HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH
Opening Statement: "Alright everybody, I appreciate you guys being here. We're coming off of our last game. We've had a few days, obviously, and have done quite a bit of work. The players have been away. We worked on Friday – [we] had a full day on Friday with the players – and then throughout the weekend [there were] different things that we were working on as coaches. But, [we're] all focused now on the Steelers coming up. I think when you step back and look at it, after the first third of the season, our goal was to fight our way – play our way back into contention and position to compete for the AFC North [title], and we've done that. So, here we are in the last third of the season with that objective and that challenge in front of us – to go win the AFC North, which starts on Sunday. So, that's where we're at, and that's what our focus will be. What questions do you have?"
As far as CB Nate Wiggins, have you heard anything as far as the severity of his injury? Could it be a week-to-week thing, or could it be a possible IR situation? (Jamison Hensley) "Nate [Wiggins] is day to day right now, so we'll see where he is at on Wednesday, and we'll see where he is at going forward from there."
You got G/T Emery Jones Jr. a little look. What was your impression of him in his first outing? (Bo Smolka) "I thought [Emery Jones Jr.] played hard and showed some athleticism, some fight and some gusto. [He] played like a rookie in a lot of ways. There are a lot of things to clean up, for sure. I think he'll be the first to tell you that. But, you can't really start making those improvements until you play. You have to play in games to start growing in that direction, and he got a chance to do that, which was really positive. We'll just have to see going forward how much we want to continue that as we go."
Is that possible that G/T Emery Jones Jr. could play in the other guard spot as well? (Kyle Goon) "It's possible, but it's hard to do. We've had that conversation – it's a good question. It's the same question that I asked and that we asked – how viable is that? But you take a rookie and put him on both sides, you compound the curve quite a bit."
On the other side of that, how did you see G Andrew Vorhes respond to being in a rotation and just what would you like to see from him to continue playing or to solidify that job a little bit more from his perspective? (Luke Jones) "Well, yes. There's a step between being a starter and being an established starter, kind of, in the league – kind of what you're talking about. And when you're a younger player like Andrew [Vorhees] – or a lot of guys – you want to establish yourself as a starter. I think he's in the process of doing that. He played good ball, he graded out highly, his numbers were good. Daniel [Faalele] graded out highly, too. There are plays that both of them want back. There are plays that [the Bengals] line wants back, too, I promise you. It's tough to play O-line in this league. But, consistency really is the bottom line. Just to be as consistent as you can possibly be and have as many really upside plays as you can, but most of all, as much as possible – and the interior offensive line is probably the toughest place to do it – to minimize the negative plays as much as you can, and that's what we strive for. I think we've done a really good job of that over the years with our offensive line, and you keep trying to always build in that direction."
I know a major weakness in that Cincinnati defense has been the pass defense, and it looked like you guys were trying to exploit that on Thursday night, but when you see RB Derrick Henry not get the ball in the second quarter, are you happy with that? I know you want to exploit something, but also just trying to keep him engaged in the game. Did you like the balance in that? (Cordell Woodland) "No, of course. Those are not the numbers that we want at all. We want to run the ball. We're a running team – that's a fact. And we are a throwing team, too. We have Lamar Jackson; we have receivers; we have tight ends; we have all that – but we want to always be a team that runs the ball and stops the run. That's been [the case] since 2008. It's not going to really probably ever change, and that's really what football is. So, for sure. When you look at the game, we went seven plays down the field and scored, then we went three-and-out, three-and-out, and then we were in two-minute [offense]. So, that explains the lack of carries in the second quarter. We didn't have any plays in the second quarter to have a chance to even run the ball. And then the other part of that is just that the number of two-minute plays in the game was staggering. We had 21 two-minute plays. That's way too high. When you have that many ... I don't mind two-minute plays at the end of the half, [but] I'm not really fired up about two-minute plays at the end of the game [because] that means you're trying to come back. We had seven or eight two-minute plays at the end of the half and we had – I don't know – 15 or so at the end of the game, because we started two-minute [offense] at the 9:38 mark of the fourth quarter. That explains the play distribution as much as anything. It explains the carries as much as anything. So, the circumstances of the game took us in that direction."
When we talked to QB Lamar Jackson after the game, he seemed at a little bit of a loss to explain why his accuracy wasn't there at the level he expects it to be. He said in practice it's been there. From your standpoint, what can you guys do to help him get back to where he expects to be? (Childs Walker) "Well, that's just kind of what sports is. I do think you're going to have an off day sometimes, and that's not something that you take lightly for sure. I know – listen, Lamar [Jackson] doesn't take it lightly more than anybody, and no player on this team takes it lightly. We have conscientious guys. So, that's what you do. You go back to work. You go back to work, and you get in there and you practice and you study it, and you work together to be as precise as you can. It was not a precise offensive performance in any way. There was nothing precise about it. It was imprecise in every way, and we all know that. We're all not happy with it. We're very disappointed by it, but you can't live in it. You have to move on and come out swinging the next time. If you watch the league, you'll see that that's very possible."
