We have to minimize our mistakes, and hopefully we can pull off a win. I'm really excited — and I've talked to you guys before — the only game that I really, really, really get excited for is when we play the Ravens, because you have to account for every single person on the field.
And that just gets me going. I don't know what it is about playing them, man, I just get really excited. On how much it hurts the Ravens defense to play without S Ed Reed: "I mean, you have to understand that Ed is probably one of the best safeties to put on a uniform, period, in NFL history.
I could care less what anybody else says. That's how I feel about them. And to not have Ed out there is a big blow, because those are shoes that you just cannot fill. You can't fill those shoes. And I'm sure whoever is taking Ed's place right now is a great backup, but he has to understand Ed is special, and a player like that comes around very, very, very so often. On what it is about the Ravens that gets him more excited than other rivalry games, like Cleveland and Pittsburgh: "I don't know, man.
It's just something about playing the Ravens. It's like an extra 'umph. I don't know. On whether he has anything special planned if he scores a touchdown on Sunday: "No. No, I'm just going to play ball. On whether there's a little extra emotion now that WR T.
Houshmandzadeh is with the Ravens: "No, no. I'm just ready to go play ball. On whether he's looking forward to seeing Houshmandzadeh again: "Yeah, man, it's been a long time since I've actually been able to see 'Housh' in person.
I am looking forward to catching up with him — looking forward to talking to some of those guys in pregame, especially Ray [Lewis]. You all know Ray and I's relationship is extremely close. He's one of those who's kept me grounded throughout my NFL career and has taught me a lot of things about this game, on and off the field. So, I'm looking forward to catching up with him and exchanging a few words before I knock his head off during the game.
I just said that. On why he won't talk about Twitter after using it frequently: "I want to talk about football. There's a game Sunday. You watching the same film I'm watching? On whether he remembers when Lewis "took his head off" last year: "Yeah, of course I remember. I'm looking forward to taking his off this year. On whether he is sticking to his prediction of the Bengals going to the Super Bowl: "I don't remember [saying that].
I don't recall. On whether he wants to hear the recording of him saying that: "I don't want to hear the tape. But I do have a game Sunday. On whether he thinks the Bengals can exploit the Ravens secondary: "I don't know. We'll have to see what happens. They have some great players out there in Fabian Washington and… Who's on the other side? What's his name? Reporter interjects: "Chris Carr. He's really, really freaking quick, man. He's really good. So, we'll see what happens. On whether he plans on sticking around for the entire first half: "I get an IV every halftime for the past 10 years.
It's going to be no different. This is a big game for us. This is a divisional game. It's extremely important. You want to win early, so we have to do what we need to do to be able to maximize our opportunities on offense, and we'll see what happens. On if receiving an IV at halftime gives him a boost: "I cramp up. It's always been a problem of mine since my entire high school, NFL career.
On what he sees from the Ravens defense on film: "Their defense, man — flying all over the ball. It seems like they have more than 11 people out there on the field on film. That damn Terrell Suggs is a beast, man. He's all over the place. Secondary… They play very solid. Ray's all over the place. Haloti Ngata… [Shoot, he] might be damn near the best D-tackle in the game right now based off of what I'm seeing.
I haven't had much time to watch film because it's only Week 2, but they look damn good on film. What are you talking about? On how he and Owens performed Week 1 and how things are working between them: "It's working fine. On if the talk between he and the Ravens is all in good fun? Why are you all even seeing into that?
You already know that. On if he pokes fun out of love: "No. I don't. I'm poking out of fear. On how important it is for the Bengals to get off to a fast start: "We have to. We have to. Again, this is a divisional game. We have to do all we can to maximize our opportunities again throughout this game and come away with a win. That's it. It's no secret to it. Opening statement: "OK. Obviously, you guys have already been having this conversation.
We play the Bengals this week, and preparation starts today. On his thoughts on the Bengals cornerbacks: "Yeah, I think they're really good. They've just got a bunch of guys that can cover. On whether he would appreciate if there were no Twitter or talk leading up to the games: "What are you talking about? I'd appreciate if there was no Twitter? I think it depends what gets said. To me, it depends how your players handle it, how they express themselves.
