Zac Taylor Press Conference – October 29

Zac Taylor Press Conference – October 29

Uh, we’ll see what we can potentially get out of him tomorrow. So, we’ll just work through the week. I I think right now it’s probably at a 50/50 on on what’ll end up on Sunday. Does he need the reps at all? I mean, you’ve seen you’ve seen what he’s done. Sure. Came in played on a Thursday, you know, after three days of practice. Um, so I think if anybody if anybody in this league can get by with minimal reps right now, it’s it’s it’s him. So, if he if he didn’t practice really at all, if physically he could go Sunday, you would still be Yeah. And we’ve got a plan in place to see what we can do physically during the week. So, it won’t be today. Um, he won’t be out there during the open portion of things. He’ll come out after that, but we got to plan in place to see where he’s at as the week goes. Is it his throwing shoulder? Yeah. What are the challenges he joined of trying to play for the week? Yeah. I mean, nature of the sprain. Here’s the deal with him. I I don’t know because I’ve never done it. Um, he wants to play in the game and so kudos to him, man. He’s been here three weeks. Um, he wants to play. I hate speaking for him, but that’s what he’s told me. We’ll have to work through the week to see if that’s that’s able to do that. It’s a throwing shoulder. It’s painful. Um but I mean Cali a guy who’s wants to do that, wants to get out there and play with something like that. Um credit to him. So we we’ll we’ll go through the week and see where it ends up and have Jake ready to go too and and just see how it plays out. You feel like Jake’s responded since Flaco? Yeah, I’ve been happy with Jake’s response. He’s still working hard. Um if he’s in there and he gets the opportunity, I have confidence in Jake that Jake can win us a game. So, however it shakes out, we’ll have a great plan in place to to help those guys. Can you elaborate kind of what you mean? Kind of the whole kudos to him point about Flaco just getting here and wanting to play. Yeah. I mean, he’s been he wasn’t here in the offseason. He wasn’t invested in our training camp, you know, and so for him to come in and um it would be easy to make a decision that there’s no way I’m playing, you know, I just I got an AC joint, we got a by week next week. Let’s just let this thing heal up. And that has not been the communication he’s given to me at all. Now, ultimately, he may not be able to play. who may make that decision, but um for him just to want to put it out there for our team um himself, like he said before, he’s just a football player. That’s what he does. Um that certainly goes a long way with me. Understandably, you know, he doesn’t need the reps because of what he’s done. But how comfortable do you need to feel on Sunday given game plan that happened rapidly somewhat? No, I I really don’t. I mean, again, I’ve I’ve seen him show up three days with no knowledge of our offense whatsoever. Um Jamar got minimal work that week. the next week we got no physical reps whatsoever. And so I I think that the proof’s out there that, you know, we could do it if we needed to. Is this as close to win as you’re going to get? I’m not that’s not my terminology. Do you have um we’ll just work through the week and see where he ends up. Will he practice? He will not practice today. Same thing with pain tolerance almost and just seeing if he get physically good enough for Sunday. This probably better question for Jake, but him being away for a couple weeks kind of that stretch he played and not playing just kind of now see it. How much do you think maybe helps him a little bit to clear his head? Um, start fresh. Yeah, that that probably better question for him. You know, he’s he’s had that experience before where he’s played for us and um so again, I I’ve got confidence in him. I’ve seen him do it. Um we’ll put together a great plan that that enhances everything we can do. What about defense? 11 interceptions, a ton of turnovers. Yeah. What makes them so good at that? Yeah, they’re first in the league in and turnover margin, you know, and they’ve had a ton of takeaways, picks, fumbles. Um, got guys that have a real knack for the ball. You know, I know that the guys that are healthy right now, the backers and the safeties have done an excellent job taking the ball away from people, anticipating throws, doing a great job with their coverage structures, of being in a position to be aggressive. um you know the the unknown who their corners are yet know with Tyreek to see how he plays out but um those guys in the in the DB room have had some turnovers as well. So really good job. Um again when you’re number one in the league and turnover margin that says a lot about how you’re playing and so it’s a real challenge for our guys to protect the ball, protect the quarterback. Um they’ve got a good unit over there. They’re well coached. What do you appreciate about what Pine brings to the offense? I I mean he’s just same guy