To that point, and I know it's never one thing, but is it attention to detail with the little things, specifically to QB Lamar Jackson, that you'd like to see improve? (Brian Wacker) "It's all those things."
Are you happy with the way you guys – it feels like you're not ending up in the right play a lot, I guess, offensively. Going back to years past, especially the last two years, it seemed like you guys had an answer for everything that defense was throwing. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken always talked about the pre-snap adjustments that are made and QB Lamar Jackson's ability to change plays. Do you feel like you guys are still getting into those right plays based on the looks at the line? (Cordell Woodland) "I think we do at times, and at times, we don't. It's part of the whole thing. It's all part of it. If it was any one thing, then it'd be one thing, but it's never any one thing. It's always a moving target. That's why it's so tough and so competitive. That's why you don't – you see things change every week. It's sports. What we want to do is chase being on the same page, being together, being connected; we want to chase that in everything we do, communication-wise [and with] efficiency. Then the defense throws a lot of stuff at you, so you have to adjust to movement. You have to adjust to disguises. You have to adjust to a guy showing up when we don't expect him to show up some time and have plans for all that. Even a player just in his world has to adapt to so many moving parts and that's what makes the game so crazy and chaotic. We didn't do a good job of that Thursday night. So no, I'm not happy about it. None of us are happy about it. We are happy about it when we really execute well, we put it together, and we have the answers, like you're saying. It shows up in the execution – really at the end of the day – it shows up in the execution. So, that's what we're chasing."
There's been fumbling issues from different players throughout the season. Earlier it was obviously RB Derrick Henry. There four fumbles this last game. I know they're all kind of unique each in their own way, but is there anything team-wide to take out of what's been happening with fumbling? (Kyle Goon) "Well, we had five turnovers in the game. It's just shocking, and they're all fumbles – four of them were fumbles. So, that's probably the common denominator. They're all fumbles, but there's really not any one thing that you can say about any one of them because all four of them are different. But it comes back down to the common denominator is ball security and the importance of executing ball security. So, yes, it has to be done. It has to be intentional. It has to be intentional in everything you do from Day One. It has to be practice. It has to be on your mind – at the forefront of your mind – at all times when you're a ball handler. That's something that we emphasize, we give high regard to, and we talk about and push, demand every single day. But the players demand it themselves every single day. To see it not executed, yes, it's tough. It's a disappointing thing, and that's why we lost at the end of the day. That's the bottom line. That's the main thing. So, we all know it. We all have to do better with it."
With the play at the goal line, TE Isaiah Likely knows what he did there – but short of fourth-and-goal where you know need to score or you turn the ball over, or at the end the half or something like that – generally speaking, how do you want players to approach it when they're at the goal line? (Luke Jones) "I want the ball secured in the ball security position – high and tight – period. Extending the ball at the goal line has its place. When you have two strong hands on the ball, and you have space, and there's no traffic, I can see that; I can live with that. I can only live with it when it turns out good, because even if you do that, and you don't execute it, then it was too much. But you do have to make a little bit of an allowance for pro football players who are very talented. You see some great plays made. We're not going to coach our guys out of that, but when you take it to the next level of doing something that's not sound, that's not good, and that's not winning football. All of it, all that kind of thing, the most important thing is to protect the football when you have the football in your hands."
Is there a chance that you get OLB Tavius Robinson and S Ar'Darius Washington back to practice this week, or is it still too early to know? (Jeff Zrebiec) "[There is] a chance we get those guys back in practice this week, yes. We'll see [on] Wednesday. There's a good chance actually."
When you had the chance to go back and look at the film, what did you see on the offensive pass interference call by WR Zay Flowers? (Giana Han) "I saw a call that sometimes gets made and sometimes doesn't, basically. I think Zay [Flowers] would tell you that he didn't need to do it. He probably overdid it a little bit, so it got called."
You explained the run sequence situation, I thought, pretty clearly, but was it kind of a surprise when you go back, and you pick up the final stat sheet, and you see that RB Derrick Henry only had 10 carries, and RB Keaton Mitchell had two carries, and you wonder how it got to that point? (Jerry Coleman) "Well yes, that's not what we want, but I kind of had a pretty good idea after the game was over, because I knew how the game went. It wasn't too hard to figure out. When you actually go back, and you look at the numbers play for play – which I did after the game, after I saw that, and I looked at the numbers – and I was like, 'OK, how did this exactly happen?' Then, it's, 'OK, that's what happened.' There just weren't enough opportunities, so it wasn't like every time we were in first and second down, we were going to run the ball a hundred percent of the time. To get to 18 to 20 runs, we'd have had to run it every time on first and second down, just about, and you want to have play action [play calls]. You want to do some screens and things like that, too, to keep people off balance and try to be balanced, so you just want more of those plays. That's the bottom line; we just needed more of those plays."
