Zac Taylor Press Conference – November 3

Zac Taylor Press Conference – November 3

[Music] [Applause] All right, go ahead. Start with some injuries. Uh T Haven, how did he come out yesterday? He he came out cleared cleared uh didn’t have to go into concussion protocol, so that worked out well for us. Sama Sama will be um couple weeks. We’ll get through the buy and see where it’s at. High ankle sprain. And then Shamar Stewart, um we’ll see where that ends up. We’ll get through the buy and see where that’s at. What exactly happened? Um second to last drive. So, we’ll we’ll get more information on that. See how long it is. Zack, what’s been Duke’s assessment of just what’s going on defensively and what may be able to improve after the B. I’m not going to speak for anybody. I mean, for us, it’s we got to execute better. Obviously, we got to get everybody on the same page and execute the fundamentals and the details of what we’re trying to do. And I think everyone’s in favor of that and everyone’s wants to do that. We just we haven’t done a great job of that. Um, especially over the last couple weeks. And so, we’re we’re all accountable for that. that’s what we’ll spend our Y week doing as coaches, trying to find a way to to get everybody to play on the same page all the time. Um, we got a lot of young players that are out there at the same time. And so getting those guys the experience they need together, uh, is only going to make us better in the future. And so again, we’re just working through all that. Guys are all accountable for it. Everybody wants to play winning defense, winning football, winning team football, winning offense, all that stuff. So, um, that’s what we’ll continue to try to do. Did you consider any staff changes over the past 24 hours? No. gives you the belief that these are good football coaches. They they’ve been successful everywhere they’ve been. Um and so again, we’re still in the first half of this season. We all know we got to play better as a football team. There’s been challenges our offense has faced over the course of the season. We worked through them. We’re playing better for it. There’s challenges our defense are facing right now. I’m confident that we’re going to work through it. We’re going to play better football and find a way to win some games. To follow up on that, um can you clarify you don’t plan to make any stop changes on the defensive side of the ball? No, I believe in these guys. Absolutely. And so we’ll continue to work through it and find solutions. Can you just elaborate a little bit on what you’re seeing behind the scenes from a week toeek basis from Al that gives you that Yeah. working like crazy. Um he’s a great football coach. He’s doing everything he can to to uncover every single stone to make us play better. Um I mean we’re all sick for the way that these games have gone. Him probably as much as anybody else on on this planet. And so I trust in him, trust in his staff that we’re going to keep working and get all these guys on the same page, executing at a high level and be a good defense going forward. Zach, they threw a lot of trick plays, misdirection screens, all that kind of stuff at you guys. What can the defense do better against those types of plays? Well, you got to be again, they’re waiting for a first down, so you got to be better early in the drive to take that stuff away from them. So when you get into a rhythm, that’s when you feel most comfortable calling that kind of stuff. Obviously, they felt like they got into a rhythm and threw a lot at us. Um, so again, it’s it was reminiscent really the 2019 49ers game in week two. They did a lot of that kind of stuff, too. And so it kind of took me back there. A lot of the same stuff you’re seeing. Um, it’s a really good staff. I mean, they’re as creative as it gets and they really challenge you and put you in a lot of binds and obviously a lot of those things worked for them yesterday. Zach, what’s been the most concerning thing you’ve seen from the defense for the last two weeks? I think we just have to be great tackulars and just execute our fundamentals at a high level. So there there’s plenty of times where it’s 10 guys doing exactly what we need them to do and and one guy getting outside of his lane and giving up a big big run or a big rush. And so again, it’s just we got a mixture of of some veteran guys. We got a mixture of a lot of young guys in there and they’re green together and we got to get that experience ramped up very quickly. Um I trust that we can do it and we’re going to continue to work to do it and find a way to get some stops. You obviously just vouch for your entire defensive staff. Yeah. I know you’re not going to give us exactly what conversations have been like, but when it comes to to Duke Tobin or ownership and what they’ve said, are they confident in the defensive side? I should not speak for anybody. We have great staff, great great conversations. Um, everyone’s on the same page that we just want to win and and we want it to look good when we’re winning. And so, again, there’s nobody that that lacks accountability in any area. We’re all just trying to do everything we can to get better. But I’m certainly not going to speak for anybody. What about looking for different answers? Looking for different Yeah. I mean, yeah, that would that would that would infer that we’re not looking for different answers. I mean, we’re always spend every single waking moment is trying to find a solution um to play better and be able to go win games and