Transcript: Eric Mangini, 10/4 - Sun, Oct 4 2009 at 10:12 pm
(Opening Statement)- “I couldn’t be prouder of how they played and competed through five quarters. I thought that there were some great individual efforts, as well as some great collective efforts. Shaun Rogers blocking a field goal, blocking the PAT there late. (Mohamed) Massaquoi, the things he was able to do offensively. I’m not sure how many yards he had, but it was well over 100. Jerome Harrison, guys like Mike Furrey, playing some on defense. There were just a lot of really good individual efforts. It’s difficult to lose at any point. It’s always difficult to lose one like this when it went as long as it did, they fought as hard as they did and to come out on the minus side of the ledger. I think the thing that you see is that there are a lot of things here to build on from this experience. Offensively, we were able to move the ball, able to run the ball. Defensively, there was improvement on third down. Some of the other things that we were able to do with packages, I think all good things. I haven’t even mentioned Josh Cribbs and the day that he had. Talk about a guy that wills the return to happen and the way that the group blocked. Tough for the group, but I couldn’t be prouder of the way they played and that’s what I told them.”
(On if the fourth down scramble was the last thing they expected Carson Palmer to do)- “We were in man-to-man coverage. There hadn’t really been a big scramble issue to date, especially with the injury that he’s had and the problems he’s had with that. You always want to keep your rush lanes and keep the integrity, just maybe got a lane too wide and the opening opened up. Guys were doing a good job down the field with the coverage and he was able to get the first down.”
(On if he thought about going for it on fourth-and-one when it was tied 14-14)- “I did think about going for it at that point. I thought that we had a better shot there. We kind of lost a little bit on the third down play, it was third-and-inches. I think if it was fourth-and-inches we might have had a play in mind for that, but when we got knocked back a little bit, at that point go ahead and take the points.”
(On if he thought about trying a long field goal at the end of regulation)- “With Billy (Cundiff), he has a nice leg. If it was Phil (Dawson), it may be a little bit different. That doesn’t mean I don’t have confidence [in Billy]. That field goal was a pretty low percentage. I would have liked to gotten a few more yards. If we had a play before and then take a shot at it, but weren’t able to do that.”
(On if he thought about going in the end zone on third-and-long on the 20 when it was 17-13)- “When we’re in that range with a kicker, if you were to lose yards on a sack and it would take some time to push it down the field, you could very easily be out of field goal range just as quickly as you [entered it]. You’d love to always take a shot in that situation, but again, there are just things that we have to balance out. As we go forward with Billy, and this is not any slight against Billy, with Phil things could be a little bit different.”
(On if the just appearance of Derek Anderson’s sharp throws energizes the team)- “I think that, offensively, there were a lot of good things, Tony (Grossi), having the running game going. I thought Mohamed (Massaquoi) really showed what his potential is and made some outstanding catches. I know Braylon (Edwards) didn’t have many catches, or I don’t know how much production he had. One thing that I was impressed with him is, it was never a concern of his. It was never a worry of his. He was out there blocking as much as he could, obviously he was working to get open and we wanted to get him the ball. I was really impressed with him throughout the game as well.”
(On why it took until today to get Mohamed Massaquoi involved in the game)- “We hadn’t really been doing very much effectively. We hadn’t really converted a lot of third downs and had the opportunities that we had. It wasn’t something that we were trying not to do, it just didn’t hit. It was good to see, really good to see. Brian (Robiskie) got his first action. I think he might have gotten a grab. All those guys, Josh (Cribbs), Mike Furrey, I thought they all played well.”
(On Jerome Harrison)- “I thought he did a nice job last week and then to get the volume of carries that he had this week. (Chris) Jennings might have had one or two in there. I thought he did pretty good from coming up from the practice squad. I give credit to the offensive line, too. There were some guys filling in and doing well. That’s a group effort. The tight ends, Lawrence (Vickers), I thought all of them, all together, did a nice job and really, the receivers too. You lose track of those guys. There were some blocks that they made that helped spring some runs that probably wouldn’t have been there.”
(On Derek Anderson’s goal-line interception)- “I think it just got away from him a little bit. When we challenged it, they didn’t have the television angle from the other way. I really thought the DB had trapped it, but there was no way to really confirm it. On the scoring plays, that’s why you take a chance at challenging it, but just didn’t have the other look. I think it just got a little bit away from him.”
(On what the team was able to do in the second half today that they were not able to do in the previous three games)- “I think it was the complementary football. I think more so than anything our ability offensively to generate drives, and generate long drives. I think we only had three or six plays defensively in that third quarter, and also, our ability to get off the field on third down defensively. The defensive line, I thought did a nice job in their third down pass rush. That coordinated defense, the coverage held up. That’s a good group. They have a good group of receivers, a really good quarterback. Our guys filled in where they needed to fill in. You saw Mike Adams playing a couple different roles. Mike Furrey out there playing safety, playing star, and that’s sometimes what you have to do, is just figure out how you can help. Figure out the best combination and play good coordinated offensive and defensive football and good things usually happen.”
(On the secondary play)- “With the secondary, it’s very similar to the offensive line. You have to work together and you have to work together over a wide range of field. You can’t communicate back and forth to adjacent people. I thought their communication was better today and they’ve been working at it. Jerome’s (Harrison) been working with them. The important thing is to take things that we did today and carry them through week-to-week. We’ve played spurts of good football here and we played spurts of football that really wasn’t very good at all. I think everybody sees what we can do and the importance of working at it and the process that’s involved. Hopefully we’ll come out on the plus side of these games.”
(On if he sensed the team gain momentum after the skirmish in the third quarter)- “I felt like our guys were ready to play, were excited to play. I give them a lot of credit, in the sense that it’s easy to come in when you’re winning and work hard and play hard and do all the right things. It’s tougher when you’re not, but it’s so important to stay with it, to be consistent and move forward. They’ve been working on it. They’ve been working at practice and we’re going to keep working at it.”
(On why he called a time out on defense right before the two minute warning in the first half)- “What we were trying to do is, in looking at it, I thought they were going to get the play off before the two minute warning. We didn’t have people in the right spots at that point for a fourth down play. I thought about letting it run to the two minute warning, but the last thing I wanted to do was not call it, have them snap it and have a guy miss a line. You never want to waste a time out. I probably would do it again if it came up, just because we weren’t in the right spots. It was too critical a point in the game. I didn’t want to leave it to chance that maybe he’s not going to call it. We did it when we did it, trying to get people in the right spots. I’ll have to take a look at what they were going to do.”
(On Derek Anderson’s play)- “I thought he played well. You don’t want turnovers and he was very conscious of that throughout the week. It’s something he’s continued to work at. He made a lot of nice throws. I thought he made a lot of nice checks. There were some times where the clock was getting a little bit tight and he got guys in the right spots. I thought he ran the offense well, which is very important. I also thought he threw the ball pretty well today also.”
(On if it is clear that Anderson gives the team the best chance to win)- “I was really happy with him today. I think it showed our ability to, as we play together and mix the run and pass and do some different things, move the ball effectively. Cincinnati’s been playing really good defense throughout the whole course of the season. I was pleased with him.”
(On how important it was for the team to not give up today after Cincinnati scored two touchdowns)- “To me, it’s important to understand how to deal with adversity. I thought our guys dealt with adversity well today. There were a lot of times where we were in tough spots. The blocked field goal, they score, the blocked PAT. To me, that’s dealing with adversity. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You just don’t know what’s going to happen. You have to play that play, that moment with the same intensity. I thought there were some great examples of that throughout the day.”
