Zac Taylor on Current State of Cincinnati Bengals Rushing Attack

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

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00:00...game over the past month or so.

00:02What's the message been in general

00:05and the mindset from offensive line

00:07and running backs to coaching staff?

00:08Overall, everyone's got to be more detailed.

00:10So, you know, sometimes it can be a half-second,

00:14getting to your responsibility.

00:16You can be a little more physical at the point of attack,

00:17doing a better job cutting off on the backside,

00:20hitting the hole exactly how it needs to be done,

00:23motion timing, so, again,

00:25we're being really hard on everything

00:28to make sure that no detail is left uncovered

00:30so that we can be better going forward

00:32and let that be a better part of our game.

00:33Is it fair to say it's physically fixable?

00:36Absolutely. I mean, you know,

00:38the difficult part about that last game

00:39is we had four really good possessions,

00:42and then the fourth and one didn't go our way,

00:43and then I think we had three real plays after that,

00:46and so you didn't get a chance to commit to it further,

00:51and that's something we need to find a way to be able to do,

00:53and that starts with me.

00:54How confident are you that, you know,

00:56this game is going to go way wide,

00:58the margin for error to go to the postseason slips a little bit more?

01:02Yeah. I mean, I don't know how many times I can say

01:04we're just focused on this game

01:06and trying to find a win to create some momentum for ourselves.

01:10With that said, there is a lot of talk out there

01:11about the margin for error for this team,

01:13and you have reiterated that the message

01:16remains the same every week.

01:17What makes you confident that the guys at the locker room

01:20can keep that message front of mind

01:23when there is so much noise around?

01:24Yeah, just the quality of people we have in there.

01:27So when you believe in the coaches

01:28and you believe in the players doing it,

01:30there's always a way that you can find,

01:32and I'm confident this team can find a way to do that,

01:35and so when you're in there every day in the meeting rooms

01:38and at practice, you know, it just takes...

01:41We lost some close games.

01:43This was the least close game that we've lost.

01:45I don't really feel like it was what the score indicated.

01:47It got away from us there at the very end

01:49on those last couple plays, and so, again,

01:51these guys still believe that we're right there on the fringe

01:54and we just got to stick with it.

01:55We haven't played half our games yet,

01:57so there's going to be a lot of opportunity left,

01:58and I think when guys understand that opportunity

02:01and what's in front of us,

02:03the opponents we're going to have to play well against

02:05to find a way to get in, these guys still believe in it,

02:08and so it gives me a lot of confidence being around them.

02:11Zach, two-part question.

02:12When you, regarding the trade deadline,

02:15when you see other teams make deals,

02:18I assume you pay attention. Do you have any reaction?

02:20I'm aware of it. It doesn't affect me in any way.

02:23It's just we focus on what we're doing,

02:25and that's really all.

02:28I know I love this time of year

02:30because I get a lot of trade deadline questions,

02:32and it's just on the peripheral.

02:34We're so focused on the Raiders and finding a way to win,

02:38and if ever there's a time,

02:40personnel comes to my office and asks me a question,

02:42and then great, but in the meantime,

02:44we just focus on Las Vegas.

02:47That was going to be my follow-up is,

02:50what percentage of your time, if there's much at all,

02:54dedicated to talking with the front office

02:56and keeping up to date?

02:57All the time, several times a week.

02:59I think it's as good of a relationship as you can have

03:01in terms of the communication with Duke and the other scouts,

03:04and so, again, it's when you've got a really good relationship,

03:08you trust each other,

03:09the communication doesn't have to be every day.

03:11It can be through text, through call,

03:13through popping down in the office,

03:15so we're on the same page there, which is good.

03:16And that goes all the way up to the top of the organization.

03:20Yeah, I really truly think we do as good of a job

03:23as anywhere in terms of the overall communication

03:25and the day-to-day interaction,

03:26and so that's really good communication on that end.

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