[\*\*JOE FLACCO\*\*](https://www.bengals.com/team/players-roster/joe-flacco/)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
### **Quarterback**
**How are you feeling physically right now?**
"I feel good. I came out of the game pretty good, besides my finger. My body feels good."
**Can you describe what happened?**
"I just hit my finger on the helmet like you always do, and I looked down at my finger, and it was just all bent up and dislocated. I had to go get it pulled out real quick."
**It feels like you've been in this position since you've been here, where there's a chance to win at the game of the game and needing to make a final play ...**
"Yeah, exactly. We've been in situations on both sides of the ball and haven't been able to get it done down the stretch."
**With the finger, did you get it taped?**
"We tried to put tape on it, but it just made it stiff. It didn't really help it too much, so we just went without it."
**Did you feel good about going back in?**
"I threw on the sideline just to make sure I could after it happened."
**Did you feel on the final four plays that everyone was well covered?**
"We'll look at it. I'm sure ... there's always opportunities. I think we took our shots, and within those shots, we had opportunities. We didn't just quite get it done. They did a pretty good job all day of slowing us down — not allowing us to get into a rhythm. We ran the ball well, but weren't able to capitalize on that and get in a rhythm and convert some third downs. We'd get to mid-field and just couldn't keep going. There's always fault on us for not being able to make that happen, but at the same time, they just do a good job of slowing you down and not allowing you to do it. I thought our O-line played well. And they were just able to do what they do on defense and not allow us to make any big plays, and (make us) have to go the long way, and we weren't able to do it."
**You had some big moments down the stretch in the passing game. Talk about that, and the inconsistency ...**
"Stuff happens throughout the course of a game. It's a shame — I feel bad about the pick-six, but at the same time I didn't see the guy. It's one of those plays you want back. It's a simple play — a play action and look for Tee (Higgins), and check it down. I gave Tee all the opportunities and they just had the right coverage on him. You don't draw it up like that when that happens. It's one of the simplest plays in football. Those are going to hurt you (sometimes)."
**How do you feel you played overall?**
"Like I just talked about. There were some things where it felt like we were going to go put a drive together, and just where we got slowed down. I feel like the same with me. I was never able to really quite get in that rhythm and complete as many balls as I would like to."
**It looked like New England did a good job of targeting Tee Higgins and take him out of the offense ...**
"For sure. I feel they do a good job of playing (from the) top down, and taking away some of the quick stuff by coming up and pressing, and you're not able to get the ball out of your hands to him really quick. And then in (some) situations, they do a good job playing top down with their eyes on the quarterback and having some help. There's time they played man(-to-man), but they were able to drop some other guys underneath. I think with Tee specifically, you're always shading his way, and then just trying to throw off his rhythm, whether that's at the line of scrimmage or holding your ground 10 yards down the field with your eyes back on the quarterback and making it tough to break leverage."
**How different is it running this offense without Ja'Marr Chase on the field?**
"Well, I think anytime you lose not only one of the best players on the team, but one of the best players in football, guys have to step up. I think we've still got a bunch of good players, and it's a shame we weren't able to do what we wanted to today, but I definitely think we're capable of it."
**Zac Taylor said you found out on Friday you were starting. Does that change preparation or was that a challenge not knowing until then?**
"The good thing with my situation is, listen, I've played a lot of football and I probably wasn't going to practice a lot anyway. Had I got a couple reps on Thursday, it wouldn't have ended up mattering that much. So, no, it's just part of this business getting ready for a game. Each week presents its different challenges. Joe (Burrow) was trying to feel out his body and get back on the field. That's part of what you have to deal with."
**Is it hard knowing a couple different plays and this could be a different story?**
"It's all about winning in this league. I've talked about it a lot. In order to that point, in order to win football games, everybody has to focus on their job, and then the wins come and take care of themselves. I think we've done a good job of doing that. We just haven't been consistently good enough throughout 60 minutes. You can see little things getting better here, little things getting better there. We're just not producing wins with those things. It's frustrating — yes. Yes it is, especially as you look back on those. Like I've always said, when you're in the moment you've just got to do your job little by little and look up at the end of the day and see what the results are, and the results haven't been what we want them to be, but I do think we've done a lot of good things in that meantime."
