(10-29-2021, 11:34 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: You have to add all the FA’s, too. For whatever reason we certainly never brought them in like that under Marvin. He’s helped put together a really good roster.

Indeed.
There have been a ton of FAs brought in for the defense, not so much on the offense though.
Reiff has really been the only "big" acquisition in the prime FA period during Taylor's tenure.
Offense has been addressed primarily via the draft.

The defensive additions of Reader, Hendrickson, Awuzie, Hilton, Bell, Ogunjobi, and Hill have helped really turn around that defense.
And I gotta say that I never thought Anarumo would ever be able to put a Top 10 defense on the field.
I thought around middle of the pack was the best we'd ever see.
Happy to have been proven wrong thus far in 2021.

(10-29-2021, 10:35 AM)Bengalitis Wrote: Zac still needs to go. Thank you.

I still want to see playoffs this year from this team.  But my biggest gripe on Taylor has been handling the playcalling.  Things are still a little up and down there this season, but definitely appear to be trending in the right direction.  My leash is short if they don't play strong the rest of the season, or we're talking about "moral victories" or they can't adjust as needed.  But for now, I'm not onboard with tossing him off the train.  He's turning things around (more quickly than we've seen yet) and the team is performing at a high level. 

(10-29-2021, 11:48 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Indeed.
There have been a ton of FAs brought in for the defense, not so much on the offense though.
Reiff has really been the only "big" acquisition in the prime FA period during Taylor's tenure.
Offense has been addressed primarily via the draft.

The defensive additions of Reader, Hendrickson, Awuzie, Hilton, Bell, Ogunjobi, and Hill have helped really turn around that defense.
And I gotta say that I never thought Anarumo would ever be able to put a Top 10 defense on the field.
I thought around middle of the pack was the best we'd ever see.
Happy to have been proven wrong thus far in 2021.

Spain might not have been a “big” addition at the time, but he’s outplaying most of the highest paid OG’s around the league this season.

(10-29-2021, 11:59 AM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: I still want to see playoffs this year from this team.  But my biggest gripe on Taylor has been handling the playcalling.  Things are still a little up and down there this season, but definitely appear to be trending in the right direction.  My leash is short if they don't play strong the rest of the season, or we're talking about "moral victories" or they can't adjust as needed.  But for now, I'm not onboard with tossing him off the train.  He's turning things around (more quickly than we've seen yet) and the team is performing at a high level. 

Yeah the play calling has been a huge issue with me. I feel like the poor scheme is getting covered up by some super-star level players on offense. It's mind boggling how good our skill players are right now. There's defiantly times in games (even the Baltimore game) where I'm scratching my head on why he would call that play.

I think the play calling thing is a tad overbought. I was willing to give a “wait and see” on Taylor’s play calling coming into the season because for a play to “work,” you need working pieces of the puzzle to do their part ie the personnel (especially @ offensive line). I think because of the narrative, every play that doesn’t work , it gets overly scrutinized. The best teams under the best coaches and coordinators have plenty of plays that don’t hit in every game for the most part. I have been critical a handful of times this season, but overall think that some of the early stuff was based on easing Burrow into his stride and comfort zone. In a perfect world, your running game moves the chains consistently , providing less margin for error, monopolizing time of possession, softening the opposing defense for shot plays when you do throw, keeping our defense rested , and ultimately protecting your quarterback. The most questionable move for me personally was going for it on 4th down vs Minnesota, but overall, things seem to be trending in the right direction in regards to the play calling and the offense itself.

The play calling narrative will be tested over the rest of the season. It could legitimately be said that Taylor didn't have the personnel to run the kind of offense he envisioned in the first two years. This is obviously not the case anymore, with the group getting better chemistry-wise seemingly every week.

If we're still looking at play calling as the thing that's holding them back by the end of the year, then there's not much for Zac to hide behind anymore.

(10-29-2021, 07:45 AM)Gdale_Bengal Wrote: It really makes a difference when you inherit a HOF QB, while Zac inherited an old roster and food stamps.

