Bengals Beat: Joe Burrow Wants To Remain A Bengal for Life, Zac Taylor Explains Why He’s Not Alone

CINCINNATI — This is what happens when you build a winning culture.

Players want to stay and contribute to it. Coaches want to stay and keep building so that winning becomes an expected habit or – as Joe Burrow has put it since the end of 2021 – the “new standard.”

“My plan is to be here my whole career, and hopefully Zac is here my whole career,” Burrow told NBC before Sunday night’s 24-17 win over the Ravens in the wild card round. “I have a lot of confidence in the front office doing their jobs in the offseason.”

Indeed, Duke Tobin, the team’s director of player personnel, has not only provided weapons in the persons of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd, Hayden Hurst and Joe Mixon, he’s restructured the offensive line, given the offensive and defensive coordinators depth and playmakers to change games. He’s signed free agents that have come in and not only performed but offered vital leadership.

Joe Burrow sees all of this. And so does head coach Zac Taylor, which Taylor recognized Monday.

“I think that speaks the entire organization,” Taylor said. “And again, this is a place that we all love being. We are in here every day interacting with ownership and personnel and the players, the equipment managers, trainers and video, and it’s just a big family and we want our players to feel that too, like they are taken care of.”

Before Burrow, the same vibe did not exist, of course. But this isn’t just about Burrow. It’s about taking one asset, aggressively and smartly building around it and then building a culture. Burrow can sense this because of the people he gets to work with every day, staff like offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, quarterback coach Dan Pitcher and his head coach.

He also knows that at big moments like Sunday night, it doesn’t always fall on his shoulders. The defense is a Super Bowl caliber defense with playmakers galore, as THE RETURN proved with under 12 minutes left in the game and the offense struggling. When you know you’re talented and have weapons around you AND you realize you don’t have to do everything, life becomes a lot more enjoyable.

And there’s one more thing. Burrow knows he has a voice in every decision that’s made that impacts the offense or the leadership on the team. That’s why Burrow was consulted before the trio of offensive linemen were brought in during free agency last year. He hung out with Jessie Bates in Las Vegas last summer. He hosted free agents Chido Awuzie, Mike Hilton, Trey Hendrickson, Larry Ogunjobi and Riley Reiff in March 2021 after the group was signed in free agency.

Burrow is fully vested in the Bengals. It’s only right the team returns the favor.

“I like to think Joe feels that and again a big part of that is we’ve got so much trust in him because he puts in the time and the work that when we’re in these meetings with — not just myself, it’s really me to a much lesser extent that are in the meetings with Joe, it’s more Pitch and Brian — and so again, you want that relationship where that guy feels like we trust him and we want his input, which we do,” Taylor said.

“I’d argue it’s as much as anyone in the league that we ask for his dialogue and his input because we want to see it like he sees it. He’s the one out there, and he’s got to operate, and he’s earned that trust to have that dialogue,” Taylor said.

The Bengals are hoping Burrow has three more wins left in him this postseason before they turn their thoughts to extending him long-term and making the quarterback’s wish – and everyone else’s in Cincinnati – a reality.

Alex Cappa, Jonah Williams week-to-week:

For the second time this season, Jonah Williams escaped what looked to be a scary knee injury Sunday night late in the first half against the Ravens. While still a scary moment on the same play that Hayden Hurst fumbled, Williams sustained a dislocated kneecap and not a torn ACL, per Zac Taylor Monday.

Both Cappa, who injured his left ankle in the win over the Ravens in Week 18, and Williams are “week to week” as the Bengals piecemeal their offensive line together for the game in Buffalo this Sunday.

As for Jackson Carman, Taylor said he did a commendable job filling in during the second half at left tackle, a position Carman played at Clemson while protecting Trevor Lawrence’s blindside.

“I thought he did a nice job. Especially being thrust into there,” Taylor said. “He’s got to practice both sides during the week. He’s practiced a lot of guard this year as well. So I thought given the opportunity he had against a tough defensive line, I thought he handled it really well.

“He’s been working at tackle over the course of the season. Frank does a good job of repping all of those guys trying to get them all ready. You can never predict which side you’re going to be on and that’s just part of life being a backup offensive lineman. And so he’s done a good job of embracing that and being ready for his opportunity.”

Back to normal?

The play that set up the biggest defensive return for a touchdown in franchise history was another breakout 35-yard run from quarterback Tyler Huntley, who was pushed out at the Bengals 2 by Jessie Bates. The Bengals had their issues with the Ravens wide-zone concepts Sunday night. Those concepts combined with the triple-option that the Ravens run offensively with the injured Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley made life very hairy for the Bengals offense.

Yes, Josh Allen can devastate defenses with his legs but at least the Bills aren’t going to be running what Baltimore runs. The Ravens are the only ones in the NFL doing it – and like with Army and Navy in college – sometimes it’s just survive and move onto next week.

