Zac Taylor Reacts to Bengals WIN over Raiders, Explains Why Jermaine Burton Was Inactive

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

Transcript

00:00It's good to get a win.

00:01I thought the defense, after that first drive,

00:04did a great job buckling up, making them punt,

00:07creating turnovers, really did a good job

00:09allowing the offense to play aggressively

00:11and get some points on the board and play with the lead.

00:14And so, and the offense did that.

00:15We kind of hit a lull there late third, early fourth quarter.

00:19But just proud to see the way that we finished it there

00:21in the fourth.

00:21I know they had that last drive, but turnovers

00:23and capitalizing with points, this

00:26is when we needed going into a short week.

00:28And so, again, we'll capitalize on this

00:30and keep building going forward.

00:32Supposed to play the full season without a win?

00:34No, no, I mean, yeah, maybe this season.

00:36But my point being, there's a lot more we can do better.

00:40Just some little things here or there

00:42that kind of stunted some of the drives on offense

00:44where I think it could have been a bigger output day had

00:47we just been on the same page with some communication things.

00:49And so, again, there's always things to grow from.

00:52We've hit the midway point of the season now.

00:54So now we need to start playing our best moving forward.

00:56How important was it for that first drive

00:58after they come out and score for you guys

01:00to go down and answer the ball?

01:01It's always big.

01:02It's always big to match them and then

01:04allow our defense to take a deep breath

01:05and get the stops that they then got.

01:07So, again, the first drive, they've done that.

01:09I think several of the last games,

01:10they've scored right out the gate.

01:12Las Vegas has.

01:13And so, weathered the storm and really put ourself

01:16in a good position on that first third and 10 with DJ Ivy.

01:18Got a DPI call, that's just the way it goes sometimes.

01:21So then you just got to recover and try

01:22to find a way to get a stop.

01:24But I thought the rest of the first half,

01:26everybody played really well.

01:27What did you think of Joe Burrow's performance?

01:29I thought he did a great job.

01:31There was a tremendous rhythm we had there on offense

01:34going to the midway point in the third quarter.

01:36Again, some things that were frustrating

01:37that stunted our drives there on the three or four.

01:40Jack Jones made a great, I mean, he made the same play

01:42against the Chargers last year.

01:44So he's an aggressive player.

01:45And sometimes he catches you on stuff like that.

01:47And they capitalized on that.

01:48But I thought, overall, he did an outstanding job.

01:51Is that how important was it for the way

01:52he extended plays, especially when

01:54you were in the red zone before the touchdown passes came

01:56when he extended?

01:56That's the red zone, man.

01:57I mean, there's scheme.

02:00You try to give yourself the best scheme.

02:02But about 50% of the time, you're

02:03scoring on scrambled or extended opportunities.

02:05And so the great quarterbacks in this league understand that.

02:08The great offense is the league play off

02:10of that with the receivers, running backs, and tight ends.

02:13I think they all caught scrambled touchdowns today.

02:15Did a great job being in phase.

02:17And Joe found them, and the line did a great job protecting.

02:19That's a tough group.

02:21I mean, they're defense, man.

02:22They show up to play every single week.

02:24I got a lot of respect for them and proud of the way

02:26our guys handled that pressure.

02:27Zach, Trey's had a number of really good games

02:30in his career here with you.

02:31Where would you put today's performance up there?

02:33Four sacks, seven quarterback hits, that's tough to match.

02:35And so again, there were those moments

02:39where we needed that big stop on defense.

02:41And a lot of guys came up big for us.

02:43But Trey came up the biggest.

02:45And we're counting on him to make those plays.

02:47And he did that today.

02:48Proud of him.

02:48How many of the receivers step up today in the second?

02:51Yeah.

02:53Yeah, I mean, Gisecki's a guy we've been able to lean on.

02:55And I know there was a lull there in the season

02:57where he doesn't get a lot of targets.

02:59But that's just the way this offense goes sometimes,

03:01is Joe does a great job dispersing it

03:04to wherever the concept's calling for

03:05and the defense gives you.

03:06And Mike has done an excellent job capitalizing

03:09on his opportunities.

03:10Is that part of being a pro, is that whatever?

03:12You don't know when your number's going to be called.

03:14Yeah.

03:14When it's called, you have to kind of be prepared.

03:15There's no doubt.

03:16And there's always conversations we're having with the guys.

03:19Everyone's human.

03:19Everyone wants to be involved and help us win.

03:22And so especially, there's always

03:24stretches where we're not winning.

03:26And there's a lot of guys on the team,

03:27I want to make sure, hey, your opportunity's going to come.

03:29And I know you want to help us win.

03:31And we're going to find ways to do that.

03:32And I think a lot of guys did that today for us.

03:34Third time this year, I think you've

03:36double-dipped the touchdowns before and after halftime.

03:39Yeah.

03:40You did it today.

03:41How important was that?

03:42It's critical.

03:43And again, for us, there's times we

03:46take the ball to start the game to try

03:47to set the tone on offense and get seven

03:49and put them in a hole.

03:50Today was one of those days where

03:52we were ready to defer and do what we just did at half.

03:55And I think it gave us a lot of momentum.

03:56And it played out perfectly, scoring with 31 seconds

04:00off the half and defense holding them.

04:02And then offense being able to bump that up to a two-score

04:04lead was a big, big part of the game.

04:05Obviously, Jermaine was a big part of the game coming in.

04:08Yeah.

04:09Was that effective today?

04:10Yeah, Jermaine was a big part of the plan.

04:12And as the week unfolded, there was a lot of positive things

04:15people were saying about him.

