Zac Taylor Press Conference – December 3

Zac Taylor Press Conference – December 3

Go ahead, Zach. He’s working through it. Making progress. So, will he limited today? Limited today. Yep. Same with Taj Brooks. Same category. Both made good progress. Well, Trey Hendrickson practice today. No. Same doubt about the building. Um, a lot of this group has been around for a while. I know some of them have left and come back, but they’ve had a lot of continuity over there. I know they’ve added a couple new pieces, but um you know, they’ve done a good job. Sean’s been a part of that defense obviously for nine years now. Obby Babage has been there I think the entirety of the time as well. So, a lot of continuity over there. A lot of veterans that know how to do it. Um a lot of young guys that they’re working into the mix as well. So, just a really really solid group that makes things difficult for you. Why do you think yourself, Dan Pitcher, and Joe Burrow work so well as a group? Well, I think like anything, we’ve been together a long time. You know, Pitch has been here since before I got here. Um, we made him the quarterback coach right when Joe walked in the door. So, that relationship has has just continued to grow over Joe’s tenure here. Um, like to think it’s it’s guys that, you know, we can adapt each other and work well with each other and put Brad Craigor in that mix. You put Jake Browning in that mix, you put Joe Flack in that mix as well. So, I just think that it’s it’s, you know, people that like working together, see things the same way. Everyone’s got input. Everybody I just mentioned has input on how we do it. I don’t think there’s any egos involved there with how it needs to be done. And we’re able to try to problem solve during the week and during the game as well and try to get the best result. Why do you think that matters or plays a role in Joe being able to rusty and then ground second half? I think we just we keep things fluid during games and always want his feedback. That’s one thing I learned early in my career as a quarterback coach is if you got a a quarterback that’s earned the respect to give his voice, then you listen to it. He’s the guy that’s out there who’s got to do it and problem solve and get it done. And so we’ve we’ve always made it a point to give Joe that voice and he earned it really from day one when he got here. And so you’re able to to I thought he played well, but to work through any issues. Sometimes there’s going to be some holes in the action, you know, where maybe you have a three and out or two and you need to find a rhythm and you might have this plan you set in place to go do it, but hey Joe, what do you need to to get us going here? And he’s always really good with the feedback on that. With concussion protocol, does T or any player, do they have to clear it before they can be a full participate participant in practice? Is that how that works? Correct. Zack, now that we’re into the week and uh the weather here has presented some conditions that are I don’t want to say equivalent to what it’ll be like in Buffalo, but closer maybe. Um how much thought do you give to taking advantage of that in the sense of exposing your guys to it? I think it’s like I think it’s supposed to snow again this week. Would you ever consider taking them out? We’re we’re always very mindful. Um, I like to be outside every week. Yeah. Not every day necessarily, but but you like to get out there at some point. I think it’s I told our players, great news. It’s going to be cold in Buffalo and it’s going to be cold here the next couple days. And so they they were excited to hear that. Um, so we get a chance to get out there and work in the elements and and so we’re always very mindful of where we’re going to play and how we need to practice and like to get outside. The players like being outside um at least for part of the week and I I don’t like to be inside every day if we can avoid it. Sometimes you can’t avoid it. Why do you think the North is so wide open this year? I mean it’s still it’s still tough teams. I mean I don’t think anybody likes rolling into the AC North and playing any of the four of us. So um just I think it’s well coached teams, top players, a lot of experience. It’s it’s always been a tough division. y’all are able to go out and get a win on Sunday. What kind of momentum do you think this could give you knowing what y’all still have in front of you the rest of the year? I our biggest focus right now is just find a way to beat Buffalo and take it from where he goes from there, but right now that’s really all that matters. What stands out about James Cook when you watch him and how he’s kind of evolved? Yeah, a lot of strengths. I think I can list a lot of attributes that make him he’s got great patience and vision and quickness and acceleration and play strength. So, I mean, you can just go on and on and name every intangible and physical trait you want a running back to have, he has it. Um, a lot of confidence in the scheme. I I know from working with