Zac Taylor Has Specific Request For Bengals Fans Ahead of Team's 2025 Home Opener

CINCINNATI — Zac Taylor is fired up to see fans flock to Paycor Stadium on Sunday for the 2025 Bengals home opener. He even had a special request of Who-Dey Nation: Get in your seats 10 minutes earlier than normal to really celebrate Sam Hubbard as Ruler of the Jungle.

Cincinnati is welcoming back the fan favorite retired defensive end, who played all of his seven NFL seasons in Cincinnati. The Jaguars take on the Bengals at 1 p.m. ET Sunday.

"Here's exactly what I'm looking for," Taylor said in his Wednesday press conference. "I know how loud we're going to be. And so let's do it early. Let's show them right out the gate. I think when Sam Hubbard is out there as the Ruler of the Jungle, every seat is packed. I'm just asking for one game, a 10-minute sacrifice from the parking lot. And so that might just mean getting out 10 minutes earlier and getting to the stadium 10 minutes earlier than you normally would. And so do whatever you want, those extra 10, and then that extra 10 getting in the stadium.

"Maybe people just appease me and stand at the bottom [of the big elevator at the stadium] so I can't see as he's up there, but I would love to hear that just week one. The rest of them, you can tailgate a little extra longer, but I think for this first one to be awesome, just to send the message to the team. We have to do our best to start 2-0, and for all the great things that we want to do this year, it starts with playing great at home. And that's a collective effort from our players, our coaches, our fan base. And so I'm excited to set off 2025 the right way at home."

Fans are encouraged to rock orange for the game as the Bengals try to get every seat looking like a tiger on Sunday.

Taylor noted he doesn't normally track the loudness and intensity of the crowd, but he will have it on his mind Sunday in hopes that the crowd goes ballistic for one of the staple players of the 2020s.

Hubbard played for Cincinnati from 2018 through last season.

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