and that’s that’s what we’re going to continue to do. Do you think the young players, and you have a number of them on the roster, either first, second, or third year players, feel the weight, the significance of the season slipping away in week eight? Well, we’ve we’ve talked about it. We’ve talked about this. This can’t be a lost season for us. this has got to be we got to come out of this by um rejuvenated and find a way to win and and winning one game certainly propels you and you got to build some momentum off of that. We had a chance after the Pittsburgh game and kind of wasted two opportunities there and how much different things could have been if we had finished these two games out. We’d still have issues we have to address, but we’d be in a better position and so we just got to find a way to kickstart that and and build our own momentum there. So, we got players um young and old that are accountable. They all want to do well. They’re all, again, I say this a lot, they’re all made of the right stuff. We have a good locker room. I know yesterday there’s it was frustrating and emotional after a game like that. That’s not to be unexpected. Um, but we’ll just continue to get back to work and keep grinding. Do you feel like the solutions are still in this building? Absolutely. Absolutely I do. When you talk about tackling, I’m sure from day one to day 200, where are we at now? It starts with wrapping up. You still got guys just kind of throwing shoulders and not doing that. How do you get guys out? Yeah, I mean we we’ve looked at every solution we can in meetings and in practice. All we can do is continue to work at it and and again there’s not a magic solution that that we’re all of a sudden going to we do it if we could. Um and so we just keep working through it in practice. We keep detailing it. Keep showing every single clip and it’s got to improve. You’ve made changes to the starting lineup throughout the the first nine weeks of the season. Is that something you would assess over the Well, I think we’re always looking at the best way to to put the best 11 guys out there and so that doesn’t change. uh now or five weeks ago or five weeks from now. So, we’ll always continue to assess. We’re not afraid to to make changes we got to make. Um and if we see something that we think will make us better and then then we won’t hesitate to do that. How much more can you get involved defensively in general? And then specifically with a by-week here, find ways to dive into that side of the ball or do you kind of still leave that to Allen? Yeah, more so to them. I’ll be involved as a head coach or accountable for everything. I’m also not going to pretend that my expertise is on the defense side of the ball. I can see it from an offense perspective, but you’ve got probably, you know, 100 years of experience on the defense side of the ball. They’ve spent every second of every meeting. Becoming a head coach doesn’t just make you an expert on the other side of the ball that you didn’t major in your own life. So, there’s ways I can help them from the offensive perspective, see things maybe from a different lens. Um, spent a lot of time with Alam as coaches this morning. We’ll continue to do that during the week and just just help in any way I can. And again, I I trust those guys. Those guys have been really successful everywhere they’ve been. and we’re going to be successful here and and again, we just we’re going to work this week and and try to find a way to make our team better. Was your tone or message any different today than a typical Monday? You’d have to ask the players that, I guess. How hard are those meetings when you meet with Al, especially over the past couple of weeks? Well, I mean, we meet every day, so it’s not like there’s just this this special meeting that we have after the game. It’s it’s constant communication. And so I think when you’re doing that and you ask me my question about ownership in Duke, we’re we meet all the time, see them all the time. So there’s not this this special thing that’s all of a sudden happening. Um so again, we we’ll we’ll keep doing a great job communicating and trying to grow. What are the other what have the conversations been like that you and Duke have had as you guys have kind of assess the season? Yeah, listen, we’re on the same page. I’m not going to get into every conversation I have with every person, but we’re on the same page. Um I think we all want to do better. We all don’t want to be at the record we’re at right now. So that that shouldn’t be shocking for anybody to hear that. We have high expectations for this season. We did at the start of the season. We still do now. And so we just got to find a way to to again make progress and find this one against Pittsburgh when we come back from the buy. You talked about him uh coming when Flaco was potentially available. He kind of gave your opinion and and you kind of went and gave you know your thoughts. How was that kind of back and forth kind of evolved and progressed over the years especially as close to the deadline or when they’re when you’re looking they’re looking at evaluating talent uh to maybe come in the building? How was that process like between you and him? Um, I mean, it’s the same as it is in the offseason. You know, anybody that we need to be aware of that they want our opinion on, they get they give it to us and we give the opinion and then and then the decision gets made. So, it’s not I know there’s a lot of attention at the trade deadline always, but our