Each Sunday, Bengals first-round draft pick Levi Jones talks about life as an NFL rookie.

        We're 0-6. Nobody saw this coming.

        All you can do is stay focused and go out there and work to better yourself. Maybe, especially me in my position, I'm not a leader, but maybe somebody can see me go out there and work hard.

        Corey Dillon and Takeo Spikes spoke up this week about their disappointment. I just try to put myself in their situation. My mother always taught me to try to see things from the other person's perspective.

        Especially Corey, he has the right to say what he feels. He's a competitor. He loves winning. He loves being as competitive as he can. Now he feels like he has the whole world on his shoulders, and it's been going that way for six years. Him and Takeo both. You can't fault them for saying anything. I've been here six games and I'm sick of it. They've got the right to say what they want to.

        It's easy to get like that. I just stepped into this team, and things aren't going right. In Corey's situation, he probably sees no hope and is thinking about calling it quits. He's a grown man and can say whatever he wants to say.

        I don't think I've ever been 0-6. The most I ever saw was 0-2. This is the pros, and everybody talks about how close every game should be because of how the teams are evenly matched. It hasn't been that way here.

        People recognized me when I first got here. Not now. People have thrown us away. But we have 10 games left and I'm going to try to get this right.

        I've had two starts. Pittsburgh threw a lot at me. Me, I faced four to five guys out there. I've got to shift to go firm, to fast, to sturdy. I've got to do all these things to play all these different defensive linemen and linebackers.

        I came out all right. I gave up 2.5 sacks. One was the fumble. It was tough to deal with, but I stayed focused and came back and had a better second half. That's all you could do was bounce back. I had to let those two plays go.

        Joey Porter got me. He was the only one who physically beat me. The other one, I got confused. I was supposed to step down on a defensive tackle and got confused.

        Porter plays smart. He plays off you. I should have grabbed him. I punched him, and that's what he probably wanted me to do. As soon as I punched him, he bounced off me and beat me around the corner.

        The only way you learn to play left tackle in this league is to play and learn from your mistakes.

        I graded out a 79, 80 percent. I wasn't happy about my performance, but I never gave up and kept fighting. That's what I have to build off of. You may beat me, but you're never going to get me to stop going.

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