Players REACT After Bengals Lose to Chargers

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

Transcript

00:00You know what I'm saying? We just had to execute. We wasn't executing the first half like we had planned.

00:04Came in at halftime. Zach gave us a halftime speech and told us to execute.

00:09He was able to do that on both sides of the ball.

00:12The fourth and two, you get the one touchdown. What happened there on the fourth and two touchdown?

00:18We seen the whole first half. We seen how they was jumping those in breakers.

00:24Joe saw it on that play. It gave me a signal. The rest is history.

00:30Did they pretty much stay in there too high?

00:33Yeah, they stayed in a lot today.

00:36What was the difference to you on the execution in that second half?

00:39We just finished the plays, but we didn't finish at the end like we needed to.

00:47What is your goal for the rest of the season?

00:51Take it week by week. Rest up this next week. Figure it out.

00:57Figure out what we need to do next. Come back December 1st and try to start there with 1-0.

01:03Do you feel like this game was a microcosm of what's going wrong for you guys?

01:07You are in games close at the end and can't finish?

01:11I really can't pinpoint it. All I can say is we need to finish at the end of the day.

01:17That's all it is. We got to finish.

01:19What are the downsides of watching Evan go out there with the game on the line?

01:23Obviously, he's made plenty of those tonight.

01:26Where do you go as a teammate or how do you view that moving forward?

01:32Everybody had those games.

01:37Last year, the Rams game, the all-white game, I had four or five drops.

01:44The guys were encouraging me to just stay on top of it.

01:47Obviously, him, the guy that he is and all the big games, he won us.

01:54All I can do is just be a good teammate and encourage him.

01:58Tell him to look past it. The game is over. Let's look forward to Steelers.

02:04You came off early. You looked like you were whipping on that play.

02:07I think that ball they called it wasn't a... You were down.

02:12Was it your knee? Were you okay?

02:15Yeah, I'm cool. A little bang-bang play there.

02:18Couldn't get right up. I tried.

02:22It's down to a win or a loss. Everything else doesn't matter.

02:26The way you guys are losing, does it make it so much different from a frustrating standpoint?

02:34To be honest, it's frustrating. It is.

02:37We lose about three, six, seven points. That's frustrating.

02:41Like I was telling him earlier, we just got to finish.

02:44If we finish, we'll be all right.

02:46Do you think there's a fine line between...

02:49You guys have done things one way for a long time.

02:52In the last couple of years, it's given you guys a lot of success.

02:56But this year, especially in the way you guys have lost some of these games,

02:59is it continuing to be the same theme of doing the same thing over and over again

03:04and expecting a different result?

03:05Or do you feel like you guys do need to change something

03:08simply just because it's been the same thing over and over again?

03:11Honestly, I don't think we need to change nothing.

03:13We're playing hella good football.

03:15If you look at the stats, both sides of the ball,

03:17I feel like today we're playing hella good football.

03:22It's just... I don't know what it is.

03:24We just got to finish. That's the word.

03:27That is the word for the week. Finish the game.

03:32As long as we do that, we'll be all right.

03:36I'm going to look past this one. Obviously, it's a tough loss.

03:39Hats off to those guys over there. I ain't going to discredit them.

03:42They played a hell of a game.

03:43We just got to go back, figure it out,

03:45and come back next week, two weeks, and finish.

03:49You know what I'm saying?

03:53It's the National Football League. We're going to look at that on film.

03:56But they have a lot of talent on their offense as well.

04:00It's our job to stop them. We didn't do that.

04:03We have a lot to get coached.

04:04Obviously, the first half wasn't the way we wanted it to be either.

04:08How do you explain the first half?

04:10Did you feel like you had the energy, or the energy was too low?

04:14Again, that's going to be something once we go over film.

04:17I wish I knew all the answers right now. I don't.

04:21It's humbling, the National Football League.

04:23We have a very talented roster.

04:25I think individually, these pieces,

04:28but it's not coming together as a defense like we planned.

04:34We're continuing to grow.

04:37This is our job at the end of the day.

04:39This isn't something where you're just like,

04:41oh, 11 weeks, this is it.

04:44We're going to show up next week, play another game,

04:46or two weeks from now, play another game, and go from there.

04:49You're an intense competitor, obviously,

04:51but how do you justify the frustration?

04:55How do you explain the frustration you had in that first half?

05:00Sometimes things get called, and sometimes it's discretionary.

05:05Coaches and players alike are trying to play with passion as well.

05:11The frustration is there's a couple times,

05:15questionable calls on my end,

05:17and then the flag was thrown on that play.

05:21It was a little much for me,

05:23but it's the National Football League as well.

05:25I respect what the refs say.

05:27I respect their calls, and moving on.

