INDIANAPOLIS -- Observed and heard in the locker room after the Cincinnati Bengals' 27-0 loss to the Indianapolis Colts:
Looking for the "next man up": One of the more common phrases you'll hear from players on a Marvin Lewis-coached team is "next man up." Whenever the Bengals have injuries, they make it their mission to make sure whoever comes in for downed starters keeps the team playing at the exact level it was before. But it's easy to assume that as more reserves hit the field, drop-offs will come. Veteran Terence Newman was one of many Bengals who rejected that assumption Sunday. "When someone goes out, somebody has to step up," he said. "It's an opportunity for them to show what they can do and display their talents. That's the way you have to look at it as a guy who goes in the football game. It's a chance to show what you can do. You've just got to shine in that moment." In addition to the several other injuries the Bengals had entering the game, they lost stars Vontaze Burfict and Leon Hall in the game.
"We are who we are": Lewis almost channeled his inner Dennis Green during his postgame news conference. But instead of saying the Colts were who he thought they were, Lewis said: "We are who we are. We got what we got and we got to get together, and we've got to figure out a way to continue to right it and go back and be fundamentally sound and become an attacking football again and get on it and go. This one's over. We've got to put it behind us."
Burfict teaches: Minutes after the shutout, Burfict was in the middle of a football conversation with backup linebacker Vincent Rey. The two, in postgame dress clothes, chatted in neighboring lockers. It appeared Burfict was doing what he often does: teaching. Once Burfict left the game, Rey received the helmet with the team's microphone, and he was the defender charged with making play calls. When healthy, Burfict is the team's regular playcaller.
