BB: You have the announcement on Hank [Poteat] and Randall [Gay]. It's disappointing
for Randall. I know he is too. He's worked hard. He's a good kid. It's
unfortunate that he's been held back two years in a row here. Unfortunately
that's the way it is. Just moving onto Cincinnati. This is a really
good football team. We've spent a lot of time watching them in the
offseason. They were one of our early opponents here. They had a great year
and last year. They did a lot of things extremely well as a team in all
three phases of the game. They're very explosive team and they can score a
lot of points in a hurry as we saw out there couple of years ago. The
scoring differential that they have this year in the second quarter and
things like that are just outstanding. They get a lot of turnovers. They get
a lot of good field position. They're a big play team offensively. Lightning
can strike in a hurry with them from a number of guys, running backs,
receivers, the quarterback is outstanding. They have a good offensive line.
They're good in the kicking game. They cover well. They have a good kicker.
They have good coverage people and they have some explosive returners. [Tab] Perry is outstanding. [Kenny] Watson has done a good
job for them. He made a big play last week on the blocked field goal and
another one on the recovered punt. They got some turnovers defensively in
the red area, and then down there in good field position to set up kind of
their winning touchdown. I think that Pittsburgh game was a good
example of how Cincinnati wins. They turned the ball over. They make the
plays. They take advantage of their opportunities in the kicking game.
That's why they are 3-0. We have our work cut out for us. Last year and
certainly the way this year has started I think you really have to take your
hat off to Marvin Lewis and Mike Brown and the job they've
done out there. They've steadily built that team stronger and stronger each
year. Again they had a terrific year last year and they're off to a really
good start this year as well, beating Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh. We all know
how tough that can be. Pittsburgh is another good football team. We're going
to have to play our best. We need a good week of practice here and we're
looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge. Cincinnati is good.
They're good.
Q: How much more difficult is it to
blitz Cincinnati knowing that they can go down the field and hit the
big one on you?
BB: Yeah, that's the downside of
blitzing. If you have a lot of guys committed and if they get somebody
behind you, you can give up big plays. They make big plays on everything
though. They make big plays on blitzes. They get big plays on zone coverage,
man coverage, just like last week where they tossed it up there against [Deshea] Townsend on T.J. [Houshmandzadeh] and he goes up and
kind of takes the ball away from him. We've seen Chad [Johnson]
do that. [Chris] Henry. Kelley Washington. They're all
good at that. And sometimes even if you're in a zone coverage and it's
one-on-one back there, those guys do a great job of going up. They have good
timing. They have good hands. They get good position. Carson Palmer is an excellent quarterback. He really gives those guys a chance to get the
ball. He puts it in a tight spot where only they can get it. He makes a
number of those plays too. Blitzing is a problem. Covering is a problem.
Playing the run is a problem. They can attack really from every inch of the
field.
Q: Is there a way to explain that
second quarter scoring differential?
BB: Again, that's Cincinnati.
They were, whatever it was, 31-3 at halftime. Something like that. Then they
had a punt return called back in the third quarter. They can get a lot of
points in a hurry. Get a turnover, get good field position and get it in the
end zone, hit a long play, get good field position on a return, really it
doesn't take much. Not with them anyway. They don't fool around.
Q: When a defense isn't forcing
turnovers what are some of the reasons that might be?
BB: I don't know. A lot of it is just
to each specific play. It's not like all of the turnovers happen in one way.
Part of it is getting the ball out. Part of it is taking advantage of the
ball when it does come out. It's like in the Buffalo game, a guy
fumbles, the ball bounces off his face mask, it's rolling around out there,
well they get it, we don't. Those are the kind of plays that are there. It's
an opportunity. We weren't able to capitalize on it. There are other games
where guys, they don't fumble the ball, they hang onto it and it's harder to
get the ball out. Those opportunities are less frequent. So I think it's
a combination of doing the best you can to create them, but then when
they're there, take advantage of them and capitalize on them.
Q: What about interceptions?
BB: Same thing. We've had our hands
on some balls. There were other balls that we weren't getting our hands
on because the quarterback threw them away in a spot where we can't get
them. We've had some balls tipped. Look, when you're a defensive player, you
shouldn't expect any easy interceptions. The quarterback is not throwing to
you. He's throwing to somebody else. You're going to have to make some good
plays on the ball in order to catch it, most of the time. I know sometimes
you get them tipped and the ball comes right to you. Usually on defense,
they're trying to throw it to somebody else. Most of those passes don't hit
you right in the perfect spot. You have to make a good play on them and
that's part of it, too. Sometimes you make them, sometimes you don't.
Q: As a defensive back, how can you
overcome the size differential against a taller receiver?
BB: The first thing is position, and
the second thing is timing. It's not always about who's the tallest guy, but
it's timing and how much you're able to elevate and get up there to the
highest point. It's like rebounding in basketball. You get a guy like Charles Barkley that led the league in rebounding at, what was he, 6'4"?
