Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor (Post-Game Transcript)
On the return of Bengals QB Joe Burrow and WR Ja’Marr Chase:
“It was good to see. I thought that was a strong start for them. First, the drive overcame a penalty, put us in a first and goal from the 20-yard line to overcome it with the touchdown and to come back in the second drive with the touchdown for zero I thought was great to see.”
On the hopes of the defense and feelings about the start of the game:
Well, obviously defense, we’re trying not to show a lot of what’s going on, so we’re trying to keep it as little as possible and let guys win some one-on-ones. And today there were a lot of 50-50 plays that I thought Philly made, especially early in the game that gave them some extended drives there. But overall, just as a team, this was a team effort in the loss, 34 to 27, whatever it was, a seven-point game. We gave up seven points on field goals. We lined up offside on a field goal, they missed it, they got three points. We hit the center on a field goal that turned into a touchdown. So that ended up being a four-point drive set, seven points right there, penalty on a long kickoff return that we had given up, long point return, threw an interception, and gave them the ball in scoring position. And so those are all things that as a team, we can’t tolerate. We’ve got to play better team football than that. I expect our guys to fight these guys, come back, and they give us a chance at the end that I appreciate. But there’s a lot of things that we have to fix and correct as a team. That’s not one unit, that’s not one person, that’s not one position. It is a whole team effort that we got to fix in order to win our next game. I know you’ll probably be able to give us a better answer once you watch the film.”
On first impressions of Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase tonight:
“It’s real tough for me to give an answer on that one”
On the touchdown and how it compared to the one in Dallas:
“Same route, same play, same just other side of the field. That was about the only difference.”
On what makes Bengals TE Tanner Hudson a key contributor:
“I mean he understands the coverages and where to be and the body position. He can catch those back shoulder throws and not just on verticals down the field but on the horizontal stuff as well. And so he made some nice plays for us there at the end.”
On Bengals QB Joe Burrow feeling pressure from Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase and his TD:
“Well, I think first just the threat of being hit is a big reason why we want those guys out there to want Joe out there because he knows he’s not going to get hit in practice. So, I think just for it to feel real in a game, whether he’s getting hit or not, I think he has the knowledge that it’s possible someone could lose a one-on-one. I get hitting on the backside so that a free runner could come. That’s a whole different matter, you can’t simulate that rep in practice. So, I think it’s good. That’s a big part of why we’re doing this and so I think it’ll be beneficial for us in the long run.”
On what was seen by Bengals QB Jake Browning:
“Yeah. I just thought that in the second group, we got to do a better job getting in a rhythm and that was hard.”
On the first-team offensive line in the first two series:
“Obviously I have to go back and watch this series, but I felt really good about what they did. You can’t help playing against Philly who just won the Super Bowl. They’ve got great depth on their team and they got, look at the roster. They’ve got really good players on defense. It’s not their starters out there, but I was still happy with how they went out there and did their jobs and were able to get 14 points on the board.”
On Bengals RB Tahj Brooks showing tonight:
There were some good things. I’m sure there were some things that we’ll correct as well.
That’s one you’ve got to go back to check on the film.
On the running game:
Yeah. Overall, we got to get more out of our run game over the course of the preseason game. Sometimes how these games go is satisfying. Every run was an efficient run there on those first two drives. We had the third round run that got it for us. So I was pleased with how that worked.
On Bengals K Evan McPherson:
It’s great you battle some go forth down stuff. You want to see Evan get some opportunities. You want to see them, to get some opportunities. So, I was pleased obviously with how that performance was when I thought his kickoffs were really good. I mean those were right on the inch yard line forcing a return. I don’t know, not a kicking specialist, but it is hard to do much better than that. So I was pleased with that as well.”