On Wednesday, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor answered to one of the more curious decisions on Cincinnati’s final drive of Super Bowl LVI.
On key third-and-one and fourth-and-one plays, running back Samaje Perine was on the field over Pro Bowler Joe Mixon; which ultimately ended up being the last two plays of the game.
“We were in 2-minute mode and Samaje has done a great job,” Taylor explained via Bengals writer Mike Pretraglia. “His role has really been as a protecting back and a lot of the things that come with that. It’s one of those situations where I called the play a little later on the clock. And so, I was the one that said leave him in there.”
Why Samaje Perine over Joe Mixon on third-and-1 at the Rams’ 49? Zac Taylor explains: #Bengals pic.twitter.com/5lLwKCZM2K
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) February 16, 2022
“Justin Hill, our running backs coach, asked if we wanted to make a change. I said, ‘just leave Samaje in there,’” Taylor continued. “Obviously, it didn’t work out for us. Whether Joe is in there or not, he’s certainly deserving of the opportunity in a key moment in a key game to try to get it for us as our featured back.”
“That’s just one of the decisions you make in the moment and you’ve gotta move forward with it,” Zac Taylor concluded. “There’s other things I certainly could have done over the course of the game that would have put us in a better position. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done.”
The Bengals fell to the Rams 23-20. After a couple of promising gains, Cincy’s season ended on a flailing fourth-and-one pass from Joe Burrow with Aaron Donald breathing down his neck.
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