Aaron Chromemer um in the past, their line coach, he does a great job in Joe Brady painting a vision for what they want in the run game and and how it’s supposed to be from a technique standpoint, where it’s supposed to hit. And so, you’ve seen backs have success, you know, and and so I don’t think that’s shocking. It’s and it’s not even just him. He’s a great back, but the other backs get in there and do a great job as well. So, um, really dangerous attack. How challenging is it when you’re dealing with an elite quarterback, but then you also have to deal with a rushing attack? It’s been it’s why they’ve been one of the top offenses consistently over as long as I’ve been a head coach here, you know, and so, um, they’re they’re they’ve got great talent. They’re well coached. Um, they’ve got a lot of confidence and they can throw the ball. They can run the ball. They do a great job. Your run defense is at right now. You’ve talked about sort of gradual improvement generally, but specifically in that phase, are there things you’re still looking for or where do you think that group’s at? Just continue to grow and and every week presents a new challenge. You know, it’s you go from Pittsburgh to Baltimore to Buffalo and everything’s got its unique challenges in terms of what plays they’re actually calling and how they’re going to attack you different ways. And so, um, challenging. And then the quarterback, you know, they’re not afraid to run the quarterback either, you know. So, you get to, you know, third and less than five and you might have a quarterback run coming at you. you’re in the low red zone, you got a quarterback run coming at you. So, they’re not afraid to do that. That’s that’s an extra hat for them that makes it really challenging when they’re willing to do that. Um, so again, our guys feel like they got a great plan in place. Now, we just got to go execute it over the week. How does defending Josh Allen fit into your run defense? It’s it’s um we we play several quarterbacks that present challen they’re outstanding throwers and and really challenging runners and so you have to be mindful and his progression’s out there. He’s not afraid to put his foot in the ground and go get it, you know, and and then try to run through people as well. Um so it’s he’s a he’s a challenge to deal with. How I mean I don’t know if you you answer this but how often do you see on film where maybe his second or third progression is actually to rub the ball or second or third? No, I think no he’s he’s I mean I’ve seen him get through every progression he’s got exhaust the entire thing and stand back there and play quarterback. I think like like any quarterback that’s got experience like he does they can identify the coverage very quickly and say okay I can I can get one two and put go you know and there’s going to be a void there. and other times they just know they got that innate feel of time in the pocket coverage where I don’t need to run. I can sit back here and exhaust my progression. So, he’s got the experience to do all that and and it makes him really challenging. McFersonson’s having a heck of a season. How has that impacted just the way you call and manage a game? Um, I I just I have a ton of confidence in him. I don’t think it’s overall affected a whole lot of decisions we’ve made. Um, I I really I don’t I mean I just I have confidence in him. I I can’t think of one moment where it’s should we go for this? No, Evan’s going to make a 50some yard. Um I don’t feel like there’s been that as many decisions as maybe past years. It just it feels that way. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe as I reflect back on the season, I’d have four good answers for you. But um he’s he’s playing with a ton of confidence. You see it in practice, too. I mean, that’s what you all don’t see. It’s he’s doing this in practice. He’s been doing this since training camp, the same consistency and then going out there in the game and giving our team a lot of confidence. You’re a you’re a you’re you’re a good reader of games when they unfort unfold. Do they do you you ever get a sense, you know, like uh in Baltimore, hey, this is going to be, you know, let’s get points. This is going to be a let’s get points game or this is going to be a let’s go for it. Yeah. I mean, that’s what it turned into. Um you don’t always predict that. You know, I think a lot of times against Baltimore, you you always both teams are capable of scoring and both teams can play great defense, too. So, you got to feel that as the game goes. And Yeah. Was there a point where you said, “You know what? Uh, let’s get points.” Yeah. I I think, you know, that second or third drive, our defense, you know, outside of the first drive when they scored the touchdown, we’d got some stops and and um again, I I don’t know that it influenced necessarily all the decisions, but um you felt like let’s just keep taking points and building from there. and our defense playing well. Why do you think it takes some young guys a little bit longer to realize