The Patriots intercepted Andy Dalton four times en route to Sunday’s 34-13 win, but head coach Zac Taylor wasn’t laying all the blame on his quarterback.
Taylor was critical of how hard his wideouts fought to stop Patriots cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and J.C. Jackson from notching a pair of interceptions each.
“Yeah, Andy had four picks. Three of them were against man-to-man coverage, one-on-ones. We got bullied . . . we did. Guys could go compete, knock the ball down, go get a one-on-one. . . . They play man-on-man coverage, and Gilmore’s one of the best in the league. We saw what that looks like today. The quarterback’s going take all of the blame for it, when in reality he taking some one-on-one opportunities that we had to take to be in that game, and go make some plays. You’re counting on some guys to get some separation and go compete, and they got the better of us on a lot of those.”
At this point in a lost season, the Bengals are likely looking to see which players they might want to keep around for what they hope will be a better 2020 season. Taylor made it clear Sunday’s effort won’t help the receiving corps on that front.