every day, you know, for years now. Um I always used to watch his tape when he was in Kansas City and Denver. I’d go through every week and watch his protections and um just consistent throughout his entire career. Very reliable, hard to bring down, durable back, understands where you’re fitting the ball, does a great job in protection, has a great knack for the checkdowns. Um so again, just just the combination of him and Chase back there um gives you a lot of confidence in your backfield. And Taj is really coming along, too. So, it’s a really good room. Justin’s done a great job with those guys. Sama just again, he’s he’s the the vet in the room that just does it exactly how you expect her to do. Not not that the other guys don’t. They do a great job as well, but um Sama’s just done it for a long time. You said you wouldn’t classify it as a must-win or you wouldn’t use those terms. What is your message to the team? Yeah. To win the game with Flaco’s situation, do you have to do anything differently with Shawn Clifford just in case? Well, he’ll get scout team reps, you know, more so than he would have in the past when when Jake’s gotten most of those. So, again, Brad always does a great job during the special teams period. That that’s just any any quarterback room you’re in, that’s where you get the word for the guys that don’t get a lot of reps. Um, so certainly he’ll get more with Joe being out and of practice today. He’ll get he’ll get more opportunity that’s got team reps and normally Jake takes pretty much all of them. So, again, that’s where his work will come in. Zack, what did you learn over the three weeks that Jake was three and a half weeks that Jake was quarterback in terms of the way you guys run things, the way he played, and then how quickly it kind of got better when Joe got here. What are lessons you took from that time period? I mean, it’s that was a a wholesale offense. We got to play better and and um at times there were tough circumstances that the Minnesota game got out of control fast with just turnovers that that we’ve done an excellent job of preventing, you know, in terms of the fumbles and things like that. Um, next week we went on the road in a tough environment. I think Denver’s speaks for himself right now how they’re playing on defense. That’s that’s been a tough challenge for everybody. Um, and then Detroit obviously has been a great team as well. They’ve been getting after everybody. So So it was a challenge for any quarterback that’s playing those units. Obviously we didn’t we didn’t hold up to the challenge in any way, shape or form. That was on all of us and we put that behind us and now our offense is is doing a great job these last couple weeks and we got to keep doing that. And so if it’s Jake that steps in, I got full confidence that that we’ll continue to operate at a high level and and be able to score some points. With that in mind, Zach, do you think that the offense can pick up Jake’s level of play given the fact that they’ve been playing at a certain level? I think that’s everybody. I think everybody picks everybody up, you know, and it’s the quarterback lifting up others, others lifting up the quarterback. It’s that’s that’s part of what a great unit does is find different ways for different guys to step up whatever position they play it may be and and find a way to get the most out of everybody. Can you put your finger on the uh you know what’s revived the running game in the last two weeks? Big numbers. I I mean I I think we we’ve had better um control is not a great word of the game, but just um opportunity with with drives. I I think you guys have heard me repeat myself a million times. Getting that first first down really gives us a chance to get into a flow and we’ve done a much better job of that these last couple weeks and so we got a chance to give the run game some opportunity there. Um and you know sometimes people are so hellbent on on taking taking away our receivers, you know, so it opens up great opportunity and our guys have done a good job maximizing that and we have to keep that up. Is there something that switched or a point that you look at with the offensive line pitcher just saying how well he’s felt like they have played the last couple of weeks? Is there something you feel like has been a turning point for them over the course of this year? They’ve worked really hard at it, you know, and and even when we weren’t really statistically on the tape having a great deal of success, we still believe that we were right there. It was just we got to fine-tune some things um to continue to improve. you know, we’ve we’ve had two young guards that are playing in there and they’re only going to get better with every rep they take. And so, again, we’ve been mixing in people in that that room and and whoever it is, whether it’s the two rookies, whether it’s been Dalton or Lucas, I got confidence in that room to continue to rise up. And again, they they have a lot of confidence right