HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on if he is worried about the health of Ahmard Hall)
No, I think they were happy that he was a lot better today. They just didn't want him to do a whole lot. Tomorrow he will probably come out and they will put him through some things and make sure he is OK. We were just being cautious today, he felt a lot better than he did yesterday so that's a good thing. We will put him down as questionable but we are assuming he will be OK.
(on the history lesson involving the Bengals)
We didn't talk about it as much, we haven't played these guys it seems like. It seems like the other teams we have played that used to be in our division a lot more but this team we haven't played in three years. In the past we have played them 70-something times but you can just turn the film on and see what kind of blue collar type of game. These guys are playing well, they are winning games, staying in games and we know what kind of game it's going to be coming in. They are ranked very high on defense and are being very smart on offense with the ball and not running it over, controlling time of possessions, all of the things that make it hard to play against them. I think the offense realizes that we have to be productive every time we have the ball. We can't afford to let them do what they did to Seattle last week with the first drive, I think they kept the ball eight or nine minutes. We have to come out and be the ones starting fast on offense.
(on if Jamie Harper could fill in if Ahmard Hall could not play)
We have options there, yes. He has done it before, got reps there before, the tight ends have all done it before. The tight ends do it somewhat already so all three of those guys have familiarity with that. The other back can do it, we have always (prepared) those guys just so you have options. Then you see how much of your package is the two back is of your game plan is anyway, so we will see. We have a lot of options if something did happen there, but we feel good about Ahmard (Hall).
(on Andy Dalton as a decision maker and getting the ball out)
That's probably where he has been at his best and he was like that in college. We liked that about him in college that he makes quick decisions. They have been very good on first down, and when I say good I mean efficient, where they get four yards or more of gain on first down. Which means for a quarterback that the options are a lot easier as far as what they are going to do on second and third down, especially third. He has had a lot of manageable downs and he has done a good job with them. They have been staying in games. Every game they have played I don't think they have been down by more than a touchdown, so it's never been a very stressful thing for them. He has handled it well and he is that kind of quarterback. The young receivers are playing very well, the tight end is playing well and making good catches for them. On that side of the ball they are just being very consistent with what they are doing on offense which is making the quarterback's job easier but he has also been productive with what he has to do.
(on the Bengals defense scoring the last three weeks)
That's what has helped them a lot, and special teams. What you have to do in this league is find ways to score and then the offense score and last week it seemed like they did a good job of doing that. Last week it was the return game that set up a touchdown, scored a touchdown, and the defense has done a great job on not giving up points. People wonder why they are 5-2, that's exactly why they are.
