BREAKING NEWS: Coach Zac Taylor shock everyone with immediate resignation and departure today after facing…
“Not really a whole lot more to add from what I said yesterday. It was a plan (where), in the first half, we felt like our guys were doing a good job executing and playing the right way — playing the way we thought we were going to have to play to win that game. Unfortunately, those turnovers, starting with the one at the end of the first half and (then) the first two possessions of the second half, is where that game got away from us. There was a lot to be pleased with that happened in the game, but ultimately, we lost the game by 21 points. It got ugly at the end, so that part was frustrating. We move on to Miami, who’s a team that’s fighting hard and has found a way to win some games. It’ll be a good opportunity for us to go out there and attack this week with the same energy our guys have attacked every week. I don’t think anybody can watch our guys and say that any of them have given up. That’s one area where we’ve been proud. Despite our record, our guys go out there and play with every ounce of energy they can and keep supporting each other. They keep fighting for these wins, and we’re going to keep fighting this Sunday.”
After watching the tape, do you still feel like QB Andy Dalton’s interceptions were 50-50 balls?
“They were shots we needed to take at those points in the game. They were one-on-one opportunities, whether the location could be better by an inch, whether (the receiver) could be more detailed with how he attacks the route or attacks the ball — those are all conversations we have with our players. Those were one-one-ones, and they come down to guys being in position to make a play. (Ideally,) the worst thing that can happen is (the pass falls) incomplete. When you’re playing against man coverage and put a ball in the air, you just need to trust that the worst thing that can happen is that it’s going to be incomplete. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”
How did the wide receiver room react?
“We were not in there today. We let the players get out of the building today, so we have not met with them yet.”
What do you expect that conversation to be like whenever you see them next, with regard to your comment that the receivers were getting “bullied” by Patriots defenders?
“We communicate. I wish I wouldn’t have phrased it like that (right after the game), to be quite honest with you, because you’re emotional after a game like that. You watch the tape, and we just need to correct the technique, and that’s what the conversation needs to be. It’s a room of good character. It’s important to them. They want to do it the way you want it done. I have regret in how I phrased that yesterday. It’ll be a very candid conversation in that sense, accountable for everything we can do better as a group.”
WR Tyler Boyd has pretty candid yesterday after the game as well. What did you make of his comments?
“That’s between us. We’re all emotional. It was a game we all felt like where, we come out of the gates and we’re playing well, and we’re doing the things we needed to do, and you don’t win and it gets away from you in the way it got away from us. It’s frustrating for everybody. T.B. is a guy I respect the hell out of. Those conversations are always amongst us.”
Why did you give the players the day off today?
“It’s that point in the season where everyone just needs to be fresh as we go into these last two games. I just felt it was necessary to give everyone the day off, come back Wednesday really focused and be ready to go for Miami.”
Was it one of those things where you were waiting for another victory Monday, but unfortunately, it didn’t come?