Zac is no different than any young inexperienced coach. He’s still learning. However he was also brilliant in his vision in building a winner. I’ve said this before. It’s not a light switch to turn a team around. These teams prior to this season had about the same 4-5 year record of the Bengals. Those teams: NYG, NYJ. Jags, Detroit and they are still bad. They had free agency opportunities and high draft choices.

(01-13-2022, 10:43 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Zac is no different than any young inexperienced coach. He’s still learning. However he was also brilliant in his vision in building a winner. I’ve said this before. It’s not a light switch to turn a team around. These teams prior to this season had about the same 4-5 year record of the Bengals. Those teams: NYG, NYJ. Jags, Detroit and they are still bad. They had free agency opportunities and high draft choices.

And when Burrow says he was sold on Zac in his first conversation with him at the combine, that's a heck of an endorsement for your vision. 

The great video's keep coming...

https://twitter.com/Bengals/status/1481415705165631488

(01-13-2022, 10:13 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Where Zac excels is when he makes a mistake, he is not afraid to admit it and correct it the next time. He does not let an ego get in his way.

I think we've all (at least those of us that are older) have worked for people we didn't respect and some we do respect.  It makes a huge difference in how you approach your responsibility to the organization.  When you truly respect those you work for and with you will go above and beyond not to let them down because of something you've done.  Thus you are motivated and focus on the detail as a result.

I can totally see this culture in the Bengal locker room.  That's a tribute to the coach for putting and keeping all that together.  Kudo's to Zac!

And I was one admittedly who was ready to throw him out after last season.  Probably mostly due to being a long-suffering Bengal fan and witnessing the same thing over and over.  Luckily the front office saw the vision and stayed the course.  Other organizations probably would have pulled the trigger too quickly.

I am 50 and my favorite team is the '89 Super Bowl team led by Boomer but if we can make a run this team could supplant them for sure. They are saying and doing all the right things here and are on the cusp of greatness.

It's good to see this team and staff having some success after all they've been through the last three years. They've assembled a group of guys that are easy to root for.

(01-13-2022, 01:36 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: What a change from you, from before the season (not giving you shit or snarky or anything; just noting your shift in demeanor).

Oh Don’t I know it. I was a venom spitter for sure.They’ve brought me back. Now I’m trafficking in hope again which is a scary thing. If Lucy pulls that football again…


Win or lose though this season has been awesome. I’d imagine that chiefs game is what winning a playoff game feels like.

(01-13-2022, 09:51 AM)Sled21 Wrote: This is exactly right. For the last two years I got barraged for supporting Zac with his horrible record. But I could listen to his vision, and see that he was working toward that with the players he drafted and brought in. He told us his plan from the beginning. His players love and respect him, and I think he feels the same way about them. I don't get the feeling there is even one player on the roster who is mailing it in to get a paycheck. No more taking plays off. No more divas. No more back biting when a play goes wrong. No more locker room distractions.  Players performing their roles, whether that be holding a run lane instead of going for a sack or making a downfield block instead of catching the ball, and then celebrating their teammates making the play instead of worrying about their own stats. This team is the very definition of a team. 

For me, it was some of that, but I actually saw glimpses of some good things when the line actually held long enough to let things develop on offense. I know it was far and few between, but you could see the potential if you quit hating long enough to look. I wasn't as ardent a supporter as you, but I wasn't ready to throw the baby out with the bath water either. I also liked the draft picks from day one (although some where questions) and FA additions that they brought on in year two. So, I could see his vision, and I could see what they wanted to do on both sides of the ball, but I understood the talent wasn't there yet...and what talent we had leftover was old and didn't....or wouldn't....fit what they wanted to do. I wasn't sold that his vision would necessarily work, but you could see it. So, once they got some pieces, I wanted to see how the club did. Well, here we are. I've gone from being lukewarm on him, to wanting a two year extension.

(01-13-2022, 11:09 AM)StoneTheCrow Wrote: Oh Don’t I know it. I was a venom spitter for sure.They’ve brought me back. Now I’m trafficking in hope again which is a scary thing. If Lucy pulls that football again…


Win or lose though this season has been awesome. I’d imagine that chiefs game is what winning a playoff game feels like.

Yeah man, it's been a lot of fun. Hell, I was enjoying watching Burrow play while we were losing last year, lol. The winning is just the cherry on top. BTW, good to see you back around these parts. 

(01-13-2022, 11:03 AM)Memphis_Bengal Wrote: I am 50 and my favorite team is the '89 Super Bowl team led by Boomer but if we can make a run this team could supplant them for sure. They are saying and doing all the right things here and are on the cusp of greatness.

I'm 45, but this is exactly where I'm at.

http://thebengalsboard.com/Thread-Our-belief-in-him-comes-from-his-belief-in-us

(01-13-2022, 11:04 AM)WychesWarrior Wrote: It's good to see this team and staff having some success after all they've been through the last three years. They've assembled a group of guys that are easy to root for.

