CINCINNATI (AP) — With the exception of a fourth-round quarterback http://www.clevelandbrownsteamonline.com/anthony-zettel-jersey , the Bengals‘ first draft under coach Zac Taylor was more about upgrading their infrastructure.And there was a distinct emphasis on Taylor’s favorite side of the ball. a run-blocking tight end, a defensive tackle and a linebacker among their first six picks in the draft, with quarterback Ryan Finley filling out their top selections. Taylor came to the Bengals as the Rams’ quarterback coach, and they leaned heavily toward improving the run game in his first draft.Cincinnati finished 26th on offense last season and 21st in yards rushing. Joe Mixon led the AFC in rushing with 1,168 yards, but the running game was inconsistent overall. The Bengals took a pair of running backs in the sixth round to fill out the group.“That’s the starting point for us,” Taylor said. “We’re going to put a very strong focus on the run game and it all plays off that. If you can’t get your run game going, the rest of the offense struggles.”For their most intriguing pick, the Bengals moved up and took Finley early in the fourth round Saturday, then immediately emphasized that Andy Dalton is still the starter.Still, it was a noteworthy move. The Bengals hadn’t taken a quarterback so high in the draft since they choose Dalton in the second round in 2011.Finley will be a backup for now, at least. Dalton has two years left on his contract and has fully recovered from a thumb injury that sidelined him the last five games last season.“I do want to make something very clear before we start: Andy Dalton is our starting quarterback,” offensive coordinator Brian Callahan said. “That has not changed. That will not change. We think very highly of Andy and what he’s going to do in our offense.“We do think competition is good. It’ll be good for our position. It’ll be good for the backup job for sure.”Some highlights of Cincinnati’s draft:WHO THEY GOTLT Jonah Williams (first round http://www.detroitlionsteamonline.com/jahlani-tavai-jersey , Alabama), TE Drew Sample (second round, Washington), LB Germaine Pratt (third round, N.C. State), QB Ryan Finley (fourth round, N.C. State), DT Renell Wren (fourth round, Arizona State), C Michael Jordan (fourth round, Ohio State), RB Trayveon Williams (sixth round, Texas A&M), LB Deshaun Davis (sixth round http://www.houstontexansteamonline.com/kahale-warring-jersey , Auburn), RB Rodney Anderson (sixth round, Oklahoma), CB Jordan Brown (seventh round, South Dakota State).SURPRISE MOVEMoving down 10 spots in the second round and taking Sample — a tight end known as a tenacious blocker — with so many needs on a defense that gave up the most yards and third-most points in the league last season. Taylor said the Bengals highly valued Sample’s blocking ability and thought he’d be gone if they waited to draft him later. The Bengals already had tight ends Tyler Eifert and C.J. Uzomah.“Drew fits what we do,” Taylor said. “When he’s there and you really like him, you’ve got to go get him.”HOW THEY DIDThe offensive line has been a longstanding problem, and they improved it with the addition of Williams and Jordan, who can play guard. Linebacker was their biggest problem area on a historically bad defense last season, and Cincinnati released Vontaze Burfict in the offseason. The Bengals are depending upon Pratt to play a big role right away.WHAT’S NEXTTaylor’s staff has to figure out how to configure the offensive line with the new additions. Williams played left tackle at Alabama, so they could consider moving left tackle Cordy Glenn to another spot. They also have to get Pratt ready. The versatile linebacker could play either inside or outside, and first-year coordinator Lou Anarumo needs to decide where he’ll be most comfortable at the outset. ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — The story line around the Oakland Raiders last season was a consistent and frustrating one.After trading away star pass rusher Khalil Mack following a contract holdout, the Raiders never were able to fill that void on defense and were the worst in the league when it came to pressuring the quarterback and shutting down opposing offenses.While the constant questions about the lack of a pass rush might have grown tiresome http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/bobby-okereke-jersey , the Raiders know they will only stop when the defense takes some steps toward truly replacing Mack.“We take all of it,” said second-year defensive tackle Maurice Hurst, who led Oakland with four sacks as a rookie. “Every single game we play they’re going to mention our pass rush. We control the narrative for that. Obviously, last year wasn’t good enough and we get all the criticism for it. There’s a lot of eyes on us to develop and be special this year and change that narrative, change what they say about us, change our attitude and how we’re approaching things.”Hurst was part of a trio of rookie defensive linemen in Oakland last year who were drafted to complement edge rushers Mack and Bruce Irvin but became the main pieces after Mack was traded before the start of the season and Irvin was released midway through the year after struggling as the main man.Hurst showed some signs but had little help. Third-round defensive end Arden Key finished with just one sack in 16 games and second-round defensive tackle P.J. Hall had no sacks in 14 games.Those three are now being counted on as a big part of a young group up front that also includes a pair of rookie defensive ends in No. 4 overall pick Clelin Ferrell and fourth-rounder Maxx Crosby.“Now it’s our time to take it over and start to develop our own identity,” Hurst said. “That’s something that we didn’t do last year, is to develop an identity, and I think that’s what we are going to try and accomplish early on and just set a tone and keep it rolling throughout the season.”The numbers for the Raiders on defense were downright awful last season. Their 95 total quarterback pressures, according to SportRadar, were 29 fewer than the next worst team in the league. Oakland also finished with a league-low 13 sacks. In fact, Miami, New England and the Giants were tied for the second-fewest sacks with 30 but were closer to seventh best in the league than the last place Raiders.With no pressure coming whatsoever from the front seven and a secondary that struggled to limit big plays with a league-worst 10 passes allowed of at least 50 yards, the results were predictably poor.The Raiders ranked last in the league with 6.27 yards allowed per play and gave up a league-high 29.2 points per game for the worst mark in franchise history in yards and second worst in points.It was an unfamiliar spot for coordinator Paul Guenther http://www.jacksonvillejaguarsteamonline.com/jawaan-taylor-jersey , whose defenses ranked in the top of the NFL in his four seasons running the show in Cincinnati.“It’s something that you don’t always want to go through, having a rough year like we did, but obviously you start to learn how to build these things,” he said. “How to build your lineup card and what it should look like and how you envisioned it. That was the positive for me. I always tell the players, if you don’t learn from failure, you’re making a mistake. You have to learn from what we did good and what we did bad and build off of that in the future.”Guenther should have more pieces at his disposal this year with the maturation of last year’s rookies; the additions of Ferrell, first-round safety Johnathan Abram and second-round cornerback Trayvon Mullen through the draft; and free agent acquisitions like safety Lamarcus Joyner and linebackers Vontaze Burfict and Brandon Marshall.Burfict was an especially important addition at middle linebacker for Guenther, having spent time with him in Cincinnati. Burfict’s knowledge of the defense will allow Guenther to have more variety on defense this season.“It’s like having a quarterback that you’ve coached in there so you can get in and out of calls at the line of scrimmage,” he said. “Last year we didn’t do that as much. We did it a few times and I just felt like it was a lot for the guys in the first year of the system to put that added weight on them. I wanted them to kind of go out and play. Now in year two, add in a guy like him, and having another year under the system, the guys will pick it up a lot faster.”