Joe Burrow Zac Taylor's Bengals vs. Titans incident explained

Lip reading and amateur body language analysis are all the rage in Cincinnati these days.

Experts in these fields abound after Sunday’s heated exchange between Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and head coach Zac Taylor was scrutinized and analyzed frame by frame.

The combination of experienced TV crews capturing meaningful moments and exchanges during a game, as well as the ability to quickly distribute clips of those moments and provide amateur commentary via social media, has made the Burrow-Taylor exchange headline news since the final whistle in the 37s made on the spot -27 victory over the Tennessee Titans.

What did it all mean? Did we see the Burrow-Taylor relationship unravel on live television? Could anything be inferred about Burrow’s future from what was said? Or rather, what we suspect was said.

Both men spoke about Sunday’s incident during separate news conferences Wednesday at Paycor Stadium. It wasn’t the first time the media investigated her on this topic. Immediately after Sunday’s game, there was an initial wave of questions about the incident. It may not be the last time they are forced to deal with this either.

But Burrow and Taylor both offered new insights Wednesday. It showed the two competitors channeling charged emotions in the midst of a disappointing season.

Burrow revealed his views on providing verbal and non-verbal messages to teammates and opponents in the game. Taylor said he tries to exude calm in all situations, and that was the basis for how he responded to Burrow’s frustration in that moment on the sideline in Nashville.

Joe Burrow: I had the “luxury” of being emotional about Titans

As a starting point, understand that Burrow said he wouldn’t have acted the way he did Sunday if the win wasn’t in hand. His day’s work was done with less than two minutes left to play and the Bengals holding a healthy, if flawed, two-point lead.

“You have the luxury of being a little emotional on the sideline in that situation because the game is out of reach (for Tennessee),” Burrow said. “You don’t have to go back out there to make a play to win the game.”

Also understand that Taylor doesn’t begrudge Burrow his strong displays of emotion. On the contrary, Taylor said he believes the moment was a sign of his quarterback’s elite competitive nature.

Nonetheless, the moment continued to make headlines midweek after Sunday’s game and drew commentary from national pundits. The conversation also continued with Burrow and Taylor.

Burrow said Wednesday that as a high school student, he discovered the importance of body language and nonverbal communication on the field and on the bench.

Sometimes that meant jumping back up after a hit, he said. This resilience would likely have conveyed a message of strength and fortitude to his teammates, while also showing the opponent that he had weathered the contact well.

Burrow and his father also studied NFL quarterbacks and determined which players conducted their postgame interviews “correctly.” All-time greats like Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning caught Burrow’s eye, and he said he gained an appreciation for their professionalism, which included not blaming their teammates.

Suffice it to say, Burrow “gets it” when it comes to the verbal and non-verbal cues he presents on the bench. However, he also sees two sides to showing emotion like he did on Sunday in Nashville.

“I could probably control my emotions better in that situation,” Burrow said of the much-discussed exchange with Taylor on Sunday. “Like I said, it wasn’t directed at Zac. It was just an expression of my frustration with the day I had, how we were considered an offense, how sloppy it was and we had this discussion internally about what needed to be done to be better.”

But does a part of Burrow believe his teammates could recognize his frustration and respond to it productively? “I hope so,” he said.

“I’ve never had direct discussions like this, but I always try to have a championship mentality,” Burrow said. “If things are good and good enough to do what we want to do, then that’s what I try to express. If I think things are not up to standard, I try to express that too. I probably could have done that.” It’s just better on Sunday. I hold myself and hold our team to a high standard.

“I expect great things from us. When it isn’t, I get frustrated. If it’s not my own, if it’s not everyone’s, I get frustrated. On Sunday it started with myself. I was really frustrated with the turnovers I was making.” And then we made a few more mental mistakes, both by myself and everyone else. And we still scored some great points. In the second half we didn’t have much possession of the ball, but in the first half we moved it, we threw it in the end zone well. But also some that didn’t meet the standard.

Zac Taylor: “The only way I can lead is through calm”

For his part, Taylor said he appreciated Burrow’s competitiveness and he seemed willing to live with what could be perceived as a damaging outburst from the outside. Burrow said Taylor, who had his back to the camera to film their exchange, was trying to tell him to appreciate and enjoy the win.

The same fire that Burrow has used to force the Bengals to stay in the postseason conversation amid a tumultuous 2024 can sometimes boil over, especially after a flawed performance like Sunday’s. Taylor can accept that at this point in his relationship with Burrow.

“He has a competitive edge that I balance as a head coach because I’m always trying to lead the whole team and balance things, but he has an edge that makes him who he is,” Taylor said. “And I don’t want to change that for a second, because who he is and what makes him different is what separates Joe Burrow from everyone else on the planet. So we are together a lot. More than any other member of my family. I love working with him every day. It’s not always perfect between us when we handle moments, but that’s just part of the competitive fire that he exudes. I love that and wouldn’t change it. Something about him, and every time something flares up, we move on and go past it quickly.

“But when you have a great player for whom the most important thing is to win and do it right, then that’s the best thing you can have from a leader on your football team who doesn’t accept anything.” He’s always defeated anyone’s standard. There are teams around the league that are begging for someone to have that standard and we have it, so you have to embrace that and continue to let him lead the way for us.”

Taylor added he didn’t believe the type of exchange he and Burrow had late at Nissan Stadium had any significant negative consequences as time was running out for the Bengals’ sixth win of 2024.

Of course, Taylor’s body language was also scrutinized (albeit with her back to the camera). And if you’re looking for Taylor to express his emotions and frustrations in the form of explosions and wild gestures this season, you’re in the wrong ballpark.

Taylor said he tries to instill calm in his players. He doesn’t apologize for this behavior and it won’t change.

“I can’t tell people what to think about what they see in my behavior. I know why I behave the way I behave. This is the only way I know how to be. I act a certain way in certain moments, but during a game.” “The only way I can lead is by being calm,” Taylor said. “Sometimes it’s for myself. As a player leading a team and trying to get the message across to the head coach, then I’m going to fail because that’s not what got me here at this point in my life. Part of my journey is doing it the way I did it. I’ve been doing it here for six years. The way I wanted to do it, we had success, we had hard times. I’ll just carry on as I wanted.

“That would be my message to everyone. Don’t change who you are. To everyone on our team. There are moments when we can interpret things differently, but you have to stay true to yourself and always work on it. That’s what happened. “Our coaching staff has been so great that we have a really good group that knows how to handle players, who knows who they are as a man and as a coach to win a lot.

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Joe Burrow Zac Taylor’s Bengals vs. Titans incident explained

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