04:16And it was all true.

04:17And then late in the week, we just

04:18got to handle all of our business the right way.

04:20And so I can sit here and say it was a difficult decision

04:23to make him inactive.

04:24But it was absolutely the right decision

04:26with all the information we had.

04:27And he's a guy who's going to have, I think,

04:29a really good career here.

04:30And we're going to support him.

04:31And he wants to help us win and do things the right way.

04:34And today was just a necessary step we had to make.

04:37But we're going to get him back in the fold

04:39and keep him moving along and becoming a pro.

04:42And there's a lot of things to love about Jermaine.

04:44So his best days are in front of him.

04:46And we're going to make sure he achieves that.

04:48Is there any discussion of further discipline

04:50with him involved in this?

04:51No, I think we'll handle it the way that we handle it.

04:53What was his reaction when he found out he was tired?

04:56Jermaine understands the situation.

04:58Hey, Ned.

04:59When you guys drafted him, you stood up at that podium

05:01and said that you guys, as an organization,

05:03felt really good about the pick, knowing the character

05:06concerns that came with it.

05:07Do you still feel that way?

05:08I do.

05:09I still think that his best days are ahead of him.

05:11We're going to help him get there.

05:12And he wants it for himself.

05:13We want it for him as well.

05:16Sometimes you have to do things that

05:18are like what we did to help him get to that next part.

05:21And he understands that.

05:23And we're going to help him get there.

05:25Is it a bit perplexing still that the number

05:27is going to be called and the game will be

05:29that he just doesn't make himself available?

05:31Again, we're there to support him.

05:32And we're going to make sure he gets there.

05:34What about, obviously, it was a tight end today.

05:39How critical was that?

05:42I hate to think about it.

05:43I don't know all the information yet with Eric

05:46because he was having such a tremendous rookie season.

05:50And just an all-around great football player.

05:54He's got that mindset that you got.

05:57And he means a lot to this offense.

05:59And when he went out, it certainly

06:01affected a lot of things.

06:02In the middle of the drive, it affected a lot of things.

06:05That's why we've got the best tight end coach in the country

06:07in James Casey.

06:07And we've got the smartest tight end group in the country

06:10with the guys we have.

06:11And they problem solved it in the drive.

06:12They problem solved it during multiple drives, halftime.

06:15We had a lot of 12 and 13 in this plan.

06:17And those guys did an excellent job handling that.

06:19And sometimes you would see there's

06:21a little quirkiness on the field.

06:22And that led to a delay game.

06:24There's some things that you try to iron out in the moment.

06:26That wasn't always perfect.

06:27But I have the utmost trust in that group

06:30to overcome a loss like that.

06:32And find us a way to get through the game.

06:34And then we'll move on accordingly.

06:36I think you'll probably have a better update tomorrow.

06:39But do you fear Eric's injury to be an issue?

06:41I worry about it.

06:42I don't have all the information yet.

06:43But I'm concerned about it.

06:45Anything further on BJ Hill?

06:47Not yet.

06:48Oh, I'll wait till tomorrow to get that one.

06:50What did you learn today about Chase Brown?

06:52Kept with it.

06:53He took a nice shot to the ribs at one point in the game.

06:56And was able to come back out there

06:59and do a great job for us.

07:00He's a tough guy.

07:01And to get over 100 yards, that's a credit to him.

07:03That's a credit to the linemen and the receivers

07:05and the tight ends.

07:07Great job with the scheme there by Frank.

07:08And so again, just proud of the effort.

07:11A lot of Selena on that.

07:13When you can play with a lead, you're

07:14able to keep hammering that and getting some runs like we got.

07:17And so we haven't given ourself enough of those opportunities

07:20lately.

07:21This is a game where when you finally

07:22get a 2-3 score lead, you can lean on that

07:24and wear them down and get some bigger runs.

07:26And we afforded ourselves those opportunities today.

07:29Going off that, how did you feel about the O-line today?

07:32Down a man and still able to handle it.

07:33I thought they did a great job.

07:34I thought guys really stepped up.

07:36Devin Cochran stepped up.

07:37We ran the Amarius slip play.

07:39So he's got to come out on the next play.

07:42Devin came in, was able to hold it down, get a touchdown.

07:44Cody Ford stepped up at left tackle.

07:46Matt Lee goes in there in some of our big groupings.

07:49And then our force inside that's always

07:51there with Amarius is really impressive.

07:53Max Crosby is one of the, I've got as much respect for him

07:56as I've got for any player in this league.

07:58And just down in, down out what he brings to that team.

08:01And so he was a huge concern of ours.

08:04And I thought our guys were all hands on deck,

08:06trying to do everything we could to make sure

08:08that we could limit the effectiveness over there

08:10on that side.

08:11Did your problem with the late hits

08:12that Crosby had on Burrow?

08:14You know, I could see that.

08:15Burrow didn't the way they were talking afterwards.

08:19And so I think it was just a unique situation

08:21with the timing and the whistle and full speed.

08:25I wanted to, but I think I might have

08:29been close to overreacting when I saw how it played out.

08:31After third and one and fourth and one last week,

08:34did you make a conscious effort this week

08:36to win those types of moments?

08:37Shotgun spread for opening?

08:39We always try to create the best plan we have.

08:41And sometimes it's not going to go your way.

08:44And those are always going to be huge decisions that are

08:47second guess as they should be.

08:49And so again, we put the same time and energy in this week

08:52that we always do.

08:53And I thought it was a good plan.

08:55Our guys did a great job executing it.

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