Joe Burrow and Zac Taylor React to Bengals Week 11 LOSS to Chargers

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

Transcript

00:00Joe, what do you think is lacking for you guys to not be able to win these one score

00:05games?

00:06I missed some throws down the stretch that I usually make, so that was disappointing.

00:11We just need to make the winning plays at the end.

00:15Joe, why was the offense not able to get it going in the first half?

00:21It's tough to say.

00:23I mean, we moved the ball, we just settled for two field goals, and then their front

00:30was disruptive today.

00:33Joe, what do you say to Evan after he misses those two field goals there at the end?

00:39Nothing.

00:41Joe, how do you explain the way this season has gone, where it feels like we've been in

00:45the spot after so many games, they've all felt one play away, like you've made so many

00:49winning plays.

00:50Are you able to explain it?

00:51How do you explain it?

00:53Just got to make the plays, just got to make the plays.

00:57And we have it down the stretch, and we're not a good enough team to, our margin of error

01:06is slim, so we got to make those plays.

01:09I got to make those plays, we all got to make those plays.

01:12Is there a play that's sticking out to you in your head right now as you go through it?

01:16I missed Jamar on the go, and I missed Jamar on the slant.

01:19What kind of adjustments did you make this second half?

01:22He had that, he scored three touchdowns in about nine minutes.

01:26What adjustments did you make?

01:28We got a turnover, we hit some shots down the field, started to run the ball well.

01:36We didn't really make any adjustments, we just started executing better.

01:41Zach is telling us that he has full confidence that you guys will put together a run and

01:45still make a run at the playoffs.

01:47Do you have that same confidence?

01:49I hope so.

01:50What gives you faith, given the 4-7 record that you can do?

01:58You know, I guess we'll find out where we're at.

02:04I'm not happy with where we're at, I don't think anybody is, but all you can do is come

02:12back tomorrow and try to get better.

02:15Has this been the most frustrating season you've ever had?

02:17Yeah.

02:18Why?

02:19Pretty self-explanatory.

02:21Joe, you've seen Evan make plenty of big kicks, game-winning kicks, in big moments.

02:27You said you wouldn't say anything to him necessarily, but were you confident when he

02:32was going out there for the second one that he was going to make it after the minute?

02:35Yeah, I was.

02:36The second touchdown of Jamar, it looked like you were kind of motioning with your hands.

02:43What happened?

02:44If you could break that down a little bit.

02:46It doubled him.

02:47You know, the line gave me time, I was able to sit back there and kind of direct to where

02:54I wanted him to go, and he made a great play.

02:57I didn't see what happened, I was on the ground, but it sounds like a good play.

03:02Joe, a lot of times late in the season, to have a bye week coming up like this, teams

03:07would rather have it a little bit earlier.

03:09How does it fit now, and with what you guys need to do from here to regroup?

03:16Yeah, it's a tough one to end on, going into the bye week.

03:22I'd prefer to go and play, but it'll be nice to get a little break.

03:28It seems like you feel like you have no answers right now.

03:31Do you have any idea why this season unraveled the way it did?

03:35It's not making the plays at the end of the game to win.

03:38Was it especially frustrating the first half with the way it did, given you guys came out

03:43here early and you guys felt like this would be a really good opportunity for you to get

03:48the season going?

03:49Did that make it that much harder?

03:53I wouldn't say that.

03:54I just think it was a tough loss.

03:57First half didn't go our way.

03:58We fought back, had our opportunities to seal the deal, and we did.

04:05There was a lot of orange out in the stands.

04:07They followed you out here.

04:08Anything you want to say to them?

04:10Any words of encouragement?

04:12We always appreciate the fans.

04:16They're a big part of what we do, and we'll always appreciate the support.

04:24Hopefully we can come back from the bye and get a win at home.

04:28It's a disappointing loss because I don't know how many teams in the league are going

04:32to come in 24-6 at halftime and dig their way back, fight the way our guys did, or are

04:38going to fight back.

