After tying it up early, the Cincinnati Bengals ultimately were demolished by the New England Patriots on Sunday, losing 34-13.
Coach Zac Taylor could do nothing but cede to the fact that the Patriots are a tough team to beat defensively, even if they two in a row heading into the contest, He said in the postgame press conference that his wide receivers were taken out of the equation by the Pats' secondary.
“Yeah, Andy [Dalton] had four picks. Three of them were against man-to-man coverage, one-on-ones,” said Taylor, via the team's official website. “We got bullied . . . we did. Guys could go compete, knock the ball down, go get a one-on-one. . . . They play man-on-man coverage, and Gilmore’s one of the best in the league. We saw what that looks like today.
The quarterback’s going take all of the blame for it, when in reality he taking some one-on-one opportunities that we had to take to be in that game, and go make some plays. You’re counting on some guys to get some separation and go compete, and they got the better of us on a lot of those.”
The Patriots' stout defense has compensated for a struggling offense. Led by All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore, the Bill Belichick-coached unit has given virtually every team fits. The Bengals are just new to the club.
Meanwhile, the Bengals will have to focus on the coming draft. At 1-13, they are destined to have the first overall pick, where it's predicted they will take LSU quarterback Joe Burrow.
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