Zac Taylor on Bengals' Win Over Broncos

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

12/29/2024

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00:00Being pieced together, just how long the game was, overtime.

00:04I mean, that took every second of that overtime.

00:06I mean, offensively, we had three possessions.

00:08Defense got two stops.

00:09Challenge these guys, man, leave it all on the field.

00:12We'll take care of you next week in this final game.

00:14And they did just that.

00:17I want to start with the defense.

00:18I mean, two stops in overtime is unbelievable,

00:23kind of given the momentum change that maybe got us there

00:27in overtime, for them to rise up and get those two stops

00:31and allow the offense the shot to go win it, big time stuff.

00:35And then just offensively, these guys just keep moving.

00:38And I know how many punts we have, the one in overtime,

00:41maybe.

00:43And so again, we had some fourth downs that fell short,

00:46that hurt us, where there's no points there.

00:48But I thought overall, we were pretty efficient.

00:50I know the sack number is going to be high for us

00:53because we dropped back and threw the ball quite a bit,

00:55because we were having so much success.

00:57And there's a myriad of things there that were the reason why.

01:00And they're a good rush front.

01:01But we felt like we needed to keep putting the ball

01:04in the air to keep attacking them.

01:06Did you talk through the math at the end of regulation

01:09and how that kept changing?

01:10Yeah.

01:11Well, the injury changed everything,

01:12because we were going to be able to, I believe,

01:15kick the walk-off field goal with about 10 seconds left.

01:18And no one's fault. I mean, it's so we were telling Chase

01:22to slide at the 1, because we figured they were going

01:24to let us score there, which he did.

01:26He did a great job.

01:27Unfortunately, got his ankle.

01:28And so then they charged us with the timeout.

01:30So then that changes everything.

01:32And so now you're in a second goal on the 1.

01:34And yeah, you can down it and make sure they

01:37use their timeout, and then try to score a touchdown

01:40from there on third down, and maybe kick it on fourth.

01:43But it's just, you saw our low red zone against them.

01:45It's tough all day.

01:46They're going to play goal one against every personnel you got.

01:49Nothing was easy for us, especially the runs down there,

01:53because they got you so overmatched

01:54with their personnel.

01:55And so we just ran the quarterback sneak

01:58and told Joe to score.

01:59And if you score, great.

02:00If you don't, then they'll have to use their timeout.

02:02We'll try something else.

02:03But and then just put it on the defense there to get the stop.

02:07And unfortunately, they scored on the fourth and 1.

02:09But then the defense rose up in overtime and got it back for us.

02:12After that, you missed the game, missed the game

02:14one more time.

02:15Did that change your plan if you got the ball back?

02:16It doesn't matter.

02:17We scored.

02:17So I don't have to answer that.

02:19Is that every record you missed, I mean,

02:21Denver could clinch with a tie and probably

02:22explain your run the clock.

02:24How important was it to get the 3 and out and get it back?

02:26That was really hard for me to process,

02:28because people were asking me that question,

02:29what Denver needed to do.

02:30And we're just trying to win the game.

02:32And so they ran it a couple of times there

02:35and then threw it on third down.

02:37And so saved us some, not that the time

02:39was going to be critical.

02:40I thought we were going to have plenty of time

02:41to go down there and do what we needed to do.

02:45So it's an interesting situation that there's

02:49a lot going through your mind.

02:50You're having to process it.

02:51You're having to make really quick decisions.

02:53It was a tough game.

02:54There's going to be a lot we're going

02:55to review over the next several years,

02:57I'm sure, from this game that'll teach us

02:59a lot about how to handle some of these situations.

03:01But I thought our communication was really good.

03:03Just some really challenging situations we were in.

03:06How do you characterize the big team?

03:10He's a warrior.

03:11He's fighting through a lot there

03:12and just keeps rolling out there and keeps

03:15winning these one-on-ones.

03:16And that game winner was a play we talked about.

03:21After one of the first couple red zone drives

03:24where it was tough, we were low red zone.

