Zac Taylor on Cincinnati Bengals' Win Over Giants

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

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00:00You can name a lot of people on that defense that really stepped up.

00:05Three turnovers on downs, the turnover, and just a lot of big plays.

00:10And they got some, and that's kinda how their offense operates.

00:12They got a good, efficient operation.

00:14I think their quarterback does a really good job.

00:16But our defense stepped up at the right times and

00:20held into, what, seven points, I think it was?

00:22Yeah.

00:23Last couple of weeks,

00:23what did you see from the defense throughout the week leading up to this game?

00:25What I see every single day I'm around them.

00:28Just a resilient group that goes about it the right way, believes in each other,

00:32believes in what we're doing, and that's what I expect to see from those guys.

00:37And so this was a great way on Sunday night football in front of the world for

00:40them to show who they are, because that's what we see every day, and

00:43that's the belief that we have in them.

00:44It's the first time those four tackles,

00:46the guys who've been projected in defensive tackles, they seem to mean something, right?

00:51Yeah, and you just see everyone behind them step up as well.

00:55And I thought they did a great job getting pressure on the quarterback.

00:59And so again, just really proud of the way that the defense played, the players,

01:03the coaches, the way that they fought all week and

01:06put on a performance like this was special.

01:08You always talk about corners needing short memories.

01:11How important was it to see DJ respond to some mistakes with maybe the biggest play

01:15of the game?

01:15Yeah, I mean, I felt like I saw him show up a lot.

01:18He's contesting balls, and so again, really, really proud of the way DJ and

01:22all those guys played.

01:23What came down from that to get an offensive rhythm that you would have liked?

01:26A lot of different things, I mean, a little bit of everything, you're right.

01:32We felt like we had a lot of get back on second 10 pluses, met strange times.

01:37It felt like they did a good job up front.

01:39I mean, they bring pressure, they can win some one on ones.

01:42They've really invested in that front and it shows.

01:45They did a good job on the back end, just mixing it up.

01:47And the third quarter just felt like a strange quarter.

01:50We had two relatively efficient plays and then a fumble.

01:53So I don't think we got the ball back till four minutes left in the quarter.

01:56And so just the second half felt a little strange, but

01:58I thought we did a good job responding the right way and getting down there.

02:00And unfortunately, kicking a field goal from the 11 and

02:03then scoring a touchdown there at the end.

02:05What did you see on the check from Joe on the touchdown?

02:08On the points after our touchdown?

02:10What did he check at the line?

02:11What was the-

02:12Well, no, I mean, we called two plays and then he took off on a run once he saw

02:15the coverage, so great awareness by him to see how they were playing us.

02:18And they're double, double, they're trying to take away our two receivers over there.

02:22And he just did a good job pulling the ball down,

02:24finding the run lane and finishing.

02:25That was pretty impressive.

02:26Was that more instincts or was that the call or?

02:29That's instincts by him, that no, it was a pass play.

02:32And he just can see that kind of they've overloaded that side over there with

02:35the coverage and he found a good rush lane once the rushers kind of took off and

02:39used his feet to do the rest.

02:41How much you addressed finishing the right way,

02:43you get the touchdown to kind of put it away tonight,

02:45something you guys haven't been able to get.

02:46Yeah.

02:47Is there a difference there or something tonight?

02:48It's a great point because our defense kept us in it,

02:52our offense was a little sloppy at times tonight.

02:55But there in the fourth quarter when we needed it, everyone just stepped up.

02:58And everyone did their job, everybody finished,

03:00I thought special teams put us in some really good positions with some of those

03:02punts, and then defensively obviously getting the ball back and

03:06offense finished with the touchdown.

03:08So no better way to do it, start building on that.

03:12And hopefully we can string some wins together.

03:14Did you see how close the fumble was to being recovered or

03:16did you choose not to look at that replay?

03:18At that point in the game, they told me the ball was ours.

03:21And that was just getting the next call ready was the most important thing.