“Yeah, I thought they had a couple plays schemed up,” Bates said. “Anytime you play a team three times, they know what we’re going to be and we know what they’re going to be about. A couple of those runs hit us but we’ll be back to normal football this week. We won’t have to play triple option football against the Ravens this week. We’ll have our hands full with Josh Allen and all those guys and what they bring to the table. So we’re excited to play normal football. The triple option thing was something that we’re happy that we got over it. And now it’s time to focus on Buffalo.”

Red Zone Presentation:

The difference Sunday night was Cincinnati’s red zone defense. Four times the Ravens were inside the Bengals 20 and they scored a touchdown just once. There was the 98-yard return on one chance, a field goal by Justin Tucker right before halftime and a Tucker field goal and most importantly, the end of the game when the Ravens got to the Bengals 17 before stalling and running out of time.

Dax Hill, who had his rough moments Sunday night with a facemask call that extended Baltimore’s first touchdown drive, filled in for Eli Apple when he was injured late in the first half. He helped the defense hold the Ravens to a field goal that turned out to be crucial.

“Dax has done a heck of a job, just being ready, being that backup for any position,” Bates said. “Whether that’s the nickel, corner and just having the right leaders and they’re talking to Dax when Dax got in there. There was the same conversation that we were having with Eli with Dax. We’re like, ‘Hey, Eli’s down, what’s comes next? And Dax steps up and he’s ready for the moment. Just for us to be able to communicate, have those conversations on the field and also off the field. Dax pays attention in the meetings just like anybody else. For him to be able to step in and give Eli some plays, that’s always good, for sure.”

Bates and fellow safety Vonn Bell have been putting in the work on Saturdays to help prepare for red zone stops. Bates works on “high” red zone defense, when the offense has the ball inside the 20. Bell works on low red zone when the offense is inside the 10.

“I think it kind of starts with coach Betch, the linebackers coach,” Bates said of James Bettcher. “He has a very detailed red zone presentation that we have on Thursdays, Fridays. We always joke around it’s long as hell. The tape is long, but it’s just super detailed. It’s just something that every time we get down there as a defense, you got a choice to make. Either you’re going to complain about it and give up seven points or you’re going to force a field goal or even get a turnover. I think that’s something that our defense has done really well. We’re just really detailed, I think, within that red zone area. I think when we get down there, we talk about the situation. We talk about the routes that they like to run and all that stuff. It’s just a really smart team, really well-connected team that we’re asking the right questions in the red zone, making sure we’ll seeing stuff through the same lens.

“They can’t run past you down there but things do speed up, I always say. Me and Vonn, on Saturdays, we have our certain parts of the game that we break down. We have a presentation in our defensive room. I think Vonn does a really good job of doing the high red and then I have the low red. Like I said, that’s why we’re so good at it — because we have conversations. I’m up there, everybody goes and we pick a couple plays and we go through film and we talk about what we see and just how everything plays out. So like I said, things speed up. I always tell people (to) slow your feet down, speed up your mind because things just aren’t going to run past you. You gotta speed up your mind and process where we are on the field and what exact call that we’re in. Like I said, it’s just a smart team. Going to continue to get better down there.”

Like in school, each player has to be ready to give a presentation to demonstrate to other teammates that they have an idea of what they’re doing if their number gets called in red zone coverage.

“They’re just something that we do in our defensive back room every Saturday in the meetings,” Bates said. “Everybody in the room has to go up and present on ’11’ personnel, ’12’ personnel. Some of the veterans got more detailed (assignments), third down, fourth-and-6, third-and-long, red zone. So yeah, we pick out a couple plays, we talk about it. Everybody goes up and presents what they want to present. I think it just kind of gets people out of their comfort zone and helps some of those younger guys have conversations, lead conversations. So it’s a good thing, not just for our team, but for individuals to kind of get out their comfort zone.

“It’s just very detailed down there (in red zone) and being able to have me and Vonn in that category with the red zone, we’re always making sure everybody seeing things through the same lens, just like first and second down.”

Must-see TV:

Zac Taylor watched just one play from his “TV copy” of Sunday’s night’s playoff game. It’s the play you might guess: Sam Hubbard’s 98-yard house call on the fumble return that changed the Bengals fortunes.

“Honestly the reason I watched it was for the crowd,” Taylor said. “You don’t get to appreciate in the moment the crowd, and I do understand how significant that play is going to be in Cincinnati Bengals history. I told that to Sam after the game. I wasn’t the first one to say that. But you understand the impact of that moment in a divisional game, home playoff game. That play will be remembered forever.

“And so I didn’t get to, I was so emotional myself screaming at all the players, good things, that you don’t get a chance to appreciate the crowd. And so I was kind of watching it for that. And there’s great copies of him running up the field and you can see the crowd in the end zone reacting and then the shots of the whole stadium, and those are things we don’t always (notice). You are so plugged in on the headset, can’t hear anything, so that was cool to see.”