Willie Anderson Quotations

My dream has always been that this organization would be one that year-in and year-out would be in this position, and no more talking about what happened 14 years ago, that that was your last winning season.

One of the biggest keys to pass-protection is your breathing,

I didn't want it to happen, but it has come down to age.

I am delighted to be back, spending time with my family and use the experience I have, whether I am coaching the Under-14s at Sullivan Upper or coaching coaches at Level 3 (with the IRFU). It is good to be able to help people change,

I get tired of hearing about the Bengals' draft picks, ... They talk about picks in the early '90s. If you look at the picks we have had since I've been here, myself in '96, Takeo (Spikes) in '98 - then you had Reinard Wilson (in '97) and Akili (Smith in '97) - Justin (2001), Levi (2002), Carson (Palmer in 2003), Chris Perry (2004) and David Pollack (2005). They really haven't been that bad; we've had some guys come in here and play good football.

With me, coming form the Bengals and offensive lineman, I was automatically compared to Anthony Munoz, ... Any pass rusher, I don't care what team, has the expectation of being the next Bruce Smith, or Coy Bacon here in Cincinnati. People expect high sack totals, but Justin's game is much more than that.

He's playing at a serious high level right now. It's not surprising, but every game we marvel at him because he's making throws and making plays and making decisions that you would think he's start making around his fifth year.

Guys were infuriated. But I know him. He's not a dirty player. His momentum just kept him going into Carson. It wasn't a dirty play.

Guys have to realize that it took us 15 years to get here. It's not going to be easy for us. They don't start throwing you bones for another five, six, seven years. We've got to come to work, take the shovel, and break up the rocks with the sledgehammer. It's not going to be easy. It's just the hand that we've been dealt.

Just one thing. Coaching. We got good coaching. It's that simple.

I think it's a different feel for our fans. In years past we have been packing it up at this time of the season. I think our fans have been caving it in, too. It's a new experience for everybody.

I think it got too big for all of us. Everyone was saying that was the biggest game the city had seen in 15 years, and the whole momentum, the whole thing, got too big for us. So right now, we're trying to keep a level head, an even keel, not get too low or too high. Not get too excited too soon.

Our job is to make those guys successful. We know no glory is going to come to us. But if we can get our quarterback throwing for 300 yards and after the game he's not limping and his jersey's not dirty, and Rudi's jersey is dirty and he's running, that's a good game for us.

Our job is to make those guys successful, ... We know no glory is going to come to us. But if we can get our quarterback throwing for 300 yards and after the game he's not limping and his jersey's not dirty, and Rudi's jersey is dirty and he's running, that's a good game for us.

Our fans can't get scared on us now.

Physically I'm doing good. It's going to be a while before I get that game-type conditioning and get my second wind in the game.

Physically I'm doing good, ... It's going to be a while before I get that game-type conditioning and get my second wind in the game.

Regular guys don't have that kind of attitude. Only elite guys have that temperament.

Our motto is still keep shoveling. We want to be the guys with the shovel in our hand, getting dirty and not getting all glamorized and Hollywood after two games.

My main thing is getting back into the pads,

Marvin is Chad's watchdog. He's got his own leash, his own dog food. He's got a diamond collar. He's got a doghouse to put him in.

I'm sure Carson would rather be known as a winner than a Pro Bowl guy,

I was one of those guys who wouldnt stick around. (After practice), I was gone,

Usually the great pass rushers have another guy on the other side to push them back to you for an easy sack, ... Justin's never had that other guy.

We have to win. We have to go up there not sugarcoating this thing.

We haven't done anything yet. We're judged at the end of the year, whether or not you're in the playoffs playing in the cold weather, or at home watching TV. That's how we're judged.

The penalties hurt us but it's not the reason we lost. We committed a lot of penalties in games we won by blowouts. We just got beat tonight. I think this is the kind of game we'll look back on later in the year and become stronger because of it.

The penalties hurt us but it's not the reason we lost, ... We committed a lot of penalties in games we won by blowouts. We just got beat tonight. I think this is the kind of game we'll look back on later in the year and become stronger because of it.

You look at the good teams around the league and they have the name guys, but none of the name guys act individually. The Patriots, the Falcons and the Eagles. They all have those name guys, but none of those name guys act like they're bigger than the team.

We will continue to do our jobs regardless of complaints, ... We are servants and will continue to do that.

We're told that we're playing the whole game and be ready to go in for a dogfight.

We're tired, but we always know that they're three times more tired than we are because they're chasing the football. It speeds the game up.

We're pushing this week like it's a regular week. We haven't been told by the coaches that we weren't playing a whole lot. We're told that we're playing the whole game, and we all want to play the whole game.

We've got to be fair to everyone else,'' said Lewis, who can't afford to lose any part of his locker room over promoting Palmer.

We've had quarterbacks here in the past who had no idea what they were doing and, you know what -- we'd get our heads kicked in.