now. So, sometimes you just get into a rhythm and things start to click and you find a little bit of your identity in the run game and you start to maximize that and then you have some success and then the guys see, all right, we’re working. we got a great cohesive unit here. We’re finding success in this. Um that confidence gives you momentum and then you continue to build off that momentum. I think that’s just what these last couple weeks have been for us. There there a couple of run plays where it would be a big run and you’d see Orlando kind of big reaction pointing to the sideline at you guys. Is that something when you see stuff like that that convinces you to keep going back to it more? Does that is that can that impact your play? No, I I think the success of the run is what impacts me as much as anything. It’s great to have that emotion. It’s great to have guys. Scott does a great job getting those guys to go cover down the field and pick people up and Dalton has some great examples of that in Pittsburgh that stood out to me. Um they those guys all play with great energy and and when you’re finding success in the run or the p when they see us protect and they see Drew Sample block two guys and they’ll throw a stutter go to T. Higgins for touchdown, they get as fired up about that as they do for the run game. So, uh I think um everything gets them excited when you’re having success on offense and you’re being efficient, you’re being explosive in both run and pass. And um we’ll continue to try to attack defenses as best we see fit for that week. Ted gets a lot of pitch. Sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead, Jeff. Uh thank you. Ted gets a lot of pub for being just Ted. Uh but as a player the last, you know, as he’s gotten older, it seems like he has gotten almost better. I just wonder your view of it as a head coach. Yeah, I mean he’s he’s does a great job. Um he is a certainly a leader on the field, certainly a leader in the O line room. Uh probably my favorite time of day with Ted is the walkthroughs. Just the the commitment to excellence he’s got in the walkthroughs and um the energy he plays with and the detail trying to get it right and asking the right questions to get us going. So those are things that people wouldn’t even see. You know, they see the emotion on the field and the effort he plays with. Um but he’s consistent with that throughout the day, throughout the preparation. And it’s great when you have a captain that’s like that and continues to lead others the right way. That’s he’s pulling people up. He’s trying to make everybody better. He’s demanding of other people. always very demanding other rookies next to him and I think that’s that’s a big part of it. Going back to Flacco by week is coming up. How much do you guys weigh that into the decision of, you know, whether you guys play him or not? We we’ll weigh everything in there. We’ll see how he feels as the week progresses. And we’ll make a decision from that. And again, there’s certainly an element of protecting from himself. Certainly you got to trust him um how he feels and how he communicates. And I trust 18 years in, he’s probably played with injuries before on I can do this or I can’t do this. And so I I think we’ll get good information as the next couple days go by and make our decision what we need to do. G given the importance of his position. Could it go up to a pregame workout like or would you not when it took it might you know I’ve never been in this exact situation so I hate to sit here on a Wednesday and define exactly how the week’s going to look. Uh we we have an idea in our own heads and uh Joe’s on that same page and and we’ll just see how it shakes out. Been a while but how’s Joe Burrowing? How’s he coming along? Yeah, he’s been good. Um, I don’t have any updates on the prog. It’s gone as we had hoped. Um, he’s had a great attitude, great energy about him. U, you know, he’s in the meetings. I’ve met with him oneonone. He’s been great to be around and, um, optimistic and and things have been going well. But I I don’t have any update on the timeline. Zack, when when the defense needs a lift, you’ve talked about leaders stepping up. You spend more time during the practice week leaning that way watching the defense around the defense, or is that not something you would change? It’s the same as as I always do, you know, communicating with the defensive staff, interacting with the players. Um, I do I do spend time with the offense as well as you’re getting ready to call the game. That’s important as well. So, as a head coach, you got to you got to manage a lot of different things and I do everything I can to be there for the defense and help them with my feedback and um that’s that’s what I do. Are you seeing what you you need to see out of a guy or a couple of guys in that room? I know it’s still kind of early in the week, but yeah, everything’s been positive. Everything’s the response has been what we have. We haven’t had an opportunity to