03:25And so let's just give T a one-on-one on the same route

03:29Jamar scored on against Pittsburgh

03:30in the opener a couple years ago down here at the buzzer.

03:34And so it's just so hard.

03:36They want to take away one of our guys.

03:38The other one's going to go win.

03:40And then you look at Dre and Mike.

03:42I mean, Dre had, what, 100 and something.

03:45And Gusecki had 10 catches, I think.

03:47And so we had a lot of matchup problems.

03:49And our guy stepped up today in a big way.

03:52Coming into the game, was there any jeopardy

03:54that T might not play given the knee threat?

03:56I know we didn't ask about it on Thursday.

03:57No.

03:58He maintained, what is today, Saturday?

04:01Tuesday, the first meeting we had,

04:04he brought his phone to the meeting.

04:06And he texted me.

04:06I was in the back of the room.

04:08I'm playing.

04:08So it's early in the week.

04:11So I just kind of let those guys get their space early

04:13in the week to get right.

04:14But he was sending me a pretty clear message

04:16that he saw personnel up on the screen

04:18and said, no, no, no.

04:20I'm playing this game.

04:21But he usually wasn't in personnel.

04:23Well, we always have to plan.

04:24You never know.

04:24I mean, when a guy doesn't finish the game,

04:26it's early in the week.

04:27Trust me when I say, we do this all the time.

04:30So that's nothing big.

04:31But that was his way of telling me early on,

04:34you're going to have me.

04:35For a guy like him, you have a night late tonight.

04:37You had the injuries throughout the year.

04:38You had the fumble.

04:39What does that say about his resiliency?

04:41He's had him all year.

04:42He's been resilient every step of the way,

04:44fighting through stuff.

04:45When he's on the field, he is a warrior.

04:49And I mean, he looks so good in warm-ups, man.

04:54Just when you've watched our guys run routes,

04:56I know everybody sees it.

04:57And it gives you a lot of confidence

04:59when you walk on the field to start calling plays for some

05:02of the guys we got.

05:03Can you take us through the second to last play

05:04that they're going to honor?

05:06That set up the game on the first down?

05:07The one to T on the sidelines?

05:09The one to T on the sidelines, yeah.

05:11I mean, there's just so many situations

05:12you learn from over the course of the season.

05:14We've been in this situation a lot.

05:15Baltimore a couple of times.

05:18And so those are moments there's been.

05:22OK, so we're beating them on slants.

05:24OK, same thing against Baltimore.

05:25You go to the well one too many times.

05:27Marlin gets us on one of those last ones.

05:28So you learn a lesson there.

05:30And all right, we hit him on slants.

05:31Now we've got to run by him, take a shot on a go route.

05:34And that's what T won on.

05:36I'm pretty sure that was the guy.

05:37We called that play a million times in this game.

05:39So I think that's what we did there.

05:41It might have been a conversion.

05:43I can't quite remember.

05:44But Joe trusted him to go make a play, and he did.

05:47It seems like you guys have been able to get

05:49a lot of production from Joseph.

05:50Josiah recently said Johnson getting a sack today.

05:53How much did you feel like those guys were getting attacked?

05:56Yeah, and it starts with practice.

05:58They practice really hard.

05:59I mean, they practice like it's the game.

06:01And so you feel confident that that's

06:05going to translate for them.

06:06And you just, I mean, I've said this,

06:08but I stand right behind the quarterback, the scout team

06:09quarterback.

06:10And I almost get hit on every single pass play

06:12because those guys are on a mission,

06:14I think, to make sure that they can affect the passer.

06:18And they've done a great job of that, especially recently.

06:21You talked about the short yardage

06:22and how tough that was.

06:23And what was it that was so tough going down there?

06:26And were you coming into this game with an idea

06:28of going for a lot of fourth downs,

06:29or was that just the way it was?

06:31A lot of those just fell in areas

06:32where you got to go for it.

06:33And the one we got stopped on the first drive

06:37was a fourth and pretty short inches.

06:39And so we're going for it.

06:40Unfortunately, we didn't get it.