If they do it in a classy way that is uplifting, then I appreciate it. I think our guys did that. On how he feels about getting CB Prince Miller back on the team and what his chances are to contribute as a returner: "Yeah, there's a chance of that. Obviously, that's part of our idea with [signing him].
Whether he can do that this week or not, I don't know. Probably wouldn't give it to you anyway. But obviously, that's something that he does. I'm sure [the Bengals will] prepare for him being back there. He's a rookie; they'll feel like if he is back there, they can take the ball away from him. But he's got to go north and south instead of going sideways.
One of those two guys will be back there. The bottom line is we catch the ball first and run that way, and we'll be fine. On if having a short week hampers preparation for the next game: "It does throw you off a little bit. Sleep-wise, we haven't had a lot of that. But we knew that. It wasn't like it caught us by surprise, and all of a sudden they moved the game up a day.
We knew we had a five-and-a-half-day window. We had a lot of time going into it. We know the Bengals, we've been preparing for them all along. We had to add one more [piece of] information that we had in the game into this preparation and then just tie everything together as quick as we could.
A lot of that work had already been done. On whether he was surprised at the way the Bengals played against New England on Sunday: "Very surprised — obviously, impressed with the Patriots. But the Bengals will get back to being the Bengals. They'll get back to what they did last year. They're the defending division champions.
They earned it last year. They swept the division. They handed it to us twice in convincing fashion, and that's the team we expect to see on Sunday.
On TE Ed Dickson's decision to play in the game while his child was being born: "'Family always comes first' is a general rule.
But also, you balance family with your career and your profession and the opportunity to do things for your family. This was also his first opportunity to play in the NFL.
It was Monday night, and he had prepared for it. His players were… His teammates and coaches and really everybody, the fans, everybody was counting on him to play in the game. But only the person can make that decision. You can't tell him what to do. We all shared our advice — the ones of us who've had kids — but in the end, he had to make his own choice. But it became kind of irrelevant, because the baby came so fast. They baby was born a couple hours before the game, and he couldn't get back there fast enough anyway.
What would he have done if it would've been more delayed? I think he was going to play. I think he decided to go ahead and play. He was… It was tough for him. On whether he has had to make a decision like that: "Just with practice. I missed a practice one time, but that was easy. But not with a game.
I only had one. Is he going to be in this game? I still had my hopes up for that. He's a premiere pass rusher — got to account for him. On whether the addition of WR Terrell Owens makes it easier for WR Chad Ochocinco to make plays because defenses have to plan to cover both of them: "Yeah, it's always a big part of it.
I just think that you look at their front, they've got weapons all the way across. They've done a great job of putting that together. They've got [WR Jordan] Shipley in there now. They've got [WR Andre] Caldwell who really hurt us last year. Obviously, Jermaine Gresham is a very talented guy — high pick.
We liked him a lot. We might have drafted him if he was still sitting there. Turned out pretty good for us later with the other two tight ends, but he's a great player. The other two tight ends are both good blockers and adequate receivers. They can catch the ball. You can't sleep on those guys.
They got Shipley in the backfield. They put tight ends in the backfield. I just think you've got to be able to cover all those guys, and that's what makes them so dangerous. Then you've got Carson Palmer — premiere quarterback. How many times has he played well against the Ravens in the last eight years or so? We've got our hands full with that offense. On the impact of WR Anquan Boldin: "He's a… I guess that says it all right there — the fact that he's capable of making big plays.
A lot was made of the downfield threat last week, and we understood that. Yeah, you'd love to have a burner, but those guys are playmakers. I put T. I think… Put Todd Heap in the category. Todd Heap obviously is not a burner, yet he makes the play downfield in a seam route that really flips the field position and gives us a chance to win the game at the end. If you've got guys that can go out and catch the ball, I think they can make plays downfield. And Anquan, I'm hopeful, because I always felt like he's been — and same about T.