communication is not any different than it is from any other week. And so, again, if there’s something that gets brought to our attention, we’ll give our two cents. We’ll watch a player give our two cents. Um, but trust our scouting department to make make the decisions they make. How hopeful are you that Trey Hendrickson’s on the roster after the deadline? Yeah, I think we can win with the players that we have and so just continue to work forward with all of them. Is there any new information on Burrow and where he stands? I know yesterday you mentioned he’s been obviously getting after I don’t have new information on it. I know that he’s getting after it. I know that he’s he’s doing everything he can to get himself ready. And so again, I’m not going to make any declaration on what that timeline’s going to be other than um the only way I’ll speak for him is I think he’s happy with the progress that he’s making. And again, there’s no timeline for when that’s going to be, but um things are going according to plan. Such thin margins yesterday, you know, one or two plays go differently. Just the play with Orlando on the sportsmanlike after the play. What did he say to you and what did you say back to him on on that p? I don’t remember what I said to him. Uh I know he’s been accountable multiple times yesterday and today for what happened um to me privately, to the team publicly. And so again, it’s something that we can’t go from a first goal on the five to second goal on the 20. Um, that’s four points off the board there. There I we we left a lot of points on the board yesterday. It was um so again, we’re talking a lot about the defense in here, but offensively um I was really disappointed that that we didn’t score more points and that’s frustrating that, you know, when we had the opportunity to to put more points on the board and not execute um could have found a way to win it that way, you know, and then and then fix the problems that we’re having, but we just didn’t get it done. You mentioned yesterday you wanted to reflect on the the intentional grounding, then the the fourth down process as the field goal team went off the field. kind of what was your takeaway as you thought? Yeah, we’re right there on the fringe of where we wanted to be for the field goal. Um, you were kind of making a decision at that point. Are you comfortable going down four at that point in the game with the score the way it was? Um, and getting a stop and finding a way to go score and and I thought that in the split second that that’s where we could go. Um, you know, I I just it ended up being a really tough decision that either way, you know, the fourth and long or the field goal, the percentages are probably very similar on how it’s going to play out. um probably more so better off kicking the field goal than than converting on the fourth and the long. Um so again, it’s there’s an imperfect answer there that I think depending on game weather, all that things could maybe change a little bit could make me make a different decision in a different game and and come back to the decision I made. So again, it’s just uh there wasn’t a great solution there on which way to go with that. From the outside, Zach, a lot of people wonder why losing five of six, the way the last two games have ended, why don’t you make changes? Is the status quo acceptable? You know, people wonder on the outside, why do you feel that you do have the solutions in the building, not make any change? Why is that? Because I’ve I’ve been through this situation before. We’ve been through this situation many years and come out the other side um playing for championships, winning divisions by sticking with what we believe in and not doing what everybody wants you to do by sticking with it. I’m thankful that in 2020 they didn’t kick me out of here. So, we were able to go to the Super Bowl the next year. And so, again, I I believe in the people that we’ve hired. I sit in there. I watch these guys coach. I know what they’re made of. Um I know where we can continue to grow. And so when you believe in people that you don’t just make a a a gut reaction from what people want to see that aren’t necessarily a part of it. I understand the frustration. I get it. I’d be frustrated too if I was outside the building. Um we’re going to get it fixed. We’re going to continue to work it. I I trust every coach we got in this building to get it done or else they wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t hire them in the first place. Um and so again, I got firm belief that that we can get this done and we can do it with the players we have and and find a way to get some wins. And again, we just there’s some things we got to clean up. We got to do better. There’s a coaching side of that too where we got to find ways to push the right buttons for these guys to get them exactly to do it how we want to do it. But I trust that we can get that done. You very vocal about the u young linebackers and trying to get them accelerated. After the last couple weeks, is there any conversation about maybe re-evaluating some of the veterans that you have in that room and seeing how they might be able to help? I think we’re always you saw Warren play a little bit more yesterday, you know, and so I I think we’re always trying to find ways to give a guy a breather so he can settle down a little bit. Um get guys to continue to progress. I look at the the linebackers on their team, you know, they they have ton of experience there. And our guys are in starts