06:42The little red zone inside the three, in this situation,

06:45I was going for it.

06:46And so we went for it.

06:48It didn't work out for us.

06:49They do a good job.

06:50I mean, they've got great coaches.

06:51They've got good plans on there.

06:52They make things really hard.

06:53We had a really good red zone plan

06:55that I really believed in that Riscotti and Pitch had done.

06:58It's a great plan.

06:59And it came up for, I mean, we had,

07:01I don't know how many little red zone

07:03plays we had in this game.

07:04It felt like 25 of them.

07:05And so we were just making it up.

07:06I mean, the last play, we just made it up, drew it up.

07:08And it's not hard for the guys to handle.

07:10But we're kind of off the menu at that point.

07:13And our guys are smart players, and they can handle it.

07:16Zach, so many games this year came down to those moments.

07:19Yeah.

07:19And it always seemed to go not your way.

07:21You're right.

07:22You're right.

07:23And this just felt different.

07:24Our team has some momentum right now.

07:29We're certainly, we've learned from other games this season.

07:34And guys just stepped up and made these plays tonight.

07:36And you're right.

07:37There was moments where you probably

07:39could have said to yourself, here we go again.

07:41It's a similar issue that just happened.

07:44But our guys, the other unit picked up

07:47whatever unit had maybe fallen a little bit.

07:50And we were able to go win the game.

07:52And special teams played a big part.

07:53I know we missed a kick.

07:54But special teams played a really big part in this game.

07:57Credit to Darren and that whole unit.

07:59That was a big matchup for us going into this game.

08:02Denver's got a great unit, great returners.

08:04I thought our guys performed really well

08:07and gave us a great chance to have good field position

08:09and limit their field position as well.

08:12Any indication of the severity of Chase's ankle?

08:14I don't know.

08:14I just know it's ankle sprain.

08:15We'll see from there.

08:16Was there any consideration there

08:18to just take him three knees as opposed

08:20to have him slide at the one?

08:23No.

08:25We were just going to keep running the ball

08:27and try to get what we could and try to get down there.

08:29And again, there's going to be a lot we can talk about that.

08:36We felt good about our decision there

08:38just to get down to the one.

08:39You're never assuming it's going to be an injury.

08:41Of course, that's not what you're factoring in.

08:42Trying to get as close as possible

08:44to keep all options on the table.

08:46Our math said there was going to be around 10 seconds

08:49to kick that walk off.

08:50And then, of course, the injury immediately

08:52changes everything.

08:52And so then you've got to pivot and have

08:55a whole different conversation.

08:56Just two injury questions for you.

08:58Is Mim's injury one that you want to consider?

09:01We'll see.

09:02I don't know.

09:03I don't know.

09:04It's the same hand he went into the game with.

09:06So we'll have to see as the week goes.

09:09Is there a possibility that Evan McPherson

09:11would be able to come back?

09:13We'll see.

09:13We'll just keep taking it week to week

09:15and see where that ends up.

09:15Was it one of those things where Mims, he just

09:16tried to see if he could get it going?

09:18Yeah.

09:19It's hard to know because you don't have a lot of contact

09:21during the week.

09:22And so we do our best.

09:23At this point in the year, we're pretty limited

09:25with what we're doing in practice.

09:27It was a six-day week.

09:28So we lost a day of practice, really.

09:30And so there's not a lot of opportunity

09:33to really test it like you're going to test it in a game.

09:37We're going against their guys.

09:38And so again, he just got to the point where he couldn't go.

09:41A few weeks ago, y'all were four and eight.

09:43Y'all were pretty realistic about the odds.

09:45Why haven't y'all been able to come stay alive?

09:47We've known we've had a good football team all along.

09:50And those games are disappointing

09:52that we came up short.

09:54But that didn't change our process.

09:56It didn't change what our guys believed in.

09:58We didn't have to change everything we did.

10:00We still believed in what we were doing.

10:02And now we've won four in a row, and we've

10:04got to make it five in a row.

Zac Taylor on Bengals' Win Over Broncos

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