how important the details are and consistency is? Why do you think it just maybe click for some people later rather than sooner? That’s a hard one to answer. Uh I think it’s probably pretty rare for a guy to come in his first year and just everything click for him. And you know, I I can’t give you a great answer on why. It could be different positions. It could be different personalities. It could be different college experience. It could be a guy that transferred, didn’t transfer. Uh but I can think of examples of all of them of guys that succeeded and didn’t. And they all have different backgrounds. Uh so, I don’t know. It’s I like to think as they get more experience on the field with us, then they got a better chance of succeeding. And so, we’ve tried to give guys that experience to keep learning and keep gaining. And there’s going to be mistakes made. I’ve said that in here a million times. But you keep seeing guys just continue to grow and get better. And um they’ve got that opportunity. And I don’t think that they fear failure with us. I don’t think that they feel like if I go in there and make a mistake, I’m done. They’re going to be done with me. That’s not really the approach we have. We we like to keep coaching through it and coach in a in a we’re going to be critical of of mistakes you make, but at the same time be positive and encourage the growth and um again, not not let guys just fear failure that we’re not I’m not going to get to see the field again. How tough is that for you? Because obviously there’s a lot of pressure on you as well as a head coach and coaching staff. Yeah. When things don’t go well, how do you kind of You just do what’s right. I I don’t worry about the pressure. It’s on me. you just you make the right decision for the program and um and as long as you’re just making those decisions then then I like to think more times than not the best case scenario is going to play out for you. What has the riser meant to this offense over the past few years? Um tremendous uh leadership, experience, energy. Um he’s just done a great job. He’s he’s really a really good example of that room because I think you’re going to describe every player in that room the same way. And so for Dalton to be the the last um added piece to that, he just has walked in the door and fit right in and um really happy we have him. Have enjoyed him being around, enjoyed the the role he’s playing for us. But I think he’s he’s just a great example of what that O line room really is. And it’s all great personalities, guys that love football, guys that um really understand, have a high football IQ. And so it’s it’s a good group to be around. the December run, if it’s going to happen, it’s going to fall on the offensive line at least to a degree. You want the run game going. You want to protect Joe. How confident are you in just that group and how they’ve kind of become what they are now? Yeah, a lot of confidence. They have a lot of confidence. I think that um offensively we’ve got a lot of confidence in them. The team’s got a lot of confidence in them. They played well and but again it’s it’s they’re preaching to the whole team right now is it doesn’t matter what we did last week. We got to keep doing it over and over again. And so, um, we can’t just assume because we did some good things on Thursday night that that’s going to carry over to Sunday. Our guys understand that. I think that’s why we’ve always kind of been strong later in the season. Our guys have had a great approach to that and this year’s a new year and we’re going to have to the same approach. Pitch was talking about Dolphins intangibles and he pointed out that he’s always the first one to the spot on tackle helping the guy up. When you were playing quarterback, how much did you take note of that? Who Yeah. Who was there? Oh, yeah. No, you feel that. um guys that take a lot of pride in protecting the guys behind them and whether that’s backs, receivers picking up receivers down the field or or being the first one to pick up the quarterback. You know, it’s um you you you like a guy that that’s got that protective nature to him and um cover down the field is is how we define that and I think Dalton is a great example of that. How closely do you monitor a guy rookie like Jaylen Rivers who had seemed to be making a lot of progress and you make that change? monitor how he’s doing with Scott. Well, I think part of Jaylen’s I mean Jaylen got banged up and so it was that’s what led to the change. Um Jaylen’s got a tremendous mindset so I don’t worry about him. He’s making great progress this year. I got a lot of confidence in him. He’s going to get a ton of opportunity. Um so that that’s not a concern of mine just because of who he is and kind of the work he’s put in to get where he’s at. He played tackle for us early in the year, then we moved him to guard and he’s handled all that really well. And so I think he’s um he’s a guy that is going to play a big role for us. Do you see any similarities with Buffalo? Yeah, I mean there’s certainly