10-21-2019, 10:31 PM
(10-21-2019, 10:07 PM)Ravage Wrote: Oh, don't misunderstand, I'm not defending Taylor. I'm just trying to look for any hope in a largely hopeless situation. ZT wasn't the guy I wanted to replace Giggles (Bieniemy was). I wasn't impressed with him when he was hired. I was far less impressed with him when the staff started getting announced (Jim Turner & DC roulette especially). Giving Bobby Hart $7Mil/year left a hand print on my face from facepalming so hard; and the draft rounds 2-7 didn't fill me with confidence either.
For all our sanity's sake I hope he gets things turned around, but so far I've seen nothing since he was hired that makes me think he's remotely capable of doing the job he was hired to do. The front office deserves to shoulder some of the blame too, it's not all on ZT.
I think ZT could be a good coach down the road. Here are some reasons to give him the benefit of the doubt:
- He started behind the clock vs experienced veteran coaches and had last pick of what assistant coaches were left. Didn't get the best start there.
- His latency to the job may have stunted his free agency plan, Perhaps with more time, he gets a beneficial FA
- His overall #1 Draft pick got hurt right away.
- His best player got hurt right away.
- He has caught some tough breaks, particularly his QB turning the ball over at the end of games
On the flip side, his team hasn't shown much discipline, and there seems to be something going on with the OL that he hasn't taken care of within the personnel. Something smells fishy and it starts with Jim Turner. Guys quitting, the injury bug with Glenn, plain bad play by the rest. Good coaches fix those issues. Zac hasn't done that.
I say keep Zac going, give him a full off-season to rest for a minute. He went from losing a Super Bowl to coaching the Bengals in the flash of a second. He is learning a lot of lessons this season, the HARD way, but sometimes people are resilient. We'll have to wait and see what the overlord decides to do with Zac.