05:29It looked like Zach tried to calm you down,

05:31or say something to you coming off the field.

05:34Everybody tries to calm me down.

05:36It's the National Football League.

05:38You play with an edge. Everybody does.

05:40Everybody should.

05:42Flicking that switch off, I love Zach.

05:44He's a great head coach.

05:46He's done a lot for me as a person.

05:48A lot of great conversations with him.

05:50I love him.

05:53He plays with the same intensity as fire as me.

05:57That first half wasn't going the way we wanted,

06:00and that's a little bit of that.

06:02In the second half, obviously,

06:03you guys played a lot better up until the last minute.

06:05Yeah.

06:07We have a great defensive coordinator in Lou Anarumo,

06:09and that's his job in the halftime,

06:11is to make checks and adjustments,

06:13and put guys in the right place to be successful.

06:15I feel like in the second half, we were that way.

06:18In the first half, I think there's a lot of things

06:20we can individually clean up on our end as players.

06:24Anything specific Lou did in the second half?

06:29There's going to be time and a place to watch film.

06:31Looking forward to that.

06:32A lot to improve on.

06:34Like I said, in two weeks, we have another game.

06:36Did he say anything to you all in the halftime,

06:37to Lou, say anything to the group?

06:39Yeah, if he wants to tell you, he will.

06:42Did you huddle the guys up?

06:43I couldn't tell on the TV.

06:45Did you huddle the guys up, talk to them at all?

06:48I think we have a lot of great leaders on this team.

06:52That's something that we all carry with us.

06:55That's motivating each other and bringing each other up,

06:57and not tearing each other down.

06:59That's something our brotherhood does.

07:00We're playing as a collective group and unit.

07:03We need to elevate our play.

07:05Is that something you feel like you can do with Evan

07:07after the two missed kicks at the end?

07:10Kicking is not my job.

07:11I don't know much about it.

07:12I never was a kicker.

07:14He's a great kicker.

07:16He has a great track record of making a lot of kicks.

07:20It's the National Football League.

07:22We're a production league and things like that.

07:25Some weeks you're on, some weeks you're off.

07:26Moving on, you have to flush that.

07:28Like I said, in two weeks we have another game.

07:30Animated conversation with Cam Taylor-Britt.

07:33Can you tell us a little bit about what was going on there?

07:36What you mean?

07:38The first series?

07:39Yeah.

07:41We just got to communicate.

07:43The whole defense.

07:45Giving up a supposed play that shouldn't happen.

07:49How frustrating is it that you're continuing as a defense

07:53to have these same mistakes that you make?

07:56Now in week 11.

07:58We've all got to get better.

08:01You've got to look at yourself as an individual to get better.

08:04I didn't do well tonight, so I can't really pinpoint it.

08:08How do you explain having a first half like that?

08:12Are you able to look back on it and explain it?

08:15Or are you just kind of blown away by it?

08:18Not understanding how it even happens like that.

08:21We've just got to come out faster and compete.

08:23Did you feel like you guys were ready tonight?

08:26Or did it feel like you were energy is low going out there?

08:29I thought our energy was good.

08:31We had the first series we went through and out.

08:34So I thought our energy was there.

08:36Don't lack energy.

08:38But we've just got to communicate on each level.

08:40What kind of changes could be made at this point?

08:43Everybody just getting better.

08:45Just looking at yourself in the mirror.

08:47Take it while we readjust.

08:49Look at yourself and see how you can get better as an individual.

08:51How surprised and disappointed are you that it's turned out this way?

08:56I mean, we've just got to go back to work.

09:00Did you guys change anything at halftime?

09:03I think you only gave them what we had in the field until the last minute.

09:07No, we didn't change anything.

09:09We just got to stop giving up what's supposed to play.

09:11So we just gave them stuff in the first half.

09:14When Evan's taking the field to potentially give you the lead,

09:18what's going through your mind on the sideline?

09:20Obviously, that's not a play you can control.

09:22Evan is the key guy for us.

09:24He made them critical kicks when we had a run.

09:27Obviously, he didn't make them.

09:29But it's football, man.

09:31We've just got to step up and pick them up.

09:34He's in a tough spot.

09:36Obviously, he wanted to get them back.

09:38But I know he'll be able to make the kicks down the stretch

09:41when we really need them.

09:43How do you guys get Cam Taylor-Britt back on track this year?

09:45I mean, first, you just start with the individual.

09:48Like I said, just take it by week.

09:50Just process it and just get better.

09:52Just look at yourself as a man and an individual

09:55and say, how can I get better as an individual?

09:57And then all of us just building up this confidence.

10:00It's all about confidence when you're out there.

10:02You just got to be willing to do more than that man next to you,

10:05in front of you.

10:15You got it.

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