Zac Taylor, Bengals Tweaking Season On-Ramp To Avoid Slow Starts

Cincinnati is changing how it approaches the start of seasons.

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor raises his fist while leaving the field after the NFL game at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. Cincinnati Bengals defeated Denver Broncos 30-24 in overtime. / Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bengals are preparing to play key players more in the preseason this fall. Zac Taylor met with the media on Monday at The NFL's Annual Meeting and revealed that tweak to try to start faster in September.

Taylor is 7-14-1 as the Bengals' head coach in the first month of the season.

"I see our guys playing more in the preseason this year than we have in the past," Taylor told ESPN's Ben Baby and other media members.

Slow starts have kept Cincinnati from reaching its first goal every season: Winning the AFC North. Both times Cincinnati's started at least .500 under Taylor, they've won the division and made an AFC Championship appearance. Starters played just one series last preseason (13 total snaps).

Every game counts the same across all 17 and Cincinnati can't keep putting itself in a deep hole during the Joe Burrow era. Players like him Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins figure to all play more across Cincinnati's three preseason games starting in August. That increased workload extends to the next few months across OTAs as well.

Expect a higher intensity level when the team reconvenes for those sessions this spring.

"It's more football. It's the playbook and the football IQ and the situational stuff," Taylor said to the media. "Letting guys be involved in that and as coaches we're going to do that all season. We're going to get up in front of the room and explain it and there'll be sometimes maybe the players can get up there and join in the fun and explain it a little bit … It'll build the football IQ and the situational awareness and also get to know your teammates a little bit better. "

All hands on deck for another important stretch entering the 2025 NFL season.

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