plays and concepts that show up. Um I think you know they they suited around their quarterback. We suit ours around our quarterback and and they’re both really talented quarterbacks. um to say they have different play styles. There’s a lot of similarities that they have and then there’s some differences they have. I’m not going to get into all of them, but um so I think that they do what’s best for their offense led by their quarterback and we do what’s best for our offense led by our quarterback. What’s the biggest impact you think Scott Peters has had on the offensive line room this year? I think he’s done a great job um getting the best out of all these guys, the the development of the young players. We’ve had several young players come in and play. Um, and I think they’ve only gotten better. I think as as our line as a whole, it’s a really cohesive unit that’s improved overall from top to bottom. Um, so I’m I think he’s done a really good job. Ken Anderson’s a finalist for the Hall of About time. What’s been your I know he’s been before, but yeah. What’s been your interaction with Ken like over the years? Tremendous. Um, tre huge fan of Ken Anderson. Uh, he’s he’s always been great to me uh through good times and bad. He’s an example of a guy, you know, when we’ve struggled who was there still supporting me, genuinely supporting me and our team and the direction we’re headed. And so you you really I I genuinely appreciate people like that. Ken and I have always had a great relationship through his foundation, through him just coming to practice, through text messages. Um, and so I I have done my own research. I mean, he absolutely should have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago. Um, he should absolutely be in now. I mean, statistically, he’s he’s in a better position than a lot of people that are in it. Um, you know, NFL MVP, man of the year, led his team to a Super Bowl. I mean, all all the great performance, the completion percentage, everything he’s done statistically should he should be in there right now. So, um, this year is is the year he absolutely absolutely should be in. And if he’s not, then it’s it’s a shame. Do you see him as a guy that could play out and be in Well, I’m not going to pretend like I’ve dug through all of his tape and watched it all, but I just know statistically when you look at how he played um I mean, and then people that are in, you know, it’s just he deserves to be in. Absolutely. And so, um and he did it he did it over a long period of time. I mean, he did it over a really long period of time. So, look forward to seeing him get in there. St. next in Anderson playing for state championships the next couple of days. Will you be pulling for both those? Absolutely. Yeah. Um, you know, Travis Bremer, his son, played at Anderson last year, so I know he still goes to a lot of the games and I’ve been following Anderson all year. They have a tremendous team and I think they’re playing the same team they played last year if I’m not mistaken. I know they’re practicing at 5:53 a.m. this year, 7 minutes earlier. I I I saw that. So, uh, definitely pulling for Anderson. Um, definitely pulling for St. X. You know, got a lot of people that I know that are there. And so, um, two great nights of football, you know, Thursday and Friday. And I hope I’m not missing anybody else in the area, but those are two teams that I I feel like I’ve I’ve really followed over the last couple years and, um, great football coming from the Cincinnati area, so be fun to watch. Tight end position is big, um, in the in the in the NFL. It’s gotten big back again. Uh, both these teams have good tight ends and and a strong position group. What do you think about Buffalo’s tight ends? What are their strengths? Yeah, good group. Um, I think they complement each other really well. You know, the the group of guys that they have. I know Concaid’s been out. Um, he’s always been a guy that we’ve been a big fan of. Um, again, they’ve got good depth there. Those guys all understand their role. They’ve gotten a lot out of that position and just like we have, you know, I think we’ve always James Casey, I’ve always said this, is the best tight end coach in the NFL and does a great job developing, getting the most out of guys that we have, whether they were guys that have been here throughout or guys that we’ve added in free agency. um you know, they’ve they’ve always had their top years playing for James and um so I think it’s it’s two two teams that are well coached that position and have gotten a lot of value out of those guys. Okay. Thank you.

Zac Taylor speaks to the media ahead of Week 14 against the Buffalo Bills.

Subscribe to the Bengals YT Channel: https://bit.ly/3jbqOLG
#RuletheJungle #WhoDey #Bengals

For more Bengals action: https://www.bengals.com/
Download the Bengals app: http://apps.yinzcam.com/nfl/cin
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bengals/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Bengals/
Follow us on Twitter: https://X.com/Bengals