Zac Taylor on Dexter Lawrence, Bengals Training Camp and Defensive Front
Zac Taylor on Dexter Lawrence, Bengals Training Camp and Defensive Front
Video Transcript
Just excited to play football.
I understanding he's played in this league a long time, so he understands how people are going to attack him .
And what his strengths are and how to combat all that, but I think just loves being out there.
That's, that's, that's what the sense I get from him, um, loves to compete.
Um There's a lot, I think, excitement to be here and be a part of what we're building.
For the Lions are known as one of the more physical teams in the league.
Are you interested?
I mean, I know the game means absolutely nothing, but are you interested in maybe just kind of how, you know , you guys, you know, dish it out with them?
I think it's a good opponent.
You know, you have a lot of respect for Dan and his coaching staff and the way that they play and.
Um, so I think it's a really good first preseason game for our guys to, to see where we're at, and, you know, we'll get a feel.
I, I don't know what his plan will be for, for all his guys, but Um, I think it's a good, good first game for us to see where we're at.
For those starters who do play .
I know for a lot of those guys, it's, you know, a lot less about evaluation.
What do you want to see out of them or what do you want them to get out of?
I, I want our, our guys to come out in our stadium, out of our tunnel where we play week one in front of our fans and our fans to be able to see the group that's running out there, these guys to again just be the 11 guys out there on the field by themselves, everybody else on the sideline, people in the stands.
You just get that feeling, um, in terms of X's and O's, there's nothing earth shattering I'm looking for.
I want a clean operation, you know, from especially our veterans, and those are things that always come up in, in preseason one, and we're doing everything we can to make sure that we're very clean there, but that's what I want to see.
But then overall, it's just the atmosphere.
I just want them out in the atmosphere, kind of checking that box before we move forward to camp.
Joe played more than he did last preseason, I think, than he has to play.
Did you guys see a benefit of that?
It's really hard to know, you know, it's, um.
You can make an argument for whatever you want to make an argument for, you know, and so again, we'll, we'll, we'll get through this game and then make our decisions going forward after that.
But it's, it's challenging to know if, OK, when you play a guy in the, the 3rd preseason game and we're not playing a game for 2.5 weeks after that, how much did that help them.
I, I, it's really difficult to measure that.
How much do y'all study that over the course of the offseason?
Is that something that ever comes up?
It's like how much starters play and all that, how much y'all study all that?
We just make our own decisions based on the information we have.
In camp, it's felt like the offense will make some plays, the defense will make some plays.
How have you felt kind of the team perform and kind of the level of the team in training camp?
I think it's been really physical training camp.
I, I think, you know, as a head coach, there's, there's been a lot to be excited about when I walk off the field.
Sometimes I think each coordinator is probably frustrated with their day.
Um, But I, I think that there's been a lot of improvement.
I think the depth has really improved.
And so now we're just, we're through the install portion of things.
So now it's making sure everything's clean, OK, it's, it's the installs in.
Players are responsible for that information now.
We'll circle back through it, so now we expect to be very clean moving forward.
And usually that starts with this game, you know, you get a chance now to, to breathe a little bit for the 3 days leading up to this game where we focus on the Detroit install and what we're going to do against Detroit.
It's usually a lot simpler in preseason game 1 than what training camp has been so far.
Um, but then once you get through this game, we're repeating information.
We expect our guys to be clean and, and so I'm looking forward to seeing how our guys respond to that.
Is this the most talented defensive line that you've coached?
Yeah, as a head coach here, I'd say just, just top to bottom, especially the depth.
Obviously we have high-end talent, but I think top to bottom overall, the depth is something that you're really excited about.
It's, there's, there's nobody out of place.
Um, everybody's made contributions over the course of practices and scrimmages, and I'm really excited to see, you know, guys play in the 2nd quarter, second half of, of the game on Thursday night and see how they, they play.
Some of the guys are saying it's the most physical camp they've seen here.
Is it the most physical camp?
You know, I just think, um, what we have up front on both sides of the ball has dictated a lot of that.
There's, there's just been a lot of challenging moments , I think, for both, both units there.
And so that's not necessarily anything I've done from the structure of practice that's made it that way.
It's just, I think it's just a lot of, a lot of guys really going at it.
And I loved to get in the heat the other day in the scrimmage .
I'd love to get that again next weekend, Saturday and Sunday.
I hope it's the same, you know, I, I want to wear these guys out with some long drives and some heat and try to get them ready for September.
