Press Conference: Zac Taylor on Bengals' Coaching Staff, Struggles on Defense and Trade Deadline

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Zac, in front of some injuries, did he come out yesterday?

Zac Taylor (0:02)

He came out and cleared, didn't have to go into concussion protocol. So that worked out well for us.

SPEAKER_1 (0:08)

Semajay?

Zac Taylor (0:09)

Semajay will be a couple weeks. We'll get through the by and see where it's at. High ankle sprain.

SPEAKER_1 (0:14)

And then Shambhar Stewart?

Zac Taylor (0:17)

We'll see where that ends up. We'll get through the by and see where that's at.

SPEAKER_1 (0:19)

What exactly happened? Did he get pain or something?

Zac Taylor (0:22)

Second to last drive. So we'll get more information on that and see how long it is.

SPEAKER_4 (0:26)

Zac, what's been Duke's assessment of just what's going on defensively and what may be able to improve after the bye?

Zac Taylor (0:33)

I'm not going to speak for anybody. I mean, for us, we got to execute better. Obviously, we got to get everybody on the same page and execute the fundamentals and the details of what we're trying to do. And I think everyone's in favor of that and everyone wants to do that. We just we haven't done a great job of that, especially over the last couple of weeks. And so we're all accountable for that. That's what we'll spend our Y week doing as coaches, trying to find a way to get everybody to play on the same page all the time. We've got a lot of young players that are out there at the same time. And so getting those guys the experience they need together is only going to make us better in the future. And so again, we're just working through all that. Guys are all accountable for it. Everybody wants to play winning defense, winning football, winning team football, winning offense, all that stuff. So that's what we'll continue to try to do.

SPEAKER_5 (1:17)

Did you consider any staff changes over the past couple of hours?

Zac Taylor (1:20)

No.

SPEAKER_5 (1:20)

What gives you the belief that...

Zac Taylor (1:22)

These are good football coaches. They've been successful everywhere they've been. And so again, we're still in the first half of this season. We all know we got to play better as a football team. There's been challenges our offense has faced over the course of the season. We worked through them. We're playing better for it. There's challenges our defense are facing right now. I'm confident that we're going to work through it. We're going to play better football and find a way to win some games.

SPEAKER_6 (1:43)

Just to follow up on that, can you clarify, you don't plan to make any staff changes on the defensive side of the ball?

Zac Taylor (1:49)

No, I believe in these guys, absolutely. And so we'll continue to work through it and find solutions.

SPEAKER_6 (1:53)

Can you just elaborate a little bit on what you're seeing behind the scenes from a week to week basis from Al that gives you that much confidence?

Zac Taylor (1:59)

Yeah, working like crazy. He's a great football coach. He's doing everything he can to uncover every single stone to make us play better.

I mean, we're all sick for the way that these games are gone, him probably as much as anybody else on this planet. And so I trust in him, trust in the staff that we're going to keep working and get all these guys on the same page, execute them to a high level and be a good defense going forward.

SPEAKER_7 (2:24)

Zach, they threw a lot of trick plays, misdirection screens, all that kind of stuff at you guys. What can the defense do better against those types of plays?

Zac Taylor (2:31)

Well, you got to be, again, they're waiting for a first, first down. So you got to be better early in the drive to take that stuff away from them. So when you get into a rhythm, that's when you feel most comfortable calling that kind of stuff. Obviously, they felt like they got into a rhythm and threw a lot at us. So again, it was reminiscent, really, the 2019 49ers game in week two. They did a lot of that kind of stuff too. And so it kind of took me back there. A lot of the same stuff you're seeing. It's a really good staff. I mean, they're as creative as it gets, and they really challenge you and put you in a lot of binds. And obviously a lot of those things worked for them yesterday.

SPEAKER_1 (3:02)

What's been the most concerning thing you've seen from the defense for the last two weeks?

Zac Taylor (3:05)

I think we just have to be great tacklers and just execute our fundamentals at a high level. So, there's plenty of times where it's ten guys doing exactly what we need them to do, and one guy getting us out of his line and giving up a big run or a big rush.