Cincinnati Bengals: Zac Taylor says “There’s no cause for panic”
The Cincinnati Bengals‘ offense hasn’t looked good in the early portion of training camp, and that’s putting it nicely. The offensive line has struggled immensely and Joe Burrow hasn’t looked very good either.
Head coach Zac Taylor discussed this heavily during his latest press conference and when asked about the pass rush getting the best of Burrow, he said: “There’s no cause for panic for any reason for that.”
Obviously, this is what Taylor has to say. He knew these questions would be coming his way after the offensive showing (or lack thereof) and while he’s urging everyone not to panic, fans have seen how poorly the offensive line has held up against a Bengals d-line that was last in the league in sacks, so not panicking is easier said than done.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor on whether the pass rush has been getting to QB Joe Burrow so far in camp: "There's no cause for panic for any reason for that."
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) August 4, 2021
A good chunk of Taylor’s presser fixated on the offense and how bad they’ve looked to this point. A big reason as to why the o-line hasn’t been looking very good is that the team is still trying to figure out a group of five that can be the starters come Week 1.
Taylor touched on that too, especially at the guard position, noting that Michael Jordan and Jackson Carman playing with the ones isn’t going to be a constant. “That’s still a process,” he said when asked about those two guys taking reps with the starters.
Zac Taylor isn’t worried about the lack of production from the Cincinnati Bengals’ offense.
Taylor also gave injury updates with the most notable being Larry Ogunjobi, who is getting better. He mentioned that Riley Reiff, who limped off the field on Monday, is day-to-day. Taylor said he wants Joe Burrow, Trey Hopkins, and D.J. Reader to be ready to go for Week 1, so if we don’t see them much in training camp and the preseason, that’s why.
We haven’t seen Hopkins much at all in training camp and this is probably why. Hopkins suffered an ACL injury in January but is seemingly good to go for the start of the season, so this is a smart move for the Bengals to keep him on the sidelines for most of the offseason activities.
Burrow had the day off on Wednesday as a precautionary thing, as the Bengals have the day off on Thursday before heading into three straight practices. This ensures that Burrow will be well-rested moving forward and not doing too much on that knee.
For anyone who’s been following along with the Bengals’ training camp, it hasn’t been a secret that the offense has looked atrocious. It’s just camp, sure, but with how poorly the offensive line looked a season ago and now seeing Burrow struggle as a result, it’s understandable that fans are growing more nervous by the day.
On the flip side, the defense has played well and Taylor gave them their due diligence.
Zac Taylor on the team: “Obviously the defense is doing a good job getting the ball away… there’s some good progress we can continue to make in the pass game. That’s going to come.”
— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) August 4, 2021
The Bengals spent a lot of money on that side of the ball and while it’s only training camp and against what looks to be an awful offensive line, it’s still good to see huge strides from the defense.
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There was plenty to take away from Zac Taylor’s latest chat with the media and while he might be telling us not to panic, it’s not that simple. Taylor has his job riding on how this season goes so he better also hope his offense steps it up because otherwise, he might not be a head coach much longer.