"The one thing that Marvin said is that they wanted to try and throw the ball over the top of people more."
--Jon Kitna on head coach Marvin Lewis' decision to start Carson Palmer at quarterback, March 1, 2004.
"They were the same guys that they had coveted. They felt strongly about what kind of football players they were, what kind of character guys they were and what kind of athletic ability they had at that position. That made me feel great. I think we can look up there today and feel real good about what we did. We got guys that three years down the road are going to be great football players in the NFL."
--Lewis on his fellow NFL coaches after hearing the Bengals criticized on the first day of a NFL Draft they ended up picking four regulars on their defense: defensive backs Keiwan Ratliff and Madieu Williams and linebackers Landon Johnson and Caleb Miller, April 25, 2004.
"They're going to get sick to their stomachs trying to cover me. Just short of a guarantee."
--Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson explaining why he sent each of the Browns starting defensive backs a package of Pepto-Bismol, Oct. 13 2004.
"They're finding that here in Cincinnati and they're also finding that in Dallas. Bill Parcells went in the first year and they won 10 games. They're not going to win 10 games this year. I don't believe Cincinnati is going to win eight games this year. Part of it is injuries. Part of it is changing quarterbacks, and having to go through a bumpy road. You have to go through that."
--ABC analyst John Madden, Oct. 23, 2004.
"I'm not coverable, period. They could throw everybody out there and I would have had to beat everyone at the same time. Regardless of what you do, I'm always going to get open."
--Wide receiver Chad Johnson in the wee hours after beating Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey on a pair of 50-yarders in the Bengals' first home appearance on Monday Night Football in 15 years, a 23-10 win over Denver, Oct. 26, 2004.
"We can not accept mediocrity ... we are never going to go where we need to go if we accept this. If we accept playing close; accept being in the lead in the first half and not finishing the football game."
--Lewis to the media after bellowing the same message to his team behind a not-so-closed door following the 19-14 to loss to Pittsburgh at home, Nov. 21, 2004.
"I don't even know what the score was. But it was a fun game for a quarterback to be in."
--Palmer after leading the Bengals to a fourth-quarter comeback 58-48 win over Cleveland in the highest scoring NFL game since the 1970 merger, Nov. 28, 2004.
"After the game, you didn't see their defense. They just left the field. I think they were just stunned."
--Center Rich Braham after the Bengals won in Baltimore for the first time since 1996 and beat a winning team on the road for the first time since 1990 with 24 fourth-quarter points, Dec. 5, 2004.
"Six months old. The book was on the lower shelf of the book case. Of all the books he could have got, he got that one ... A dead dog."
--Patriots coach Bill Belichick on what happened to his autographed copy of "PB: The Paul Brown Story," Dec. 8, 2004.
"Everybody thought the world would end when Corey left. For years, everybody kept saying the running game is all Corey. I kept telling you, give us any good running back, (the offensive line) will get the yards."
--Pro Bowl right tackle Willie Anderson after running back Rudi Johnson broke Corey Dillon's single-season rushing record for the Bengals with 1,454 yards. Jan. 2, 2005.
