Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor on Preseason Win Over Commanders

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

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00:00He created the opportunities for himself.

00:03He's done enough in practice to where we wanted to put him in positions to be at the point of attack when he was in the game there.

00:09And he rewarded himself with touchdowns and catches and extending drives and someone that's reliable for the quarterbacks and all of us.

00:19And so just proud of him.

00:21This is the last team he was with, if I'm not mistaken.

00:25So probably a neat situation for him to come back on this field and do what he just did.

00:30If that's what you do when you game captain, he's coming back a little bit.

00:34You know, him and Joe Giles Harris, there's a lot of guys that have had really good camps.

00:38Those are two guys that have just quietly done what we asked them to do and continue to work every single day to get better.

00:45And, again, there could have been a bunch of guys we put out there.

00:49But it just felt appropriate for today, those two guys, one on offense, one on defense.

00:53How important was it for Jake to do what he did?

00:56I thought Jake did a good job, got a good rhythm.

00:58We had some back-to-back plays that we got to look at pre-snap, what happened.

01:01I'm not entirely sure that stalled out that one drive.

01:06But I thought Jake did a really good job keeping the ball moving forward, finding completions, managing.

01:12There were some check situations he had to get into defensively that I thought he did a good job of.

01:16And so I was proud of the way Jake played.

01:18You know, he got the ball in the minus two one time and got us all the way across.

01:21We felt like we should have gotten a little more there.

01:23But Jake did a good job moving us.

01:25Were you holding your breath on that burrow scramble that felt like it was never that good?

01:30You know, it's one of those things for him.

01:32That's what preseason football is for.

01:34Do I love seeing that?

01:35No, I don't.

01:36But at the same time, he's out there learning what he can and can't do.

01:40And we've seen him get out of that stuff before.

01:43And that's why he's playing in the preseason, a chance to feel what it's like to feel in a game.

01:49And there's times where he's going to get out of that and get a big play.

01:51And there's going to be times where we're in a tough spot on the two-yard line, you know.

01:54And so he gets a chance to feel all that and learn from it.

01:58And so, again, I think it was a good three good series that we'll continue to grow from.

02:02Was he getting three regardless?

02:04In my head, it was always two to three.

02:06I don't know what I'd said publicly.

02:07But, you know, I think if that second drive was a clean touchdown drive, maybe that would have prevented it.

02:14But we gave him a third one because of the way the second one ended.

02:17Did Cody Ford get injured in practice?

02:19And is that a serious injury?

02:20Yeah, I wouldn't say a serious injury.

02:22I didn't see any reason to play him tonight through that injury.

02:26I think if it was a game, he would have been available.

02:28He definitely would have played.

02:29So it's better just to let him rehab through.

02:31Four out of five touchdown drives through that first group of Burrell.

02:35Where do you think the offense is?

02:37Well, there's always things we can clean up.

02:39And so I don't think it's where we want to be yet for Cleveland.

02:43Again, we'll assess this tape and see where we were good in the protection run game and how detailed we were in the pass game.

02:48But I like where this offense and this team is at right now at this point in training camp.

02:53I really do.

02:54The defense has – we've had some days where it's been difficult days.

02:58You know, the defense has definitely won the day.

03:00And so I like where guys are at.

03:02From a health perspective, we're in a good spot, all things considering, where we're at in training camp.

03:07And so we just got to have one more great week.

03:10And then we kind of get that bonus week for Cleveland and be ready to go.

03:12Is there anything that jumps out to you from the two games that you played the starters on defense that you really like and feel good about?

03:18Yeah, there's things we're going to continue to build on.

03:20We're not pushing the envelope with what we're asking them to do right now.

03:25Playing as close to the best as possible.

03:26Obviously, we shouldn't have given up big runs like that.

03:28So those are things that we have to clean up.

03:30You know, I think there's probably been about three of them so far in these two games.

03:33So those are things that we don't want and we can avoid.

03:36And whatever the call is, we should do a better job at that.

03:38But at the same time, I know what I see every day in practice, and I'm excited about the direction of our defense.

03:42Getting that goal line rep with Chase and able to punch it in, is that a bonus in the preseason to be able to check that one off?

03:50Yeah, I mean, that's the mentality.

03:52I think we're on the one-yard line there, fourth and goal.

03:55So it's good for our guys to get somewhat of a surge there and push the ball in the end zone.

03:59And, you know, we're going to be in those situations at some point this year.

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