So maybe we'll change that this year. On how much WR T. Houshmandzadeh was able to play on Monday night: "I think he had the full offense for what we were asking him to do as kind of that three-wide-receiver package. It'll be interesting to see how [offensive coordinator Cam Cameron] uses him in some of the other packages now and how he expands that role.
Those guys become interchangeable, I think. They can all play pretty much all the spots, so I think there's a lot of creative opportunity there. Will he play? I don't think he'll practice today, but he's close to practicing.
It'll be day-by-day. On how he would respond to a situation where a player left the field before the end of a half: "You know, I'm not going to get into that. Everybody handles their team… You just handle the situations as they come up. These guys are… These are professional football players, so there's a balance.
Yeah, you have discipline, and they've obviously got that, but there are things that come up with guys and you just have to respect that, too. You just deal with it as it comes, and it kind of depends where the player's coming from and what he's all about.
On whether the decision to make CB Lardarius Webb inactive against the Jets was weather-related or because he wasn't ready to play: "Not weather-related at all. Physically, he's very well far along. Is he quite there yet? Was he quite there yet at the game? I don't think he felt quite ready like he was. So we'll just have to see how it goes this week. It's a balancing act between where the knee is at structurally — which it's in really good shape — and where he's at mentally.
On what he has seen from WR T. Houshmandzadeh and how much he can appreciate his confidence: "I mean, just from afar watching him… We played against him a couple times, him being in Seattle. I mean he's a good receiver. I think his numbers speak for themselves, the numbers that he put up in Cincinnati.
I think he's a real good receiver, and I think he adds something to this offense. Out of all the people that I've seen in this league come and go, he's the one guy, the one constant that no matter who you talk to around the league, they would love to play alongside of him. He's a guy that you want to line up with, a guy that you watch from afar and you're just amazed at what he brings to the table, his intensity. For me, just being here this short period, just seeing how he prepares, how he goes about the game of football in general, it's just unbelievable.
On if playing with Lewis is exactly what he expected or even better: "Even better. Just being around the guy, it's contagious the way he works, the way he goes about it, the intensity that he brings and whatever he does.
I think it's real contagious. On how his first game as a Raven felt: "There was no better stage to open up than on Monday night at the Jets.
I think it was everything that I expected. I think we would have, as an offense, liked to have a better performance, but wins are hard to come by in this league, so we'll definitely take it. On if there were any instances Monday with QB Joe Flacco where something intuitively clicked from their summer work: "Yeah, I think so, but there were a lot of times where he threw the ball and it was just a trust factor.
And I think that's something that's real important between receivers and quarterbacks. And I think that had a lot to do with us being here working this summer. On whether he feels the Cincinnati defense can be exploited: "Well, the thing is, whenever you play a division opponent, the game is always going to be tough, because you know each other so well.
You play each other twice a year. And for us, they're the division champs from a year ago, so we're looking at it as we want to dethrone them. We definitely don't want to go against them this year.
We have our goals set, and we want to win the division. The only way that we can do that is to beat them, and it would be a nice start for us to beat them at their place. On how tough it is to convert on third downs the way they did Monday night: "That is tough to do, but in order to sustain drives, that's something that you have to do.
It was a big emphasis for us, and it will be the entire season. We want to keep our defense off the field as much as possible, get them time to rest, and like you said, the only way we can do that is by converting third downs, no matter what the situation is.
I know Chad personally. He just does it to have fun. That's who he is. That's his personality. I don't think he tries to show anybody up or anything like that. He just loves to entertain, so I don't have a problem with it.
On his thoughts of the Bengals' stable of cornerbacks: "Yeah, they're going to do a good job. They played well against us last year, but we're going to have confidence in our guys to go in there and make some plays and get after them a little bit.
But, we're going to respect them and attack them accordingly. On how tough it is having a short week to prepare, especially coming off the mentally and physically challenging game with the Jets: "I don't know. You can't really think about it. You've just got to keep your head down and go after it.
It definitely makes it a little bit tougher, but like I said, we don't really think about that. It's our job to go out there and play the game, and do our best to win it. On how much progress WR T. Houshmandzadeh has made and how in sync he was Monday night: "I thought he did a great job [on Monday]. Obviously, he made a few big plays for us. But like I said, the biggest thing for us was to get him lined up, get him running the right routes, and I think everything else from there was going to take care of itself.
