04-23-2021, 10:24 AM
(04-23-2021, 09:40 AM)TJ528 Wrote: Here's my issue with it Sled is you have people and I'm all for giving Zac a chance this year, and if he doesnt win he's gone. However, you have others who will say the guy needs 5 years. It was a complete rebuild when he was hired.
In the NFL you dont need 5 years to build a team to win. Most GM's and coaches can do that in 2 years. So to say a coach needs 4 or 5 years to get his roster where he needs it to win is BS.
If Zac fails this year and I could careless if its because of injuries, or maybe Burrow comes back and he doesnt hit his stride until the last 4 games of the season and this team goes 5-12 because they won 3 of 4 games. He still needs to go!
Here is the thing. I would never fire a new head coach after just one year. That would not be fair to anyone.
I also would not fire a new head coach after his second year just because he has not become a playoff contender AS LONG AS HE IS SHOWING IMPROVEMENT AND PROGRESS.
The loss of Boling, Glenn, Green, and first round pick Jonah Williams before the season even started destroyed any hope we had for a decent offense in Zac's first season. But in 2020 we added the first overall pick from the 2020 draft, the first O-lineman taken in the 2019 draft, one of the best rookie WRs in the league, plus $145 million in free agent spending and we still just won 4 games.
Our coaches botched the benching of Andy Dalton and ran off one of the better DEs in the league from a defense that is desperate for talent. They wasted an active roster spot for an entire season on Green. Our best young defensive player (Bates) said there were communication problems with the defensive coaches in 2019. Multiple other defensive players (Williams, Phillips) publicly questioned the coaching staff on social media.
The roster Zac inherited was not strong, but it was not near as bad as some people claim. Atkins and Green were obviously on the decline, but according to PFF Andy Dalton had the best season of his career in 2018, and Dunlap has consistently produced at a high level except for the first half of 2020 when he had conflict with our inexperienced coaching staff. There was some good young talent in Mixon, Boyd, Bates, Hubbard, Jackson, and Lawson. Again, I am not saying it was a strong roster, but it was not a complete disaster.
When teams hire good coaches they may not make the playoffs in the second season (although some have) but they at least show major improvement by the second year. We have not seen that with Taylor and his staff.
