Q. One of the things you highlighted about the win over the Browns was "playing the game on our terms." Are those terms always the same, or do they change based on the opponent?
A. They really change based on the opponent. How do two groups come together, their personality vs. ours, and by personality I mean high-volume concepts, style of play. Sometimes it can refer to first and second downs. Sometimes it can refer to situations, the way they play possession down ball, or red zone personality. I just thought largely whether we're talking about first or second downs or situational ball, a lot of the game was played on our terms, and you like it when it's going that way.
Q. How does a sixth offensive lineman in the formation help the running game in terms of schematics?
A. It doesn't change any of the schematics. What it changes is the size of the blockers. When you've got a sixth offensive lineman in the formation, you're talking about 50, 60, 70 pounds difference between him and a tight end, and that 50-to-75 pounds is significant, particularly when you're dealing with 4-3 defensive ends. You're blocking the likes of Myles Garrett and people of that nature. If you've got a 250-pound tight end, generally you're losing or you're fighting for a stalemate. You put a 320-pound guy in that same combat, and it's a different narrative. And so it doesn't change necessarily the schematics, but it certainly aids in the run game. Like I tell the guys all the time, they have weight classes in combat sports for a reason, and we take that same principle to football by putting another 50-to-70 pounds or so on the field.
Q. Does it impact the defense at all, in terms of creating more gaps or that kind of stuff?
A. No. It's just the meat on meat, bone on bone, component of competition. Oftentimes defenses use that as a signal of run or run-action, but as we displayed on the first play of the game, we're willing to throw the ball out of that structure as well. And so we just feel like it levels the playing field, particularly when we play 4-3 defensive teams, and they have the 300-pound defensive ends. You want to fight that fight fairly, and need a bigger man to do so.
Q. In talking about DeShon Elliott's value to the team, you have mentioned his ability to communicate on the field during the pre-snap process. What about the safety position lends itself to being a hub of communication for the defense?
A. Just his location. He generally plays in the middle of the field, and so he's able to communicate with people to his right and to his left. It's the same thing with the inside linebackers, just the proximity of where they are relative to the others puts them in a natural position to be a hub of communication, and it's certainly an unofficial responsibility of the position.
Q. When that kind of communication is happening, is it a situation where just one guy's talking at a time, or might you have a couple guys like Patrick Queen and DeShon Elliott both communicating at the same time?
A. There are certainly central communicators in any given play. You can see three or four guys being what you could describe as a hub of communication, and most of the time, those are guys who play on their feet and play in the middle of the field. And so those would include the two inside linebackers and generally the two safeties. It is very difficult to communicate when you play on the perimeter – outside linebackers, cornerbacks – because of the distance, the sheer distance between you and the others, makes that a little bit more difficult.
Q. During your time as a head coach, what have you learned to do, or not try to do, when playing Thursday night games on the road?
A. I've learned to take a nap on Thursday morning. You know, it's stuffing 10 pounds in a 5-pound bag during the course of the week leading up to Thursday ball. Monday and Tuesday in particular there is not enough sleep on those days, and you just do what you've got to do. We're not paid by the hour. And so through experience, I've learned to catch a little mid-morning to afternoon nap on Thursdays, and then I get to the stadium fresh and ready to go.
Q. Do you try and get any kind of work with the team done on Thursdays? Or is everything pretty much done by that point?
A. Yeah, we'll roll out of bed on Thursday morning and get some hotel work done, whether it's meetings or whether it's in a ballroom in the form of a walk-through. We do it really to break the day up, to get people out of their rooms, to come together a little bit, socialize, have brunch. But I'd imagine I'm not alone in laying it down after that morning in terms of getting a nap before we head to the stadium.
Q. After the game against the Browns, Aaron Rodgers, without being asked a question called out Jalen Ramsey in a positive way for getting himself ready to play quickly after injuring a hamstring in Dublin. Some of the things Rodgers said: "I just can't say enough about the level of respect I have for him." And then, "If there was any question about the type of person that he is – take away the incredible player – but the person and teammate, I think he just showed all of us the kind of guy he is by going out there and playing today." Within the environment of an NFL locker room, does something like that carry more weight since it comes from a teammate?
A. Without a doubt, and particularly the lens through which Aaron sees it. He's been in this league 20-plus years, and he knows what's special, to be quite honest with you. And as I often say, "It's not about what you're capable of. It's about what you're willing to do," and what Jalen displayed to him and his teammates was just that. It was a display of will, a guy doing everything in his power to show up for his teammates and respecting that component of team, and I'm sure that he was less than 100 percent. And in today's game, there's so much judgment that comes with what these guys do. Oftentimes, guys don't have enough courage to do that, to play in less than ideal circumstances, because of potentially not playing well. And he didn't let any of that slow him down. He wanted to be out there for and with his teammates, and certainly those of us who have been around this game a long time have a big-time appreciation for that.
