STEELERS - BENGALS POST-GAME QUOTES
Sunday, September 24, 2006
at Heinz Field

BENGALS QUOTES

 

HEAD COACH MARVIN LEWIS

 

Obviously it was a very hard fought football game today, much like we expected. I talk to the guys all the time about having to play 60-minutes and it came down to that today.  (I tell them) don't flinch and worry about things that are going on. There will be a lot of ups and downs and a lot of positive plays and negative plays and don't let those things get in the way. Keep your eye on the target, keep playing and I thought our guys did a great job of that today. We started out slow on third downs on both sides of the ball and it really caused us problems the first half. We have to do a better job of that.

 

Was it Richardo Colclough's fumbled catch that turned things around for your team?

 

I don't know, I'm not going to decide that. I'll let you guys decide that.

 

What does T.J. Houshmandzadeh mean to the team?

 

I thought T.J. obviously made the big play. There were a lot of big plays today, but T.J. came in and gave us some real productive stats and did a nice job and fought through a really slow start. It was good to have him back. It was good to have Levi Jones out there too.  He fought today--he fought hard.

 

When you look at Carson Palmer's numbers today, what do you think?

 

Well, we won the football game, that's the most important thing. I'll let you fool with the numbers. At the end of the year it's about winning the most football games.

 

Is it more special of a win since you did it in your hometown?

 

I think it's good to win a divisional game on the road, that's the most important thing. It's not about me. It's most important for us to win a divisional football game on the road against a very good team, the defending Super Bowl champions. That's the key and we have a tough game next week.

 

Talk about the performance of the offensive line.

 

They did their job and locked him up. We'll go back to work this week. No matter what happens today, I told them we'll go back to work.

 

Talk about the play of Chris Henry.

 

He made two nice plays and it was good to see.  He just has to keep his composure and keep playing.

 

Talk about converting mistakes to points.

 

Both teams had an opportunity to do that. It went both ways. We're just fortunate to win today.

 

 

 

 

 

What about the 97-yard drive?

 

That was big, that was a big drive. We got the interception there with the defense and kept points off the board from them and were able to get points on the board for us. That was a big drive. At that point we hadn't had a lot of success moving the football, but we were able to put some plays together and keep grinding it out and that did it.

 

Does a win today bury what happen between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in the past?

 

They beat us in the playoffs. When you lose in the playoffs, you fall off a cliff. Unfortunately our quarterback got hurt, but that's just part of the game. We lost the playoff game and (the Steelers) went on to be World Champions. They are in our division, and in my opinion, I'm very happy for them because I know the best team in the National Football League last year in is our division. I thought that was a good thing. They showed us, as a football team, how you do it. When your backs are against the wall, you go play football. You don't talk about it, you just go play. That's what they did. They were a great example for us.

 

Did the lessons you learned the loss and the Steelers success help you today?

 

It helps every time we get together. It helps us every time we get started. If I sit there and make excuses about this and about that and am worried about this and worried about that, it's about playing football. They were a great example for us.

 

Are you happy with the mind-set of your team?

 

We just keep doing it one week at a time. We keep gathering all our eggs in a basket and trying to be as good as we can be. That's what we have to do. We need to keep playing football that way and I think our team is taking that approach and they understand what that means. It was good today. There were a lot of negatives and we were able to overcome that with a lot of positives and that's the good thing. That's what the National Football League is all about.

 

Talk about the play of Justin Smith and Robert Geathers.

 

Ben's a very tough quarterback to sack. He avoids the rush a lot and if you don't get the ends buttoned up, and sometimes you're too high, too low, and he makes a lot of moves with his feet. Again we were fortunate to get out of it with a win.

 

 

 

 

 

15 – Chris Henry (WR)

 

Does it surprise you to see Carson do what he did after being injured?

 

Actually, I know he felt just like me because when he got injured last year, I was injured on the same play.  For me, I really couldn't wait to get out here and play.

 

What about you on one-on-one coverage.  When Carson sees you in that kind of coverage, his eyes seem to light up.  

 

That's all you've got to do is make a play on the ball. 

 

What about the Steelers defense, they do a lot of talking out there don't they?

 

Yeah, uh, that's kind of their style of play.  That's just how they do it.  You can't get mad, it's all a competition.

 

You and Ike Taylor had a pretty good battle today. 

 

He's out there trying to compete and that's all it is. 

 

How bitter is this rivalry between these two teams?

 

It's a big one.  We really keyed on this game.  We wanted to come in and get the victory so we could keep on going on our season.  This is real big for us.

 

Did you feel extra motivation because of what happened to Carson Palmer in the playoffs?

 

Yeah.  Carson couldn't wait to get out here.  Exactly how I felt being injured on the same play as Carson did last year. 

 

Two for you and two for T.J. Houshmandzadeh.  Does that prove to the league that there is more to this team than Chad Johnson on this wide receiving corps?

 

Oh yeah.  We're deep.  People don't recognize that, but we're going to prove it to them. 

 

That was quite a shot you took.  Did you lose your wind?

 

Yeah.  I lost my wind.  I got hit right in the stomach.  It hurt pretty bad.

 

What about the first touchdown.  It looked like it was just thrown up there for you.

 

Yeah, he just threw it up.  A high thrown ball, I just had to go out and make a play.  That's what I do. 

 

What about the 21-yard TD you caught.  It looked like you almost dropped it. 

 

No.  I wasn't going to drop it.  I don't know what happened.  I guess I bobbled it a bit.

 

How did you come back so quickly after that hit?

 

Like I said, I just lost my wind.

 

Where did it hit you exactly?