You don't have to be 7'2" to lead the league in rebounding. You have to be
able to jump, you have to be able to get position, you have to be able to
get the ball—that's true whether you're a
receiver or a defensive back. It's not all about height. That can be
an advantage, but unless that guy is also the highest jumper and has the
best timing and best hands and all that, that may not necessarily be an
advantage. It may just be part of an advantage, not the total
picture. Guys like Chad and T.J., Henry, those guys are
great jumpers and they're big and they can jump and they have good hands.
They're pretty good.
Q: Was Hank a pretty logical
guy to call on?
BB: Yeah, well he has a lot of
familiarity with our system. It was a tough decision at the end of training
camp on the 53-man roster. Hank has been very competitive and is very
competitive. We just ended up going a little differently. Of course he's not
eligible for the practice squad, so we weren't able to keep him that way.
Q: Is Chad really up there as
far as receivers go?
BB: I think he has a little bit off
his own style, but it's pretty good. He has a really good quarterback. He
caught 90-something passes last year. I don't know how many yards it was. A
lot. But he's good after the catch. He's good on intermediate routes. He's
very good with the deep ball, and he's good with the run after the catch, so
if you play too far off of him and they hit him on those short patterns, he
can turn those into big plays. As T.J., and Henry, and Tad
Perry, and all of those guys can. Some of those long passes aren't just
all 50-yard bombs. Some of them are 10-yard crossing patterns that turn into
50-yard catch-and-run plays. They can get you both ways.
Q: What are some of the factors in
deciding to jam a receiver at the line of scrimmage?
BB: First of all, it depends on what
the coverage is that you're playing, what the corner's responsibility is. If
it's just man-to-man coverage, then the advantage is to be able to re-route
and disrupt the receiver and quarterback timing. The disadvantage is you
don't have a lot of leverage on the pattern. If you jam him, you have to get
a good jam and create your leverage at the line of scrimmage. Depending on
what type of receiver you're playing against, some guys are easier to jam
than others. The advantage of playing off is you're able to see the receiver
and sometimes read his route and recognize what he's going to do based on
the indicators that he gives in running the route. It's hard to do that when
you're up there on him. But there's advantages to both. A lot of times it's
just a defensive philosophy. It's hard to be good at everything and
sometimes you press more or play off more, or you only press in certain
coverages because of where your help is so that you're just able to execute
it better.
Q: What can a receiver do to fight
that off?
BB: It depends on the receiver's
skills. There's a lot of different ways to do it. You can do it with speed
and just try to escape the guy. You can do it with strength and try to knock
his hands down and power through him. You can do it with technique. Swim
moves. Grabbing the guy's jersey. Upper cutting him. Stutter-stepping.
Different players have different methods. Guys that usually only have one
thing are a lot easier to jam than guys that have two or three different
moves who have different ways to get off the line of scrimmage. That makes
it tougher to get a piece of those guys. But again, a lot of it is related
to what's going on with the rest of the coverage, too.
Q: Who is a guy you would avoid
jamming?
BB: It depends on who's covering him.
If it's me out there, there's not too many guys I would want to go up and
press. If it were somebody else, they might want to go and press them all.
Part of it depends on who the defender is. Part of it depends on who the
receiver is. Part of it depends on what the coverage you have called is. For
example, if you have somebody coming outside into that outside zone, then
you really don't want to go up and press the receiver because by your
alignment you've kind of taken those patterns away anyway. So now you're
dropping a guy into a technique that the corner's playing, where he can't
use the help. So you have two guys really covering the same route. You don't
want to do that. So if you're going to run a guy outside, then you really
want to leverage the receiver, with the corner being off, so he can use that
help. Again, some of it is coverage related as well.
Q: How important is your running game
this week?
BB: I think the important thing is to
move the ball and score points, however we do that. I think if they put 10
guys up on the line of scrimmage, it would be stupid to try to run the ball
every time just to say, 'Well, we ran it,' unless we can effectively run it
against fronts that are overloaded. We'll do what we think is best based on
what looks they're giving us and what our options are going in, what game
plan plays that we have going in and try to match those up the best we can.
You'd like to balanced. Sometimes you can be, sometimes you can't. If they
want to take something away, I don't know how smart it is to just keep
pounding your head against the wall just to say we did it when there are
better options out there. We'll just have to wait and see how that goes
during the game.
Q: Have you seen an improvement in Cincinnati's defense from last year?