**Short week coming up. Do you think you'll be ready to go?**
"I assume so. You never know with fingers, but I was able to get out there and do it right now. My shoulder actually feels really good — it has gotten nothing but better in the last three weeks. Everything else feels great, so ..."
**On the last drive with Tee Higgins out and no Ja'Marr Chase, Zac Taylor said guys were lining up in spots they were not accustomed to ...**
"Yeah, I have all the confidence in the world in everybody that we throw out there. I think you can see that. Different guys made plays on each one as we started moving down the field. Mitch (Tinsley) gets in the second-to-last drive — not that he wasn't in — and gets a chance on a go-ball and wins. It's a shame. There are always positives in games like these, but when you don't win them, it's hard to feel like it matters. That's why winning is such a big deal. It can highlight guys stepping up and doing good things in those roles. Since we weren't able to do it, it kind of goes unseen."
**It is hard to deal with the situation you're going to go through the next few days with the storyline if Joe Burrow will play or not? What's it like for you behind the scenes?**
"As a competitor, you always want to be out there on the field. This is what I live to do, is to go out on that field and play football. At the same time, I feel myself fortunate to be in this situation. As much as I would have loved to have seen us win games, I still have had a lot of fun here with these guys in the locker room. Going out, lacing them up with these guys has been a lot of fun. I've felt right at home, and had a blast doing it. I don't think I'm looking at anything past that. I get it. I get how certain feelings can be involved, but in this case, it's easy to to put those aside and go out and just look at the positives of the whole thing and be excited for a teammate trying to work his way back. It might sound like crap and I'm lying, and yeah, there's a tough part about not being out there — there always is — but I feel like I've put my head down and worked hard however long it's been, and I've had a lot of fun with these guys. When you're in the with guys and you make relationships with them and you're out there battling on the field with them, you can look each other in the eye and know you've been going about it the right way, then you can't really worry about the other things."
**So you're saying you just go out there and let the rest take care of itself?**
"I think that's ultimately the secret in terms of this league, playing football. You want things to happen, but there's got to be a piece of you that lets it happen. You can't force things — you just can't. I think as you get older and the more you plan and just experience everything, you realize that. You gain a little bit of perspective. There's times in the moment where you still want to try to do too much. The more you do it, you find out the secret is to just go out there and do what you love to do to the best of your ability and let the things fall in place. I think if you get a collective group of guys doing that, then you have what you want."
**Does the lack of rhythm affect how you see the field?**
"It's good defense and maybe not as good of offense as we would like. That's what good teams do. It's harder because they're just good at what they do. They make it tough for you to complete underneath passes. There's times when you drop the ball underneath and you get 25-yard gains, but these guys make it harder. They're not going to give you anything. Listen, this is type of game it ends of being when you go against good teams. It's 26-20 and you have a chance to win. It's kind of how the game against Pittsburgh probably should have went last week, but we made mistakes. We made mistakes in this game, but we kept the game within striking distance and we just weren't able to get it done at the end."
**What was going through your mind as you walked off the field?**
"I don't know. Probably the same thing you're always thinking when you come up a little short. You're thinking about what you could have done on the last couple of plays and can't wait to go look at it and maybe see what you could have done, and beat yourself up about it a little bit. It's the same as always."
**How will you feel tomorrow opposed to maybe the Joe Flacco at age 31?**
"I think playing quarterback, it's always week-to-week. Sometimes you get really beat up, and sometimes you play really physical games, and sometimes you don't. I really don't think, because I'm 40, I feel different waking up. Everybody always says that once you hit 30 or once you hit 40, wait until you get out of bed, then this happens. Yeah, I have to stay on top of things more. I'm so much better at taking care of myself and actually doing things to prepare my body for success than I was at 25 years old. I think if there is any drop off at 40, you're a little more aware on how to do things."
**Have you had to pop your finger mid-game before?**
"I've never done that. I've never had to do it."
"It didn't know I did it until I looked down at it. I came over and Matt just popped it back into place and was like, 'Ok, I can throw.' There you go."
**Were you worried how the first throw was going to go after it was popped back in?**
"Yeah, I was. I threw a couple balls on the sideline and Jake (Browning) did a good job completing a ball, but I didn't want to let him have too much fun out there."