Bengals - 22, Patriots - 18
Q. Matt, what does today's performance, the comeback by the defense, offense, everyone say about this team? It's more than just a particular game, but the weeks leading up to the season as a whole and the players to never see that fight go away?
MJ: We are just a resilient group. Stuff ain't been going our way, bro. It ain't been going our way. And sometimes you have games like that. And it seems like we have a season like that. But the one thing we won't do is quit. We can control our effort. We can control our energy. And we can control our emotions. So if it's still time left on the clock and unless the opponent is taking a need we're out there strapped ready to go.
Q. What did it do for the defense to see the offense respond the way they did, and in particular for you to see Mac, through everything you went through in the first half, the chants, what not, to be resilient as well?
MJ: That's what you've got to do, man. It's really only people in this building and, excuse me, I know you all love us and everything, but the people that sit in these seats in team meetings, that's all we care about. That's all we care about. Y'all are going to write in there, the fans going to write in there, everybody going to tell their own story. But us, we come together and the hot days of summer camp, OTAs and then the dog days, we're out there playing in seven degrees today. We are family. So when they come back like that, we expect it. We expect it. And then they expect us to get the ball back and hold the opposing offense. We have an expectancy for each other and we hold each other to a higher standard than everybody else will.
Q. Earlier Marcus was mentioning that with the receivers, ball security is something you identified as something that you could potentially exploit in this game. How do you all go about identifying sort of openings like that when you think target something like that, and can you take us through what you saw on the fumble on Chase?
MJ: Chase is a great player, really good athlete. And he makes a lot of people miss. And he just exposed the ball. They told me it was a missed tackle. But you can't get one of those when you force a fumble. I just grabbed onto whatever I could grab onto and adjust my momentum, carried the ball out and, man, Marcus, bro, Marcus is always in the right spot at the right time and he makes the correct plays. And I don't think you can ask more from a guy, but every week we do. And he delivers. And I just -- that's what you do. We put the pressure on each other. We put the expectancy on each other, and I think every week Marcus has came out and delivered.
Q. Related to that forced fumble, I think a couple steps beforehand I looked over at the bench, you were on the bench leading the fans, imploring them to get louder, transferring the energy from that spot onto the field. As the game starts to turn and you're starting to force turnovers and get the offense of the Bengals off the field, how does that build on itself and how did you guys as a defense seize the momentum of the pick-6 and build on it from there?
MJ: When we get the crowd behind us, we have great fans and we have very passionate fans and fans that have seen a lot of winning. When they get behind us, regardless of where we're at, regardless of how the game's going, how it's looking, when they get loud, that affects what the quarterback hears and what the running backs and wide receivers can hear, it affects all the checks on the line of scrimmage. Regardless if I'm in the game or out of the game we have great players out there playing and I was just trying to do my part, just trying to be one of the 11 and try to create a little bit of noise.
Q. At seven and eight, what is your assessment as to who this team is at this point and you mentioned there's been some challenging circumstances you guys have faced in the last couple of games?
MJ: I think you watch this team here. That's what we are. When we are consistent, it looked good. When we focused and we're locked in, it looked good. But when we're not, it doesn't. That's who we are. I mean, at this point you showed your hand. And so as a team we've just got to come back and be consistent for the rest of the games we play and the rest of the time we're here. But also as a team, man we are just a band of brothers and we stand behind each other. Like I said, we expect each other to play better every game. It don't matter how many tackles you got. How many yards you got, how much touchdowns you got. We expect more from each other. And that's how you lean on each other and become a good team.
Q. Obviously in the first half Joe Burrow came out sort of on fire there. I was curious your impressions of him as a quarterback. You guys faced some elite quarterbacks this year.
MJ: As far as quarterbacks and toughness and reading the defense, he's up there. He's up there. You don't carry your team to a Super Bowl if you're not a good quarterback. And I believe Joe Burrow is a really good quarterback. He will be for a long time in this league. He has great wide receivers Tee, Chase and Boyd -- that's a really good trio of wide receivers. And then Joe Mixon in the running game. And so that's a good football team. And you've got to fight. You've got to fight. They came out and they had a passing game going. Seemed like they were hitting all the marks. But you've got to fight. In the second half, we did better. We did much better on that. And we made some plays.
Q. Late in the game you head down to the locker room I was curious what happened and how you're feeling after the game?
MJ: If you've ever seen me go down to the locker room, I have to use the bathroom. I'll be hydrated. And we've got a bathroom like right off there.
Q. You just said something very interesting. You said when we're consistent and locked in, we're tough. Suggesting that there are times that the team is not consistent or locked in. Why is that?
MJ: I think user error. We're all humans. We all be having something on our mind. We all be thinking something. And I think just we're all human. If we were robots, we would come out and it perfect every time. That's why we play the game and that's why so many emotions involved in this game. That's why you see turns like you did in the second half because we're all human.
Q. We've talked a lot about you finishing the season strong, and finishing the season differently than last year. And today you had the sack and the forced fumble. How does it feel for you to be able to go out there, be able to put a game out there knowing that's sort of the narrative?
MJ: I think when you're in the position I am and teammates look for you to make plays and coaches look for to you make plays and you've been making plays all year, you've got to continue to be that person. And I try to come in here and be as consistent as a person as a player, as a teammate, as a friend as possible day in and day out. And I think just with that I can make plays. But I think going throughout the season and stuff, I get different blocks and I get different looks and I get to slide and all that. Just going out there getting sacks and hitting the quarterback, it's what I need to do. But a play like making Chase fumble is something that changed the game. And it ended how it ended, but those are game-changing plays in the fourth quarter when you're down four.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports