|
|
 |
|
ARTICLE
BENGALS CONFERENCE CALLS
MARVIN LEWIS Do you feel like you
got back on track last week? We played better,
probably in all three phases, probably our most complete game of the
season. Ironically when you play
with the same guys for a few weeks in a row, good things can happen. So that was a good
thing. Any particular reason
your team plays well at Heinz Field?
You won three out of the last four against Pittsburgh
here. For a stretch there
we were playing well everywhere we played.
I think our guys; it comes down to anytime you are playing on the road
about your preparation and so forth.
Making sure you can put good plays behind each other. Don’t worry about a bad snap and just
come back and play the next snap. I
think that’s what you have to do and I think that’s a good thing no matter where
you play. Any concerns about
the condition of the field? There’s not much I
can do about. I read your comments
from Mr. Rooney and so forth. I
know he is doing everything he can to try to make the situation as best they
can. Anything you can do
to prepare for it? I don’t know that
there is anything you can do. In
our minds with our players, it is going to be what it is and we’ve got to
prepare to play and don’t let that be a part or a function of the game. We’ve got to play our butts off and
that’s going to be what’s important.
I think that’s the thing I’ve tried to again make sure our guys
understand and don’t let them get overrun by everybody’s speculation and talk
about this and about that. How do your players
like the artificial turf at Paul Brown Stadium? They really like
it. They like it, I don’t know if
the guys don’t want to practice on it everyday. The big guys don’t, but they do like the
field and the fact that it’s a true surface all of the time. But our big guys
would still rather go practice on the grass every chance they
got. Guys here say they
prefer playing on grass. I think all in all
some guys do but I think your skill players, at least ours, prefer to play on
the truer surface all of the time.
It’s worked good here. Do you approach
things any differently when you know it’s going to be a sloppy
field? I think guys have to
understand that and you’ve got to.
I would say from experience, your better athletes play better on worse
fields and that’s what it comes down to.
Guys that are poor athletes have a harder time staying on their
feet. You’ve got to keep guys to
get their pads down, bend their knees and be knee benders and play lower in
order to function on a wet surface. What has Chris
Henry’s return meant for your offense? Chris has provided an
opportunity, another outlet for the quarterback. He keeps, I think, assignment-wise
getting better each and every week in the things that we are asking him to do
and that’s a good thing. So as along as he continues with that he’ll be an aid
to us and continue to be asset rather than a hindrance. What’s been the
difference on defense especially this past week? I think again as I
said in the first question, when you play with the same guys week in and week
out you are going to player better.
Probably for the first few weeks in a row, we played with the same guys
and it makes a big difference.
Any theories why
Willie Parker has done so well against the Bengals? Willie Parker has
done pretty well against most teams he has played against. I think he is a good player, a good
runner and a guy you have to keep good leverage on. CARSON PALMER What do you think
about this field you’ll be playing on Sunday night? It will be a tough
match for us. As everybody knows it
is a phenomenal defensive team. I
think they are still rated number one. They pose a lot of threats, protection
wise, coverage wise, and run game wise. It’s just a tough match-up. Does the condition of
the field matter to how you approach the game? Not for us. You know we practice actually on a
pretty similar field everyday out here.
So we’re use to it. We’ve
just got to go out before the game, get a feel for it and just roll with
it. The worse conditions
get, does it help the passing game or does it hurt the passing game or running
game more? There are arguments
on both sides. A lot of people say
when you throw the ball at least the receiver knows where he is going and he is
cutting and the DB doesn’t know. If
you have an opportunity for a big run in the rushing game, it’s easy for a guy
try to cut, bounce outside and slip and fall. So there’s arguments both ways for
the offense and for the defense. I
think it is just whoever is more acclimated to it and gets in that opportunity
where there is bad footing or it’s wet or the turf isn’t quite set and whatever
the instance it, I think whoever is more use to it and has played on it a couple
more times has the advantage. How is your field
turf? How do you like playing on that? I like it. I like our
set-up here. It’s good, it’s soft
enough, but also holds real well when it's wet. So it’s good. Were you there when
they still had grass? Yes. Can you compare the
two? Do you like your field turf
better than you liked your grass? Personally, I kind of
like the old school. I like the
grass. I like to get a uniform
dirty. But from what it use to be
here, our turf was always bad. I
know yours up there is bad because of the situation you are in, but ours was bad
all year long. Whether it was the
beginning of September or the end January, end of December, it was always
bad. So I like the turf better here
now just because the grass was so bad.
