Zac Taylor is focused on this week, and according to the Cincinnati Bengals head coach himself, this week is still about Ryan Finley.
The fourth-round rookie playing in place of Andy Dalton has a two-game sample on his resume now and given the results, it has been fair to wonder if the Bengals might go back to the veteran.
Monday, Taylor shot the idea down while talking with the media: “Ryan is our starter this week against Pittsburgh, and I have a hard time looking beyond that. He’s going to give us an opportunity to win this week.”
Later, he noted the growing pains weren’t unexpected:
“…I see enough really encouraging things from him, whether it’s his preparation over the course of the week, how he’s practicing, the difference between week two to week one, in a lot of those areas. You can see his confidence starting to grow. Now he’s playing difference styles of defenses each week.”
From the beginning, it always sounded like Finley was going to get a full eight games to show what he can do.
But two games into the switch, it is only understandable that questions have come up. Finley completed 13 of 31 attempts in Oakland and now sits on a 47.5 completion percentage with one touchdown and two interceptions over two games.
For now, Taylor sounds like he’s taking this on a game-by-game basis. A Pittsburgh defense awaits next weekend.
