Cincinnati’s locker room had the kind of energy you usually only hear about after a statement win, and Zac Taylor set the tone with a speech that matched the score.
After the Bengals’ Week 7 rout of the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium, Taylor reminded his team exactly what they had said the night before.
"Last night we said we're coming on the road for a divisional win to set the momentum for the rest of the season," Taylor said in the locker room. "You guys did exactly that.
Couldn't be prouder of you guys. We started a little slow today, but you finished as strong as you could have possibly finished. 35-0 in the second half.
Five possessions on offense, five touchdowns. Six possessions on defense, no points."
He didn’t stop there. Taylor moved right into the individual performances that fueled the blowout.
"I saw Ja'Marr go 5 (catches) for 62 (yards) with the touchdown and a great halftime speech," Taylor continued. "I saw Tee have his 17th 100-yard game.
I saw Joe go 16-of-18 for 249 and four touchdowns. We go home.
We play in front of our fans against Tennessee. We got to have a great week of work.
We can't afford to waste one second with this momentum we got."
The speech ended with the team breaking into a "Who-Dey" chant.
The win also moved Taylor past Bengals founder and Hall of Fame coach Paul Brown, the father of team president and owner Mike Brown, in regular-season victories.
And from a statistical standpoint, Cincinnati’s response after halftime was rare. The Bengals became just the 10th team in NFL history to get shut out in the first half and then score 35 points or more in the second half, per CBS Sports research.
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