Three Downs with …
Ravens quarterback Steve McNair
1. On the Bengals’ defense: “Well, they’ve got a solid defense. They’re young at the linebacking corps, but they’ve got some playmakers. This offense is based around controlling the football and that’s what we try to do. We’re trying to take advantage of what they give us.
“If they give us some big plays, we’ll take advantage of that. At the same time, we want to be efficient in both phases, the running game and the passing game, and try to balance the thing out.â€
2. On whether he feels apprehensive because of the preseason: “I don’t think there is apprehension. We just have to minimize our mistakes as far as jumping offsides, false starts and things like that. The execution is there, once we settle down.
“I think going into Monday night the situation is different than preseason. Our mistakes will be cut down to the minimum. We just have to go out there and execute. The important thing is having a mindset that this is the real deal.â€
3. On the potential of the offense: “We can be very good. I think that ultimately we could be in the top five at the end of the year if we just go ahead and do the things we know we can do: minimize the mistakes, minimize the turnovers.
“For me, I just need to put the ball in the guys’ hands: Todd Heap, Daniel Wilcox, Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton, Demetrius Williams and also get the running game going with Willis McGahee. You look at all these weapons and you can’t help but have success. It’s up to us to go out there and execute every play.â€
Three Downs with …
Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson
1. On matching up with the Ravens’ defense: “I always look forward to playing the best defense in the NFL. I really look forward to going against Chris McAlister and Samari Rolle and Ed Reed and the rest of those guys. I really don’t deal with interior linemen or linebackers as much, but this is one of the very few teams where you really have to account for everybody on the field at all times.
“Certain teams have certain superstars where you have to lock in on them and really concentrate and focus your game plan for. Playing a defense like the Ravens it’s really hard to game plan for individuals when you have to game plan for the entire defense as a whole.â€
2. On trash-talking: “My trash talking is not about your mama, about your kids, it’s not like that. Whether I get in his head or not, you’re not going to win the battle. That’s my thought process. You’re not going to stop me, period.
“One person, two people, three, I don’t care. You can contain 85 for a certain period of time, but at some point throughout these four quarters, I’m going to make a play. That’s the way I think, but that’s the way all attitudes should be. I just happen to be one of the ones who actually voices it publicly and I’m able to go out and back it up.â€
3. On whether Roger Goodell’s hard-line stance on player behavior has reformed the Bengals: “It would have happened anyway. Enough is enough. Every year it’s a different team. Last year, it was just us.
"We had our problems, we had our off-the-field issues that affects us during the year. That’s over, it’s a new year. We’ve all been clean, out of trouble. I think we’ll be fine.â€
