Quintin Mikell delivered a pretty hit on Bengals WR Antonio Chatman that ended up with Chatman being carted off the field on a stretcher. Mikell said he felt bad for celebrating the hit before he knew Chatman was still hurt.
"I felt bad," Mikell said after the Eagles' 13-13 tie with the Bengals. "I was celebrating and I was sorry because I didn't know what happened."
"After I saw him on the ground, I was really worried," Mikell said.
The refs made a terrible call on a roughing the passer penalty in overtime on Sheldon Brown that moved the Bengals within striking distance of a game winning FG. Brown was flagged for leading with his helmet, despite the replays showing he clearly did not.
"I really don't want to get into officiating," Brown said. "My job is to play the game. I don't play the game to be dirty. I don't play the game to hurt people. I just play it through the whistle. The league will probably see it that way . . . I think I hit him with the shoulder pad. We wear shoulder pads for a reason."
"I believe in protecting the quarterback - I do believe in that," said Brown, which is farther than most defensive players will go. "And I do believe in protecting players. But when it's crunch time, this situation is almost like a basketball game where they let the tick-tack foul go and they let the players determine [the outcome].
"But . . . when it's happening fast, the official has a job to do. He's going to call it like he sees it. I can't argue that."
Despite the poor call putting them within 50 yards of a game winning FG, Bengals kicker Shayne Graham pushed it wide.
"I thought I hit it good," he said. "It started out inside the upright. I guess I didn't play the wind enough. It's hard to explain. I just didn't make the kick, but that's what I am supposed to do. I feel bad for these guys because they really fought hard today and our defense did a great job."
Sav Rocca, who has been fantastic this year, had a really bad day yesterday.
"I was just trying to get them between the hash[mark] and the boundary, but that wind just kept dragging it across, and they went out of bounds, obviously," Rocca said of his late boots. "That's probably the hardest wind I've had to punt in."
The game started with a west-southwesterly wind measured at 15 mph that knocked the 38-degree temperature down to a 29-degree wind-chill reading.
"I tried to lower my ball drop a little bit" to drive through the wind, Rocca said. "I couldn't get any to come off right. Obviously, you want to put your best punt down there, so you can give your team the best opportunity."
Yesterday I wondered why Jim Johnson left Joselio Hanson to cover TJ Houshmandzadeh on the TD play rather than sticking Asante Samuel on him. It sounds like TJ was wondering the same thing.
"It was easy, the nickel guy was playing me outside; it was real simple," Houshmandzadeh said. "You (media) probably could have scored on that one."
Finally, Trent Cole had a big day in his return to his hometown.
"I saw people I know in the stands hooting and hollering for me," Cole said.
About his sacks and pressure, Cole said, "They put the tight end on my side. So I was down over the tight end and getting a double team. Later they used a guard to help the tackle against me."