 

I don't know.  I just knew I was trying to get my breath back.  I was in a little pain for a little bit, but I'm always going to bounce up. 

 

 

32 – Rudi Johnson (RB)

 

Talk about what it is like winning this game.

 

Everybody made plays.  The defense, special teams too.  We just stayed together for four quarters and that's what it came down to. 

 

Because of what happened in the playoffs to Carson and the team getting knocked out, does this win mean something more?  Does victory taste sweeter today?

 

It does.  But we expect to win.  We expect to come in here and win this ball game.  But we knew coming in that it was going to take everything we had.  That's what it boiled down to.  They made plays, we made plays and it went back and forth up and down and the game could have gone either way, but we stayed together and fought together as a family and pulled it out. 

 

Why did you expect to win? 

 

We expect to win every game.  We're a better team than we were last year.  We expect to be in Miami at the end of the year.  We are a better team than we were a year ago, so we expect to win every ball game.

 

I guess you never expected them to pull away from you and you probably never expected you to pull away from them.  It was going to be that kind of game. 

 

Oh yeah.  It was one of those games where you've got to keep playing.  Everybody gets frustrated at times, but you have to keep playing, keep playing, keep playing.  We talked about that all during the week.  That's what it showed today as evidence.  If we wouldn't have stayed together on the sidelines communicating the game would have gone a different way.  But we stayed together, communicated, and pulled together, everybody got closer and closer, plays were being made and we were able to capitalize. 

 

How significant is this game for you?

 

It's a big win.  Super Bowl Champions, so say no more.  They won the Super Bowl, they've run this division for a long time, so for us to come in and put our foot down it says a lot. 

 

 

What did it mean when Tony Stewart jumped on the fumble recovery on the punt? 

 

That was right when we needed it.  That's why I talk about everybody making plays.  They made plays on their side of the ball, too, but we made plays throughout four quarters of football, and that's really what it came down.  The game could have gone either way.

 

Last week it was you.  This week, it wasn't you.  Is that what this team is showing offensively. 

 

Everybody makes plays, we've got a lot of weapons on this team.  T.J. came in and he hasn't played in four weeks, and made great plays all up and down the field.  That's what it's all about.  Everyone has to step up and do their part.  When their number is called, step  up and make plays. 

 

Can you talk about the resiliency of this team with the momentum going back and forth. 

 

It's just how close we are.  How close we are, how we expect to pull it out, how we expect to win, and how, no matter what we stay together.  We're all going to stay together.  That's what showed and that's what brought us through today. 

 

 

97 – John Thornton (DT)

 

On the quality of play. 

 

One we got the turnovers, our offense did put them away.  This wasn't pretty at all.  They're not supposed to be pretty.  It's not supposed to be.  All of our games, including our preseason games have been over at halftime.  This is good for us.

 

 

How about the blocked field goal. 

 

That was good.  All the guys keyed on that coming into the game.  Coach just called the right call got my hand up and it hit it.

 

Where is this team right now after this win?

 

I think we're a much better team mentally.  We didn't fold under pressure.  We just keep going.  This if my fourth year here with coach and everybody is really taking on his personality.  No matter what happens, we can always come back.  I don't think we have any selfish players.  Sometimes being selfish is good if you want to make a play.  Just make sure we do it together.  I don't mind anybody being selfish, as long as how they do it doesn't affect the team.

 

Are you as pleased with the mindset that led to this win?

 

Yeah, because it was tough.  We came up here, we knew that they were desperate, it was a division game.  We didn't make this game too big.  I'm glad we didn't do that.  We could have got down as soon as things didn't go our way.  We just fought.  There was no time during the game where we were down.  We seemed to get turnovers at the right time, our offense to play well, the defense, we stopped them at the right time.  It wasn't pretty.  Who cares about that. We're walking out of here 3-0.  Those guys are 1 and 2 and we did a good job.

 

Talk about the 97-yard drive after the interception.

 

That was big.  They were on their way to being up 14-0.  Being up here, that would have been real tough.  We held them.  We got that interception and that was good.  If these guys get up 14-0, you might not see another pass the rest of the game.   So we dodged a bullet there.  Ben made a mistake and we capitalized on it. 

 

They ran the ball pretty well. 

 

Yeah, they did.  But we bucked down.  They hit us on some blitzes.  When you blitz, just like we did with Rudi, we caught them in blitzes and that's going to happen.  They never got up big on us.  That's how I know we did a good job because we didn't let the game get out of hand.  It goes back and forth.  We stopped them a couple of times, and they got first downs.  It was back and forth.  I don't worry about the little stats, but the big one is that we won.

 

What does it say that a lot of things went wrong and you still came out with the victory?

 

It just tells you that people really don't know.  Everybody says that this has to happen, this has to happen, but I think we did a pretty good job of not letting them control the game.  Like you said, even though they got some rushing yards, they didn't control the game with that, because we got a lot of tackles for losses.  They hit us on some blitzes.  If you hit somebody on a blitz that's easy once you get past the line of scrimmage.  Willie Parker did a good job, but I think we still held him to where we wanted to where it didn't get out of hand.

 

 

91 – Robert Geathers

 

It seemed like the turnovers came at the right time for you.

 

Right time, man.  We knew the offense was struggling a little bit in the second half, and we had to step up and that's what we did.

 

Big momentum swing in the first half.  How did that feel for you?

 

Great.  It felt great.  It's a team effort and when we were struggling they stepped up, when they were struggling we stepped up.

 

Do you think the Steelers miss Randle-El returning punts?

 

It looked like they did.  No matter who is back there, those guys are going to make mistakes.  We capitalized on it. 

 

Do you think the wind had anything to do with that?

 

I'm not sure.