HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on Andrew Whitworth)
I think he is playing well. Their group up front is huge and they are all working well together. They are not asking them to do a whole lot and the ball is coming out pretty quick. The quarterback is doing a good job of that for a young guy. He is a good football player, hard to get around, heavy with hands, and I think their group as an offensive line is playing well right now.
(on if Andrew Whitworth will start to become better known as a premier tackle)
I think he is someone that will start getting more attention. Unfortunately for a lineman, you have to start winning before people start noticing what's going on there, kind of how it's been here. I think that's someone if they can keep going, he will get more attention, not just him but their whole team.
(on how the Bengals defense is so good without any big names)
I think they have drafted well over the years. We played them three years ago and I thought they were one of the better defensive groups that we played against and they have added guys since then. They are strong up front, they are just very athletic and they are big and strong and they are long. They have linebackers who are 6'5" and linemen that are 6'7" and they have a big group of guys that bat balls. They play hard and it's paying off for them. The defense has been good for a while now. The record hasn't been what they have hoped the last couple of years after the years they were in the playoffs after winning the division a couple of years back. That's what happens, they go unnoticed and now all of the sudden everyone is noticing what they have been doing.
(on if it matters that the Bengals are a team that could be competing with the Titans in tie-breakers at the end of the season)
Whenever you play an AFC team that is out of the division, that's where that factors in. AFC wins are always big for that reason, for ties if you are in the wild card hunt. That's not something we dwell on at all as a team, we are obviously just concerned about beating this team for winning our division, that's the part that we are worried about. We have to hang with Houston and we have some ground to catch up on and we just have to win football games. It's too early for us to worry about a whole lot of those things. We are 4-3 and we have to put a string together like we did with the three wins, get three or four wins and then we can start thinking about that.
(on the stat that the Titans and Bengals are exactly even in points scored in the history of the matchup)
I just hope that we go ahead in points then. I hope when Sunday is over that we are at least up by one, that would be a good thing. It's always been a great rivalry with us and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Cleveland from when I played all of those years. It seemed like we were always good at the same time or always bad together, a lot of good games with them.
(on Adam Pacman Jones returning to Nashville)
From a player's perspective, I'm glad he is able to get himself back to playing again. He is such a talent and we drafted him for that reason. We knew what a talented player he was, he made some great plays when he was here. He had a chance to be real special and maybe he will be able to capture that again with Cincinnati. Heck, we had him playing offense with us. He ran some plays for us, he was a special teams guy, he was a corner. He was a guy that we thought could help us in big ways, obviously, and unfortunately it didn't work out. He is on the other team so hopefully he doesn't do very well this Sunday.
(on if there is a bounty on Adam Jones)
No, I think most of the guys here don't even know him. No, I think he had a big play for them last week with a return so people see he is dangerous. When he has the ball in his hands that guy makes plays. That's how he was for us, that's how for a short period he has been with them with just getting back on the field. He made a big return that set up the first touchdown. That's the thing you have to worry about, when he gets the ball if he is returning punts…I'm sure he is going to be highly motivated to have a big play, and we have to do our best like we have been doing on special teams to not allow a big return.
(on if Damian Williams, Lavelle Hawkins and if the young receivers are gaining confidence as they play a little bit more)
I hope so. I think last week was good for both of them. Both played good, solid games and caught balls that were thrown their way. Now we have to do it a few games in a row. That's the difference in this league is that we have been inconsistent in areas on this team and to win this weekend those guys have to continue to play like last week when they catch everything thrown their way. They have been doing a good job of run after catch all year long, it's just a matter of just being consistent running the routes and consistent catching it. They have the talent to be a good group.
(on if it's more likely that when there is confusion between QB and WR, that Hasselbeck is usually right)
Probably more so than not, Matt (Hasselbeck) is going to be the guy that is more right than wrong and those guys are the ones that are reading things. I think that is getting better too. Last week it was much better than it's been. There are certain games where there has been a little more confusion than others. I think it's more that when you are passing like we did the week before, 49-50 times, you have more chance for error, but that's getting a lot better. Even in practice you can see the adjustments they are making so hopefully they are doing a lot better. Hopefully that will lead to us being a lot better in the receiver end with those young receivers.
(on his best Jerry Glanville, Sam Wyche story)
I think Jerry (Glanville) made some comment about the city of Cincinnati once that didn't go over too well and then they repaid us with a pretty good beating, we took one 61-7. That is probably my worst memory of Cincinnati and coach Glanville. He made it interesting I will give him that, but unfortunately we didn't hold up our end of the bargain that year. We have had a lot of big wins there and the worst memory was that day.
(on his opinion of the city of Cincinnati)
I love Cincinnati. I love Cincinnati, I love the wings there in Cincinnati. They have the O-line clinic there in Cincinnati. We go there every May, all of the offensive line coaches in the league get together there so I have had an opportunity to spend a lot of time in Cincinnati.