Q. So Ramsey playing like he did and then Rodgers saying what he said about it unsolicited, does that mean anything for this group, or tell you something about this group?
A. I think time will certainly tell that. What it is, to be quite honest with you, it is an education process. Aaron was not only complimenting Jalen, and definitely Jalen was deserving of that compliment, but he was also working to educate the younger player, the things that you do for team, the things that you need to be willing to do for team. There's a lesson in all of this for the younger, inexperienced Steeler. And I'm sure there was a messaging component in that regard from Aaron's perspective.
Q. Joe Flacco is 40 years old and is in his 18th NFL season. When it comes to the above-the-neck part of playing quarterback, does he provide his offense what Aaron Rodgers does when it comes to pre-snap diagnosis of the defense, the ability to use cadence as a weapon, using the play clock to his advantage? How do you counteract that?
A. He certainly provides some added value. I hesitate comparing it to Aaron, because particularly at the quarterback position, all of those guys are different. They're one of one, if you will. But man, Joe's presence raises the tide for the collective most certainly, and that's why you're excited about doing business with a guy like him. He's a been there, done that type; his arm talent is his arm talent, but I'm sure there's an intangible quality to him that adds value. He's had good experiences wherever he's been, particularly of late. He had a good experience in Cleveland. That's why they brought him back. He had a really good experience in Indianapolis, just listening to the words of his former teammates and coaches, and I think that speaks to the intangible quality, the things that he brings. He's been on three teams in this division, and I just think that there's nothing mystical about that. There's some value in what this guy does beyond what you see. That's why he's so employable, and that's why so many people are willing to do business with him for such a long period of time.
Q. Joe Burrow won't play tonight, but Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins will. What is the on-field dynamic between those 2 WRs?
A. They work independently, but they really complement each other well. Chase is certainly capable of taking the top off the coverage and doing run-after things. Higgins plays a goon-game. He's a combat catcher. He's a one-on-one winner. He's a red zone problem. They're a formidable tandem, and one of the things that makes them such a formidable tandem is their differences.
Q. Does the fact the Bengals have both of them dictate the kind of coverage a defense might try to use, or the kind of coverage a defense cannot use because there are two of them?
A. You know, two doesn't really slow you down, but three definitively slows you down. I've been in this league a long time, and when I was a secondary coach 25 years ago, the Rams had the "greatest show on turf" with guys like Torry Holt and Az-Zahir Hakim and Isaac Bruce and guys like that, Ricky Proehl at times. When it gets to be more than two, that's when you really get handcuffed defensively in terms of some of the schematic things. Most defenses, most strategists can handle two.
Q. Can you match up with two if you wanted to have your cornerbacks travel?
A. Without a doubt, but three gets more problematic. There's a significant difference from a strategy perspective and a pliability perspective regarding strategy between two guys like that and three guys like that. But it's also very difficult for an offense to assemble three guys like that. Very early in my coaching career, I was competing in the NFC North with the Vikings, and they had Randy Moss and Chris Carter and Jake Reed, for example. It's problematic when there's three, but generally, you can manage two if you're sharp.
Q. The Bengals have a new defensive coordinator in Al Golden, who has spent a lot more time as a college coach than an NFL coach based on his resume. What did you know about him and his defensive style, and what have you been able to learn this week?
A. He's been around. He's an Al Groh disciple, if you will, and so that puts him on that Bill Parcells tree. I see some of that stuff in his play. Although this is his first coordinator opportunity in the league, this is not his first venture in the league. He actually was a defensive assistant for the Bengals a number of years ago, and so he certainly has league exposure. He has league schematics. He always has, even when he coached college football, because of his background and the people that he's worked with. And so I'm not surprised by what I'm seeing. It's very sound. I certainly respect it. You know, I watched a lot of Notre Dame tape leading up to the draft, and those were certainly Sunday schematics on Saturday video last year watching his Notre Dame group.
Q. What's the strength of the Bengals defense?
A. I certainly think it's up front. Trey Hendrickson is someone to deal with. They've invested a lot in that defensive front. They've got two young first-rounders working opposite of him in Shemar Stewart, the rookie out of Texas A&M, and Myles Murphy who's in his third year out of Clemson. They picked up T.J. Slaton in free agency from Green Bay as an interior guy. They drafted Kris Jenkins in the second round a year ago. They've got a steady veteran in B.J. Hill from North Carolina State who has been in the league roughly 9 or 10 years. And so, they've got a deep and diverse front. They've invested a lot in it, whether it's second or third contract capital, or high round draft picks. They got two No. 1s and a No. 2 in that group in the last three years. And so certainly, I would describe that front as the straw that stirs the defensive drink in Cincinnati.
