Marvin Lewis

Head Coach

Opening Statement

"In a football game like that, we knew going in that we had to do a really good job first off, offensively making first downs and then defensively being able to make the adjustments and be able to tackle and make plays in the open field. We did not do a very good job of that. I just comes down to as simple as that. We did not do a good job of stopping them on third down and getting off the field there in the first half and being able to sustain the drives on offense. We did not play very well."

Are you disappointed in the high number of tackles?

"We did not tackle very well."

What would you attribute that to?

"We did not tackle very well."

Do you think players are having trouble understanding the scheme?

"We had a couple of new guys in there and at times, I can't make that judgement right here today, but we have guys who are new and have to make the right corrections and adjustments."

What happened on the fake punt?

"It was a miscommunication."

How do you get your players to regroup?

"It falls on everyone. We have to do a better job of preparing them. They have to go out and have to understand and make the correction and adjustments and execution. We knew that was going to be a big part of it is communication and being alert and making the adjustments and so forth throughout the football game, not only during the series but within. We did a poor job of that and have to understand that. We have opportunities to make plays, like missed tackles and so forth. We had balls that were tipped in the air and we don't come down with them. We had the quarterback trapped and we don't get him on the ground, so there are a lot of things we have to do better."

Would that include reassessing who is starting?

"No, I am not going to make any judgements like that right now."

Any update on Vontaze Burfict?

"I do not know. He had a hip injury just like they said."

What was behind the decision to punt in the 4th quarter when you were down?

"Then the thing to do is punt the football and have an opportunity to stop and get the ball back. You can sit here and second guess everything I do in every play, so if that is what you want to do, have at it. We do not have enough time in the night for that."

What about the Chiefs offense?

"They are a good offense. We knew that going in."

Andy Dalton

Quarterback

What did you think about how you did sustaining drives?

"We were not converting on third downs. That is what it came down to. We did not play to our potential today."

Was there any trend in those third downs?

"Yeah, we did not convert. I guess the biggest thing that bothers us was that we were not able to put enough drives together and didn't get down there and didn't give ourselves a chance to score."

Is this the kind of game that just kind of snowballs on you?

"Yeah, we obviously did not do enough. When you play an offense like that on the other side, the game can turn quick and unfortunately it did."

Did the defense change something tonight?

"We did not make plays. That is what it comes down to."

Was it a surprise that they ran a press?

"No, that is what they have done all year and that is just the style they play. We did not do enough."

Was there something you saw to make you want to use A.J. Green?

"We are going to try to get A.J. the ball. A.J. was doing a good job of getting open. He got open a lot early and they started doubling him. I thought A.J. did some good things tonight."

Does your high ranking make this easier?

"Yeah, it is one game. There is still everything out in front of us. Obviously, we wish we could have played better tonight, but it is just one."

What about these injuries at the tight end position?

"It is unfortunate. The fact is that injuries happen and it is tough, especially when you lose them all at one position. It makes it even tougher."

What about that three and out before halftime?

"They came down and got points off of it. We know every drive is important and we didn't take advantage with enough drives."

What do you think about your halftime adjustments?

"We did not do enough. We did not play like we can play and it shows with the result."

Was that the frustrating thing that you are a good team?

"That is a good team and everybody knows that they have been able to score points. When you don't do that on your side of the ball, it can turn into a game that it did. That is a really good offense over there."

Did your guy under cut the ball on that pick six?

"He was playing man on the tight end and the tight end came to block, so he freed up. He made a good play."

What do you tell these guys tomorrow?

"There is a lot of season left and a lot of things out in front of us. It is just one game. We have another one next week."

Thoughts on being in first place in the North?

"As much as this one sucks, everything is still right there. We are in a great position. We have to go take advantage of it."

A.J. GREEN

Wide Receiver

The Kansas City Chiefs have been struggling defensively, did they do anything different tonight?

"Yeah, they didn't play a lot of press. I think they had drive where I had a couple of catches where they would be pressing me and bailing and then a lot of two-manning on my side. They switched up some things that we didn't see on film."

How hard was it to make adjustments on the fly like that?

"It's just tough. We got behind. We got behind in the sticks a couple of drives. We didn't play good football. I didn't play good football this week. We just got to go back to the drawing board and get back on track."

It looks like you were stretching the field in the first quarter with multiple downfield passes, why was that effective?

"Just making plays. Just taking whatever the defense was giving us. It was nothing special."

What surprised you guys tonight?

"They played a lot of two-man. They didn't show that on film during their previous games. So they played a lot of two-man and they didn't bail that much on film, and they bailed a lot on me."

Was it a bad week of practice?

