Everything the Bengals Said after Week 6 against the Giants

Q: What did you see as the key to hanging on there in a really gritty game?

A: It is a gritty game. That’s a tough team. Coming on the road, it’s a difficult environment, primetime. They make you earn everything. They do a great job with the efficiency on offense. Their defense is physical. We’ve played that coordinator (Shane Bowen) several times over the years. It’s always a different challenge they’ve got to bring players. So, I’m just proud of our team. Our defense kept us in that thing the whole game, and then offensively able to finish it out. I thought our special teams were spectacular at the right times as well. So, just found a way to go on the road and get one for ourselves when we needed it.

Q: What did you make of the performances of (defensive tackle) B.J. Hill and (cornerback) DJ Turner (II) tonight?

A: They stood out. I think you can name a lot of people on that defense that really stepped up. Three turnovers on downs. The turnover. And just a lot of big plays. And they got some. That’s just kind of how their offense operates. They’ve got a good, efficient operation. I think their quarterback (Daniel Jones) does a really good job. But our defense stepped up at the right times. And we held them to seven points.

Q: After the last couple of weeks, what did you see from the defense throughout the week leading up to this game?

A: What I see every single day of the week – just a resilient group that goes about it the right way, believes in each other, believes in what we’re doing. And that’s what I expect to see from those guys. And this was a great way – on Sunday Night Football, in front of the world – for them to show who they are because that’s what we see every day, and that’s the blueprint.

Q: That’s the first time those four tackles (*B.J. Hill, Sheldon Rankins, Kris Jenkins Jr. and McKinnley Jackson*)– the guys who’ve been projected, the defensive tackles – seem to mean something.

A: Yeah, and you just see everyone behind them step up as well. I thought they did a great job getting pressure on the quarterback. And so, I’m just really proud of the way the defense played. The players, the coaches, the way that they fought all week, and put on a performance like this was special.

Q: You always talk about corner(back)s needing short memories. How important was it to see DJ (Turner) respond to some mistake and make the biggest play of the game?

A: I felt like I saw him show up a lot – his contested balls. So, I’m really proud of the way DJ and all those guys work.

Q: What kept you from getting into an offensive rhythm that you really liked?

A: A lot of different things. A little bit of everything. You’re right. We felt like we had a lot of second-and-10-plusses at strenuous times it felt like. They (the New York Giants) did a good job upfront. They bring pressure. They can win some one-on-ones. They’ve really invested in that front, and it shows. They did a good job on the back, just mixing it up. And the third quarter just felt like a strange quarter. We had two relatively efficient plays and then a fumble, so I don’t think we got the ball back until four minutes left in the quarter. And so, just the second half just felt a little strange. But I thought we did a good job of responding the right way and getting on there and unfortunately kicking a field goal from the (yard line) and scoring a touchdown at the end.

Q: What did you see on the check from (quarterback) Joe (Burrow) on the touchdown – on the 47-yard touchdown – the one he checked at the line?

A: We called two plays, and then he took off and ran once he saw the coverage. So, great awareness by him to see how they were playing us, to see how doubled up they were. They were trying to take away two receivers over there. And just did a good job of putting the ball down, finding a running lane, and finishing those.

Q: Was that instinct, or was that the call?

A: That was instincts by him (Joe Burrow). It was (supposed to be) a pass play. And just can see that kind of thing on the side over there with the coverage, and he found a good rush lane. Rushers kind of took off, and he used his feet to do the rest.

Q: How much do you address finishing the right way? You get the touchdown to kind of put it away. You guys haven’t been able to get (over the finish). Is there a difference there in something tonight?

A: It’s a great point because our defense kept us in it. Our offense was a little sloppy at times tonight. But there in the fourth quarter when we needed it, everyone just stepped up. And everyone did their job. Everyone finished. I thought special teams put us in really good positions with some of those punts. And then defensively, obviously, getting the ball back. And then offensively, finishing with the touchdown. So, no better way to do it. Start building on that. So, hopefully, we can string some games together.

Q: Did you see how close the fumble was to being recovered? Or do you choose not to look at that replay?

A: At that point in the game, they told me the ball was ours. And that was the most important.

Q: Obviously, concerning. You don’t say anything. The guys know not to fumble. But in that moment, what’s your response to seeing that fumble in that moment from (running back) Chase (Brown)?

A: The number one thing we have to do in four-minute mode is ball security. Certainly, he doesn’t want to do that. He’s done a great job of that. And we’ll correct it when we’re done.

Q: You know how tough Joe (Burrow) is. But when you see Joe take a hit, go to the ground, then go to the (medical) tent, what is going through your head?

A: He took some hits in that game. And they did a nice job (at getting to the quarterback). Give them a lot of credit because it was difficult for us. We didn’t get in a great rhythm. So again, they affected us back there. So, credit to them. You don’t want to see him go down and go to the tent, because that was a good hit.

Q: Given that hit, on the next down, he makes that throw to (wide receiver Andrei) Iosi(vas). In the wake of getting grilled, it had to say something to him.

A: That’s the payoff. There’s sometimes where he makes plays and it doesn’t go his way. And there’s other times where he hit the big one to (wide receiver) Ja’Marr (Chase), our first drive of the third quarter, that essentially put us in scoring range and how it worked out at the end of the game. Hitting that one to Iosi was huge as well. So, it’s not always going to be perfect. But more times than not, he steps up and makes these big plays with those big plays.

Q: When you’re playing a front like that, how important is it for Joe (Burrow) to be able to extend the play for another half-second?

A: It is, and it’s on me to do a good job of keeping them off-balanced. So, I don’t feel like, as a play caller, I was having a good rhythm of keeping them off balance. And our guys did a good job there in the second half. I thought they were taking control.

Q: So much of what (defensive tackle) B.J. (Hill) does doesn’t show up in the stats sheet. So, how excited were you to see B.J. have the kind of stats he did tonight?

A: Really excited. I know how important it is when a guy plays for a team, and they come back here. DJ stepped up. Some of the plays, he doesn’t get the credit for the production because he creates production for other guys. And vice versa. It was good to see the hit he got on the quarterback. The ball popped up in the air, and (linebacker) Germaine (Pratt) was able to come down with it. So, again, happy to have all those guys back.

Q: (Punter Ryan) Rehkow has a nice game back today. How good do you feel for him?

A: He’s done a great job. He punted really well for us. Done a good job flipping the field, and getting inside the 15, 10-yard line. And obviously, they did a great job with the operation too, the field goals.

Q: We saw (wide receiver) Jermaine Burton was inactive today. What led him to being there?

A: Nothing to read into that. That was just a week-to-week decision we made based on some other things that could potentially happen just with the game plan stuff. But he’s done a great job. He keeps approaching it the right way. But we’ve got a lot of confidence growing with him. So, that’s just a this week thing. We’ll continue to make those decisions as we go along. There’s nothing to read into.

Q: The run game didn’t give you much until the end. You hung with it.

A: Yeah, the last (inaudible) call was a great adjustment by (offensive line coach) Frank (Pollack). It wasn’t a play that we carried that week. We briefed it with the guys right before that drive that it may come up in the drive. So, it’s a play that we’ve repped a hundred times during training camp, over the course of the season. So, that was a really good adjustment there by Frank, and the players handled it a great way.

Q: Is that something that wasn’t in the plan this week?

A: Wasn’t in the plan this week. We’ve run it a lot this season, so the players remember it. It was a good adjustment by Frank.