BB: Well, yes. They're a good, sound
defense. They're strong inside. Sam Adams is a good addition. We all
know how hard he is to block. They have good speed on the edge, especially
with Justin Smith. [John] Thornton is a good player. [Bryan] Robinson. They're good. the secondary is good. They drafted [Johnathan] Joseph. He's been a good addition to their secondary and they have [Keiwan] Ratliff and of course the starters [Deltha] O'Neal and
[Tory] James out there. [Madieu] Williams and [Kevin
Kaesviharn] has done a good job. Smith has been out, but they have good
depth and good quality in the secondary. They have guys that can rush the
passer. They have a good front. Like I said, Adams and Thornton, they're
hard to block inside. Justin Smith. That guy can come around the edge. He
made a big play there on [Ben] Roethlisberger in the game on
third down. He sacked him and knocked them out of field goal range. They're
a good, solid defense. They're probably not blitzing quite as much as they
did in the past, like when we played them here in '04 or in preseason. It
looks like they've backed off a little bit on that. They're playing from
ahead a lot and that helps the pass rush and it helps the defense. You don't
have to defend as many things when you're up by 14 points. That second
quarter scoring differential, right there, I don't know how many games
they've been ahead at the half, over the last year-and-a-half, or whatever
it is, a lot.
Q: Is their defense often overlooked?
BB: I don't know how you can overlook
them. They led the league in turnovers last year. O'Neal had 10
interceptions. I think if you overlook them it's because you don't want to
look at them. There's plenty there to look at. Like I said, they can rush,
they can cover, they turn the ball over. If you want to see them making
plays, all you have to do is turn it on. It's not like you have to go to
this game, 'They played good in that game.' They make those plays every
week. They made them last week against Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh. They
were 11-5 last year. They're 3-0 this year. It's not like they're just
stumbling around out there and stumbled into a couple of wins and a couple
of plays. They make them every week on both sides of the ball. Perry,
that guy is a really good returner. [Shayne] Graham. They have
good players in the kicking game too. Don't underestimate that group.
Q: Have you been happy with the
special teams unit's performance?
BB: I think it's been competitive.
There's always room for improvement.
Q: When you compare it to this time
last year?
BB: Compared to this time last year
it's definitely better. It wouldn't take much either. It's been fairly
consistent for us. Buffalo ran one back there. [Terrence] McGee got a long one. It's been fairly consistent.
Q: Is that gratifying to you since
you lost quite a few guys early on to injury?
BB: We've faced a couple of good
special teams units and we continue to face them. We have another one this
week. In this league, I don't think anybody really cares what you did last
week anyways. We're going to have to strap it up and do it again this week.
Watson did a good job last week. He had a nice return against the Steelers. He took it out there. I don't know what Cincinnati's
overall field position is, but it's pretty good. They have to be up there at
the top of the league. I don't know, it seems like every time they have the
ball they're at the 35-yard line. They're never backed up. Either they're
getting defensive turnovers, or they are getting a good return. They've
stopped them and they're getting good field position on the exchange of
punts. They get the ball in good field position a lot and take advantage of
it. That's obviously a combination of a lot of factors and turnovers are big
part of it, but you don't see them on their one-yard line very often. Not
that they couldn't score from there either. I don't think that would hold
them back. You see them with the good field position.
Q: With guys like Carson and Rodney Harrison who are both recovering from serious knee injuries
sooner than most people would have thought, have you ever thought about how
different things would've been back in the 70s and 80s if they had the same
medical technology then that they have today?
BB: That's been such an improvement.
I remember a lot of guys going in and they say, 'Well, it looks like he has
cartilage in his knee,' and then to go in and slice it open on one side and
then two months later, he's still hurt. And they go in and slice it open on
the other side. One year later it's still bothering him and they still don't
know what's wrong. Scope procedures and the experience in sports medicine
and the improvements and all of that…even with ACL's. Those used to be 18
months and then it was 15 months and then it was a year. Now you have guys
like Palmer coming back in, whatever it was, 9 months, maybe even a
little less than that depending on when he was ready or wasn't ready there
in preseason. I forget exactly when. But, yes, it's been remarkable. Then
you have a lot of guys that are working hard like Carson, and like Rodney,
guys like that who put a lot of extra time and effort into their
rehabilitation. The body can only heal so fast, but certainly those guys
have pushed it and the fact that they're out there as quickly as they have
been is a real tribute to their hard work, and the people that are working
with them. It's been a remarkable, yes.
Q: How would you assess Tom Brady's
performance so far this year?
BB: I think pretty much the same
thing that we've talked about all three games, that everybody on the team,
starting from me, and all the coaches, and the players, there's room for
improvement. There's some things that are good and there's other things that
need to be better. I would say that about every player that has played
including him and including everybody else.
Q: Does he seem more frustrated than
normal?
BB: Tom is very competitive. I
think that's one of his attributes, one of many. We all want to do better.
We all want to improve. No matter what happens out there there's always some
way that you can find to do something better and be a better football player
and help your team more. I think that's what we're all trying to do. However
you want to characterize that. You can put a lot of people in that category.
Q: What do you think about the new
technology in the quarterback's helmet?
BB: I don't care. The league and the
competition committee and all of that, they make the rules and whatever they
are, I just try to understand them and play by them. Whatever they are,
that's what they are. I'm just trying to coach the team and see if we can
play a little bit better. That's all I'm worried about. |
