As expected, Cincinnati Bengals defense back Cam Taylor-Britt's comments last week about the Washington Commanders' “nice college offense” caused a stir.
Following the Bengals 38-33 loss to Kliff Kingsbury's system on Monday night, Taylor-Britt said he has no regrets about making the comments.
"I don't regret it," Taylor-Britt said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I didn't mean anything malicious out of the comment. It was made bigger than it was. Yes, I can eat my words most definitely. We did take an L today."
We'll agree with Taylor-Britt in so much as his comments about rookie Jayden Daniels weren't malicious. The corner was simply relaying observations about how the Commanders offense operated the first two weeks of the season.
Monday night, Daniels turned it on, divebombing Cincinnati with big plays, keeping drives alive with superb decisions and knowing when to use his legs. The LSU product did an excellent job of not leaving the pocket early -- something his head coach lamented earlier in the season -- keeping plays alive with his arm before turning to his legs.
Kingsbury deserves credit for calling an excellent game on Monday night, constantly giving his rookie quarterback answers to the Bengals defense, and opening things up in Week 3 with deep-shot options.
For the second consecutive week, the Commanders offense didn't punt or turn the ball over.
Even if Taylor-Britt's comments weren't meant maliciously, it was predictable that they would snowball out of his control. That's why we're fed bland, agnostic clichés on a weekly basis. It offers zero benefit for an active player to be candid.
After the game, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor took issue with Taylor-Britt's comments.
"That's not what we do," Taylor said. "We praise our own team. We praise the other team. We don't take shots like that. That team hasn't punted in two weeks."
Taylor is ignoring his own club's history, including not-so-long-ago comments from former running back Joe Mixon and wide receiver Tyler Boyd. But who needs to keep receipts?
Taylor-Britt livened up the locker-room sound from Cincy each of the past two weeks by adding colorful comments that could be viewed from the lens of bulletin board material. Given that the Bengals are off to an 0-3 start, it's likely back to snoozy clichés.
