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BB: ** We're on Minnesota here. It was a very impressive win they had against the Rams Sunday; really played strong in all three phases of the game. [They're] a good football team – aggressive on defense, have some explosive players on offense that are hard to stop. They do a good job in the kicking game, well coached; it's a good football team. I've been impressed watching them in preseason and of course in the Rams game on Sunday.
Q: What do you see from Adrian Peterson? Everyone knows how good he is in terms of his style of play. How would you describe the challenge of going up against him?
BB: Big. He's a very strong runner, good vision and real good speed. When he hits the seam, you're looking at a lot of yardage. He's a hard guy to tackle. He has good patience as a runner and good burst, good strength and can run away from people. He's a tough guy, tough guy to handle.
Q: You also have to factor in Cordarrelle Patterson based on what he did in the opener. How are they using him in the running game? What stands out to you in that area?
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BB: ** Again, it's been preseason so I think [offensive coordinator] Norv [Turner] has pretty much just run his offense but then last week they handed him the ball and he made some explosive plays. I'm sure that they'll get him the ball in ways that maybe we haven't seen or just opportunities to get him in space. He's a tremendous kickoff returner. Very aggressive, fast, athletic guy; when he gets the ball in his hands, he's a very dynamic player. I'm sure that offensively they'll find some ways to get it to him, whether it's throwing it to him or handing it to him or slip screens or whatever. There hasn't been a ton of that to this point until the Rams game.
Q: From what you've seen, how has Matt Cassel changed or developed as a quarterback since his time in New England?
BB: I think Matt's a good player. We know he's smart, works hard, he's well prepared, athletic, can move in the pocket and escape and get out of trouble. He's got a very good arm, very good on the deep ball, throw the out-cuts, throw the ball outside numbers with no problem. He's got real good arm strength. He's a good player in all areas of the game. Can throw at all three levels – short, intermediate, deep – and he's athletic and can buy time in the pocket or escape the pocket and make plays with his legs.
Q: As you prepare for Minnesota, how much carryover is there with Mike Zimmer in terms of style and scheme that he brings to Minnesota and a whole different group of personnel?
BB: I'd say their defense looks quite a bit like the Cincinnati defense. I think there's quite a bit of carryover from what they did in Cincinnati, especially when you get to their sub third-down packages. Yeah, I think there's quite a bit of carryover.
Q: With that scheme, are there any specific characteristics of it that you could describe? Is it pressure blitzing, reactive?
BB: It's a lot of four-man line, over front with a one and three technique. [Sharrif] Floyd's kind of the under tackle, or over tackle if you will, usually the over. They do a decent amount of pressuring with their linebackers. When they get into sub, they're a nickel team, kind of like Miami. Again, that's kind of from the same family there too, with [defensive coordinator Kevin] Coyle being in Cincinnati. It's a lot of five DBs, two linebackers, an extra linebacker in secondary pressure, an extra man zone, zone pressure, man pressure. They do a good job of keeping it moving. But yeah, there's definitely a decent amount of pressure.
Q: So how similar is it to last week in Miami?
BB: Yeah, there's definitely some carryover. But obviously it's not the same and you have all new personnel that you have to get ready for. But there's some scheme carryover, yeah.
Q: Have you seen evidence in one game of Norv Turner's influence offensively? How has he used the weapons at his disposal to put his stamp on this offense?
BB: Yeah, I'd say it's very much the Norv offense. Kind of all the characteristics that we all know with Norv – a lot of shifting, motion, change of formations, loves the tight ends, so [Kyle] Rudolph, he gets a lot of play out of him. A lot of misdirection plays, screen passes, things like that, a good amount of throwing the ball down the field. They're sound. They're aggressive but they're sound. They have things picked up and they've got an answer. Norv's got a lot of experience. He's pretty much got an answer for everything. Whatever teams try to do against him, they have their ways and strategies of beating it. Again, they have a smart quarterback with Cassel who can run it and handle all the volume that Norv has. You have to be able to stop the running game. You have to be able to stop 12 personnel. They do a good job of using the tight ends and getting the ball down the field. Patterson's an explosive player, Peterson is an explosive player, Rudolph is a guy that's involved a lot in the offense. [Greg] Jennings is an excellent receiver. They have a big offensive line; the line has been together for a couple years now. They're very experienced and they handle things well. They're a good offensive football team and they're well coached.
Q: Your teams don't typically suffer too many losing streaks. Is the work week coming off a loss different at all? Is that what's limited stringing losses together?
BB: We don't really talk too much about that. I don't know. Each week is its own week, its own challenge. Whatever did or didn't happen the week before, of course we can learn from every game, win or lose but whatever happened the week before, I don't really know how much impact that has on the next game. The next game is the next game. It has its own, I just said, its own challenges and its own unique characteristics. In this case, it's Minnesota. We can't belabor the Miami game and carry it with us. We looked at it, we talked about it, we corrected it and we've moved on. Now we're on to Minnesota. As soon as the Minnesota game is over, we'll move on to the next game next week.
