Culture… Patience,confidence, grinders, & next up.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(12-19-2022, 01:50 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: I give Taylor a lot of grief about the offensive play calling (predictability by formation & personnel), 4th down decision making (FG/go, PAT/2PT), and clock management (spike it already!). With some justification. And let's not talk about that first OL coach hire.

But, he has done a tremendous job building culture. And it was VERY intentional. I think he realized that his first year. The malcontent guys (Dunlap, Jackson, etc) were let go or outright traded. Turner was let go. And that 2nd draft had a specific type of player. He wanted winners. Team captains. Coaches sons. Guys who wanted to be here. Burrow, Wilson, ADG, Kareem, Adeniji, and Bailey were all captains. Burrow, Wilson, ASG, and Bailey all sons of coaches. Higgins was the only exception. A national title winne and a guy who was a Bengals fan (hence the #85 for Chad). All those guys are still here save for Kareem (who got poached off the PS and likely would not have been on it if he could have stayed healthy).

Beyond intentionally drafting high character guys, Taylor has been very intentional about how he sets the culture for the team, how he (and the FO) recruit FA's, which has been another huge strength. Not just having a personal plan for each guy (how we are gonna use them & how that helps their career), but the guys we went after. Guys with PO experience who would help reset the culture (Reader, Bell, Hilton, Hendrickson, Awuzie, even Waynes fit the profile).

Taylor still frustrates me on the game management side some, but he has been a honerun in terms of shifting the culture, drafting, and signing FA's. The FO deserves credit there as well.

I think the entire staff does a good job of in game adjustments too. I mean, they had to scrap the entire offensive game plan just before kickoff against Cleveland. Then adjust the adjustment after Boyd went out.