Zac Taylor Reacts to Bengals' Ugly Loss to Broncos on Monday Night Football

DENVER — Bengals head coach Zac Taylor had plenty to say following Cincinnati's 28-3 loss to the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.

Cincinnati has lost back-to-back games by a combined score of 76-13. Watch Taylor's comments and read the full transcript below:

On the Bengals offense

“We never created any momentum for ourselves. We had some procedural penalties. I felt like when we did get some momentum, it put us in first-and-15 and against a good defense, you just can’t put yourself in a hole like that. Our defense in the second half held them scoreless, really until the last drive of the game. They did what they could and held them to 21 points against a good team on the road. Offensively, we’re just not creating enough momentum to put points on the board, put pressure on the other team, to get our defense a rest. There are things I know that will be better. We’ll be better as coaches; we’ll be better as players. We’re four games into the season and we’ll create our identity that we can rely on. We can put points on the board, rest defenses, and help our team out.”

On facing the Broncos defense

“It’s a very difficult defense [to face] on the road. They’re teeing on the snap count and we’re trying to do our best to limit that. It’s a great advantage to have here. Their fans are great, their rush is outstanding. They’ve been a challenging defense all season long. They were challenging defense last week. We knew that, so you can’t give them any opportunity to get some momentum that they didn’t earn necessarily. [There was] some pre-snap stuff that we gave them, so a great defense. They played well. You’ve got to make some big plays, and we didn’t do enough of that tonight.”

On the penalties

“It is a lack of discipline. As a whole, it’s not nearly good enough. We’re a team that should not be having that problem. We have to get it corrected. We can’t just hand the other team five yards and put us behind the eight ball, especially dealing with some of the stuff we’ve got to deal with on the road. We’ve got to get it cleaned up.”

On looking forward

“We’ve faced two of the tougher environments on the road against two really good teams. We didn’t hold our own. We didn’t do well enough. I think there’s been pieces that we can continue to build on. Like I said, I thought our defense came out the second half, they got the ball first, and they gave us an opportunity to get back in the game and offensively, we just didn’t give ourselves enough momentum to do that.”

On QB Jake Browning

“I think as a whole, we all have got to do a better job. There’s not a position I’m going to say that can’t step up. Coaching, you’ve got to do a better job. The quarterback is always going to bear a bunch of responsibilities. It’s on all of us to do a better job.”

On the decision to kick a field goal on the opening drive

“[It was] to just take the points, make sure we got the points. It’s a decision sometimes you get aggressive with and this one on the road, early on, we wanted to make sure we created some momentum for ourselves.”

On offensive play calls

“Create a stop [defensively], get into field position. Our defense got them to stop, and we need to capitalize on that.”

On the biggest frustration the last two games

“Not scoring. That’s the hardest thing. Not scoring enough points and we did a better job actually securing the football today, but just didn’t do enough to put the ball in our endzone.”

On his interaction with WR Ja’Marr Chase

“Ja’Marr, coming off a game like this, is one of my favorite players to deal with, quite frankly, because he’s just competitive. He just wants to win, and he comes across as emotional. That’s just a captain that works his tail off. All he wants to do is win the game. All he wants to do is affect the game and oftentimes he feels like, ‘if I have the ball in my hands, I can do that’ and I don’t disagree with him. We’re always looking for ways to get him the ball. Obviously, sometimes for him, you can’t see what’s going on the backfield and some of the challenges that you face back there. I love Ja’Marr. When I’m done coaching, he will be one of my all-time favorites for the way that he matured. I wouldn’t say matured because he was never immature, but just the way he’s become the total pro that you want in your football team, in competing, in practice, and completing the games. I can’t say enough about him. I’m sure if those interactions are on-site, it just comes from a place of I want to help the team win, help me help the team win. And that’s what I love about him.”

On the fair catch interference call

“He (Broncos WR Marvin Mims Jr.) bobbled it. You’ve got to give into space on the bobble so that it becomes not a penalty at that point. They just get possession of the ball at the spot that it happened. I know it was confusing there for a second, but the right call was made, and the right spot was made.”

On the adversity

“I’ve been here seven years and in the league 13 years; there’s never been a season where we didn’t face adversity at some point. Usually, it’s a lot worse than two-and-two early-season adversity. So, this is nothing. You get a chance to kind of watch more yesterday - games in the league. It feels like every team is going through something with the exception of seven or eight. It’s what teams are going to be able to stick together, find a way, find their identity, find a way to keep improving, build off the positive things we do. I’ve got the utmost confidence in the guys in that locker room as well as the coaching staff. We’re two-and-two. We haven’t played well the last two games, over the entirety of the game as a team. We’ve just got to find a way to play better, find a win and create some momentum for ourselves.”

On the frustration 

“It’s just disappointment. It’s frustration. It’s disappointment. These guys have worked. We have the talent. We have the coaches. Again, it’s just about creating some momentum. It really hasn’t been there in these two games for very different reasons - an opportunity for us that we created some momentum for ourselves. We just haven’t done something like that in the last two weeks. Again, we’ve got a long season left to go. A lot of opportunities. I’m excited to see how these guys respond.”