03:25Concerning, you don't say anything, the guys know not to fumble, but

03:28I mean that moment, what's your response to seeing that fumble at that moment?

03:32Yeah, it's, I mean,

03:34the number one thing we have to do in four minute mode is ball security.

03:38And so that's, certainly he doesn't wanna do that, and

03:41he's done a great job of that, and we'll correct it and move on.

03:44You obviously know how tough Joe is, but when you see Joe take a hit,

03:48go to the ground, then go to the tent, what is going through your head?

03:50Yeah, I mean, he took some hits in that game.

03:53And they did a really nice job, you gotta give them a lot of credit.

03:58Because they made it difficult for us, we didn't get in a great rhythm.

04:03And so again, they affected us back there, and credit to them.

04:08But yeah, you don't wanna see him go down and

04:10have to go in the tent, cuz that was a big hit.

04:11Getting that hit, and on the next third down, he makes that throw to Yoshi.

04:16Yeah.

04:17In the wake of getting drilled, I mean, I'm glad you said something.

04:20Yeah, I mean, that's the payoff.

04:21There's sometimes we're extending plays, and it doesn't go our way.

04:23And there's other times where he hit the big one to Jamar.

04:28Our first drive of the third quarter, that essentially put us in scoring range.

04:31I know how it worked out.

04:33And at the end of the game, hitting that one to Yoshi was huge as well.

04:35So it's not always going to be perfect, but

04:40more times than not, he steps up and

04:41makes those big plays when he's kind of moving around there in the pocket.

04:44When you're playing a front like that,

04:46how important is it for Joe to be able to extend the play for another half second?

04:49It is, and it's on me to do a good job of keeping them off balanced.

04:52And so I don't feel like, as a play caller,

04:56I was ever in a great rhythm to keep them off balanced.

04:58And our guys did a good job there in the second half,

05:01I thought, taking control of the game.

05:03So much of what BJ does doesn't show up in the stat sheet.

05:06Just how excited are you for him personally to have the kind of stats on a night like

05:09Yeah, really excited.

05:10You know, I know how important it is when a guy plays for a team and

05:12they come back here and DJ stepped up.

05:15And some of the play, he doesn't get the credit for

05:19the production because he creates production for other guys and vice versa.

05:22And so it was good to see the hit he got on the quarterback where the ball popped up

05:27in the air and Jermaine was able to come down with it.

05:30So again, happy to have all those guys back.

05:33Rico had a big bounce back game today, how good do you feel for him?

05:36Yeah, I mean, he's done a great job.

05:39He's punted really well for us, done a good job flipping the field,

05:43getting them inside the 15, 10 yard line.

05:45And obviously, they did a great job with the operation today on the field goals and

05:49PITs.

05:50We saw that Jermaine Burke wasn't active today.

05:52What kind of led to him being down there?

05:53Absolutely nothing to read into that.

05:55That was just a week to week decision we made based on some other things that

05:58could potentially happen with some of the game plan stuff.

06:02But he's done a great job.

06:03He keeps approaching it the right way.

06:05We've got a lot of confidence growing in him.

06:08And so that's just a this week thing.

06:09And we'll continue to make those decisions as we go.

06:11But there's nothing to read into there.

06:14The run game didn't give you much until the end.

06:16I mean, you hung with it, right?

06:17I mean, you hung with it, right?

06:20Yeah, you get stuck with it.

06:22The last touchdown call was a great adjustment by Frank.

06:25It wasn't a play that we carried that week.

06:27We briefed it with the guys right before that drive that it may come up in

06:30the drive.

06:31And so again, it's a play that we've repped 100 times in training camp and

06:37over the course of the season.

06:38But I thought it was a really good adjustment there by Frank and

06:41the players handled it the right way and it hit him right at the right time.

06:43It's something that wasn't in the plan this week.

06:45Wasn't in this plan this week.

06:46We've run it a lot this season, so the players knew how to handle it.

06:48But it was a good adjustment there by Frank.

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