But I’d rather have a good grass field. When you look back at
that first game, do you guys wish you were a little more aggressive? Do you expect that to be a difference
this time around? I just wish we would
have executed more in the first game.
I don’t think it was a lack of aggressiveness. I think we just didn’t execute in some
red zone situation and some third down situations and a couple of opportunities
we had to take some shots, we didn’t hit them. But you know that’s one thing I take
back from the first game. We just
need to come out and try to out execute the defense. Do you feel like you
have more weapons at your disposal this time with Chris (Henry) and Rudi
(Johnson) back? Definitely, with Rudi
(Johnson) back we’ve got that power running game and then Chris’s explosiveness
on the outside and his ability to catch balls all over the field. We’ve got a couple more weapons and just
some more offense to put on the field. How important are
division games the way the playoffs are set up now? Very important. That’s one of our first goals every
year. We write it down on the board
and we get together with the team and it’s to win our division. That’s one of the first things we put
down before we start talking about world championships or undefeated at home or
keep teams under a hundred yards rushing, whatever it is, that was our first
goal this year. Did you say earlier
this evening that Chris Henry can be the number one receiver on a lot of teams
and if so why do you think that? I definitely still
think so. In fact I know so. I mean he’s got it all. The speed, he’s six foot five,
phenomenal hands, probably the best hands that I’ve seen, that I’ve been
around. He’s also great at end zone
schemes. He really understands how
to find holes in zones. He
understands where to get open and how to get himself open and in man-on-man
coverage he consistently beats them everyday. What does that win
last week do for you guys just from a confidence stand point, heading into a
place here where you guys have had success? It definitely gives
us some confidence. We’ve always
felt that we are a better team than we displayed on the field, just hadn’t put
good enough games together really, put good enough four quarters together. We’ve played good at times and just
played bad, terrible at times. So
it just shows us that when we play a complete game we are tough to stop offense
and tough to beat on defense. We
felt like as a team we played a complete game. Are you guys out of
it or do you still think you can make the playoffs? We’re not thinking
we’re out of it. We know we’ve got
to win the next five games and think we can do it. But we’re not worried about that. We are just going to worry about doing
what do, which is trying to win these games and see what happens at the
end. Who knows if 9-7 gets the
playoffs, who knows if 8-8 gets the playoffs. We know there is a shot that it doesn’t,
but we’re playing like there is a shot for us to get in. Is there an
adjustment period with Chris Henry back or was he able to jump right in and
contribute right away? Well he jumped right
in. He was back with the team, he
actually practiced a week before he was re-instated with the team, running
routes, and I’ve had a bunch of chances the time he was down and suspended, to
get together and just throw one-on-one stuff with him. He jumped back in the game and it was
like he played week one and just kept on playing. Like I said before, has a natural feel
for the game. Why have you guys had
success here? I think it’s a tough
place to play. If you come in intimidated and if you come in worrying about the
atmosphere there, we come in as a team and we aren’t intimidated. We come and we love playing there, it’s
a beautiful stadium and a great atmosphere. As long as you cannot let the crowd
affect your game, whether it’s a penalty from an offsides, whatever it may be,
if you can keep the crowd out if yourself and focus on what you need to do, you
can be successful there. Are you hoping you’ll
not have to face Troy Polamalu? Definitely,
definitely. You hate saying that because he’s a great guy and a good buddy, but
we have a better chance of winning if he’s not on the field and I want to
win. But I also hope he is smart
with his injury and doesn’t come back to soon, especially against us, but makes
sure he comes back when he is ready and he’s a hundred
percent.
|
|
|||
