Zac Taylor had plenty to hand out after the Bengals’ 20-6 win over the Texans, and the biggest stack of praise went to a defense that put together its cleanest showing yet under his watch.
Cincinnati held Houston out of the end zone and limited the Texans to the lowest point total the Bengals have allowed in Taylor’s tenure. It was the kind of performance that traveled well too, with the defense setting the tone in a key AFC win.
That unit also drew attention for a stat that stood out across the league. Sumer Sports noted the Bengals became just the third team since 2022 to have five pass rushers post five or more pressures in the same game. Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, Boye Mafe, Cashius Howell, and Cedric Johnson all landed on that list.
Taylor made sure the whole operation got recognized in the locker room, not just the defense. He called out the way Cincinnati controlled third down, fourth down, and the red zone, while also praising the special teams work that helped tilt field position in the Bengals’ favor.
“Talking last night, that's the team I knew was going to get off the bus,” Taylor said to his team in the locker room. “That's the team that's going to get off the bus, send a message, okay, to the conference, to the league, okay, that we're here to stay, man.
We got a complete team right now, and that's what we got today. They were 5-of-17 on third down.
I saw zero fourth downs converted, okay, big time. Took points off the board every time.
Okay, they were 0 for 3 in the red zone. Okay, held them to two field goals.
Unbelievable.
“Evan (McPherson) had two field goals over 50. Evan, it's not even worthy of a game ball anymore.
It's just what you do all the time. Okay, last night we talked about kickoff and punt.
Okay, field position. Seven times they started inside the 25.
They got the ball on the eight-yard line, the 12, and the 13. Okay, that's a complete team.
When you're playing in all phases, you're winning the field position on the road, hostile territory. You're helping everybody out.
That's big time.”
McPherson’s day was part of the special teams story, and Taylor’s comments made clear how much he valued the hidden-yardage battle in a road game like this one.
The Bengals also appeared to come out of the physical matchup without any major injuries. Now they move on quickly, with a road trip to face the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend.
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Orlando Brown Jr. did not hide his frustration with how he played, and center Ted Karras pointed to better line work after halftime as the group settled in. The second-half improvement helped Cincinnati get control of the game, but the larger issue remains obvious: protecting Burrow and cleaning up the communication mistakes will keep drawing attention until the line shows it can hold up from start to finish. [Read more 🡒]