“No,” the Bengals are not in blow-it-up mode, says Zac Taylor

It was a rough Sunday for Bengals’ fans. The team lost to the winless Cardinals, and it seemed all hope was lost in that failed comeback. However, don’t tell that to Zac Taylor who isn’t ready to give up on this season.

Unlike the Miami Dolphins, the Bengals are trying to win games. They just have yet to put the pieces together. However, like the Dolphins at the beginning of the season, they have the veterans trade pieces to sell of if they so choose.

Taylor isn’t ready for that though.

When asked if he’s in the “blow it up” phase, he shied away from giving any insight into potential trade rumors. Rather, he shifted the focus to just continually trying to win the next game at hand.

“No. We’re in the phase where we’re just trying to win a game. We’re doing whatever we can to win this game. That’s where all our efforts are. That’s where all our focus is. Sometimes it’s nice to be insulated. You don’t deal with all that stuff. Our focus remains the same it has been for the last five weeks.”

The Bengals came in with relatively high expectations or at least high expectations for that of a Cincinnati sports team. They’ve already failed to reach those lofty goals as the playoffs are a distant dream now.

But, that doesn’t mean there won’t be excitement in the Queen City. A.J. Green, Carlos Dunlap, Geno Atkins, William Jackson and Tyler Eifert could all enter trade rumors in the next few weeks.

While Taylor’s yet to reach the “blow it up” phase, it may quickly be upon the Bengals. 0-5 could turn to 0-6 which, unless they take down the Jags in Week 7, could balloon to 0-9 as they’ll face Baltimore, Jacksonville, Los Angeles (Rams), and Baltimore again.

This is a tough stretch, and it may continue to unravel the Bengals chemistry. Could this be the season and the hierarchy that blows it up, an ideology we haven’t really seen under the Marvin Lewis-led Bengals.