Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Big Willie bringin' it

Got my first chance to review the tapes of Bengals post-game comments from Sunday. Willie Anderson's comments, some of which have already made it into print, are particularly notable.

It's not unusual for reporters to flock to Anderson's locker following games, but after Sunday's playoff hopes-imploding loss to Pittsburgh, it was soapbox central for the 13-year veteran offensive tackle.

The highlights:

"People should be embarrassed by the performance of our football team. I don’t have time to stay positive. Next year might be my last year. Who knows. Time’s running out for a lot of us. I started off with eight (wins) in my rookie year. It took me 10 years to get to 11 wins. Now, I’m back to eight. We keep fighting the same fight.”

“We have guys shooting shots in their arms, foots and their knees just to try and play. We do have those guys. It’s not a totally negative situation here. We have a group of veterans who stay late, meet on their own with the coaches, put in the time. We need more of them.”

“We’ll never get over the hump with selfishness. It isn’t all about talent. You need selfless players. The lack of that hurt us.”

“The coaches know what the problems are. We knew where they were last season. We just thought they’d go away. We need to shake things up. If people hate hearing the truth, I’m in the wrong business.”

"I want to use my words smartly, but when I think about the amount of time we use up practicing and meeting just to go 8-8 … that pisses me off.”

Good stuff.

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