Zac Taylor on Bengals' Primetime Matchup vs. Broncos, Injury Updates on Shemar Stewart, Cam Taylor-Britt and more

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

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00:00Is that a good dream rise?

00:01Can you tell us about Shamar, what are they going to be like this week?

00:04Yeah, Shamar, again, we'll see through the end of the week.

00:07It would be a tough time for him this week, but we won't rule him out.

00:12I think Cam's doing pretty good, so we'll work him through.

00:15A little bit of stuff with the trainers to start,

00:17but work him through the week, and I think the extra day is helpful there.

00:21How about Dalton?

00:22Dalton's good.

00:23Dalton came out of the game probably better than expected.

00:26You dissipated him being a starter?

00:27We'll see.

00:28I think we've got some options there,

00:31and so we'll go through the week and see where it ends up at.

00:34How do you think the collective mindset of your guys is?

00:36Good.

00:36I really do.

00:37I mean, I think we've had extra day meetings,

00:40so we got a chance to watch some extra stuff, get an extra walkthrough in.

00:44Really just starting the week, we haven't done anything physical yet,

00:47but I do like where our team's at.

00:49I think they're very realistic with where that game went sideways

00:51and what we've got to do to improve.

00:53Are there any specific messages you give to the guys

00:56another couple days after a game like that,

00:58or is it more or less just sort of an expectation that the guys have to perform?

01:02Well, it's an expectation for our guys when it comes to taking the ball off people

01:05and protecting the football, and it's as simple as that.

01:09What did you like from Caleb Rivers in that game?

01:11I thought he came in as his first real action and held up well versus a good defensive front.

01:17That offers a lot of looks.

01:20Didn't see anything that alarmed me or gave cost of concern,

01:24and that's what we've seen from him really the whole way.

01:26He's only continued to improve.

01:28He's got a lot of great traits, so I've got a lot of confidence in him.

01:31What are you hoping to see from the offensive line in sort of a rebound game

01:35against a really good Denver defensive front?

01:38Yeah, it's really the entirety of the offense.

01:40It's all got to come together.

01:41We've got to do a great job in all the phases of offense to help the run game hurt.

01:45We've got to be great in the pass game.

01:47We've got to be great with all the things to try to mirror that

01:49to give us our best chance.

01:51How can you help Jake deal with the inevitable pressure that Denver's going to be?

01:56That's just part of our game plan, and again, that's not one person helping him.

02:01Everybody's got to be able to do their job to make his job as easy as possible.

02:05Got to do a great job protecting the football.

02:07You know, that's his number one priority.

02:09He's done a great job already with the plan.

02:11He's got a couple days head start, so I think he's in a really good place there.

02:16Really good communication with him, so I feel like we're in a great spot right now.

02:19Which is the balance for him right now, the balance between making plays

02:23and knowing when to move on to the next play and give up

02:26and not let it turn interceptions?

02:27I mean, you know, that's kind of been the thing.

02:29That's – to define that is difficult.

02:31So that's part of playing quarterback in the NFL,

02:33and you've seen him make a lot of great plays in the games he's been in,

02:38and a lot of them are really aggressive.

02:40Some of them have been extended.

02:42We make a great play.

02:43It's celebrated.

02:44It gets tipped and goes the other way.

02:46You're the worst.

02:47And that's the life of a quarterback, and he knows that.

02:51We all know that.

02:53We're supporting him.

02:54And, again, he doesn't – he's still in his first couple games as a starter in his career,

02:59and he's done a great job managing it, in my opinion.

03:01We've got to take care of the football.

03:03We've got to be great around him.

03:05And I expect, you know, we'll have a good week of that.

03:08What do you think about the matchup you saw with Pat Sertan and Jamar last year,

03:13and what are you expecting this week from him?

03:15Two great players, except from which one?

03:19Pat Sertan and Jamar in that matchup.

03:21Yeah, I'm not going to make predictions on what they're going to do to us,

03:24but great corner.

03:27It's always good to watch Jamar match up against great corners,

03:30and if T gets matched up as well, you know,

03:32we always expect our guys to hold their own and win

03:35and fight a winning matchup for us.

03:37A lot of respect for him.

03:39He's a very willing tackle.

03:40He's a physical corner.

03:41He can run.

03:41He can cover.

03:42He can make plays on the balls.

03:43So, again, I think he's a really, really elite corner in this league,

03:49and I think our guys always are up for that challenge.

03:53I mean, the last time you guys played Denver, obviously, T had a huge game.

03:56Do you look back at the last three games and say,

03:59man, I can't believe T hasn't gotten that many.

04:02I mean, it happens, but like you look back.

04:04Yeah, it's a long season.

04:06I think you can say that for a lot of our guys.

04:08It's been unorthodox is not the right word,

04:13but the first three games of the season have just been a strange thing,

04:16and they just continue to evolve as the season goes.

04:19And so, again, we don't look at that as that defines us.

04:21That's what we're going to be.

04:23Statistically, it's going to continue on this trend.

04:26None of that.

04:27You know, it's you're finding your identity as a team, as an offense,

04:30as a defense early in the season, trying to find wins while you're doing that.

04:33And then, again, your team will continue to evolve, and things take shape.

04:37Everything evens out.

04:38We've got great players over 17-game regular season.

