Selected quotes from the Jets' and Cincinnati's locker rooms following the Bengals' 23-22 win on opening day today at MetLife Stadium:
Head coach Todd Bowles on if he was surprised that the Jets weren't crisp on offense..."I don't think we were crisp overall. You're not going to be sharp at a lot of things in the first game. I didn't expect us to make the mistakes we made on either side of the ball or on special teams. It was a team effort."
CB Darrelle Revis on the loss coming on the 15th anniversary of 9/11..."It was very emotional. Today was very electric. The crowd was very into the game. We felt as a team that it was a letdown today for New York City and New Jersey. It was a huge letdown."
WR Brandon Marshall on if he felt the Bengals rolled extra coverage his way in this game..."No, not much, not much. It was just that our running game was working today. Matt [Forté] looked good, so that's what we led with. We just didn't get it done."
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick on what the Bengals did against Marshall, who had three catches for 32 yards..."I think the name of the game for them, especially on first and second downs, was just stay soft and keep everything in front of them. With that, I thought we had, especially on the one drive where we ran it all the way down there, we were able to take advantage of some of that and run against the defense. We've got to do, probably a better job, and I've got to do a better job, of getting him more involved."
Fitzpatrick on any added pressure on the Jets not to start 0-2 given the difficulty of 0-2 teams reaching the playoffs..."I don't think so. I don't really buy into that. I don't want to start 0-2, though. I think every game is important for us coming off a loss, but we didn't want to lose one today, either."
Nick Folk on how deceptively tough the wind was out on the field today..."It was pretty tough on that one [East] end — on my extra point end and where Nuge [the Bengals' Mike Nugent] missed the 52-yarder. It was just a tough wind all day. It was kind of blowing pretty hard into me and left to right, which is a tough wind for a right-footed kicker. But I still need to make all those kicks."
DL Leonard Williams on being in on as many sacks vs. Cincinnati as he was all last season as a rookie..."It feels good, but I don't want to let it get to me. I just want to keep playing and keep building up on the season, keep going forward. We're going to have Sheldon [Richardson, suspended for the opener] back next week and we're all excited about that. We've seen what we can do without him and we know that we can do more with him, so we're looking forward to it."
Dalton on the Jets' front seven pressure that produced seven sacks of the Bengals QB..."They were good up front. They did a good job. But we adjusted. We made plays even when we set ourselves back with negative plays. But they're a good front."
Bengals coach Marvin Lewis on if he sees yielding seven sacks just the price of playing against the Jets' front..."No, we've got to do better. We can't give up seven sacs. Our quarterback will not make it through the season if we give up seven sacks a week."
MLB David Harris on if he had any doubt that he was playing today despite his sore shoulder that had him "questionable" for the game..."Nah, I didn't. It was very similar to [his 2014 shoulder injury at] San Diego. This one was more inside than outside. Fortunately it happened two weeks ago. I had time off to let it rest. And I've been in 14-16 hours a day of treatment and rehab with [head trainer] John Mellody and those guys. I put in some long days to get back here and I felt good out there."
Harris on the Jets' mood after this game..."We've got to own this game. At the end of the day, it was a one-point loss. It's the NFL, it's the little things. But it's a long season, and there's a lot of hope in this locker room. Of course, we all wanted to win, but we didn't get the job done."
Rookie KR Jalin Marshall on his second-quarter 65-yard kickoff return...I like to go to there and give it my all every time. I go till the whistle blows. So I push guys off, spin out of tackles, and get down the field as quick as possible. I believe in myself and I believe in my team. I believe they'll do everything they can for me to score. So when you have that trust and faith in your teammates, the sky is the limit."