We all knew we needed coaching. We had a bad reputation of being an undisciplined team. We wanted direction. We wanted leadership. We wanted somebody who could take control of our organization and who could organize himself to run a company. That's what Marvin was doing.

Bratkowski has been preaching to us the last couple of years that our will to prepare to win has to be greater than our will to win. That's what the good football teams do. They out-prepare people. We have to get our young guys' football knowledge up. You don't need to run a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash to do it. We've got to play smart football.

Ever since I've been here, we've had slow starts. Before Marvin got here, we'd be winning meaningless games in December.

Engineers always like to work on exciting projects. Qualcomm is a great place to work from a product point of view.

Even a garbage can gets a steak now and again.

I've been following it but not enough to comment on it.

The thing I focus on just before the snap is the inside half of the guy across from me. Coaches call it having 'big eyes.' You keep those big eyes focused on his inside number, the number that's right across from you, because that's the part of him that tells you where he's going to go. Whether he's going to make a move outside or try to bull-rush you.

Ray sat down with Paul and did research in coming up with drills and a plan just for me, ... We'd simulate everything. We'd do the two-minute drill. He'd rush me and if it was a five-yard gain, I'd sprint five yards. Or a 10-yard gain, or whatever it was.

That's great coming from you quarterback. It makes guys like Levi want to get back out there and protect him.

They tore up his deal. I would have taken value at that time. I hoped they would have let me ride into the sunset as a Bengal, like Jonathan Ogden as a Raven.

A lot of it was our fans saying it. My thing to our fans is: Don't get scared now, because we need our fans.

It was funny. I knelt down next to all three guys and said a prayer and they all jumped up.

It was a very disappointing end to a great opportunity however you have to look forward not back and what you take from the past is the experience you have learned at that level,

It's about the same right now. It's just sore. I'm walking around like I'm 100 years old, but that's the life of the NFL lineman. It should relax by the end of the week, hopefully.

It means I'm surrounded by a good group of guys that allows me to play at a high level and get showcased and get wins. Anytime you get an individual honor, to me, it always comes back to the guys around you. The guys I'm playing with on the offensive line - Bobbie Williams, Richie Braham, Levi (Jones) and (Eric) Steinbach - those guys allow me to go out and get my talent showcased because they're playing so well as a unit. Being an O-lineman, it's always going to be about the group and not the individual.

It should let go a lot by the end of the week. Everything's stemming from my knee right now. It's not been totally 100 percent.

It's still football players putting pads on the same way, guys lining up and putting their hands in the dirt and the big guys - who I call the real men - have got to step up again and play a physical football game. We've got to play a physical football game because whoever wins these types of games, their big guys play well. Point blank.

Everybody was going with some type of injury. That's the type of character this team has now.

It's a new feeling for us. I always thought it would be freezing and zero degrees right now. That's how I always pictured the week of a playoff game in Cincinnati.

It's big. This game usually is down the line in October or November. Starting off, I think it's going to be a statement maker. I think it's going to make a statement for both cities.

The last couple of years, we were sitting at home after being 8-8. We won five games down the stretch, but lost three or four early on that cost us. So we realize the importance.

I'm just sick of watching their offensive line pound it with whatever running back they put back there and that's on us as an offense.

I know he's a better leader this year,

I haven't had double-digit wins since my second year in college. It feels good to get 10 wins. We still have to finish it off.

I have to make sure I'm not going to cost myself or the team some valuable time later in the season. It's going to be a long season.

I played with Peyton in the Pro Bowl. I told Peyton, 'You're a machine.' The information that spits out from him is in the form of touchdowns. Carson has a ways to go before he gets to that point. But he's definitely on pace to be that kind of student of the game.

I just walked into his office and said, 'Your boy was real good in the huddle,' ... He kept everybody calm. I didn't sense any (anxiety) in his eyes or in his voice. We kind of fed off that.

I could play with him again. When he said I didn't have his credentials, he is my credential. What a running back does -- 1,400 yards rushing, making the Pro Bowl from a losing team that couldn't throw the ball -- is an offensive lineman's credentials.

I could play with him again, ... When he said I didn't have his credentials, he is my credential. What a running back does -- 1,400 yards rushing, making the Pro Bowl from a losing team that couldn't throw the ball -- is an offensive lineman's credentials.

I feel 85 percent all of the time, ... You're not going to feel 100 percent. You can't.

He's making huge plays. He's making plays that only a very few in the league can make.

The majority of the Scottish players were fantastic. They wanted to change and wanted to learn,

These guys have been successful for years. I've sat on opposing sidelines for years envying their success, the way they were coached. Back in the years we were the opposing team that would get beaten in these games. I came out years ago and said I was mad that we weren't progressing.

The enthusiasm at 'Hinch has been as good if not better than any group I have taken. Fantastic,