Zac Taylor Press Conference – October 5

Zac Taylor Press Conference – October 5

[Music] Okay. I I thought uh disappointing on offense. You know, it’s we’ve we’ve hung the defense out to dry a couple times now the first half, three games in a row. And, you know, to hold them to 14 points at halftime, seven of them coming off a turnover and a short field. Um it really gave us and then the second half starting with a with another turnover, giving them a short field points. Um that’s my job. I call the plays on offense. I put this thing together. I got to be better for this football team because it just hasn’t been good enough and I put that on myself and we got to get it fixed. I’m confident that we’re going to get it fixed. It’s disappointing and frustrating again that we’ve we’ve scored three points uh three weeks in a row in the first half that you can’t you’re not going to win. You’re not going to win against these these teams we’ve been playing against when you do that. So, um that’s my responsibility to get that fixed and find a way to score some more points and and uh I promise you we leave no stone unturned in getting that done. What did you think of Jake’s performance today? I I It’s again, put this on me. I got to do a better job getting us into a rhythm, getting us a way where we can sustain some drives, put points on the board. There’s some plays he’s going to want to have back. Um I’m glad he hung in there. Made some plays for us down the stretch. Three straight touchdown drives at the end of the game. I’m sure a lot of people wanted him on the bench at that point. I I could hear it. Um and he stuck with him and and he comes back and has three straight drives for touchdowns. And that’s that’s the Jake Browning I know. He’s resilient. um he’ll stare adversely in the face. You can count on him to keep bouncing back. Um obviously there’s we got to protect the ball better to be able to beat a team of that caliber. So we’re not going to run from that. Um but to sit here and say I’m not I’m not proud of our football team for the way that they fought back. That that wouldn’t be true. I’m extremely proud of these guys. The way that they continue to fight and in the face of adversity when it looks like it’s real dim and all of a sudden there’s some hope there that we can get this thing done. And that’s what this team’s made of. and five games in, that’s what I’m counting on to get us through this the last 12 games where we can go win some games. Um, I’m not oblivious to what goes on in the AFC and their division. There’s going to be plenty of opportunity there if we can just get through this storm and stick together and find a way to to put some better positions on offense together and score some points. And I’m absolutely confident that we will get this thing turned around and and fans will want to be in the stands because I get it right now. They’re going to want to be in the stands. And I look forward to sold out crowds again, back to what we’re used to. And I promise you it’s with every breath I got, we’re gonna continue to work to get back to that. You said that you said to put it on you. What can you I call the plays. I I got to get us into a better rhythm. I I got to keep out of danger. Um there’s some things I got to do a better job establishing and and just when the offense doesn’t score points that that follows the head coach is the play caller. That’s that’s where it ends right there. Did you leave Jake in the game because you know you’re going to need him going forward? Is that part of Yeah, I I I believed in him. I saw the turnovers that were happening. we got to be better. We We can’t excuse him. Um but what we saw with those three straight touchdown drives, you know, to to find a way to win, I I knew that he gave us our best chance there. So, do you still believe in Jake going forward as your starter? I do. I I of course after a game like that, we’re going to look at all personnel to make sure we’re doing the right thing. So, I I won’t shy away from that because it’s a very fair question after after the amount of turnovers we have. But, um to say that I don’t think Jake can win games for us, I I believe Jake can win games for us. I do. and and we’ll just continue to to look at everything we can personel wise. Do you feel like you need to build Jake’s confidence back up? Um yeah, I think anytime you go through some adversity, there’s always a little bit of self-doubt, but but when you’ve put in the work, um which he’s put in the work, then you know what to do and you know how to get back to it. And it’s a good defense. Um it’s an offense that puts a lot of pressure on you. Our guys gave us a chance to get back in that thing. we just came up short at the end. Um I wish we’ done a better job in the first half of again getting points on the board and we hold them to 14 on a short field. Um so again, there’s just there there’s a lot of things I got to do better. You feel like there’s anything you can take away from the fourth quarter where that Jake can take away I should say from the fourth quarter, you know, where you guys found found something on offense you guys were able to score after last 11 quarters we only had one touchdown before. Yeah, I mean I’ve I’ve had a lot of games like that here where it looks bleak and our guys find a way to respond. I would say Jacksonville falls in that category. I thought we were going to win the game when we were kicking the onside kick. Um that they recovered there at the end. It just felt like one of those those deals where we were going to find a way to go win the game. And that’s just I guess that’s just I believe from the guys in the locker room that I’ve seen this happen with us before and that we’re going to figure it out and someone’s going to step up and make a play and we’re going to go win the game. And that’s that’s how I felt until till the very end there in the last two minutes to stick together. I mean it’s I don’t like giving a message three weeks in a row. Um where I appreciate the heart and we’re sticking. I I don’t like that. That’s that’s not what the NFL is about. think about is about winning games and and moving on to the