What happened out there tonight?

“Running downhill with (Brian) Robinson Jr. on the outside and a couple of long balls. I had one and one of my teammates had one, but those were the only really explosive plays.”

They had some longer pieces…

“Yeah, with the quarterback they have, they can definitely extend plays.”

How frustrating was it to know what the offense was going to look like and then they came out and scored on every drive?

“Very frustrating. They made long drives all game. They had a lot of third-and-two attempts. We wanted to get them into third-and-long so they had to pass the ball outside, but that didn’t work out.”

Why was Jayden Daniels 21 out of 23 tonight? How did that happen?

“It was those quick throws.”

How are you coping with your current record of 0:3?

“Let’s try to take it and then we have to move on. We have to prepare for next week with Carolina and get ready for the game.”

Is there a feeling of disbelief?

“No, not really. We know we can do it. We had chances against these guys and we just have to take every chance we get.”

Their offense on third-and-short and fourth-and-short seemed very balanced. Did you notice that?

“Yeah, they rushed us a lot and attacked us too quickly. That’s on us. We have to communicate and make sure we’re all on the same page. I take my hat off to him (Jayden Daniels). He played a great game.”

You started the season with high expectations. How are you feeling emotionally right now?

“I’m in a great mood. You know, it’s the NFL. Crazy things happen in this league. Any week, anybody can beat anybody. We just have to pull together. We’ve done that. Every game we’ve lost has been a one-point game. It’s not like we’re not there.”

When Jayden Daniels threw the touchdown, it looked like you were ahead of Terry McLaurin. Was there a problem tracking the ball and that’s why he got it in the end?

“I had no coverage at all and he put the ball in his hands.”

You never expected to be down 3-0. How can you deal with that now?

“At this point you just have to keep going. You can’t think about being 3-0 down.”

The Bengals averaged over six yards per carry today. What happened? What did you see? How did you do so well?

“We knew the running game was going to be the focus. We knew these guys were going to give up a lot of yards in the running game. So we had a lot of things figured out. We went out there and executed at a high level and tried to do that consistently.”

I can’t remember the last time I saw a game where neither team punted and neither team lost possession. In that respect, it was an incredible football game. Have you ever been to a game like that?

“Not that both teams didn’t punt. We just have to get better at playing complementary football. When I saw us staying on the field a little more, we always had to think that way. But like Chase (Brown) said, we’re going to look at the film, find a way to get better and try to replicate that again on Sunday and, you know, come away with a win.”

What was going on? The Commanders’ two defensive tackles – they’re the best duo in the league. Did you attack them a little bit and go right at them?

“I think so, in some ways. But we knew they were going to come through hard and we wanted to take advantage of that with some running strategies. But obviously we wanted to leave this game with a win. That’s what we’re focused on right now. And we’re just watching the film and looking for ways to improve.”

And then the running game set up Joe Burrow. Joe threw for over 300 yards, three touchdowns, and a high completion rate. When you run the football like that, it’s easier to throw it, right?

“Yeah. No doubt about it. There’s no doubt about it. It opened up the passing game. And we’re just going to try to continue that trend and continue to be an explosive offense.”

How does it feel to be 0-3 down at this point?

“It doesn’t feel good, but it happens. We just have to learn from it. Move on. And prepare for next week.”

The offense was obviously in top form, but you had three possessions where you had to settle for field goal attempts. Unfortunately, in a game like this, that proved costly…

“Yes, we have to score touchdowns when we get into the red zone. We have to take advantage of it.”

How was your performance? Over 100 yards, two touchdown catches… how do you feel about that?

“Overall it was a good game, but I’m more of a team win type of guy, so I think it would be good if we had one of those.”

What happens next?

“Get back to work. Watch the film. Make corrections. And we have to move on. But we can’t have games like this. We have to win games like this so we can move on.”

Is there a feeling of despair at this point, even though three games have already been played?

“I don’t know. I’ve never been here before, brother. I’ve never felt this before. So it’s a first for everything. Because you have to be on a team. You have to stay together – as a unit. That’s the only way we’re going to win.”

How good was it to have Tee Higgins back out there? It looked like it certainly helped you a little too…

“Yeah. It was great having tea out there, man. It was like old times, just having fun.”

When you look at what you, Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins have done, do you see that as the way forward for you? Big plays that show you what you can do?

“It’s more the standard that we have. It’s not really something we have to show. It’s really the standard that we have to have.”

Jayden Daniels is extremely impressive. I don’t know how closely you could watch his performance, but it was a very good performance from a rookie quarterback. What did you think?

“He’s a great player. I’m not going to lie. That was the first time I sat there watching him besides the spring game. So he’s a pretty outstanding player.”

Are you confident that the defense can recover from tonight’s events?

“Yeah. One hundred percent. Defensively, we lead our pack when we play (good) football games. But tonight it was the opposite. The defense will still be good. They have their pack; we (on offense) have ours. We just have to keep going and move forward (together).”