Quotes from:

Zac Taylor

Head coach

What's going through your mind?

ZAC TAYLOR: I am proud but not surprised by the response our guys had. We expected to come down here and get a whole lot of questions about how these guys are going to respond. We saw how they responded all week. We knew how they would respond. To come down here and put together the performance they did, especially settling down at halftime and coming out and getting four straight turnovers, three turnovers and a turnover on downs, and the offense responded with four straight touchdowns. The special teams unit did a great job controlling the field position the entire second half. Just really proud and again, not surprised by the response we had.

It felt like the game got in your favor with the off-schedule throw to TE Drew Sample late in the second quarter. What did you see from QB Joe Burrow and TE Drew Sample making that play?

ZAC TAYLOR: That's usually how it works. They had a tough time containing Drew today. But Drew is just Mr. Reliable. He's in there in protection and has a great feel – very similar to the Buffalo touchdown he scored a couple of years ago, the same protection – where he has this awareness where Joe needs my help right now, I'm out of protection world, and I've got to find a way. He was trying to score. I was hoping he stayed inbounds to keep the clock running there at the end of the half. Drew was hoping on getting in the end zone. That's a huge play right there by Joe and by Drew and by the protection to give him the time to be able to extend the play like that.

RB De'Von Achane had that big run but then he only had about 30 yards after that in the first quarter. Can you talk about the effort that it takes to limit him?

ZAC TAYLOR: They're an explosive team. They're really tough to defend, especially in the run game with the play-actions off of it. They did a nice job in the first half of finding a rhythm. But I thought our defense did a really good job settling down and knocking those down for two to three yards and putting them in passing situations. With a rookie quarterback, we knew that was going to be challenging. I thought the defense had a great response. The big touchdown run, yeah they got us on it. They've gotten a lot of people on that. But I thought the response after that was really good by the D.

You guys started utilizing all your weapons. WR Tee Higgins here and then WR Ja'Marr Chase and then RB Chase Brown – was this an example of how your offense can be when it is played to perfection kind of in the second half here?

ZAC TAYLOR: I feel like we've shown this a million times over the years. Unfortunately, this year we just haven't been able to do it. But this is no surprise. I was walking off the field with Drew Sample and he said 'this is how I'm used to these games going, when we've got everybody on offense ready to roll.' So, again, we've got another opportunity this week against Arizona to come back home and do it in front of our fans, and I expect our guys to respond the right way.

I know you're in the game, but is it bittersweet? This is what you want it to feel like going into the playoffs. Are you sitting here…?

ZAC TAYLOR: It is what it is. This is the situation we're in and this is what we can control. After the season, you'll have a chance to reflect back on things we've got to do differently. But I think right now, this is all we can control this week was what our response was in the building to a lot of people are after us right now. The response was tremendous by our guys. To put together such a complete game I thought was really impressive.

We have seen it a million times, to get WR Tee Higgins on those two jump balls, how big was it to get him going coming back off the concussion?

ZAC TAYLOR: I told Ja'Marr (Chase) to come punch me in the stomach if we didn't throw 'double go' by the midway point in the second quarter. We got to it a little earlier than I initially planned. We were backed up. We felt like the moment to go do it. Tee did what Tee does, he goes up and gets it. We ran the double move there on the goal line. I thought he did a great job with his patience and Joe (Burrow) had time to get it up. He's caught so many touchdowns in that back right corner of the end zone, getting his two feet in. I was expecting nothing less from that connection.

You guys had high expectations for RB Chase Brown coming into the season. I know you still have two games to go but when you look at what he's been able to do for you guys on offense, him being able to stay healthy and you guys praise his work ethic and how much time he puts into making sure his body is ready to go, what did you think about his performance today and his season as a whole?

ZAC TAYLOR: I think it was great. I think Chase is a huge weapon for us. He does a great job with his explosiveness. He is a tremendous match-up in the passing game as well that he probably doesn't get enough credit for. He's won a lot of those choice routes underneath. He caught a (clear out concept) for a touchdown today when he was matched up on a 'backer. He's been a great weapon for us. I'm happy to have him. I'm good with the direction he's heading.

