Callahan & Taylor make NFL list

[Soonerpeace]

NFL top under 40 stars per their NFL peers

Zac Taylor, Bengals | Age: 39

Taylor’s job status seemed somewhat shaky heading into the 2021 season. Then he led one of the most impressive worst-to-first turnarounds in NFL history, as the Bengals won two AFC road playoff games to reach the Super Bowl, where they nearly held off the Rams.

Taylor inherited a mess when he was hired by the Bengals in 2019, and while landing a franchise quarterback in Joe Burrow certainly helped accelerate the rebuild, Taylor has created a winning culture in Cincinnati. Now his challenge is sustaining the success from 2021 and building on it.

Assistant coaches

Brian Callahan, Bengals offensive coordinator | Age: 38

Callahan was a 27-year-old entry-level offensive assistant coach with the Broncos when Peyton Manning became Denver’s new quarterback. The subsequent four years they spent together was the equivalent to earning “beyond a Ph.D. in football,” Callahan said.

Now that Callahan is working with Burrow, he finds himself frequently leaning on what he learned with Manning.

“(Manning) forced you to be so thorough. It taught me how to teach quarterbacks and how to give them the right information,” Callahan told The Athletic recently. “My job as a coach in that quarterback room, if you have a quarterback of Joe’s caliber, you want to empower him to have command over the whole thing. Seeing the way Peyton had control over the whole offense, that was valuable to me, and I can impart that to Joe.”

Callahan, whose father is longtime NFL offensive coach Bill Callahan, said he has head-coach aspirations. For now, though, he is fulfilled being one of three offensive coaches in Burrow’s ear, along with Taylor and 35-year-old quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher. The trio has been together since Taylor’s arrival in Cincinnati in 2019.

“We all grew up together in a sense. We took our lumps, had a lot of failures and learned a lot professionally and personally. That really galvanized our staff. Everybody’s on the same page on how we want to do things,” Callahan said. “There’s an excitement here, and moments where we’re young enough, we don’t know better, we just do the things we feel are right. Hopefully we’ll look back on this staff in 10 years and say, ‘That’s a really dynamic staff, everyone’s gone on to do great things.’”

[fredtoast]

A lot of people complained about "play calling" last year but in my experience fans accept any "play calling" if it works but will criticize the exact same "play calling" if it does not work.

So I think the upgrades on the o-line will take care of a lot of criticism of the "play calling".

[*ochocincos*]

(06-29-2022, 11:16 AM)fredtoast Wrote: A lot of people complained about "play calling" last year but in my experience fans accept any "play calling" if it works but will criticize the exact same "play calling" if it does not work.

So I think the upgrades on the o-line will take care of a lot of criticism of the "play calling".

Yep that's definitely fair.
I think when people call out playcalling (or at least myself), it's more often about why try to perform an inside run vs outside, or a pass vs a run, or a deep pass when all you need is a few yards. And as you said, it's typically when whatever was called didn't work.
With all that said, it's not guaranteed that calling some other play would have necessarily worked either. We just assume it would because it's more logical in our minds that it would have.

[*bengalfan74*]

Very anxious to see what happens with the rebuilt Oline.

[Soonerpeace]

(06-29-2022, 11:49 AM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Very anxious to see what happens with the rebuilt Oline.

You could tell in the Dehner/Morrison podcast the other day that what they’ve wanted to do because of the OL and the need to protect Burrow it’s been like an anchor on the offense’s neck. As I’ve maintained Mixon is dynamic with open space. This year he finally gets recognized for being a top 3 back in the NFL.

[*pally*]

also on the list in her Front Office role

Elizabeth Blackburn, Bengals director of strategy and engagement | Age: 29

The Bengals are, at their core, a family business. So it was probably only a matter of time before Blackburn found herself working alongside her parents, Bengals executives Katie and Troy Blackburn, and grandfather, team owner Mike Brown.

But Blackburn didn’t want to take a job with the team until she knew she had the external business and management experience necessary to add new value.