04:41It's all going to take its shape and even out.

04:42Do you have to say anything to T, like, don't worry?

04:45We talk.

04:46I mean, not specifically that way, but he and I talk.

04:51That's the thing about our guys is there's not an ego that's involved in any of this.

04:56So when it hasn't gone that way for guys, they really trust where it will head.

05:01They know this.

05:01There's been games before where some of our main guys have caught in a ball

05:05or have been targeted once, and they know the next game might be 12 targets

05:08and 10 catches.

05:09Who knew?

05:09And we've seen that with almost every single guy on the roster.

05:12So there's a body of work there that holds up, and they don't have to guess.

05:18We asked Al about Lowe specifically,

05:19but how do you feel about the linebackers who played as a whole through three games?

05:22Well, again, linebacker is a reflection of everybody.

05:25It's not – you can't just isolate and say they've not made a great play or a bad play.

05:31But it's oftentimes a product of the people around them as well.

05:33So I think that's a group that's really trending in a great direction.

05:37We've got a lot of talent there.

05:38They're well coached.

05:39And collectively as a team, I just want to see improved play from our whole team.

05:44Do you feel like on offense, you want to be playing as fast as you would have liked,

05:47as fast and decisive in terms of processing?

05:49How do you feel like that?

05:50That's hard to define.

05:52I know it's a next game, but how special is it to be the focal point on Monday night?

06:00It's always fun.

06:01It's – you get an extra day, so it feels like a really long week.

06:07But the environment, whether it's here or somewhere else,

06:09is always pretty special to be able to go when it's nighttime,

06:13and it's always a great crowd, and there's always the buildup,

06:15and we don't get caught up so much in the media part of that.

06:18You're just not exposed to it as much, you know, as when you're watching it.

06:21You're in your office and Monday night football is on.

06:23You see all that buildup.

06:24You kind of miss a little bit of that on game day.

06:28But it is fun.

06:29You know, you grew up as a kid watching it,

06:30and so it's a special thing to be a part of, and our guys will be excited for it.

06:34Do you prepare differently this week to get ready for Mile High Stadium playing at Elevation?

06:39From the altitude, you're mindful of – our guys understand what it's going to feel like a little bit.

06:44You know, you can get winded.

06:46I've – countless times I think I've been there.

06:49I know Boulder's lower than Denver, but I've been in Denver a lot.

06:53So as the game goes, you just have to be mindful of which guys are getting a lot of reps

06:55and trying to give them breaks where you can.

06:58Talk about the run game coming out of Sunday.

07:00What's this week look like in terms of trying to – you know, you have an extra day,

07:03but as you get ready for a opponent, trying to get that fixed on the fly,

07:05how's that kind of been this week?

07:07Yeah, same as every week, trying to get better at the run game.

07:09How encouraging was Miles Murphy's performance on Sunday?

07:14Really good.

07:14I thought in the fourth quarter, really physical.

07:17Really did a good job imposing his will.

07:20You know, and so, again, more of that is going to be great and great attitude.

07:24I think he's got a lot of confidence right now, and that's really good to see.

07:27Orlando and Ted were kind of two of the most vocal players following the game

07:31and saying they wanted to take accountability for their performance

07:34before they really spoke on everybody else.

07:36How have you seen them respond this week?

07:39And knowing that those are two of your captains,

07:41like how much easier does that make your job

07:43in knowing that they're going to lead the charge in getting it?

07:45It's critical.

07:46Everybody else is so much more coachable when you can coach your top guys,

07:50your veterans.

07:52Hard, you can be critical.

07:53They can take the criticism.

07:54They don't fight back.

07:56That makes everybody else – what excuse does anybody else have to take the coaching

08:00when you've got guys who have played in Super Bowls, Pro Bowls,

08:03all that kind of stuff.

08:05So I think that our leadership has done an excellent job this week

08:09of taking ownership on the things that they can control to get better.

08:12What's your overall view of the defensive line?

08:14You mentioned Murphy and how they held up.

08:17Well, this is something I've said a lot before.

08:20There's a lot of positives.

08:21When you look at the first half of that game, there's a lot of positives.

08:24Outside of that first drive, holding them on sudden changes,

08:28getting them to punt, and offensively,

08:31we've got to do a better job applying pressure to our opponent

08:33like in a game like that to where the defensive line can really settle in

08:36and play well and get some pass rush situations when you've got to lead.

08:39So hard for me at times to assess four quarters' worth of work

08:44when I know the situation we've been put in.

08:47There's a lot of good there.

08:49There's obviously things we've got to clean up.

08:51And, again, early part of the season, that's a little bit to be expected.

08:54But we're just looking for consistency across the board from all of our position groups.

08:59You went back and looked at the table the last couple days.

09:02What's the biggest thing that can be confidence that you all can't be better on the ground?

09:06We know we can.

09:07I mean, we've done it historically.

09:08We've been better.

09:10There's been a lot of meat on the bone in some of these games we've played so far

09:13where we can see the opportunity, and it's just not always the same person.

09:17It can be a different combination.

09:18It can be a different single block.

09:19It can be a back.

09:20It can be a receiver digging out of safety.

09:22It can be more strain from a tight end on a pull.

09:26There's just different things that show up that we can all be better at.

09:28There's just different things that show up that we can all be better at.

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