It seemed like you started with CB DJ Turner II and he tried to go but you got CB Jalen Davis and CB Josh Newton to come up big for you.

ZAC TAYLOR: DJ (Turner) was battling the flu. For him to even get out there and get IVs and go out there and play, it would be hard to get through an entire game. So I certainly appreciate DJ doing what he did and fighting through it. Fortunately, we got to a point where we were able to get him out. If you've got the flu, at
the midway point in the game, it's going to beat you up pretty good. Again, I appreciate DJ doing everything he could to get through this game and get through it.

CB Jalen Davis and CB Josh Newton made plays for you.

ZAC TAYLOR: Awesome. And I saw DJ Ivey at the end make a good contested play towards the end. I thought the response was great. I thought JD's (Jalen Davis) pick was awesome. All those turnovers those guys got, a lot of them were combination plays where one guy was knocking it out, one guy's tipping it and the other guy making the play. JD's (Jalen Davis) was just one-on-one, man coverage, he went up and made a play. Big time.

What is the feeling like on the sideline, when it starts to snowball in your favor and you are getting a turnover, and you're cashing in and getting 7 points. You guys scored 21 points in 7:51.

ZAC TAYLOR: It's exactly what I thought it was, that we have to finish. I've got a lot of respect for the Dolphins and the coaching staff there. They're really good coaches, good people. But we needed to have a killer instinct to finish that game. We wanted to continue to be aggressive until about the midway point in that fourth quarter. But for our guys, for our sake, for our identity moving forward, we need to have a killer instinct, keep throwing the football and keep finding ways to finish drives and not let them try to get any hope and creep back in the game. I thought our guys did a great job of that.

JOE BURROW

Quarterback

Was there any key to bouncing back from last week or just another week, another big game?

JOE BURROW: We just executed better at the end of the day. Tee (Higgins) set it off, set the tone for the day. Those two big plays early kind of set the tone for, number one, how the day was going and, number two, how they were going to play us. I think they had a plan, and then those two plays happened and they had to change their plan. That's why Tee is who he is and why we value him so much, he just makes plays like that.

What makes him so special in those contested-catch situations and how has it evolved for him because seems like he's making all of them now. They're 90-10 balls almost.

JOE BURROW: He's big, long, strong, physical. He's grown up over the last -- first year he wasn't making a ton of those plays, and then we come back in 2021 and he's made most of them since. That's a credit to how serious he takes it and how much he works and likes to improve.

The first one was a go, what was the second one?

JOE BURROW: Second one basically turned into that too. Basically turned into that.

HB Chase Brown has talked a lot about his development, trying to be like a receiver back. What have you seen especially obviously today of him developing in that area?

JOE BURROW: Yeah, really provides us a lot of versatility. We've been able to put two backs on the field, because we feel good about Samaje (Perine) and obviously feel good about Chase (Brown). It provides challenges for the defense, how they're going to take that, how they're going to play that with their personnel, what coverages they're going to play with that, because if I was a defense, I wouldn't feel great about a linebacker covering Chase in space. He proved that on his receiving touchdown today. Another guy who just loves to improve, Chase's first year, I'm not sure he caught a ball in practice. He came out the next year, and he's catching everything. Really took that to heart and has improved, turning into the player he is now.

The play to Sample on the third down, when you're throwing across your body, are you thinking maybe I shouldn't do this or are you thinking he was open?

JOE BURROW: I was really just trying to throw it away, and I knew Drew (Sample) was over there somewhere. I was going to throw it to the ground, then I see Drew wide open there. I just popped it over to him and then he did the rest, it was crazy.

What was the feeling like on the sideline in the third quarter, defense getting stops and you guys felt like constantly running back out to go down and score? That was like the epitome of complementary football.

JOE BURROW: That's how it's supposed to look like. That's what it's supposed to feel like, so we've got to keep that feeling going the next couple of weeks and build some momentum.