what, eight and nine and five or six. And so there’s going to be things they’re going to learn on the fly. And um I trust those guys. That’s why they’re out there because I see the potential they have. And there’s going to be some things we continue to work through. There’s some things they’re doing a great job of. There’s some some plays that have been tremendous that we’re going to continue to build off of. There’s going to be mistakes that they’re going to make once and correct it. There’s going to be a couple things. They might mess up two or three times and we’ll get it corrected. I mean, we’re always working to get it corrected. And again, it’s just um we got a lot of those guys out there at times together working through it. Sometimes two of them might be doing a great job and and another one’s, you know, going through a learning experience. And so, we’re just going to continue to find ways to clean it up and and play as well as we could. You’re obviously playing a bunch of young guys, offensive line, linebacker. What gave you the the confidence that you should be able to go through those growing pains and it’s worth it to to try to go through those? That’s just the decision we made, you know, and that’s um just to work through it. We see the potential with these guys. We see some of the leadership qualities with these guys and uh again, it’s not going to be perfect and there’s going to be some learning moments, but but I believe in them that we’re going to we’re going to we’re going to start playing at a high level. I’m not sure how much this really matters or not, but those two the young guys, the linebackers who spoke to us kind of yesterday and it kind of prompt you questions about if there’s enough defensive accountability that y’all have on that side of the ball. Do you feel uh regardless of kind of how they operate with us that there is enough defensive accountability? I think guys got to continue to step up. I’m not afraid for young guys to step up. You know, it doesn’t have to be a veteran. Doesn’t have to be a three, four, five, six, sevenyear veteran. It can be a young guy that that’s done things the right way and is accountable and the guys respond to and doesn’t have to be perfect. Um, but I I think those young linebackers have leadership qualities and guys see the the way they work and how much it means to them and so if they were to speak, I think that guys would listen to them, you know, and I think um there’s a lot of guys that fit that that I remember Sam Hubard going through this as young player kind of afraid to speak because there were other veterans in the room that kind of had that position and always pushing him to to guys respect the way you work and eventually that clicked for him and he took over that ownership and was a tremendous leadership for us. There’s similar positions I feel right now where we’re pushing guys. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to step on toes. That’s we just want to win games and we want everyone to be accountable. And if you got leadership qualities, step up and say something. And sometimes it’s just sometimes there’s quiet leadership too. Guys just doing what they do and doing it the right way and guys respond to that as well. So that when they do speak every so often, then it really resonates with other guys and and we got some of that as well. One of those young guys is Bill Dylan Fairchild on the offensive line. How do you think he’s fared since he’s he’s come back from? I think he’s he’s continued to make a lot of improvement. I think both he and Jaylen are gaining a lot from this experience. They’re surrounded by veterans. They’re surrounded by two captains. Um so again, you’re you’re seeing that play from them continue to develop. I thought yesterday they both had good games. So it’s again things that we’re going to continue to grow on and and uh excited about their futures. How is Joe Flacco feeling today? I’m sure he feels awful. I um I’m sure he feels terrible and because I know what he went through last week. I know what he sacrificed for this team. Um, people may never know the full extent of what he did, but um, what an unbelievable unbelievable week that he had, performance that he had. Um, just you’ve kind of heard me get up here and just just gloat about what he did because it’s everybody that’s around him knows what he just did for this team and I’m sure he can’t even pick up his arm today, you know, and he’s with his five kids right now. Send them out of here. Get out of here. you need to go home. Um you’ve done everything you can do for us right now. You’re not going to do us much good today and tomorrow. So again, he needs that and and um we’ll see where he’s at next week. I’m sure he’s going to be in a lot of pain as this week continues. But um he doesn’t you can’t get it out of him. I can’t get him to tell me he’s in pain. I know it. I can see it. I know what it looks like, but you can’t get him to say it, which says a lot about him. What was his reaction when he said get out of here? He’s thankful. I think he’s thankful. Yeah. What did you uh what did you think of his accuracy? I mean, he threaded the needle on a few of those. Yeah. I mean, that’s, you know, it’s part of part of, you know, he he’s come in here and and helped us give us what we need. And, um, you know, this has been a Super Bowl MVP, won a lot of playoff games. I think he’s went tied for the most road playoff wins in NFL history. So, he’s he’s done this at a high level for a long time. We’ve given him a a