You had a couple of huge plays there. The strip-sack and recovery. And you had an early blitz, that kind of set the tempo with you and K.B. (Kevin Byard). How much were you guys able to kind of dictate to (Joe) Burrow, that it was going to be your style of game?
I mean, we always want to play dominant defense. I mean, we feel like we're always like right there, right there, right there. So a game like last week where we're making big plays, but then we're getting a penalty or something, and it's giving them a chance to keep the drive going. So I think just as a whole, from the offense, defense, and special teams, it was truly just a dominant performance, holding a really, really good offense, with a lot of playmakers all over the place. I have a lot of respect for Joe Mixon as a runner. Played against him back when I was in San Francisco. Same with all the receivers and their quarterback. I mean, to hold them to three points is a really good job. To hold any team in NFL to three points is a big deal.
Do you know where that's been?
It's been right here with the guys that we have. It's simple. Like I told you last week, you look at what was going on, we would make a play for a negative twenty-yard gain. But then they throw up a ball, and we get a P.I., or like the play I had, trying to jump on a slant, and they run a double move, just not right there, but not there. And today it seemed like just complete domination. Offense, defense, special teams. It was definitely something to be proud of.
Is there a key to keeping that up?
I mean, just executing. It's really not that hard. It's hard because it's the National Football League, which is the best of the best. So every week, we got to show up ready to play your A-game, and be on point, because there's times when we might make mistakes, and they might not be on it, and they don't exploit them, and vice versa. It's just about always trying to be on it, always trying to limit the mistakes, and make plays.
When you get that strip sack, and you look up and there's the ball still rolling, did you have any idea you're going to get to it?
Anybody that knows me, knows since I was playing little league, I always ran to the ball. It's like my strong suit since I've played football. Running and hitting. So I see the ball rolling, and I'm just running as hard as I can, and I see the lineman jump on it, and he couldn't get it. I just pushed him out of the way and grabbed it.
How did you feel knowing you did that with the sack, strip and fumble recovery?
It was a big deal. But it's every play. Trying to give the defense some energy, trying to feed off each other's energy. Any time you make a big play like that, it just turns up the whole team.