do a lot yet. You know, we just had the meetings this morning and the walkth through. Um that part is easy. It’s easy to pass that test and so again, we’ll just we’ll see how the practices go. Knowing Ben Johnson for as long as you have. What do you thought of his first year as head coach and the job he’s doing? I think he’s doing an excellent job. I I think he’s put together a really good staff. Um he’s done a great job getting this team to where they’re at right now. It’s obviously it’s challenging for every team. Everyone’s trying to find a way to win and everyone’s got close games, but Ben’s a very smart guy. I think he’s been thorough and detailed and demanding and um I know that he’s going to be very successful during his time there. If the medical uh staff feels like Joe Flacco is unable to go, what do you do as a backup? I mean, do you have Joe on the side? I mean, if if the starter gets nicked up, god forbid. Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see as we get through the week on exactly what our quarterback plan will be. Had a defense only meeting on Monday. Is that the kind of response you hoped after kind of what you said Sunday? Yeah, you want guys to take ownership and take accountability for it and and obviously I wasn’t in there, but that’s a step in the right direction. Everybody’s got the right intent in mind. Everyone’s had great energy, the right intent. Everyone wants to to play well on defense and help us win games and offense has to do their job as well. Special teams got to step up and do their job as well. So, this isn’t um I’m sure they’ve gotten a lot of the attention this week, but at the same time, there’s things in all three phases we got to continue to improve on to find a win. Where do things stand on the trophy between you and your brother? It’s a great question. Um, I kind of forgot about that. We we started that so long ago. It’s in my dad’s office. I’d have to think. Um, I can’t even think the last time we played uh Monday Night Football in Jacksonville, I think, would have been the last time. I think um we won that. So, let’s keep that up. What does it mean to you to be able to coach against him? Because obviously unique opportunity to have your brother on the opposing side. Yeah. Um, it’s happened. It’s probably a bigger deal for all my parents, you know, I think for my my mom and dad to just all the all the work they invested in us to see see their sons on the sidelines. It’s pretty cool. My sisters are are certainly proud. We’re proud of them as well. So, I think just um for me and press, it’s nothing. It’s just we want to go win. We want to beat each other. Um not a lot of communication during the week. Um for our family, I think it’s it’s probably a bigger deal and I try to stay out of that as best I can over the course of the week and we’ll deal with that after. when you were working with Ben, anything stand out about him? Yeah, incredibly smart. I mean, this is no surprise where he’s at in his career. Um, the job he’s doing, I think anyone who’s ever interacted with him and worked with him would would see this coming. You know, one of the easily one of the smartest people I’ve ever been around. Um, great outside the box thinker, very detailed, no surprise. Um, he’s worked his way up the hard way. I mean, it was it was, you know, when he got to Detroit, he he had to work up for the even though he was he was way overqualified for where he started. That’s just where you do. And he just kept earning the trust of people and working all his way all the way up through the ranks. Did it all the hard way. Did a great job at every level he’s been at. Tight end coach to coordinator to now the head coach. And so, I’m not surprised at all the job that Ben has done. Coaches that have the number one overall pick, do they ever pick your brain about what it’s like to coach a quarterback? that went like other head coaches and guys they ever picked your brain about what that’s like. No, I mean Brian’s the most recent example and he didn’t really need to ask me too many questions. So no, I mean no what’s the what if you know if guys were to reach out and say, “Hey, what’s the biggest thing that enables that to be successful when you have a guy who was first overall?” What’s the biggest thing to make sure that I mean I I feel like our guy is just he he’s another level. Um, I can’t compare them to these other guys because a lot of times I don’t invest the time in researching them because that’s not going to be our player. So, everybody’s different. Um, nothing’s ever a sure thing. We felt really good about our guy. It’s hard for me to give advice to somebody else. Our guy came in during COVID. It was all Zoom. So, how we had to work it is different than what other people are doing. So, there there’s not a lot I can I can give people that’s really going to help them. Okay. Thank you.

Zac Taylor speaks to the media ahead of Week 9 against the Chicago Bears.

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