C. Trent

    Postgame locker room: Ravens 17, Bengals 10

    Sunday, September 7, 2008, 05:53 PM EST [Bengals]

    Marvin Lewis: "I just told our football team in there, I’m disappointed in a couple of areas. We’ve got an opportunity to stop and get the ball back and we didn’t do it. Offensively we didn’t do anything good on third down. We didn’t run the football effectively enough. The two explosive plays we gave up seemed to be the difference in the game until that last drive."

    I asked him why they didn't challenge Chris Perry's fumble late in the second quarter and he didn't like the question: "It was a fumble. It doesn’t matter if I considered it or not. A fumble’s a fumble. There’s no question the ball was out. They stripped the ball when he was up in the air."

    On the offensive line: "We've got to stay on and keep chiseling. We're half a guy away. At times, we had some good runs in there today. Other times, we didn't identify very good, and they were able to get a guy running."

    T.J. Houshmandzadeh said it best: "We sucked. Basically," Houshmandzadeh said before elaborating, "Everybody on offense that got a chance to play, what was it? 13, 14 of us? We just suck on offense right now. It’s terrible. We can’t move the ball. We can’t get a first down. We can’t run, we can’t throw. We just didn’t play good on offense, that’s the bottom line. The defense played great and we didn’t play good."

    Also from T.J.: "If they let us bet, I probably would’ve bet a lot money that we’d win the game."

    I asked him if he thought the missing time in preseason had something to do with it and he didn't like that question, "No. You guys can write it if you want, but I don’t think so."

    And on the defense: "As much as you guys like to talk about the defense, I thought they played great today and we didn’t help them out."

    On the interception: "I came off the ball, and I think it was Bart Scott. He just kinda bodied me up a little bit and I was stumbling out of my break and the ball got there and hit off my shoulder pad, Ed Reed hit me and it was intercepted. Again, it just goes back to us offensively not playing well. I’m on the offense, so obviously I’m part of the equation of not playing well."

    Chris Perry on the 4th&1: "I’m supposed to make that. There’s nothing else to say other than I’m supposed to make that play."

    He was asked several other questions about the line, and each time he took the blame: "That’s on me, I’m supposed to make those yards, that’s what I’m here for. It’s the spot I wanted to be in, this is the spot I have. You can’t put that on anything else other than me. ... I’m supposed to make them miss. We’re getting paid to play this game, we’re good at what we do. And I should have been better today."

    Johnathan Joseph on his TD: "I just happened to be the first person there, scoop it and score."

    Domata Peko: "That’s just smash-mouth football. You give them an inch, they’re going to take it."

    Bobbie Williams: "It’s depressing. We pride ourselves as an offensive line, I know as an offensive lineman we can make that and execute better."

    "Today we got outplayed as a team. Defense did a hell of a job, offense we struggled. We will. Today, it hurts because we had opportunities out there. As an offensive player, we didn’t execute to our fullest and it came back to bite us."

    Williams was asked about Willie Anderson: "It was good to see him."

    That was followed up by whether the Bengals could have used Anderson: "I’ll take the guys we have on the offensive line. I loved Willie when he was here. But he’s a Raven, at the end of the game, he was celebrating. That’s just a fact of life. We must move on and get on with the season. It was nice to have Willie a part of us and now he’s not. We have to find a way to make it work and we will."

    "We have to execute better as an offensive unit and that’s a bottom line."

    Carson Palmer: "We got beat, we got outplayed. It was just an ugly game offensively. When you score three points offensively, it’s never good. Our three points were on a two-minute drive. We didn’t have a drive where we physically beat them up front and moved the ball and and kept moving the chains. It’s a sick feeling, it’s going to feel even sicker when we watch the film."

    On the fourth-down attempts: "We had two big fourth downs, you feel like that’s our bread and butter. We’ve got big, physical offensive linemen and they did a good job of pinching the gaps and hitting us in the backfield. That feels like a nine out of 10 times it goes our way. But they did a good job of shooting the gaps and getting a guy in on Chris and then Jarrett Johnson made an unbelievable play on the fourth-and-two quick shovel play. ... He looked like he knew it was coming, he played it like he knew it was coming. He went straight for the tailback and normally that guy is a lot further outside."

    "It’s not demoralizing, it’s disappointing and frustrating. You’ve got to move on."

    Chad Ocho Cinco: "They just beat us in the fundamentals of football. We didn't block well, we as a team didn't run well, receiving corps we didn't do our part. We just got beat."

    On missing the preseason: "We don't play much in the preseason any way. We get two or three series. It is what it is. We have to understand that we are playing the best defense in the NFL.They are very confusing. The things they do out there are very exotic. On film, they had new things planned for us today. Obviously, we weren't able to see some of the stuff."

    He was asked if they used him enough: "Based on what Baltimore did, they weren't going to allow me to catch anything. They did the same ... if we were going to win or compete in this game it was going to be through the running game. It would have to be through the tight ends. That's my take on what I saw through the entire four quarters. They didn't let up on me and they didn't let up on T.J.I guess we had to win in other areas. We wanted to establish the run, and I'm not sure we did that too well. ... I don't know what Rex Ryan, the d-coordinator, two thumbs up to him for what they did today, and I told him after the game. What they did today was unbelievable."

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    Pathetic. C. Trent, how many times did Marvin give his trademark giggle? Those fourth down calls were a disgrace. The offense looked lost and lethargic. It's hard to look down the schedule after today and see a game that they can win. What did Marvin say? A half a guy away? He's on crack.

    Bill
    September 07, 2008
    08:14 PM EST

    Marvin Lewis is delusional. Furthermore, why, why were all the receivers running 20 yard routes, including the tight ends all day long, ALL DAY LONG? Chris Perry looks to be the new Rudi of 2007. He averages 2.1 yards per carry and Watson gets two tries for 13, Dorsey no carries. There seems to be an obsession in the organization, from the front office to the coaching staff of refusing to admit they are wrong, about anything. Why, why, when you are facing a team that is going to concentrate on the run was Shirley not activated? Shirley was the only guy that could be disruptive. He will be the Matt Toeiana of 2008.

    Todd
    September 07, 2008
    10:10 PM EST