01-18-2022, 11:58 AM
Two different coaches who will be remembered for two different things.
Marvin pulled this team out of the mental cycle of saying “we’re trying hard, so everything’s OK”. Whether it was him, or just age catching up to Mike Brown, he also got the Brown family to trust the HC more and to let them make more decisions. This was also Marvin’s downfall. Eventually, the more power he was given, the more his faults were magnified.
He gave character lip service, but the main culprits with his mistakes were having guys with character “issues” in prominent roles on the team. He did the same as DC for Baltimore. What Marvin WILL NOT be known for is his success in the post season…at least not with the Bengals. This also showed up in the undisciplined play of Marvin’s teams (look at all the stupidness that cost the team some of their most important games). Character goes “hand in hand” with success when playoffs hit and Marvin’s choices doomed him, in a variety of different ways.
Towards the end, he was really floundering. Which is too bad, as I always liked him. His byline will say more about his tenure than his success.
Zak will be known for bringing the team over the hump to gain success. The ZT teams compared to the ML teams are night and day. I think the ML rosters were every bit as talented as this current roster. Character is the key difference. This current team is disciplined. They make very few stupid mistakes. When they do, the cause of the mistakes are usually eliminated. The team is one of the least penalized teams in the league.
Zak also brought in analytics. This may just be more with the times, but Zak got Mike Brown to embrace it.
I don’t think anyone will argue that ZT has his staff draft better than Marvin.
And, the fact that ZT was hammered in his first two seasons, gave him battle scars that he’s now using to build a tough, never give up kind of team.
So, if not this year (but boy I hope it’s this year), in the ensuring years, Zak will be known as another, more successful, long time Bengals coach….along side the likes of Forrest Gregg, only with a longer, and more successful tenure.
Marvin pulled this team out of the mental cycle of saying “we’re trying hard, so everything’s OK”. Whether it was him, or just age catching up to Mike Brown, he also got the Brown family to trust the HC more and to let them make more decisions. This was also Marvin’s downfall. Eventually, the more power he was given, the more his faults were magnified.
He gave character lip service, but the main culprits with his mistakes were having guys with character “issues” in prominent roles on the team. He did the same as DC for Baltimore. What Marvin WILL NOT be known for is his success in the post season…at least not with the Bengals. This also showed up in the undisciplined play of Marvin’s teams (look at all the stupidness that cost the team some of their most important games). Character goes “hand in hand” with success when playoffs hit and Marvin’s choices doomed him, in a variety of different ways.
Towards the end, he was really floundering. Which is too bad, as I always liked him. His byline will say more about his tenure than his success.
Zak will be known for bringing the team over the hump to gain success. The ZT teams compared to the ML teams are night and day. I think the ML rosters were every bit as talented as this current roster. Character is the key difference. This current team is disciplined. They make very few stupid mistakes. When they do, the cause of the mistakes are usually eliminated. The team is one of the least penalized teams in the league.
Zak also brought in analytics. This may just be more with the times, but Zak got Mike Brown to embrace it.
I don’t think anyone will argue that ZT has his staff draft better than Marvin.
And, the fact that ZT was hammered in his first two seasons, gave him battle scars that he’s now using to build a tough, never give up kind of team.
So, if not this year (but boy I hope it’s this year), in the ensuring years, Zak will be known as another, more successful, long time Bengals coach….along side the likes of Forrest Gregg, only with a longer, and more successful tenure.
