Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor didn’t mince words when addressing Andy Dalton’s four-interception game during the loss to the New England Patriots.
In fact, Taylor hit the postgame presser noting his wideouts simply got beat while his quarterback took risks:
“Three of them were against man-to-man coverage, one-on-ones. We got bullied… we did. Guys could go compete, knock the ball down, go get a one-on-one. I think Gilmore (Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore) had what, two of them? Ok. So their guys went and competed. They have a tough secondary…The quarterback’s going take all of the blame for it, when in reality he taking some one-on-one opportunities that we had to take to be in that game, and go make some plays. You’re counting on some guys to get some separation and go compete, and they got the better of us on a lot of those.”
It’s an interesting point from Taylor. On one hand, the quarterback is always going to get the brunt of the blame. On the other, some of the throws weren’t the best, target-wise.
And like it or not, Tyler Boyd answered questions about his one-on-ones after the game and didn’t hold back either, especially on the misplaced ball that went for a pick-six:
“Yeah, he (had) outside leverage. He had perfect leverage on an out-route. We were running an out-route to the field with man coverage — (having) outside leverage, think it’s going to be a pick?”
Agree to disagree, right? The Bengals have won a single game and remain in the hunt for the top overall pick in 2020. Quarterback seems to be the way of things.
At this point, the Bengals clearly want Dalton being aggressive in the pursuit of wins. He is, though only one win has happened to date since his re-entry as starter.
