field goal, and I think that kind of deflated us a little bit. Then late in the game, Troy (Polamalu) made a great play there on that interception. That’s the kind of player he is.” When the starting quarterback is out, is there added job responsibilities when you come in like that, or is it pretty even keel when you get in the huddle? “I try to remain as even keel as I can, and I thought that they responded well. Then we had one of our big-play receivers (Chris Henry) go down not long after that. It was kind an interesting start to the game, but I thought our team handled it well, and I thought they responded well in the first half. Offensively, we did some effective things. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get it going in the second half.” Did you say anything to the guys in the huddle when you came in? “No, I didn’t have a chance. It was time to say the play and get going. There was no time. I think last week having a chance to play, I think guys were settled in. They’ve been around me and I’ve been around this team for a long time, and playing for three years. I thought they responded well.” When did you know for sure Carson Palmer was done? “I didn’t know right away that he was done. But Carson is so tough, I knew when he was laying on the ground that it had to be something serious. When I saw the replay, it didn’t look good.” What was it like in the huddle when you went in? “It was business as usual, to be honest. I thought our guys were focused and ready to try and go score on that series.” Did the replay make you cringe? “Yes. I only looked at it once. I didn’t want to see it twice.” What did you think of the hit? “I didn’t see enough of the replay to see what happened prior to that. It’s rare in this day and age that a guy would purposely go after somebody’s knee, and I don’t think that was the case. But only one person really knows the answer to that.” You and Palmer are pretty tight. Did you get a chance to say anything to him, and if so, what did you say? “I felt terrible for him. The only chance I got to see him was at halftime, and that was briefly, because I knew we were going to make adjustments. It almost brought me to tears going in there and seeing him. I consider him my best friend. I felt terrible for him, to have to go down that way. But that’s the reality of this game. Everybody knows that on any play, anything crazy can happen.” How was Palmer when you saw him? “Like Carson is. He said, ‘Good job,’ like he’s not even hurt, but for some reason can’t play. He doesn’t want any attention on himself, and just was himself.” WR Kevin Walter came in for Chris Henry when he got hurt. Talk about his play... “Kevin Walter has done a good job all year, playing a lot of different roles for this football team. He did a great job coming into the game and handling the constant changes that we were going through on offense.” You talked about changes in the second half. Was it more emotional that you guys were out of the game, or was it just the Steelers? “They got us into some predictable situations with a sack or penalty, and it’s second-and-19 or third-and-20. Those are defensive advantages to be in those situations, and it was tough for us to be in those situations. When you’re down 11 and 14 points, the other team knows you have to throw the football, and it’s an advantage for them. It’s tough to come back from. Unfortunately, we were unable to get it done.” WILLIE ANDERSON Offensive tackle Do you think you or anyone else in this room is going to sell themselves short? “You can say that we were happy to make the playoffs. This season was a good season for the fans, but we can’t walk out of hear saying we are happy. The object of the game is to win, go as far as possible and end up in the Super Bowl. I guess you guys can say that this was a good season. It would be great to end it in Detroit.” You now know what it takes to get to the playoffs. Now, after this experience, will you now know what it takes to move on? “Every game, you have to execute at a high level. The bigger the game, the more on target your execution has to be. I think we came out ready emotionally, but plays weren’t made and we didn’t stop them.” Is anyone making reference to losing Carson Palmer on the second play of the drive? “Obviously, it was big. I hope everyone is praying for him. That still isn’t an excuse. We were still in the game. We had the lead. We have been in this situation before with Jon Kitna as a starter. We all had to raise our level of play. We sit here and harp about how we aren’t a one-man team, so … For a minute, we were in there, but then things started to break down. We missed the field goal, and I think that changed the momentum a little bit. They took control of it, and the game was over after that.” BRIAN SIMMONS Linebacker What happened on defense? Were you satisfied in any way, shape or form? “No. We did some things well, and we did some things not so well. We have to eliminate big plays in a game of this magnitude. As a team, we didn’t play well enough. That was evident on the scoreboard. I guess we got a playoff learning session today. Believe me, I know, you never know when your next chance is going to be. When we do get that chance, hopefully we remember some things that happened today and how you go about business in the playoffs.” You have learned some things by going to the playoffs. Hopefully you won’t fall victim to them again next time... “That’s what we hope. We will see next time we get in this situation. I feel good about the way this team learns from past experiences. The thing about it is that you don’t get to compound those things into next season. You have to start over next season, and that’s a good thing. Starting tomorrow, we will be getting ready for next season.” This team had this town whipped into a frenzy. That has to be gratifying. You take that away don’t you? “No. Not after losing a football game. All those things are great up to this point, but we didn’t finish the job. Hopefully we will give the town another chance to host a playoff game.” RUDI JOHNSON Running back You had a good season with an 11-5 record and you made it to the playoffs …? “Yeah, but we didn’t finish it. We had a great run. We accomplished some great things this year. Things that a lot of people didn’t think we could do. We just didn’t finish it at the end. Great teams learn how to finish a season off, especially in the postseason where every game and every play is important. We’ll learn. Hopefully we learn some lessons from this. We have to play together as a team. Everybody has to step up and do their roll.” How was Pittsburgh’s defense? “They always have a great defense. But I think we didn’t come to play in the second half. We had a lot of mental breakdowns. That was pretty much the difference. The first 30 minutes we played our kind of football, and in the second half our whole season went down the drain.” How was the emotion of the team after Carson Palmer went down? “There was definitely a lot of emotion. That’s our guy. We rally around that guy. He does a lot of things this offense. So, to see him go down so early … I believe it was the second play of the game. We didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t know if he was coming back or what happened. We had to keep playing. I know Carson would have loved nothing else but for us to keep playing, keep fighting and keep playing hard. We just had to maintain our composure and keep playing together. People had to pick it up. That’s what we did in the first half. When we came back in the second half we just broke down.” CHAD JOHNSON Wide receiver What happed when you saw Carson Palmer go down? “I didn’t know what happened. I looked back … I haven’t had a chance to see the replay. I was just sitting there asking him if he was alright.” When your quarterback goes down on the second play of the game, how hard is that? “Its real hard. We run the plays with Carson all week. (Jon) Kitna is our No. 2 and he came in and filled in his shoes. Basically that’s it.” At halftime you guys were in this game. What happened in the second half, and how frustrating is that to watch? “I have no idea what happened. All I could do is try to make the plays when the opportunities came. Other than that, my focus was on just doing that. As far as what happened, I won’t be able to tell until I see the tape.” How painful is it to have it end this way? “Painful. All the work we put in. Since April 4th, we’ve come this far. The point of what we put in was to get to the post season. Not just getting there, but finishing it off. I don’t want to say that we have sold ourselves short. We have improved, but what’s the point of getting there if we’re not going to finish it all the way through. I’m sure it will probably be this way with this team from here on out, seeing us in the postseason from this point on. Hopefully, next year we can finish it off the right way.” What kind of effect did Carson Palmer going out have on the teams energy? “It didn’t have an effect on the energy at all. We had a game plan put together. We have 11 people. One of the 11 went down then somebody had to step in. It was like a totally expanded role. That’s what Kit (quarterback Jon Kitna) did. Unfortunately we still lost. Kit gave his best effort. That’s it.” Do you think the Steelers are a better team? “No.” When Carson Palmer went on the cart you walked over. What did you say? “I got your back. I tried to do that the best that I could. It wasn’t much of an 85 day at all.” Did you come in at halftime and talk to Carson Palmer at all? “He told me to keep my head up and keep playing. That’s all I could do.”
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