04:39There's going to be some opportunities we had to finish it off, and it didn't go our way.

04:44Proud of our guys.

04:45Sick for our guys.

04:46Those guys left it all on the field and gave us everything they had.

04:49Stuck together.

04:50Made play after play to get us back in that thing.

04:54They just made more of a play than we did.

04:56That's been the story of our season so far.

04:59By no stretch is our season over with.

05:01We had a chance to use the bye to get back and get into a groove here in the last part

05:06of the season.

05:07We're going to have to win a lot of these, obviously.

05:09We put ourselves in a tough spot, but I believe what I just saw from our guys, I've seen it

05:12every single week, we're going to be right there in the end and just got to finish these

05:15games off.

05:18Our guys were just confident.

05:21Over years we've been in these situations before, and you just got to take it one possession

05:25at a time.

05:26That's all we preached at halftime.

05:28That's what we preached after every possession to start the third quarter.

05:31The defense just kept making stops, and the offense just kept scoring points, and guys

05:34kept stepping up and making plays.

05:37You thought with no doubt we're going to finish this thing off.

05:39We had our opportunities.

05:40We crossed the 50 a couple times and just couldn't get seven or three on the board.

05:46Then they got one more possession and they knocked it in.

05:48That's the story of the game.

05:54We expect to make them, certainly.

05:56We got a lot of confidence in Evan, and it just wasn't his day today.

06:01How do you explain the performance of the defense in the first half?

06:07They got all the momentum.

06:09We started getting some three and outs there on offense.

06:12Gave up touchdowns on several back-to-back drives there.

06:16Just needed a break.

06:17Needed halftime.

06:18Needed to readjust and just get our feet underneath us.

06:21Guys got confidence in each other, and they stepped up and guys were flying around making

06:24plays, and that's the defense we expect to see.

06:27Momentum turned our way, and guys were just stepping up.

06:30I saw so many guys make big plays in the second half, and that's what we're counting on.

06:36Just couldn't get it done.

06:37There was a lot of frustration, obviously, Zach, in the first half.

06:40How did you manage to contain it?

06:42How did you try to?

06:44It's emotional.

06:45When you're down like we were down, and we weren't generating a lot of momentum our way.

06:49Guys are frustrated.

06:50We get into halftime and settle down.

06:52It's okay for guys to show emotion.

06:54It's okay for guys to be frustrated.

06:56That doesn't bother me.

06:58We just got to take a deep breath, and we did.

07:00There was still confidence in the locker room, and you had to see it because you saw in the

07:04second half the way that those guys came out and played.

07:06As badly as you need to put the streak together, how does the bye week fit into all of this

07:12equation now and how you want to regroup?

07:15Just gives us a chance to be healthy.

07:17There's not a lot of wholesale changes we need to make.

07:18Every game we lose comes down to the last play of the game.

07:20We just got to find a way to win these and generate some momentum for ourselves.

07:25Bye week, get healthy, and then come back.

07:29We've got a huge divisional game at home, and we've got to find a way to create some

07:33momentum for ourselves.

07:35You guys put Josh Newton in for Cam Taylor Britt until DJ Turner got hurt and then had

07:40to come back in.

07:42What was the reason?

07:44Consistency.

07:45Why do you think that's kind of lacking from Cam Taylor Britt?

07:48He's working on it.

07:50We talk about it a lot.

07:52We still have high expectations for him.

07:54When you have a corner that's lacking consistency like that, you can go to the next guy.

07:58With Evan, he misses back-to-back kicks.

08:00How do you treat that?

08:02He's still got confidence in him.

08:04What happened offensively?

08:06What changed in the third quarter?

08:08Just the three and outs.

08:10We were putting ourselves against the sticks.

08:13We had some second tens, some get-back-on-tracks.

