Players REACT After Bengals Lose to Chargers
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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.