'Our belief in him comes from his belief in us'

[*SHRacerX*]

(01-13-2022, 09:42 AM)pally Wrote: One of the reasons I’ve supported Zac was because it was obvious when listening to the players that he had not lost the locker room despite the losses.  I’ve heard players giving lip service support to their coaches and that’s not what these guys were doing.  These guys were genuinely supportive of Zac.  When I saw all the back stabbing going on with Urban Meyer all I could think was no one on the Bengals did that even when their record was that bad.  People who didn’t want to buy in are gone unlike in the Marvin years where they hung around setting up a two tier systems.  We all heard the stories about people half assing it at practice or sleeping through meetings and sloppy play reflected that. Not saying that they weren’t good players still but that they weren’t all in on changing the Cincinnati culture.  The players Zac has selected have led what he’s been trying to do.  How many of the current players resumes open with “former team captain” or “coach’s kid”?  It takes guts to reject a potentially really good player because they were looking like locker room poison.

We’re having fun because for the first time in a long time the team is having fun. Every time you see the players interact it is easy to see they actually like each other and are not just co workers.  There have been lots of interviews these past several weeks with former coaches and players.  To a man, they are all saying this team is different from those other teams of the past.  They have confidence, swag, joy to go along with talent. We are heading into this game, as fans, thinking our team CAN win.  I don’t think any of us, including the team, thought that in any of those 5 straight playoff appearances.

I love this feeling.  I love the excitement.  I love the real hope.  I love the belief.  I don’t want it to end.

Dead on, Pally.

You touched on the, I guess call it:  Chemistry, on this team.  How everyone loves a guy like Stanley Morgan.  How they play so hard for each other.  I remember when Chase sprinted to catch up to Mixon (and my GOD, can he accelerate) and blow up the would-be tackler so Mixon could score.  That's selfless play that you don't see out of a lot of WRs, let alone the most talented rookie WR in a long time. 

I really like ZT's demeanor.  He has a nice mix of confident and humble.  It is hard not to like him.  When he broke down for a brief moment at the press conference following the Chiefs game, I just was so happy for the guy.  Lots of us were ready to send him packing.  I was willing to give him this year and called it the "no excuses" season.  They don't need any.  

He had the foresight to ease Joe in and not expose him to too much early coming off the injury.  Right now, the entire team is peaking.  I remember thinking "how on earth can the team be so flat" on Marvin's playoff teams.  I think Zac his the player's health and energy at the highest level of concern.  The team has clearly responded. 

Here's to extending the season.