With his old defensive captain returning as Ruler of the Jungle for Sunday’s Paycor Stadium opener (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 12), Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is urging fans to cut short their tailgates by 10 minutes.
Here’s the memo from Taylor’s pre-practice press conference on Wednesday:
“Here’s exactly what I’m looking for. I know how loud we’re going to be, so let’s do it early. Let’s show them right out of the gate. I think when Sam Hubbard is out there as Ruler of the Jungle, every seat is packed.
“I’d love to look up, I’m just asking for one game, a 10-minute sacrifice from the parking lot. That might just mean getting up 10 minutes earlier and getting to the stadium 10 minutes earlier than you normally would. So do whatever you want in those extra 10 … So when Sam is the ruler, I’m kind of looking up at that escalator to my right and it’s blank.”
Taylor says by then he’s usually immersed in his call sheet or where the ball could be and a thousand other details. Not this Sunday.
“In this game, I’m going to … For this game, for one second, I’m going to look up there and see everybody in their seats,” Taylor said. “It would be awesome, just to send the message to the team that we have to do our best to start 2-0, and for all the great things that we want to do this year, it starts with playing great at home and that’s a collective effort from our players, our coaches, our fan base.”