He got the foodstamps cut off too.. If anything Zac doesn't seem afraid to try something completely different when things don't go according to plan.. Marv would stick to losing.. 

(10-29-2021, 11:55 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Spain might not have been a “big” addition at the time, but he’s outplaying most of the highest paid OG’s around the league this season.

I didn't add Spain to the list because he was brought in midseason last year and then re-signed this offseason for very cheap deal.
But yes, he's been playing very well this year.

(10-28-2021, 08:17 PM)CoachGeorge Wrote: In the 2019 head coach carousel, the trend was to hire the next young, offensive-minded coach in the Sean McVay mold. Their records so far this year:

McVay  6-1
Kingsbury  7-0
LaFleur  6-1
Taylor  5-2

Wild, thanks for this CoachG. What is good for us is Taylor is younger than all of them and just had his best coached game
against one of the best teams in the league in their house against a vet HC that has outcoached other teams in the SB.

(10-30-2021, 03:55 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Wild, thanks for this CoachG. What is good for us is Taylor is younger than all of them and just had his best coached game
against one of the best teams in the league in their house against a vet HC that has outcoached other teams in the SB.

It was good to see with the talk earlier about how Zac could hold this team back. 

Three things you need to win big.

1. Talent
2. Execution
3. An ability to adapt

(10-30-2021, 04:01 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: It was good to see with the talk earlier about how Zac could hold this team back. 

Three things you need to win big.

1. Talent
2. Execution
3. An ability to adapt

Truth and all of which have been on display so far this season. Was hoping Taylor would come around. I had hope with him being a
young Dog. Those old dogs just can't learn those new tricks. We saw how we adjusted for the better in about every game this season
even if it didn't result in a win a couple times. That is alright. We will learn from the close losses.

Lets give a curb stomping to those Jets tomorrow and look to our Home field, the Stains and the bye to rest up for the long haul.

(10-29-2021, 11:14 AM)Bengalitis Wrote:   The player talent has been the difference. It's very obvious. 

Who is responsible for that?

Zac Taylor has also been one of the best second half adjustment coaches we have had in a while.

(10-29-2021, 11:26 AM)ochocincos Wrote: About the only picks that I thought were head scratchers were Sample in Rd 2 and Finley in Rd 4.
I thought both were reaches.

His 1st round picks have all been great, and his 3rd rounders have been good too (I have optimism for Ossai).
2nd round has been good overall aside from my personal opinion of the Sample reach.

If you can most often nail the first 3 rounds of the draft year after year, you're eventually going to have a really solid team.

I find it interesting that they're all apparently Zac Taylor's picks now?

Also, he's "earned" the 1st, and 5th overall picks. I would hope they're great. The 10 1st round picks before that they picked on average 17th (17.3). you better pick great when you come into the draft with the 1/33 and 5/38 picks.

(10-30-2021, 04:24 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Truth and all of which have been on display so far this season. Was hoping Taylor would come around. I had hope with him being a
young Dog. Those old dogs just can't learn those new tricks. We saw how we adjusted for the better in about every game this season
even if it didn't result in a win a couple times. That is alright. We will learn from the close losses.

Lets give a curb stomping to those Jets tomorrow and look to our Home field, the Stains and the bye to rest up for the long haul.

Your mother sews socks on sale too!

(10-30-2021, 05:39 PM)HarleyDog Wrote:

Your mother sews socks on sale too!

You are still a young Dog though.

(10-29-2021, 07:45 AM)Gdale_Bengal Wrote: It really makes a difference when you inherit a HOF QB, while Zac inherited an old roster and food stamps.

That "old" QB only beat Zac twice.

 

(10-28-2021, 08:17 PM)CoachGeorge Wrote: In the 2019 head coach carousel, the trend was to hire the next young, offensive-minded coach in the Sean McVay mold. Their records so far this year:

McVay 6-1
Kingsbury 7-0
LaFleur 6-1
Taylor 5-2

I was pimping LaFleur a couple years before we hired Zac. I liked the Zac hire, but I was much bigger on Lafleur tbh. They all seem to be working out great though.