After coming close to recording a sack in the first two games, what did it do for your confidence to finally get a quarterback on the ground Sunday?
Rookie Carl Lawson has been demonstrating an impressive burst rushing off the edge since he arrived in Cincinnati as a fourth-round pick.
Sunday in Green Bay, Lawson’s burst onto the national scene in historic fashion.
With 2.5 sacks against the Packers — which would have been have been 3.5 had teammate William Jackson reached the sideline a half second sooner to avoid a penalty for 12 men on the field — Lawson became the first rookie since 2002 and 11th overall to record at least 2.5 sacks in one of the first three games of his career.
Lawson repeatedly beat Green Bay backup tackle Kyle Murphy to get to quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
He had two of the five sacks the Bengals recorded against Rodgers in the first half and split one with Chris Smith in the third quarter.
Lawson talked about his big day, and the next big challenge in facing a future Hall of Famer in Cleveland’s Joe Thomas today, for this week’s Bengals High 5:
It means a lot. But there were some things in the game that I didn’t do so hot on. That’s the beauty of the sport, there’s always room for constant improvement. There’s always guys who are hungry. Everybody’s out here working and competing and trying to be at the top of the food chain. In this sport you can’t pat yourself on the back. You’ve just got to keep going and keep pushing and maybe congratulate yourself if you reach your goals at the end of the season. But each week you’ve got to be thinking, “I’ve got to get better.”
Did you think it should have been 3.5 sacks?
I thought it should have stayed, but it is what it is. That’s unfortunate. It’s just one of those things that sucks. You don’t want to give up sacks. All you can do is keep working on your craft.
When players score their first touchdown or get their first interception, they usually keep the ball. Did it bum you out that you couldn’t ask for the ball after your first sack?
I know what I did. I’ll be able to tell my kids about it. Aaron Rodgers definitely will be a (Hall of Famer), so that will be cool.
What was the biggest challenge in playing against Rodgers?
I don’t think anybody will have a cadence like Rodgers. That’s the epitome of cadences. Two seconds left (on the play clock) and it’s a triple cadence. That’s edgy. If you’re going to have a triple cadence with two seconds and not worry about running the clock, he did it (on the 72-yard pass in overtime that set up the game-winning field goal). He’s in sync with his offensive line and team and center. I don’t think they’ll be anybody better than that. It was a good play. As a rusher you kind of want to have an idea of what the clock is like. When I came back and watched the film, I was like, all right that happened with two seconds left. It was a double cadence. He’s got be snapping the ball. But no. Triple with two seconds left.
How does it feel to go from sacking one future Hall of Famer in Rodgers to trying to beat one in Joe Thomas this weekend?
I’ve seen Joe Thomas before. Now I get to play him. It’s an honor. He’s a great player, a very good representative of the league and what it stands for. His greatness speaks to what a pro is and how he goes about his business. It will be an honor just to play against him. It excites me to go against him. But I’m excited to play against everybody. It’s a gladiator sport. You just have to compete against whoever you’re going against. Former running back Corey Dillon was part of a New England ground game that gashed the Cincinnati defense for 236 yards and handed the Bengals their first loss after a 3-0 start. Dillon scored a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to ice the game. After jumping out to a 13-0 lead, the Bengals were outscored 31-3 over the final 31 minutes to fall to 0-4. The spark for the comeback began on the final play of the first half. Instead of taking a knee at their own 37 with just eight seconds remaining, the Bengals called a pass play. Jason Taylor sacked and stripped Akili Smith and returned the fumble 29 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 13-10. Jeff Blake’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Carl Pickens gave the Bengals a 23-17 lead with 3:39 remaining, but Dan Marino led the Dolphins on 10-play, 91-yard drive that ended with him hitting O.J. McDuffie for the winning score with 1:03 remaining. Marino threw for 450 yards, which remain the fourth most by a Bengals opponent. Pickens caught three touchdown passes to set a Bengals franchise record that still stands with at least one TD in 10 consecutive games. After falling behind by 10 twice in the first half, the Bengals got the only points of the second half on a gamewinning, 22-yard fumble return by Leon White in the fourth quarter. Safety David Fulcher intercepted three passes to tie a team record that still stands. The Monday night game featured eight interceptions, five of which were thrown by Bengals quarterbacks Turk Schonert and Ken Anderson as the team fell to 0-5. The Steelers returned two of the picks for touchdowns, and outscored the Bengals 24-7 in the second half. Ken Anderson threw four interceptions, and John Reaves tossed one as the Bengals dropped to 0-5. San Francisco defensive back Anthony Leonard snared three of the interceptions, which remains tied for the most in Cincinnati history by an opponent. The Bengals also were flagged for 133 penalty yards, which remains the most in franchise history for a non-overtime game. The Bengals outgained the Browns 331 yards to 289 but committed four turnovers, the last of which was a fumble Cleveland defensive lineman Bob Briggs returned 11 yards for the final score.