It looked like RB Rasheen Ali basically stepped in the RB Justice Hill role in pass protection, third-down situations and things like that. How do you think he handled that, and do you see that role for him moving forward, at least while Justice is out? (Luke Jones) "I'd say yes, [Rasheen Ali] handled it well, and yes, he played really well. The plays that he was in, he got the job done. He pass protected well. He ran his routes well. He chipped well. He had one run where I thought he was tentative on. He could have hit it up in there in the A gap on a third-and-medium, I think it was, so he played well."
It looked like you guys were trying to be aggressive in getting after QB Joe Burrow by sending some blitzers, but it seemed like they picked them up. Why do you feel like your pressures weren't getting home as much? (Cordell Woodland) "They were in max protection. They were in seven-man protection, so even when some of those got home, but [Joe Burrow] got his way out of it. The biggest thing in those, when you look at the second half on the third downs ... The story of the game on defense was basically [after] five turnovers they had to go back on the field for and then the third-down conversions that the Bengals had, especially in the second half; and that put us on the field a lot. I thought our guys still handled it well, but you're bringing pressure – and a couple of times we checked out of pressure, and a couple of times we bluffed – and they're in max protection, [so] you kind of get what you want there. You run a blitz into seven blockers, you know he is probably going to have a chance to get the ball out, but there's only three receivers out, so that's OK. So, then when he starts to move, you have to get him down. And if I was disappointed in anything, I was disappointed in the fact that he was able to get out and extend plays a little more than we were hoping for. And even with that, I have to give him credit, too, because [on] probably four of those, maybe five of those conversions, were really great throws and catches. [They were] diving catches, tightly-contested throws and catches that they made. So, they deserve credit for that, too."
How much do you think that this mini-bye will help QB Lamar Jackson? And do you think, going forward, that he will continue the pattern of not practicing on Wednesday? (Jamison Hensley) "I really don't know. We'll set to see how it shakes. I think [Lamar Jackson] will be fine. And he's going to practice as much as he can. Lamar will practice as much as he can and prepare as well as he can, and that's what he's going to do – and he always has."
Regarding this AFC North race, you've got the Steelers, then you've got the Bengals. Do you stress the back-to-back stakes of these games to the team? Or is it simply about focusing on Pittsburgh this week? (Bo Smolka) "It's simply Pittsburgh. We're just focused on Pittsburgh this week."
What's your impression of Pittsburgh so far? I know you and Head Coach Mike Tomlin go back a long time, but what is your impression of this Steelers team? (Bo Smolka) "My impression is that's the team we have to beat this week, and whatever they are as we're studying, and however we need to attack them, we're going to put the best plan together that we can and play the best football we can on Sunday. That's my impression. That's how I think about it."
TE Mark Andrews became the franchise's leader in receptions on Thursday. Can you talk about what he means to this team and how he's produced this season? (Kyle Goon) "I'm a big fan of Mark [Andrews]. I always have been. I'm a big fan of all of our guys, but Mark has been here a long time, and we've been through a lot together, all of us. And so, I'm proud of him. I'm not surprised at all. I expected him to have the type of season he's having. So, that's really cool for him to get that milestone as you said. And that goes down in history. It goes down in history, and you see players do that, like 'D-Hop' [DeAndre Hopkins]. 'D-Hop' got his 1,000th catch [on Thursday], and he got it here as a Raven, so that's pretty awesome, too. Those things are things that you do know, and you're going to look back someday, and you're going to say, 'Wow, that's really neat to be a part of that.' And yet it's all churned into, basically, the process of trying to find a way to win the next game and accomplish the things that we can accomplish in a really tough league. So, there's a lot that goes on with this whole deal, which is probably why we all love it so much."
With ILB Chandler Martin, you said it was a serious injury. Do you know more about that? And a follow up on RB Justice Hill. Does he have a shot of returning this year, or is that a season-ending thing? (Jeff Zrebiec) "Right. Chandler [Martin] is a season-ending thing. He has an ACL [injury], and he's going to get an ACL repair here in the next couple of days, so he'll be out until training camp next year. Kudos to him. He played two really good games for us, and it was the first play [that] it happened on, unfortunately for him. But he started to establish himself. That was neat to see as a young player. Justice [Hill] does have a chance to come back. It's going to be a three-to-four-week type of deal, as we see it right now. So, that's what we're looking for right there with Justice."