08:16They were playing with a lot of confidence because we weren't doing a lot to take that

08:21confidence from them after those first two or three drives when we got points on the board.

08:26Again, they got us in some three and outs, and our defense was stuck out there on the

08:30field.

08:32We just needed to readjust to halftime, and our guys did a good job of that.

08:35You had that great stretch in the first nine minutes.

08:38That nine-minute stretch in the third quarter when you tied it.

08:40What was working for you?

08:43That first first down is usually the key for us to get a chance to get some momentum, get

08:48some flow, get a better feel for what they were trying to do to us.

08:52I thought the coaches did a great job adjusting as the game went to what we were expecting

08:58to see coverage-wise.

09:00Lineman did a great job holding up for Joe, moved through the ball 50 times again, got

09:05us enough in the run game where we were keeping ourselves on track.

09:08I thought the lineman and Chase did a great job there.

09:11The protection was good, and we were able to score some points.

09:14Do you have anything on EJ Tarver?

09:16Clavicle.

09:18I don't know how long that'll be.

09:20How do you explain the way all these games seem to be ending the same way?

09:23I can't.

09:25I wish I could.

09:27It's a team we believe in, a team that believes in each other.

09:29It's sick the way that these games are ending and the way that we feel coming off the field

09:34every week.

09:35The feeling I got when I got to talk to the team in the locker room after all these endings

09:39this year.

09:41What I just keep telling the team is, at some point, this has got to help us.

09:45At some point, we've got to find some momentum, and we've got to get on a run.

09:49We've got to find ourselves in a good position where we reflect back.

09:52We don't ever want to use a loss for good, but it's got to help us in some way.

09:57We've played some really good football teams.

09:59We've just got to find a way to finish it.

10:03I keep saying that.

10:05Obviously, more play away every time I say it, but I've still got the confidence that

10:11we can get this thing done.

10:13To that point, what's the balance you find as the head coach?

10:15Obviously, you have a system that you really believe in, and it's led you to a lot of success,

10:19but in these games that are ending in the same fashion of, you said you don't want to

10:23make wholesale changes, but by continuing to...

10:25I think we all watch the game.

10:27We can see it's just coming down to one play in every single game.

10:31Why would you make a big wholesale change when it's just coming down to one?

10:33That, to me, is just panic.

10:35That's not what we're about.

10:37We believe in what we're doing.

10:39Again, we're not going to be those people that just panic because the record's four and seven,

10:44and we start making all these significant changes.

10:46That's not what the answer is.

10:48We play good football.

10:50We're a good football team.

10:52We believe in our guys.

10:54We've got good systems in place.

10:56Again, we're going to hang in there and support each other and find a way to get this thing done.

10:59If we can get it done, it's going to be a dang good season.

11:00Again, it's not so far what we would have written for ourselves,

11:05but I'm telling you, I stand here today with the utmost belief

11:08that we can still get this done on the back half of our schedule.

11:11Do you realize the pain you must be in when this team still has a shot at making the play?

11:14I'm not just saying it just to convince others.

11:17I say what I believe right now.

11:19When you watch this team compete and the guys we got and the coaches we got,

11:23I love going to work every single day.

11:26It's not something you dread.

11:28You're four and seven, and you don't want to be around these people.

11:30It's the opposite of that because I can see that something special can still be there.

11:35Again, people may not believe it, and that's okay.

11:38I get that, but I've seen this group do some really good things before,

11:41and I still believe that we can get this thing turned around and do that.

11:44Zach, you hate the word desperation.

11:47Is there a sense of desperation now that perhaps a team could play a little bit better?

11:52No. We still have the same mentality that we're just taking it one game at a time.

11:56That's the way this league works.

11:57We've got a lot of experience doing it this way where you just focus one game at a time,

12:03and you find that win, and next thing you know, you can catch some momentum,

12:07and the team's got confidence, and people rally behind you,

12:10and you can still have a pretty special season.

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