A.J. Green looked visibly frustrated at times during Thursday night's 24-3 home humiliation at the hands of division foe Cleveland Browns.
"This one right here has me speechless," Green said after being held to just three catches for 23 yards by BrownsPro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden -- who has locked down Green in the past -- per the team's official website. "Very embarrassing. You put all this work in during the week and to come out and play like this, it hurts. It hurts. I thought we had a great game plan. It hurts to put all that work in and lay an egg."
It's the third blowout loss for the Bengals in six games and second in prime time. Safety George Iloka said the Bengals sometimes get that 'here we go again' mentality in prime time games.
"It's a prime-time game. We want to win so badly and we have it up in our head and if one thing goes wrong, then some guys fold up," Iloka said. "Some guys say, 'Damn,' When it's not a prime-time game and we get down, we're not nervous. 'Let's fight our way back in it.'
"I don't think we're emotionally up and down. We're even-keel. It's just in prime time, it seems when something bad happens early, it's hard for us to recover."
The bad thing that happened early this week was a terrible interception from Andy Dalton on a pass he should never have attempted to throw to tight end Jermaine Gresham. Following the loss Dalton shouldered blame for letting his team down.
"It all starts with me," Dalton said. "It all goes through the quarterback. I have to play better to put our team in position to win the game."
He did the opposite on Thursday.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast previews every Week 10 game and recaps the Browns' blowout win over the Bengals. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
