The last time Lynch and the Seahawks played the Bengals, Maualuga was the one out with an injury to his ankle.
But Sunday still will give Maualuga a chance to catch up with another college acquaintance in Pete Carroll, the Seahawks coach who his coach at USC. Although it doesn’t sound as if there will be any warm embraces between the two.
Maualuga talked about Carroll and Lynch earlier this week as part of this week’s Bengals High 5:
Q: How often do you talk to your former coach Pete Carroll?
A: Not since college.
Q: That's surprising. Is there a conflict of some sort?
A: No. Just more of an out of sight, out of mind type of thing. I was closer with my position coach (Ken Norton Jr.).
Q: Another guy you've known since college in Marshawn Lynch. What makes him so special?
A: It's his will and want-to not want to be tackled and to try to make big plays in the open field and try to get into the end zone. We just have to make sure we wrap up on him, grab cloth and bring him down by any means. It doesn't matter how we get him down, just as long as we get him down. The good thing is it's a home game for us, and we just can't give momentum to that team because if you give them some big plays, they will take it and turn it into something big.
Q: What about Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, what's the key to containing that guy?
A: We just have to stay poised – stop the run when it's a run and when it's a pass, we just have to make sure to cover the receiver because we know he can get out of the pocket at any time and he's just as dangerous with his legs as with his arms. If we have to do some extra running after practice to get conditioned or to get that much extra work in, we need to do that, because this is a big game for us, and it will be a big test.
Q: Is this a Rey Maualuga kind of game because of the way they pride themselves on running the ball?
A: Whatever they present to us, we just have to go out and play. It's going to be a good matchup between both teams. I can't wait for it.
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