SI Article with Tim McGee

[*ochocincos*]

(04-23-2021, 10:32 AM)TJ528 Wrote: https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/allbengals-insiders-plus/former-bengals-receiver-tim-mcgee-questions-zac-taylor

In this article, I think Tim McGee hits on everything correctly, and I love this quote from him:

“You’re as good as your leader or as bad as your leader. Give me something positive. I beg, please,” McGee said. “I want to talk positively. The Bengals organization has helped my family immensely, but I can’t dummy your eyes up and sell you on something that’s not there. What’s not there is the fact that they have an unproven coach and in two years... I mean it’s pathetic. It’s absolutely pathetic. That doesn’t mean he is not working extremely hard, or the staff is not working extremely hard, they want it. From what I understand he’s down there, he’s dedicated, he puts the time in, the effort in, but there’s one thing you can’t teach. You can’t teach leadership skills, it has to be something that is inside of you.”

You cant teach leadership.  

I'm really hoping that Zac turns it around this year, but I'm a realist and I want to talk positively about everythign with this franchise, but what are they giving me to talk positive about?  Uniforms? Social Media?  Burrow?  

Anyone who's seen my post know I've said as of right now, Zac is our modern day Dave Shula and Tim McGee pretty much says so in this statement:

“I heard he’s a super nice guy, and remember, I played under Dave Shula," McGee said. "I know what type of man he was. He was a phenomenal man, great dad, and great person to go to dinner with, but going into a football battle? That wasn’t the best person to go into that situation with. Just to be fair, I don’t think Zac has proven that he is that guy.”

You can be a hell of a guy, who knows a lot about football, but suck at coaching in the NFL.

That's pretty harsh criticism, but the results speak for themselves.
I still stand by that Taylor should have not tried to be both a first-time HC and also be the offensive playcaller. He should have delegated offensive playcalling to an actual, proven OC.
And it's on him that they kept Anarumo instead of going with a more experienced, proven DC.

If we're going to give some positives for Taylor, I'd say it's these:
- Taylor has gotten a shift in how the FO approaches FA
- Willing to swap out underperforming starters for depth players to try to get more production (even if the depth players are bad)
- His early draft picks have overall been solid. Jonah Williams was the best OL on the team last year (when on the field). Burrow looks good. Higgins looks good. Pratt, Wilson, and ADG look decent. Sample has been as advertised as a blocker.

If Taylor's crew can get 3 draft picks this year to be significant contributors, this team might be able to have a winning season.
If Chase is the pick, I think Chase will be a significant contributor, and I think an OL will be a starter if drafted in Rd 2 or 3. My other expectation is a rotational pass rusher that can have an impact, similar to Lawson or Hubbard their rookie seasons.