This makes me think back to last season when the news was all about Dunlap and the locker room and the culture. A lot of people talked about how they thought Taylor was the issue, and that it was a cancerous regime.
Turns out, maybe it was Dunlap who was the issue! This team seems to Gel very well, and they all are having fun. I know winning helps that. But still

(01-13-2022, 11:42 AM)Cosmokramer Wrote: This makes me think back to last season when the news was all about Dunlap and the locker room and the culture. A lot of people talked about how they thought Taylor was the issue, and that it was a cancerous regime.
Turns out, maybe it was Dunlap who was the issue!   This team seems to Gel very well, and they all are having fun.   I know winning helps that.  But still

Yes. After we see how the defense is supposed to operate, it just seems like Carlos didn't want to play within the scheme. It also seems like Green didn't want to either, but at least he was more professional about it. 

(01-13-2022, 11:42 AM)Cosmokramer Wrote: This makes me think back to last season when the news was all about Dunlap and the locker room and the culture. A lot of people talked about how they thought Taylor was the issue, and that it was a cancerous regime.
Turns out, maybe it was Dunlap who was the issue!   This team seems to Gel very well, and they all are having fun.   I know winning helps that.  But still

I gotta admit, I assumed that Zac had lost the locker room last year when all of this stuff started going down. Turns out, it seems like he was in control the whole time. Former players had a hard time adapting to a new regime and an altered or decreased role, and they acted out over it. 

Dunlap was always one of my favorite Bengals, but when you see a locker room cancer growing, you have to cut it out. That's what they did with him, and we are much better because of it. 

Culture is an under-valued aspect of winning teams, and it at least appears that the culture here is elite. 

Depends on the outcome of tomorrow's game.. A loss? In some of our minds it'll be just a blip and stepping stone to next season.. In others it will be screams of firing Zac on the spot. A win? The narrative should be overwhelmingly positive, but there will still be a few who will never be happy even if they win the superbowl and Zac personally hands them a million bucks in cash just for being a Bengals fan.. 

Zac has certainly assembled a great group of guys with his "change the culture" approach.

They're so easy to root wholeheartedly for because this too.

(01-13-2022, 10:00 AM)jason Wrote: A lot of us have done that. The first 2 weeks of the season I was still personally calling for Zac's head. I admire those who had a steadfast belief in him despite all evidence to the contrary. This team was really bad for 2 years, pretty bad for one year, and the definition of meh for 2 years prior to that. All of that followed the 2015 season which was the last time it seems we had a shot.

As this season rolled along, and the wins kept stacking, I had to choice but to reverse my stance on Taylor. It would seem foolish to cling to the idea that he's in over his head. If you don't change your opinion after receiving new evidence, then you (me) are the fool.

I got that criticism and see how others could think that, but the reality (and one I clung to steadfastly) is that he was NEVER in over his head. People who use that line, especially when they have 0 experience of the sort in the field they are commenting on, 99.9% of the time are talking shit, emotionally. Period.

The guy played at 3 different colleges (at a time before transferring was as rampant as it is now, due to the rules), under a myriad of coaches and coaching styles, then went to the CFL and was coached by Doug Berry, a long time offensive mind in the CFL (3 decades in the league), then learned under Sherman at Texas A&M.

Following that, he got experience under Philbin (including calling plays), Tuberville at college and then McVay with the Rams.

For someone who was 36 at the time of the hire, he had been super well-travelled, in different leagues, at different levels, always working with long-time, respected offensive minds and did everything from playing, to graduate assistant, to QB coach, WR coach and OC. The only offensive positions he didn't coach were OL and RBs.

I realise that a ton of coaches are just as well-travelled and experienced at that age, but clearly his vision and ideas meshed perfectly with what the Browns/Blackburns were looking for and things are finally coming to fruition.

I never once thought or even considered that he was in over his head and I have no clout anyways, as I have never coached football at any level. But you need to stay the course sometimes, especially if there is 0 dissention in the ranks or any funny stuff that goes on (both of which, have never happened under Taylor).

Hopefully, we continue to progress.

(01-13-2022, 11:42 AM)Cosmokramer Wrote: This makes me think back to last season when the news was all about Dunlap and the locker room and the culture. A lot of people talked about how they thought Taylor was the issue, and that it was a cancerous regime.
Turns out, maybe it was Dunlap who was the issue!   This team seems to Gel very well, and they all are having fun.   I know winning helps that.  But still

Right after Dunlap left, it was reported that Phillips wanted out because he wasn't getting enough playing time. People jumped Taylor again for loosing the locker room. Well Phillips sucks and Taylor was right for not playing him much, end of story.....lol

Lots of great post's in this thread. Zac is definitely a teams coach and figures out a way to get the best out of his players. He had such a difficult time putting his coaching staff together but his steadfastness in the quality of coaches he assembled and players was very good. We have a well rounded team which will only get better as we improve certain positions.

(01-13-2022, 01:36 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: What a change from you, from before the season (not giving you shit or snarky or anything; just noting your shift in demeanor).

Dude I think that's most of us!  I know it was me.

Feels so good.  And I have to appreciate the few of you who are always so measured.  And that's not snarky either.  I am not one of you.  The best I can do is tie myself to the mast so I have no choice but to  ignore the sitens' call!

Go Bengals!!