03-31-2022, 12:36 PM
(03-31-2022, 12:00 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: To have a winning team it takes as we all know lots of ingredients. I’m going to just center on 2. The Jets added C J Uzomah and maybe their culture will be much better. But you have to have the talent as well. The Rams got Matthew Stafford and Von Miller. FredToast and others who can’t see the forest for the trees.
The Bengals when Taylor took over didn’t have a roster worth a flip. The scouting and personnel department had been in place for years. How’d they done? How did they do drafting? Taylor did bring his experience from Miami and McVay as well as his own. He directed Duke and his staff to bring him college players who were from winning programs. He wanted team captains. He also wanted free agents that were likewise. Those players were evident. Hilton and Hendrickson were hard workers and great teammates. Logan Wilson was an unbelievable leader at Wyoming.
He got rid of the players on the roster who didn’t buy in. If people can’t see the metamorphosis of the winning mindset that Taylor developed then they truly can’t see the forest for the trees. No you can’t do what he did without it producing results. But if you can’t see the make over of this teams culture then you are just biased or stubborn. But to get a team that had lost so many games and a franchise with a history of losing to turn it around like he did is pretty amazing. Like I said I know a NFL HC and OC and that’s what amazes them.
Those thinking that improving the roster is all it takes are lost. This team’s roster was not as elite as most Super Bowl teams and even with the recent OL FA overhaul Vegas seems to agree. Taylor had a great season. Plain and simple.
I just think there's miscommunication between the two arguing sides here. Improving the roster is undoubtedly the biggest contribution, which I think is the main point Fred is making. This isn't debatable, to be honest - the team brought in better players, so the team was better. However, ZT did a great job of bringing in high-quality guys. This likely improved team chemistry, morale and all of that fun stuff.
Being a "leader" doesn't win games if the player isn't good, though. That's the whole point. The college football landscape is littered with high quality teammates who are strong leaders. A lot of them aren't very good, though. Burrow is a great leader, but he is also a fantastic QB. Hilton is a great lockerroom guy, but he is also a good corner. Hendrickson is a great teammate, but he is also a fantastic DE. The same goes for Logan Wilson, and a lot of other players on the team. Good players win games. The lockerroom stuff helps in an unknown capacity, but the biggest change was that Cincinnati became inundated with quality players (aside from OL).
I don't think Cincinnati's roster is really that much worse than any of the other past Super Bowl teams. There have been better, sure, but the Bengals have a strong roster. Especially going into this season. They had some luck throughout the season, were fortunate with an easier schedule and got hot at the right time.