When Head Coach Zac Taylor looked at you for QB Joe Flacco, you had obviously done enough to win the game at that point, but did you want to stay in?

JOE BURROW: No, I was good. I was good.

How fun is it to be out there with all the weapons? They were all out there today.

JOE BURROW: Yeah, you just see how it changes how defenses play and all the different things that they're worried about and all the different looks that we showed. It provides us more versatility, more things we can do, personnel packages, it just really opens it up for us.

Does it even feel like some of the highs today and then against Buffalo, were even better than some of the things you were doing last season?

JOE BURROW: I feel like today and against Buffalo, we were really consistent. How they chose to play us today felt a lot like 2021. We hit our plays down the field when they came, but for the most part, we were getting out quick, getting it underneath and our guys were making plays after catch. That really was critical. When we get the opportunities, we have to hit the to scare defenses that are playing those kind of coverages, and then we can start to get our pass game going with all the zones that we like to attack, and thought our coaches do such a good job providing those concepts for us and teaching them, showing us what to look at and how we have to play each play.

It looked like they were flinching there a lot early, did you get them out? How did you target their defense?

JOE BURROW: I just think that Tee's two plays early on really just set the tone. Like you said, they were pressuring a little bit early, and Tee makes those two plays and then they can't pressure as much. When they do, they have to play different coverages behind it so that lets us get the ball out quickly in space. So it just started with those two for Tee.

Like you did today with Drew Sample, we've seen you evade pressure like that dozens of times, more than that, throughout your career. In that moment, what are you thinking? What are you feeling? What's going on in your head?

JOE BURROW: I just started to move a little bit, and then I was like, we're in field goal range, I've kind of got to throw it away at this point. I was trying to find a place that I could dump it and live to see another down, and Drew (Sample) pops right there. Great job by him finding the space and realizing what's happening. Drew's improved so much at that over the course of his career. He had another good one on the – I scrambled left and ended up hitting Ja'Marr (Chase), but Drew had a great reaction on that one too. I could have thrown it to him as well for a touchdown, it would have been a little more difficult throw, so I chose the other one. But Drew's just really embraced his role in the last couple of years and continued to improve and carve out a bigger role based on how he's performed.

Head Coach Zac Taylor talked about killer instinct and kind of complimented you guys on that today. I'm curious how important that is for you specifically to kind of keep that rolling even when your team is eliminated from the playoffs?

JOE BURROW: When you have a chance to put it away or go up two scores or three scores, you have to take those opportunities because teams in the NFL are too good to let them hang around. Guys on the other side of the field are going to make plays, that's how this league goes. When you have a chance to do it, you've got to take advantage.

How much fun was today for you?

JOE BURROW: It was fun. I'm having fun playing football. Not playing football is not fun. Sitting in the locker room rehabbing all day, that's not why you do it. This is why you do it right here.

Coming back, I think this is your second-best passer rating, a week after you stepped up and said, hey, put this on me. How personally satisfying is this to bounce back the way that you did?

JOE BURROW: I thought I played a clean game. I thought I protected the ball for the most part. I got greedy with one over the middle, but that's how I have to play – play within the scheme and then take my opportunities to try to make a play when I can. But going to limit that for the most part at this point, I was just happy with how we all executed today.

You're the fifth fastest quarterback to throw for 20,000 passing yards in your career, and you're the third player in your first 75 games to throw for 150 or more passing touchdowns. Does that mean anything to you at all? I'm not sure if you knew that.

JOE BURROW: I missed a full season of games too, so it should have been more.

CHASE BROWN

Halfback

Is this the all-around performance this team has been looking for all year?

CHASE BROWN: I think so. The defense came up with turnovers and we were able to respond to every single one, so that always feels good. Would love to carry this momentum going forward and just finish off the season the best we can."

What was going through your mind when that happens – you have two touchdown catches, you had the touchdown run and suddenly a close game is a blowout?

CHASE BROWN: You hear the play and it's either going to you or it's not. I'm just trying to execute the play the best I can."