great platform with some great players around it. He’s done a great job leading that until Joe gets back. And um you know we’re thankful he’s been able to step up and play through some of the things he stepped up and and uh again I I still think as an offense we left some stuff out there and it’s that’s what’s frustrating is we had some great performances and still left some stuff out there and um could have just won the game that way, you know, with more points on offense. Side note, is there a thought of putting Browning out for the Hail Mary at the end knowing just the shoulder how far it was? I I don’t know if that’s something you think about you’re going to have to do that maybe. Um there there are times in my life where that has happened. If if you’ve got a guy um who’s who’s that’s his redeeming tra trait is he’s got a big powerful arm can kind of come cold off the sideline. Um Joe Joe was our best option there and it’s not fair to Jake to put him out there cold like that and try to launch one up there. I wanted to ask you about the defensive line. How, you know, when you talk about needing changes and what try to make guys play better when guys just are not winning up front, how does it get better? How does it get better when guys are getting moved and just not winning enough? Yeah. I mean, there’s still coaching that’s involved in that, you know, so you see it as not winning. There’s still technique things that we can improve on. There’s rush lanes we can do a better job of sometimes to allow other people to win, too. It’s not You’re not always going to win every single one and on. If you did, you’d be a allp pro player and it’d be great. we’d have plenty of them. But it’s also just about um sometimes on some rush lanes, four guys doing exactly the way they’re supposed to do it, not three, not three and a half, and all of a sudden the one guy um gets out of his lane and now Caleb Williams is out the door. You know, there was a little bit of that yesterday. So again, that’s four guys on all snaps when we’re only rushing four doing exactly the way they’re supposed to do it, allowing the coverage on the back end to match it and keep them trapped in the pocket and not let them get out. And so again, those are easy things to clean up. very easy that guys can be accountable for that we’ve pointed out. Um it’s not the same guy every time. You know, it can be one guy doing it in one snap and another guy doing another snap. And part of a great defense is everybody just doing it the way it’s supposed to be done in every single snap and we’re going to get there. Do you feel there is currently enough talent on the defensive side of the ball to compete at a championship level in the West? You mentioned yesterday, Zach, how much you have to fight every day to maintain your culture, not let this become an offense defense thing. Chase Brown unloaded some frustration yesterday publicly. Do you want players to have the freedom to vent or do you have to talk to him? Not if you’re not doing everything you can on your own, you know, and I’ve pointed that out with Chase. You know, it’s there’s two big plays that that we could have done better that would have led to points. And so I think I liked Jamar a little bit better. I can tell Jamar’s frustrated, but he doesn’t want guys coming at him if he’s had a poor performance or or something that he was disappointed in. So, um, I trust that that’s a one-time thing and we’ll learn from that. That’s not how we want to react and and one of our best players, one of our highest character players, I think in a moment of frustration said that. Um, and I don’t expect that to happen again. Chase had the drop. What was the other thought? Miscommunication. Going back to the young guys, Andre is not a rookie, Yoshias, but he was going through some struggles. Seemed to kind of come out of it on the other side yesterday. Is that does that kind of validate that stick with it attitude that I mean, that’s just part of what we deal with, you know? It’s it’s not just overreacting to a couple bad moments that that are frustrating. We’ve seen the body of work that he’s put in to get to the position he’s in. And sometimes guys don’t get enough credit for the plays that they’ve made leading up to that point. And it’s easy to point out the errors that they’ve made and and the you know the the uh disappointing plays. And so again, for us as coaches, it’s we just evaluating the full body of work and they’ve gained that trust. He’s great. He’s he’s put that credit in the bank and I I feel really good about where he’s at knowing that he’s going to pull through some tough spots. And so again, it’s none of our coaches or players are perfect. We’re all going to have moments where we could have done better. I’ve got plenty of mine. Players have had theirs. Um so it wasn’t surprising at all to see Yoshi respond the way he did because that’s just he doesn’t he doesn’t overreact, I don’t believe, to the good and the bad. He just keeps working. And um when you got enough guys like him and and like Chase Brown, like I I know I just talked about Chase. I I love Chase to death and that’s that’s part of my conversation with him is this is a little bit outside of you and and um so again, just believing in those guys and continue to stick with them and and we’re going to see great things from them like you saw from those guys yesterday. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Zach.

Zac Taylor speaks to the media.

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