Ebenezer Ekuban Quotations

We feed off each other. We have our own competition every day. We compete for sacks, and we compete for tackles. We have that bond.

We fed off each other because we were competitive. Week in and week out we'd go in the film room and find out who had the most tackles and assists and sacks.

So it's definitely a great challenge, ... We can see where we are a little bit and see how we are fitting together.

Shanahan is more like an astute guy, a thinker. Right to the point when you get that stare. When you get that it's over, you can throw all that smart stuff out the window. When he puts the beams on you, you'll do what he wants every time.

I'd better be careful with what I say; I might get fined by the league, but that flag was just so late. I thought it was a great hit by John.

I'd be lying to you if I said that it's just another game. It really isn't.

I am going to play at 100 percent because I am trying to lead the team in sacks, too. I am tied with Trevor and some other guys, so I have something to play for.

I'm at a loss for words. I've been in the league seven years and I've never experienced anything like it before.

Hopefully we can rush the passer a little more and not drop (into coverage) as much. The one down point of last year was everyone saying that we couldn't get enough sacks or pressure on the quarterback. Hopefully with a little fine tuning to our scheme we'll have a little more opportunities to rush the passer instead of dropping.

I think internally we view ourselves, with the talent we have, that we can beat anybody. Fans want to see us be the world champions, so it might validate it for them.

It happens in the pile all the time,

I think that's one thing we still have to really work on is trying to get four-man pressure on the quarterback, so the linebackers can help the corners or vice versa in coverage, ... That's something we're still trying to work on, and we're going to keep working on it so we can alleviate some of the pressure on the linebackers.

Our goal is to beat the champs. If you want to get to the big dance, you have to play the big boy and you have to beat the big boy to get there. We have the opportunity to do that.

Regardless of how they started last week passing the ball, their motto is: We're going to hurt you with the run and we're going to pound, pound, pound. And eventually you'll succumb to all that pounding. ... You've got to get on top of them early, man. If you get on top of them early, their running game is nonexistent. They're going to have to pass the ball to catch up to you.

Like you guys (the media) have always been saying, you can't be the champion unless you beat the champs. It felt good to unseat them, to knock them off their pedestal.

It felt good just to get the sweat going again.

I think so. If we should face them again, I'm sure they'll have some extra motivation, but just to have faced them once and come out with a victory is something that we're definitely proud of heading into the playoff game if we should play them, knowing that we beat them once and hopefully we can do it again.

You kind of heard it every day for a little bit. I'm new to the club, this is my first year, but when I got here, the talk was the Colts. Just being in the playoffs the last two years and having them beat us, so even though it's the preseason, we still want to do some things to make sure we found the right solution to solving that problem.

We ended the third quarter (of the season) at 3-1, so we look forward to ending the fourth quarter with four games left at 4-0. That's all we can control -- what we do collectively. We play Baltimore, Buffalo and all the teams ahead of us. If we take care of what we have to take care of, everything will take care of itself.

We can't let this go into overtime. In the fourth quarter it seemed like they had momentum going and ... if we'd gone to overtime I don't think it would have been good for us, so we knew that was a play we had to make.

We got the win, but it wasn't great.

Was it more than we really wanted to do? Yes, of course. But in any game situation, you can't be surprised because, depending on what the offense gives you, you always have to be ready to do whatever's called.

Both teams wanted to do some things with their defense, I think that's clear. And everybody is going to want to show they did the right thing.

You have a 53-man roster and only 47 suit up. Some guys are going to have to play all four quarters.

Especially for a half. I'm not a coach, but we still need to go out there, stay focused and keep doing what we've been doing. To take off two weeks and have to play a playoff game is going to be hard, so I foresee the starters playing maybe a half and then getting some of the young guys in.

I've never had it happen on a field goal before.

I've played for people who play games with you. With (Shanahan) you know where you stand. And he saw something in a lot of us maybe some other people didn't. You can't help but put it on the line for that.

The third down even before that play happened was incomplete and you could tell they were totally frustrated and dejected and I think that carried over into that fourth-down field goal. He saw his kicker missed it, and I guess he decided to take it out on whoever was there.

Of course you pull for Pittsburgh. Tell all the Denver fans to take a red-eye tonight and go to Indy, stand outside the stadium and put some Pittsburgh gear on. Be traitors at least for one day. We need Pittsburgh to come here.

Against Washington and New England we got off pretty lucky because there wasn't enough time left. This week it finally caught up to us.

The older you get, the more you hate preseason games, but deep down, you need them,

This is a different team, a more veteran-oriented team ... Veteran teams have a way of making a difference and keeping a team focused.

They're the world champions. For us to be the champions, we have to take care of them.

They really hurt us. I don't know what their percentage was, but it felt like 80 percent. During those third downs they were just completing those passes and keeping the chains moving and keeping the clock moving.

It was good to come back and get some hitting going on . . . . Guys were flying around. I think whatever everyone did when they were away from here is over after the first play. You practice like that and everybody knows this is the kind of game you want to be involved in.

It means a lot, ... Whether you're a starter or a backup, pretty much everyone gets close to equal snaps. It's tremendous if you can have your second guy come in and play as well as your first-string guys, because you never miss a beat. It's definitely a big plus for us.

It's his 35th year in the league and he still makes 100 percent of his workouts.

That's one of those things where you wish it was like the Patriots last week, that we could play on Thursday. You want to get the bad taste out of your mouth as fast as possible.

It was a cheap shot, ... Hopefully, the NFL will fine him heavily.

I'm going to sit down and relax and watch some good NFL football man. It's a good time to rest the body and get recovered for the upcoming week.

I guess he got frustrated. It was a cheap shot. Hopefully, the NFL will fine him heavily.

I guess he got frustrated, ... It was a cheap shot. Hopefully, the NFL will fine him heavily.

He's my candidate for defensive MVP, because what matters is how you play in November and December.

I believe so. Though the duration was very short, the intensity was at a high level.

And on a scale of 1 to 10, they're a 10. Just being in Cleveland for one year, having faced them twice, my body was sore and bruised after every game I faced them.