Good balance, QB Joe Burrow threw four touchdown passes, obviously the running game got better and better as the game went along. Did it feel like this is what this offense can do when it's clicking?

CHASE BROWN: Definitely. When everything is firing on all cylinders, we're going to score a lot of points. It felt good to score, but at the end of the day, it's just building momentum. Even though our season is going to end not the way that we wanted it to, we can still finish it off on a positive note.

JA'MARR CHASE

Wide Receiver

Is this an example of your guys' offense at its peak today? Is that kind of what it felt like? This is what it's supposed to look like, right?

JA'MARR CHASE: It's what we're supposed to do every game – put up 30-plus points and execute.

When everybody is involved, WR Tee Higgins is doing his thing, you're doing your thing, TE Mike Gesicki, HB Chase Brown, did you feel like it was unstoppable today?

JA'MARR CHASE: Yeah, pretty much. It was just we had a lot of answers for everything that they threw at us. The situations that they handled well, we handled well ourselves and put ourselves in a better position to get down on third down and make it easier for us for the next down.

Obviously you guys want to go out and win every week, but do you feel like the way you guys finish a season can carry over or no? Does it matter?

JA'MARR CHASE: I mean, yeah it can, but at the same time, it's so far for us to see right now. At the end of the day, we're trying to win these last two games and go home."

TEE HIGGINS

Wide Receiver

What is it that makes you want play? When they clear you, what is it that made you want to say, I want to play?

TEE HIGGINS: I'm a competitor. At the end of the day, I'm a competitor. I want to be one of the guys, so that's all it came down to.

Can you take me through the art of the Tee Higgins contested catch because it feels like its evolved from a few years ago to now and it seems like you're making them look so routine?

TEE HIGGINS: That's my job, to go out there and catch the ball. Joe (Burrow) gives me great balls to where only I can catch it. It's either me or nobody.

Is it kind of just uplifting, exciting to be able to come back from what you did and have the type of game that you had today?

TEE HIGGINS: Yeah, definitely, it's definitely a bonus. Obviously, I wanted to come out and try to dominate personally, but we were able to do that as a whole today. The results show.

How would you advocate – everybody said that you came forward with the symptoms that you felt – do you think that's important for people moving forward to if you're having those types of symptoms?

TEE HIGGINS: For sure, if you're having the symptoms, for sure, you need to come forward because the brain injury, that's nothing to play with, it's serious and affects you a long time. I see everything everybody's saying, I see all that, trust me. But I went to see a specialist and the specialist said that it was okay for me to go back out there and play my game, and that's what I did.

This kind of feels like an example of your guys' offense at its absolute peak today, is this kind of everybody making contributions?

TEE HIGGINS: For sure, man. Offense was at full power today. We had everybody and you see what we can do on the field when we've got everybody together.

MYLES MURPHY

Defensive End

What did you see on the fumble recovery play? Like the ball kind of went crazy there, you happened to be right there.

MYLES MURPHY: No literally – you explained it perfectly. The ball was doing things – I thought it was going to bounce and I'd have a chance to grab it and run. I just said, let me just get the possession and give the ball back to our offense.

You got the stuff that's changing – that combo interception, combo fumble recovery. The guys are running the ball, that energy is creating a lot of good stuff for you guys. Do you feel like that's kind of the next step for you guys, having a lot more guys working together that way?

MYLES MURPHY: Yeah it literally starts with the energy, it starts with the mindset, it starts with the choice. That's really it – that's the choice. A lot of the stuff that happens, forcing fumbles, forcing interceptions, forcing a sack, it's a decision – are you going to be the one or force it or going to let it happen? It really starts with a decision on the defense.

Head Coach Zac Taylor kind of said to us afterwards he understands people are after you guys this week like once you get eliminated, that that's this talk that happens and keeping it inside. But for you guys, has that been a point this week like of let's put good tape out there and let's kind of like make our statements on Sundays at this point?

MYLES MURPHY: Yeah, like you just said, finish out your season strong, continue to get better and head into next season confident. You want to put good football on tape, like Coach just said, let's be confident going into next season."