And I think he did a great job for us. On whether Houshmandzadeh will be even better this week with another week of work and playing against a familiar team in the Bengals: "Yeah, I'm sure he is.
We're going to do nothing but improve on offense week to week. And yeah, he's going to be a big part of that. So, he's going to improve this week. I'm sure he's going to become more comfortable, and we're going to become a little more fluent with each other, and it should help us.
On how much the opposing team's defense dictates what they can do offensively: "It depends what kind of coverages they're going to run. Are they going to run a lot of man? Are they going to sit in a zone?
Sometimes, when teams sit in a deep zone, it can take away some of the downfield stuff. We'll see. Our job is to attack the defense enough that we've got to put them in some situations that they want to attack us, and maybe we can hit them over the top.
But, that all [remains to be seen]. You've got to play it out on Sunday, and we'll be ready for everything. On how he's feeling physically after the Jets game: "It was a lot of fun.
It was a great game. It was a good, old-fashioned, physical football game. And I think we're all probably a little bit sore, but that's the name of the game when you play pro football. We're just trying to get ourselves healthy and back in shape for Sunday. On how he feels after the hit he sustained on the first offensive play from scrimmage: "I feel good. We're all a little sore, like I said.
I'm a little sore in my upper body and my neck, but I feel good. My legs feel good and my arm feels great. Other than looking a little timid at the start of the fourth quarter, Joe Flacco put together a second-straight quality performance.
He came out fast and confident, and looked crisp getting the ball out to his receivers. He could have finished the first quarter nine-for-nine in passing if not for drops by Houshmandzadeh and Todd Heap. With the Steelers focused on Boldin, Flacco and Derrick Mason were in rhythm together, connecting on all of the first five balls thrown to him, including a season-long forty yard completion.
Flacco bounced back from the interception and was perfect in crunch time, with his fourth game-winning fourth quarter drive of his career and second in two weeks. His pump fake and ability to hit Houshmandzadeh in the seam on the winning touchdown throw was a clear sign of progress for the third year quarterback. With Ray Rice nursing a bruised knee, Willis McGahee got just his second start in the last two seasons.
He ran hard, but had just 39 yards on 14 carries, good enough to keep the Steelers honest. McGahee was lining up a couple steps deeper in the backfield and it was enough to allow him to be patient finding the hole, particularly as he ran for a nine-yard touchdown, with a nice open field move to beat James Farrior.
Ray Rice did rotate in, and picked up 20 yards on eight carries. He also collected a nice catch and juked his way for nine yards. McClain did a superb job picking up the blitz in the backfield. The trio of veterans Mason, Boldin, and Houshmandzadeh were targeted 24 times and grabbed 16 receptions for yards and a touchdown. It was not a ton of yards but their average of well over ten yards a catch was a key statistic in helping the Ravens beat the Steelers on a day when the ground game was just average.
Derrick Mason had a tremendous start to the game, and Houshmandzadeh was the finisher. Boldin continues to impress with excellent hands and his ability to stretch for extra yards after the catch. Todd Heap was abused by Lamar Woodley on two occasions when trying to pass protect.
He also dropped a pass he usually catches despite a big hit from Ryan Clark. As the game wore on he was better finding soft spots in the defense and managed three catches for 35 yards. For the second week in a row, Heap made the key block on the winning touchdown throw when he came down the line of scrimmage and picked up the blitz. Other than a couple miscues, tackles Michael Oher and Marshall Yanda were all business against a tough group of Steelers. Oher was flagged for an offsides call in the din of Heinz Field.
But he was mostly solid in pass protection and was moving the pile on run calls. Yanda was very focused on his protection technique and did a nice job. Oniel Cousins saw action in unbalanced line formation and was effective as a run blocker even though the Ravens ran away from him. Matt Birk had an outstanding game controlling the middle of the Steelers defense and making line calls against exotic blitz pick ups.
