Head Coach Marvin Lewis
(opening comments)
“In the first half we didn’t string anything together there until right before halftime and convert any third downs. Defensively we didn’t do a very good job on third down in the first half, and you know, we ended up in a close football game. We knew they would come out and play hard and give us their best effort, which they did. They played well. We didn’t play as we needed to in the first half. The interception there in the third quarter kind of flipped things around. We needed that to get us going.”
QB AJ McCarron
(on the Bengals’ slow start)
“They are a good defense. They beat Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh has a very explosive offense. They did a good job of making plays and forcing us out of things. They deserve credit, too.”
(on protecting the football)
“Well, it’s big because we’ve had a chance to win every game. Like I said from the beginning, if the other quarterback turns the ball over and you don’t, it puts your team in a situation to win the ballgame. That’s the biggest thing for us, taking care of the football. Everything wasn’t perfect today, but that’s the way it’s going to be sometimes. But we did take care of the football and I’m proud of the guys for that.”
(on Baltimore limiting A.J. Green’s yardage)
“Yes. They focused on him and had some different things that they did, kind of like what they did against Antonio Brown of Pittsburgh.”
RB Jeremy Hill
(on his touchdown run in the second half)
“It was huge. They came out ready to play, just like we knew they would. It’s a division game. They’re very familiar with us, and we’re familiar with them. We knew they weren’t going to just lay down and let us go up and down the field on them. We came out in the second half and executed like we’re supposed to do. There were a lot of plays we wish we could have back, but we won the game, and that’s all that matters.”
(on what he saw on the touchdown run)
“They tried to blitz the MIKE linebacker, and Jake Fisher did a great job picking him up. I got to the second level, and I got a big block from the back side from Cedric Ogbuehi. He cut the safety off a little bit for me, and it was off to the races for me after that. It was just up to me to try and use my speed to get to the end zone.”
WR Mohammed Sanu
(on the slow start)
“I don’t know. It just happened, you know? Baltimore has a really good defense and was playing well, and we just couldn’t find our stride. It took us a little while, but once we did, we were able to put a few things together and get some points (on the board).”
