CINCINNATI BENGALS CORNERBACK CHIDOBE AWUZIE
(On his interception and if it was a turning point in the game) “Just playing press coverage and trying to get my hands on the guy, the ball just found me.”
(On his feelings on the final drive) “We fought. Obviously, we gave up a touchdown that we wish we could have gotten back. It wasn’t even the touchdown. It was really that whole drive. We just kind of were rattled. Our heads are still high, we know who we are. Compliments to them, they made a lot of great plays when they had to.”
(On the locker room vibe postgame) “Probably what you would think.”
(On the difference between earlier drives and the final drive) “It’s kind of hard for me to say right now since the game just happened. They went a lot of tempo and obviously there was six minutes left when they got the ball. They were going on the ball, they were going fast, and we weren’t really able to capitalize like how we always do. We built a great foundation as a defense and I’m real confident that next year and years to come this defense will continue to get better. I’m just really proud of how we fought. Not one play defines that game and I know people will point fingers in the media and do stuff like that, but it’s a collective effort always. Yeah, I just love playing with these guys and I’m excited for the future.”
(On what was said between teammates postgame) “Everybody is just going up to one another saying that they love each other, and appreciate one another. Obviously disappointed.”
(On the up-tempo speed on the final drive) “They were going up tempo all game, I don’t know. Like I said, it will take me some time to kind of look at the film and really find what happened. They threw a good punch there. You know, they threw a good punch there and we weren’t able to kind of rally the troops. But we fought. We got down to the red zone on third down and Logan [Wilson] made a hell of a play I thought on Cooper Kupp and the penalty flag comes throwing out. Obviously, I’m not a ref. I don’t know what happened on that play but we fought, we fought. And I think everybody on that team, on our team, believe that no matter how much they give us, blade of grass who’s going to defend it. Yeah it’s just unfortunate but our heads are still up high for sure.”
(On Joe Burrow responding from a big hit) “Yeah, that’s expected of him. You know he’s a warrior, a pure warrior, a stone-cold killer. We all know that and I think the whole world is starting to understand that. It’s one quarterback that I love to play for is him. We got his back and he’s got our back. You can tell he wants to win and it’s going to come, it’s definitely going to come.”
(On the plan for Kupp when Odell Beckham Jr. left the field) “Well obviously, Odell is one of their huge weapons. Cooper stepped up. He had a couple good catches in the fourth quarter.”
(On if the team had momentum late in the game) “Definitely. Football is a game of momentum and I think we had that momentum all the way up until that last drive, for real. I think it’s one of those things where you have the momentum, but if you don’t push your foot on their throat, some things aren’t going to go your way. Still like I said, still love the effort that we put in and the fight we put forward as well.”
(On if he questioned the offense going for it on fourth-and-one with a timeout left) “Nah, not at all, I wanted them to go for it too. So, I think a lot of the guys were like ‘Oh, we’re going for it.’ We know what kind of offense we are, what kind of guys we have. I’ll take those guys on every down and distance. Every down and distance. I’m confident in those guys to make those plays. It didn’t happen on that one, but later in the game, we went for a fourth-and-1 and got it. So, name of the game.”