"No. It wasn't a bad week of practice, we were playing a good team out there. We just couldn't get anything going. We just got to be better."

What do you as a team captain do to help the team rebound?

"We got to be together. We win together, we lose together. We're a team. We're a family. We know this NFL season is a long grind, up and down, a roller coaster. For my part, I'm going to keep leading by example, it's back to the drawing board. No slacking off on my play. We're just going to watch the film and get better, lead by example, and get back to work on Wednesday."

DRE KIRKPATRICK

Cornerback

How much did it hurt to be on a national showcase and to have this happen?

"It don't matter, it could have happened if we would have played at one o'clock. At the end of the day, it's just a disappointment. We had a lot of great fans travel out here so it just let them down. I'm including ourselves, because we know what we did. To see the looks on their faces … we just got to get better."

How do you describe the difference on what you saw in practice versus what you saw out there tonight?

"It was different. You could see it on film. You know it's fast. They are definitely fast. They like to go misdirection, sideline to sideline. I just thought it was something we could learn from. We still got an opportunity to go into the bye week hopefully being 5-3. I'm going to keep my head up. I'm just going to keep preparing the way I've been doing and try to get some guys healthy."

Do you think that by the end of the year that your team could be as good as the one you faced tonight?

"Yes, if we get guys back. We've been together for a long time, we've been having injuries, so we've been having new faces step in. I believe in those guys, but it's a little different when you haven't been out there from a communication standpoint. We got to get back out there and do what we have been doing and have fun. I feel like that's what we got away from. We're not having fun. We need to go out there and have fun."

JEFF DRISKEL

Quarterback

On making his NFL debut tonight

"You never want to get in under those circumstances. My job is to be prepared when I'm called on. I was prepared today, got a couple of first downs and kept the ball moving and that's what I'm asked to do. That's what I'm going to keep on doing, preparing throughout the week and whenever my name gets called, I'll be ready to go."

On making his first NFL first down completion.

"It felt awesome. It was awesome to get in the game, NFL debut, and get that first one out of the way and go from there. At the end of the day it's football. It was fun to be in there, but not under those circumstances."

BOBBY HART

Offensive Tackle

It looked like nothing was working tonight, you tried the running game and then you tried the passing game, why couldn't you get into a rhythm?

"I can't really assess the game until I watch the film, but obviously we couldn't get into the rhythm."

How do you bounce back?

"You got to get back to your fundamentals. You got to get back to what got you where you are in the first place. That's just owning your technique, playing hard, playing for one another and it starts in practice on Wednesday. You can't sit up here and dwell on this loss. You got to process it, learn from it, and move on."

PRESTON BROWN

Linebacker

How surprising was this [loss]?

"It's bad. It's a bad look for the whole team to see this happen. It's such a big score difference. You never want to go out there and get blown out on a Sunday night, [especially] when it's been something we've been waiting to show the whole league what we can do. And now, to put up a goose egg like that, it's not a good look. But, we've got to go learn from it and find ways to get better."

What is your overriding emotion right now?

"There's a whole lot of emotions going on right now. You never want to put that on film. It's just bad overall – especially on the defensive side. We've got to find ways to get them off the field. They were doing a lot of things – a lot of motion, a lot of fast motions, jet sweeps, motion comeback, flipping balls. There was a lot of stuff they were doing. But, if we did our assignments, we could've manned up and played better. We've got to find ways to correct it and get better."

Is there something to be said about their team speed?

"Ten [Tyreek Hill] is super fast. He was catching the ball and then running backwards and then running forwards. It's like playing punt. You don't usually see that on a defense. It's tough to play a guy like that because he's so fast. You just got to gang tackle him, everybody's got to run to the ball. And, we need to do a better job of tackling."

JESSIE BATES

Safety

I can't imagine you've see speed like that before.

"Yeah. That was a different speed than I've ever seen."

You're going back home to face Tampa Bay. You've got to put this one in the garbage can as quickly as you can, right?

"Yeah, this one's going to be hard to swallow just because it was in front of everyone. Everyone was watching. I think we were excited to show people what we could do and we didn't do that tonight. We've got another opportunity next week to go into the bye week with a win and get this thing back rolling the right way."

Were the missed tackles the major thing?

"I think we did a really good job of closing the middle and not allowing the deep throws. But, we didn't tackle. They checked everything down and we didn't tackle very well. And, it showed tonight."

Did they [the Chiefs] change anything? Did they change their approach at all?

"No. They showed everything that we watched on film. We just didn't execute right."

Have you ever been high-hurdled like that before?

"No. I never have. But, it is was it is." 

How shocking was that?

"[It was] not shocking. He just made a good play."