This is the best coaching staff in the NFL

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(01-22-2023, 10:20 PM)Nately120 Wrote: ZT is awesome....I just don't really want to see this franchise without Joe Burrow under center ever again.

I will say that when Burrow retires, I will be optimistic that ZT can find success with the next QB we have.  I'm 41 now, and ZT is probably going to be here until I'm in a nursing home, anyways. 

LoL, I wouldn't call him awesome....but he's certainly better than he gets credit for from our own fanbase. The social media takes by some of our fans regarding him are ridiculous.

I agree about Joe Burrow 100 percent, but it's ok to say we have an elite QB and a good coach that understands that fully and has a lot of faith in him to execute his offense. The play with the Chase decoy today was brilliant. To your point, if you don't have smart players that can sell that decoy, then Hurst probably isn't wide open for a TD. People bitched all year about those Chase sweeps. How many times today did we see them fake the sweep, even with Ja'Marr in motion behind the QB a few times, and get nice gains out of it? They'd been setting that up all year. These coaches are smart and patient enough to play the long game. Average fans don't get that nuanced into the totality of the season.

Joe is definitely the main cog in the machine, no question. However, when we talk about the future and developing players, I think they've already proven they can coach guys up. Trenton Irwin, Perine balling while Mixon was out. CTB thrust into action, Awuzie, BJ Hill, and Apple have had a career renaissance here. We threw three backups and a rookie out there on the oline today with absolutely no dropoff. In a divisional round playoff game, no less. Mitch Wilcox was solid in relief of Hurst earlier on. Tufele, Sample, others have stepped in and stepped up at times when guys were dinged up. They've developed Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt, Ossai, etc. 

Let's not pretend that these guys are the greatest coaches ever singularly, but together as a staff, they're dynamite. Zac continues to grow each week, and could wind up an all time great, who knows. One thing he has done is instill a quiet confidence as a coach and his players feed off of it. Even when he was losing, he never changed demeanor or abandoned his vision. He has definitely rewarded the FOs patience. 

I think the talk of him unleashing the fury of an aging and lazy Marvin Lewis roster was optimistic to say the least.(one current player mentioned the laziness that permeating the team when he arrived, Boyd maybe?) After it was obvious that the roster needed flipped, they did it in two short years. They're a year ahead of what I thought would be realistic expectations regarding the rebuild.