(on today's game)
Defense played unbelievable. We made plays when we needed to on offense. It wasn't always pretty but we got the job done. Like I said all year, we can win a lot of different ways and defense came up strong today. Unbelievable.
(on linebacker Logan Wilson's interception)
Yeah, I knew we had 20 seconds and two timeouts. That's enough time for three plays, be in field goal range, and based on what they'd been playing earlier, we kind of knew what coverage they were going to be in in that situation, and Zac (Taylor) called a great play, and Ja'Marr (Chase) made a great catch and ran a great route.
(on the play involving wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase)
Yeah, it was cover-two-man. So, they were playing man low-hip, so I knew I had an outbreaker to the boundary and that's usually good against that kind of coverage. Ja'Marr (Chase) ran a great route.
(on whether the team did anything with protection on the Ja'Marr Chase play)
No, they had a great pocket for me. That was the key to that play.
(on whether the Titans did anything to surprise the team that led to nine sacks)
They had a great plan. They had a great rush plan. They made it tough on us, made it tough on me, disguising coverages and blitzes and everything. They switched it up the whole game. They didn't stick to one thing. If one thing didn't work, they moved on to the next thing and that kept us on our toes.
(on whether today's game was the loudest this season)
That's always a tough question for me. I don't really pay attention to how loud it is or how loud it isn't.
(on safety Jessie Bates III's interception on the first play of the game)
It got us off to a strong start. Since that happened, I knew what kind of game it was going to be for the defense. I knew that if we protected the ball and put points on the board, we were probably going to be able to win.
(on his overall reaction to the win and if it feels normal)
No, it's not normal. This one was really, really hard. Intense game. This is what playoff football this deep into January is like. It was really, really hard.
(on how this was different from a game in September)
It was just you and just a really good team with everything on the line. Everyone's probably playing with the same intensity, but it's just, you feel the moment.
(on if he said anything to (inaudible) after the drop)
No. Stuff like that's going to happen. We've been really good the last five weeks on protecting the ball and sometimes like that's going to happen. I thought the defense did a great job of responding and that was really the key to the game.
(on if he was surprised by the Titans clock management at the end of the game)
I don't know. I kind of thought that I'd probably still get a chance there at the end. Whether it was our defense coming up and making a big play, or they're going down and scoring and then it's all on us. Either way, I was expecting to get the ball.
(on the Bengals locker room)
It's got a lot of tough people within the locker room and I think guys that have gone through a lot of adversity in their careers, whether it's in college or in the NFL. We have guys that are battle tested.
(on his performance)
I thought I played well, really well in the first half, but obviously there's always room to improve. Couple of throws that I would probably like to have back but I made plays when I needed to.
(on what he saw on the third down that he ran for and set up the touchdown)
Well, they gave me – they were showing zone and they ended up playing man. So, they kind of fooled me a little bit there. Then, O-line did a great job of blocking up front and giving me a pocket. I knew that if I was able to escape, there's nobody really accounting for me, so I was able to kind of make my way through there and run for the first down.
(on the history made tonight for the Bengals)
We'll think about that after. Right now, we're going to celebrate this win. We're really excited about it and then go watch some more football and see who we're playing.
(on the Bengals)
I think, number one, we've brought in a lot of guys that have been in this kind of moment in this game, and two, we're also a really young team that doesn't really don't know what we don't know. So, we're out there playing football with our friends, so that's what it's like.
(inaudible)
I wouldn't call it a one-on-one. They still had the safety help over top, so it's called a two-man. So, it's cover-two with a man underneath, and like I said that route usually beats that coverage.
(on kicker Evan McPherson)
That guy is unbelievable. He was talking to Brandon (Allen) as he was going out to kick, and he gave a little warmup swing and he said, "Ah, it looks like we're going to the AFC Championship," right before he went out there and kicked it. And when you have a kicker – we knew exactly what we had as soon as he walked into the building in camp and we just saw how he carried himself. You know exactly how a kicker is going to perform when obviously everyone at this level can kick through the uprights, but it's how you handle yourself in the locker room that shows us that you have the confidence to go out there and make a kick like this and perform the way he did in a game like this. We knew exactly what kind of guy we had in camp.
(on if the team feels like 'Cinderella')
No, I'm tired of the underdog narrative. We're a really, really good team. We're here to make noise and teams are going to have to pay attention to us. We're, like I said, a really good team with really good players and coaches and we're coming for it all.
(on his message delivered to the team)
Yeah, I talked to them last night about how I don't really like that. Like I said, I'm tired of the underdog narrative. We're a really good team that has worked really hard to get to this point and we make plays. Whether it's defense, offense or special teams, we go out there and get it done.
(inaudible)
Zac (Taylor) wanted all the captains to speak to the team. He usually addresses the team on the nights before games, and he wanted all the captains to do it because he said the players got us here so the players are going to talk to the team the night before. So that's what we did.
(inaudible)
I thought he played really well. I think there are probably a couple of catches he'd like to have back just like I'd like to have some throws back, but I thought he played great. He really battled through.