next one and create some momentum for yourself. Um, we’re allowed to create momentum at different parts of the season. It hasn’t been these last three weeks. We’re allowed to start now and and I do believe in these guys. I mean, that’s that’s what I just told them. I believe it if I’m betting betting on this team to find a way at two and three, five games in to find a way to be in contention for everything that we wanted to do. There’s a lot of football left and I believe we’re going to get it done. Why does the offense Why did it look so different fourth compared to the first two? Um, again, it’s just turnovers certainly hurt us there. Um, those two turnovers in the first half, so you weren’t a chance to get into a rhythm. The second half, we just got into a rhythm. Did a great job protecting the ball. Did a great job protecting. Um, got some tough yards. There’s not a lot of easy runs against that group. So, I thought we found some tough runs um over the course of that game and just found some rhythm and and that’s just that’s the the Bengals when you when you get in a rhythm on offense, we score points and in the first half, look at the drive drive stats. I mean, that there just wasn’t wasn’t good enough rhythm there. You talked about leaving no stone unturned. What are the things you do the next couple days to, you know, whether it’s scheme, whether it’s play situations, what do what do you explore? Well, that’s it’s still a seven-day week. We still got the Packers get ready. Um and that’s no really no change from every week. We have personnel discussions. What scheme have we been relying on that maybe isn’t good enough for us? Um, so again, it’s it’s difficult to define that in this room. Um, but again, we’ll we’ll address everything we got to address. Do you see any hope over the last three weeks or over the last two weeks? Yes. I I know that we went into two really difficult road environments and turnovers killed us in the first game. I mean, that game’s a completely different game if we don’t turn the ball over four times in the first half. That’s that’s easy for me to say. Um, last week we we hung in there. I I did not manage the end of the first half well. Should have been exactly like this, 14 to three. Um, with our defense trying to get a stop to come out the second half to keep that a better game. And so again, there there’s a lot I got to do better as a head coach to to make make sure that we can build on some of the things we are doing positively. I I’m going to sit here and say whether people want to hear it or not, our defense has given us what we need in these first half of these games. It’s it’s hard to sustain that over four quarters when there’s turnovers and there’s punts and there’s no points going on the board. Um especially against teams like that in Denver um who can who can do a little bit of everything and keep you off balance and call all their fun things when their play call receives 21 to three. What’s the worst thing that can happen? If I call this play and it doesn’t work, we’re still up 21 to three. So we put them in an incredibly difficult bind and all they have done is bow up and try to do everything they can to keep our team in the game. and I got to do a better job as the play caller to to bail them out. You say in the first half the defense has been good. However, on the opening drive in four of the five games the opponent has scored. Yeah. So, the first drive was tough, but beyond that, they’ve done a good job. Is there anything that you can change uh for that opening drive to not I mean it’s it’s something we’re aware of. Um it’s disappointing. Um that that’s again that’s not something we can run from. So, if we can get a stop on the first drive, we’re going to be much better off the way that they have rebounded towards the end of those halves. With all the turnovers, is there a theme that you’re noticing? Um, well, I mean, it’s it’s we’re throwing into some some coverages where the ball can go elsewhere. That’s that’s the simplest way trying to think through uh what some of them looked like and Jake would sit here and say the same thing. It’s not something you you we’re going to hide, you know, and so we got to take care of the football and punting’s not the worst thing in the world. They don’t want to punt, but sometimes when we’re going to have to punt, flip the field. You could just feel the field position was really never in our favor early in the game. I feel like we were always backed up inside the 10. Um, and so we got to do a better job. I We just We got to win the turner battle. We got to dominate in penalties. We got to win field position. We got to do those three things to beat some of these teams we’ve been playing and we haven’t done any of that. What to see Jamar finish the game the way he did with two? Yeah, because these guys have heart. Like our our great players, they got heart. Our everybody on our team. I mean, it’s it’s I I look there and there’s there’s no one giving up. no one feeling like, “Oh, here we go. We’re down whatever the score was when it was at its worst.” Um 28-3, I think it was. And then you’re sitting there at the end of the game, we got a shot. We recover an onside kick and they’re going to tighten up a little bit. And so, um, I am proud of our group for how they fight and I’m looking forward to sitting at this podium saying I’m proud of the way we find a way to win. That’s that’s I’m very confident that’s going to happen. You talked earlier in the week about, you know, urgency and how you kind of welcome adversity, whatever. I know obviously no co no NFL team like wants to lose obviously, but do you feel like you saw some of those ingredients in that fourth quarter? You know that? Yeah, this team has character. This that is something that will carry you through an NFL season. We have talent. We have character. Our head coach has to do a better job managing the first half and giving us a chance to play with the lead in the second half. That’s it’s it is as simple as that. Okay. Thank you all.

Zac Taylor speaks to the media following Week 5 against the Detroit Lions.

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