This week, I was at least able to watch the last 45 seconds of this game. I paid attention to the game during work and listened to Joniak for a good part of it. Here's what I know after this game:
- Jay Cutler's stat line looked good, but I know it doesn't tell the full story. Was his interception awful? Was Cutler hampered by another poorly-called game on Ron Turner's part?
- Matt Forte was better, but still not terrific.
- Johnny Knox = still a good fantasy pickup.
- I still have a huge man-crush on Lance Briggs.
Even with all of that, I have some questions:
- The times I was listening to Joniak, it sounded like Ron Turner struggled at times to call good plays. This true?
- How did Forte look? Did he get some decent runs, or just a bunch of 1- and 2-yarders?
- Why does our defense continually make stupid penalties?
- Speaking of defense, how was Seneca freaking Wallace able to carve up our D?
Anyways, let's get on with it.
Lovie on the game:
"Every win that I've ever been a part of is pretty. This says a lot about our team. When you're down and things are going against you, they kept fighting. That's what good teams do."
Lovie on his gameplan:
"You have to take what they are giving you, and that's what we're going to do. There's nothing wrong with the pass. I'd like to be known as a running team that can pass the ball."
Lovie on Roach's performance:
"It's tough when you go to your third linebacker, but Nick Roach stepped in and did a super job of getting the calls (and getting) us in the right spots."
Cutler on his pass to Hester:
"Any time you can get Devin Hester one-on-one, it works."
Cutler on Hester:
"He's shown me something since I first got here. When I first got here, they said he didn't know the playbook, he couldn't get in and out of cuts, [and] he had trouble catching the ball. All that has been false since Day One -- since I first arrived here. He's worked as hard, if not harder, than anybody in that room to get ready for this season."
Cutler on coming through in the clutch:
"I pride myself in that. I want the ball in those situations. Fourth quarters we have to play our best, and I think we are right now."
Cutler on Qwest Field:
"It's loud. This is a tough place to play. ... The crowd really gets into it, and the defense feeds off it."
Hester on his touchdown:
"It was basically a slant call. We knew that we could get them on a quick slant, so we took advantage of it. Jay [Cutler] threw a great ball, the offensive line held up, and we got it into the end zone."
Hester on the win:
"It's tough, Seattle is a good team. We just showed today that we're capable of playing all four quarters. Coming out of Pittsburgh, and going to play in this tough environment and coming out with a win, that was pretty big for us today."
Olsen on the game:
"Our hats off to our defense for creating turnovers, holding them on key plays, holding them to field goals and bad field position. They played really well."
Olsen on Qwest Field:
"It's an extremely difficult place to play. You do the best job you can. I think for the most part even though we had a couple of penalties here and there, we did a good job lessening the impact of the noise."
Nick Roach on the win:
"It's huge. It's huge at any time, coming far away from home, being down at one point and then being able to be on top in the end. It's just huge."
Nick Roach on the 4th-and-2 play:
"We were bringing a little bit of pressure, and I knew I had (Jones) man-to-man, wherever he went. As soon as I saw him fly out, I try to chase him the best I could. Luckily, it was a bad throw.
"I feel comfortable. I think the guys trust me. They trust anybody that shows they're calm under that kind of pressure."
Hunter Hillenmeyer on his injury:
"I kept getting hit in the same spot. I wasn't effective out there."
Adewale on Qwest Field:
"This crowd noise is the loudest in the NFL by far. Nowhere else is even close."
Adewale on the halftime talk:
"You know coach [Smith] talked about that [turnovers] at halftime. He talked about how it's a momentum builder, and a confidence builder. We hadn't had any turnovers, and the first drive [to start the second half], we did it. That was good for our defense to get the wheels turning."
Briggs on T.J. Houshmandzadeh being mostly absent:
"I think our defensive backs did a good job. I don't know how many yards he had, but our defensive backs did the talking with the way we played."
Manning on whether T.J. was talking in his ear:
"He didn't say anything. I think it was 95 to 5 the other way."
T.J. Houshmandzadeh on whether Briggs won the battle today:
"Of course he did because they won. But I was open all game. They just didn't throw me the ball."
T.J. Houshmandzadeh on his trash talk:
"The question was asked why I didn't come to Chicago. All I said was the Bears didn't holler at me and maybe they didn't think I was good enough. That's it. I don't think it was a big deal." [ChiFan13 edit: BS]