He stood up Casey Hampton on a number of plays. Credit Chris Chester with pouncing on a Flacco fumble. He also made a nice block in the red zone to get Rice down to the two. Ben Grubbs did an outstanding job with blitz pick ups. Steelers QB Charlie Batch threw for just yards, and most of his throws targeted the middle of the field. Chris Carr and Fabian Washington should be credited with a coverage sack on the opening series. Washington was very good on the boundries. Washington was beaten by a long throw and catch to the one yard line by Antwan Randle El and Batch despite good coverage.
Webb was flagged for jumping offsides, as was nickelback Haruki Nakamura. Nakamura nearly picked up a backside sack on Batch. Despite getting eight tackles, Dawan Landry seemed to be playing a little soft in coverage. Tom Zbikowski seemed fairly non-existent on defense. Ray Lewis stood out for playing quick to the ball and connecting on statement-making hard tackles. He was more effective than a week ago in eluding blocks at the second level and was a big part of keeping Mendenhall under 80 yards on the ground despite 25 attempts.
Lewis also made a very nice diving interception to end the game on a pass that Webb probably would have snared otherwise. It was a typically dramatic punctuation mark on the end of the game from Lewis, especially after making a statement earlier in the week that the defense needed to do a better job holding onto interceptions. A switch seemed to flick-on for Jameel McClain who was all over the field making plays, including a very nice pass defense play thirty yards downfield on what could have been an interception.
So they mix it up well, whether it's a run or play-action, they force you to do a number of things. Essentially what they're trying to do is get you in one-on-one coverage and beat you that way. And they've been very successful with that. Is anyone taking the read-option offense, or the pistol-formation offense, as far as San Francisco is taking it these days?
They've got a lot of No. And that helps. They've been successful even if it was just running the base offense with Alex Smith , or doing this offense with Kaepernick.
You play a number of teams during the year that can do similar things like this, but the ability to do it all the time, like the 49ers can, is something that's a little bit different.
But what's problematic is Kaepernick's ability to throw the football, and then when the pass patterns break down, his ability to run with the football. So it really becomes similar to what Cam Newton did his first year. It's something you have to account for and something not a lot of teams have seen a big dose of. So in preparing for it, you're trying to figure out ways to account for all the options in the run game, but still you've got to hold up in the pass game.
So there's a lot of elements to it that makes it difficult. I don't know if it's necessarily fair to say that nobody's ever done what they're doing, but I think maybe it's that they're doing it as consistently as they are. They're just a very well-balanced offense right now.
How do you view this matchup when it comes to San Francisco's ability to be so versatile on offense against what Baltimore does well on defense? I think they can cover their guys one-on-one, which will allow them to do some things defensively to account for the run. It's really going to come down to their ability to win the one-on-one matchups in the pass rush, and to be able to tackle Kaepernick when they get the chance.
That doesn't mean San Francisco's guys aren't going to win, but as far as being able to match up and run their scheme, the Ravens have done that. They're not afraid to play man coverage and bring an extra guy to rush the passer, and they've been able to win with some of those pass rushes.
We saw in the 49ers ' playoff win against the Packers how Green Bay's defense struggled with its gap control and containment against Kaepernick. How do you think Baltimore's defense will fare on that front, being disciplined and not over-committing in the read-option game? They've been a good defense for what seems like forever. You still have to execute, you still have to win, but they've been able to do that.
They've been able to play man coverage, get the extra guy in the box to help with the run game. And that's what it's going to take. The 49ers made them pay. I think now after the Ravens have seen that, and had a chance to work on it -- work against some of those looks -- it'll help them. Even though it's very hard to simulate that offense in practice, it'll help them to have seen it.
They made some plays defensively. So even though this is a different style of offense, Baltimore has done a good job of being able to adapt and use its personnel to matchup with different teams. You've been to the Super Bowl both as an offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh '05 season and as a head coach in Arizona ' From what you've seen of Kaepernick so far, how do you think he'll handle the big stage and the circus atmosphere that will prevail here in New Orleans? They had to make a strong push at the end of the year to win the division and get the bye, and they did that, and it didn't ruffle him.
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