Bengals Tuesday Press Conference Transcript
By Jason Marcum
Marvin Lewis on blocking All-Pro defensive end J.J. Watt:
"He’s got great length and great energy, and he understands offensively what’s going on. So you really have to account for him. He’s a special player, and he’s really been, as you said, very disruptive and really causes offenses issues. You have to be conscious and take care of him. They’ve got great players around him on the other side, so it causes a lot of isolation for people (blocking him)."
On having Kevin Zeitler and Clint Boling playing in Houston as starters for the first time:
"We’ve played in noisy environments all year. That’s not going to change anything. I think the impressive part about Reliant Stadium last year was the pre-game atmosphere. The game atmosphere is what it is. But to me the pre-game atmosphere was one of the things that was impressive, and our guys have been through that now. It was not just like a regular Sunday afternoon game, even though we’ve played these (crucial) games since November and we knew that every one of them meant that if you don’t win, chances are you make it hard to get to this point. But we’ve done a good job at just focusing in on the next play and the next play and the next play, and not worrying about the big picture, and it’s going to be no different as we move forward now."
Andy Dalton on facing the Texans for the second-year in a row:
"It’s two different situations. The way we got to playoffs last year, we needed some stuff to happen that we couldn’t control. This year, we took control and made it to the playoffs with not having to worry about what other teams did. We’ve been on a pretty good roll recently. Personally, I’m a lot more confident. I’ve experienced it. I know the atmosphere I’m going in to. This team as a whole has gotten better from the experience we have now.We had chances. We didn’t play well enough to win the game. We have to come out and start fast. We have to be aggressive. We have to do a lot of things better than we did last year. I think it’s good that we played there last year. It’s good to know the atmosphere, know what it’s like and how loud it is."
On improving the struggling Bengals offense:
"We definitely need to play better. We haven’t put our best games out there the last couple, but we’ve been getting wins. Most importantly, we have to do whatever it takes to win the game. We obviously need to step up a little bit more offensively. Whatever it takes to win the game. That’s all that matters going in to the playoffs."
Andrew Whitworth on getting hot at the right time:
"We were moving in the right direction throughout the year. We were finding ways to win games at the end of the year. That’s really what being hot is all about. When they go back and look at it, they don’t know how you won or how many you won by or what the situation was, but you won. That’s what we’ve got to do. To be honest, you’ve got to be able to put everything behind us and realize that nothing matters beyond this point. All it is, is who can fight and win those little inches and win the game."
You can read the full transcript here.
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