Zac Taylor Made the Right Call in Final Minutes Against Broncos

The third-year head coach got it right on Sunday in Denver.

Author:
James Rapien
Updated:
Dec 20, 2021 8:46 AM EST
Original:
Dec 20, 2021

CINCINNATI — One week after taking the ball out of Joe Burrow's hands in overtime against the 49ers, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor faced a similar decision on Sunday in Denver.

Cincinnati had the ball on their own 39-yard line with two minutes remaining and a 15-10 lead.

They faced a 3rd-and-8 following a one-yard gain on second down. It's worth noting that the Broncos were out of timeouts.

Would Taylor put the ball in Burrow's hands or attempt to bleed the clock with a run play?

The third-year head coach went with the latter. Samaje Perine picked up three yards and the Bengals punted.

Taylor got it wrong last week against the 49ers, but he made the right decision on Sunday.

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Burrow was on fire in Week 14. He sliced and diced the 49ers' secondary. That wasn't the case against Denver. The Broncos held Tee Higgins, Ja'Marr Chase and the rest of the Bengals' offense in check all game long.

Cincinnati had just four first downs at halftime. They started 1-for-7 on third down.

It's easy to say "put the ball in Burrow's hands" or "the Bengals drafted Burrow with the No. 1 pick for a reason."

It's fair to expect them to lean on their young star, but they can't rely on him to win every game.

The Broncos' defensive backs had the Bengals' wide receivers number. Higgins finished with two receptions. Chase only had one catch. Boyd had a big day, but still only finished with five receptions. Burrow was forced to throw check downs to his tight ends and running backs for most of the game.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati's defense had plenty of success against Denver. Why throw on 3rd-and-8 when you can run 40 seconds off the clock and make the Broncos go the length of the field without any timeouts?

Denver got the ball at their own 25-yard line with 1:16 remaining.

It's not like John Elway was under center for the Broncos. Drew Lock came in after Teddy Bridgewater suffered a head injury in the third quarter.

Neither quarterback got in much of a rhythm against the Bengals' defense. As great as Burrow was against the 49ers in Week 15, the defense was just as impressive in Week 15.

They held Denver to 292 total yards on 71 plays (4.1-yard average). They also had three sacks and seven quarterback hits.

This defense controlled the Broncos offense all game long. They had the hot hand.

It would be one thing if the Bengals were going up against Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes. Heck, if it was a shootout and not 15-10, then throwing on 3rd-and-8 would make sense.

None of these decisions are black and white and they all need proper context.

The Bengals didn't lean on the hot hand against the 49ers [Burrow] and it cost them in overtime in Week 14.

This week they took the ball out of their star quarterbacks hands, but they did it because their offense was struggling, their defense was playing great and Lock was playing quarterback for the Broncos.

Not Elway. Not Peyton Manning. It was Lock.

The Bengals' defense got the job done. Taylor made the right decision and his team got the win.

For more on Cincinnati's win, watch the video below.

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