12-29-2020, 12:24 PM
(12-28-2020, 06:33 PM)masterpanthera_t Wrote: I think it depends on the circumstances. In Flores' case, he took a 7 win team, completely ripped up its guts, to the point that they were considered worse than some college teams early in 2019 (I know it was a bit of hyperbole), and after starting 0-8,I believe went 5-3, and the NFL brass publicly talked about how they were improving. And this year they've continued where they've left off.
In Taylor's case he took a 6 win team, didn't make many changes, and ended up with a 2 win team. He dealt with injuries, but not enough to drop 4 wins. While their offensive line did run block better in the last half, I'm not sure the rest of the team improved a lot. But I could be wrong. But the most glaring issue is that the team didn't continue from any improvements made at the end of last year. The OLine clearly was worse by a lot, in the first ten plus games of 2020 compared to the last half of 2019. In fact it looked like the rookie qb was the only thing keeping the team worth watching. Now suddenly winning games in week 15 and 16 doesn't change the narrative for me. For one the sample size is not large enough for me to think any drastic improvement occurred in the coaching. I could argue it's just coincidence or good luck.
If they win next week, I might still believe that the sample size is small, but begrudgingly say that Zac deserves a third year (is mostly me saying there's a chance he's improved, rather than being sure he's improved). That's mostly because we're playing the Ravens who will be absolutely focused on next week's game playing to get into the playoffs. If we win with BA at qb, it would be difficult forme to deny Zac a chance next year. But I'll still think he's overmatched until he proves us wrong next year.
Part of the circumstances is also that Taylor got this job a couple of years too early.
Even if he was this great offensive mind, by rights he shouldn't really be getting HC interviews until about now (if he hadn't have got the Bengals job he'd maybe be two years into an OC job). You compare him to Flores but part of that comparison should also be that he's 2 years younger than Flores. The learning curve for any first time HC must be very steep. For him it must be extraordinary. However the Browns and Blackburns and Tobin were very aware of this and so this will factor into their decision to keep him.
He's the coaching equivalent of a 20 year old going up against 22 year olds in college. If they can nearly hold their own at that age against older, more experienced rivals you hope that with a couple more years maturity they can develop into a dominant force. Sometimes they do (Jessie Bates), sometimes they don't (Michael Jordan).
The Bengals know that they wouldn't have got Jessie Bates with the 54th pick if he'd come out last year instead but having got him in early (and cheaper) they are in prime position to secure him long term. At the moment I'd say Zac is more Jordan than Bates but whilst I'd expect them to both be better in 2021 than 2020 I feel more optimism for Zac than Jordan.