That moment came in early 2020, after nearly six years working in corporate consulting and strategic management (and completing a rotational training program at the NFL office). She returned to Cincinnati right before Joe Burrow arrived as the No. 1 pick.

Since then, Blackburn has contributed to the launch of a Ring of Honor at Paul Brown Stadium and to a uniform redesign. She also helped manage a digital content team that finished in the top of the NFL in engagement rates the past two seasons.

“Timing can be everything, and I knew that the franchise and organization was entering into a pivotal chapter,” Blackburn told The Athletic earlier this month. “I thought I had hopefully done enough to have skills to apply on the business side, and I knew I had the energy and passion to come home and be part of this era of Bengals history.”

[*bengalfan74*]

(06-29-2022, 12:31 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: You could tell in the Dehner/Morrison podcast the other day that what they’ve wanted to do because of the OL and the need to protect Burrow it’s been like an anchor on the offense’s neck. As I’ve maintained Mixon is dynamic with open space. This year he finally gets recognized for being a top 3 back in the NFL.

Yep

Our Oline has been below average to complete crap for several years now. It has to have had a giant bearing on play calling, game plans, and so on. It was pretty much a miracle we made it as far as we did last year !

How many times have our RB's been hit in the backfield over the last several seasons ? Our QB's had free rushers busting right through on pass plays ?

Like you say they've had a yoke around their necks. Can't wait to see.... a different O.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(06-29-2022, 11:07 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: NFL top under 40 stars per their NFL peers

Zac Taylor, Bengals | Age: 39

Taylor’s job status seemed somewhat shaky heading into the 2021 season. Then he led one of the most impressive worst-to-first turnarounds in NFL history, as the Bengals won two AFC road playoff games to reach the Super Bowl, where they nearly held off the Rams.

Taylor inherited a mess when he was hired by the Bengals in 2019, and while landing a franchise quarterback in Joe Burrow certainly helped accelerate the rebuild, Taylor has created a winning culture in Cincinnati. Now his challenge is sustaining the success from 2021 and building on it.

Assistant coaches

Brian Callahan, Bengals offensive coordinator | Age: 38

Callahan was a 27-year-old entry-level offensive assistant coach with the Broncos when Peyton Manning became Denver’s new quarterback. The subsequent four years they spent together was the equivalent to earning “beyond a Ph.D. in football,” Callahan said.

Now that Callahan is working with Burrow, he finds himself frequently leaning on what he learned with Manning.

“(Manning) forced you to be so thorough. It taught me how to teach quarterbacks and how to give them the right information,” Callahan told The Athletic recently. “My job as a coach in that quarterback room, if you have a quarterback of Joe’s caliber, you want to empower him to have command over the whole thing. Seeing the way Peyton had control over the whole offense, that was valuable to me, and I can impart that to Joe.”

Callahan, whose father is longtime NFL offensive coach Bill Callahan, said he has head-coach aspirations. For now, though, he is fulfilled being one of three offensive coaches in Burrow’s ear, along with Taylor and 35-year-old quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher. The trio has been together since Taylor’s arrival in Cincinnati in 2019.

“We all grew up together in a sense. We took our lumps, had a lot of failures and learned a lot professionally and personally. That really galvanized our staff. Everybody’s on the same page on how we want to do things,” Callahan said. “There’s an excitement here, and moments where we’re young enough, we don’t know better, we just do the things we feel are right. Hopefully we’ll look back on this staff in 10 years and say, ‘That’s a really dynamic staff, everyone’s gone on to do great things.’”

Nice read. Really like the humility of both these young coaches. I too have a feeling these guys will have a ton of success in 
the NFL as we all saw how they really grew as coaches last season. Most disciplined team in the NFL while being one of the 
youngest and WAS the youngest team to ever be in the SuperBowl. These guys deserve a lot of credit along with Lou.

[Soonerpeace]

(06-29-2022, 12:45 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Yep

Our Oline has been below average to complete crap for several years now. It has to have had a giant bearing on play calling, game plans, and so on. It was pretty much a miracle we made it as far as we did last year !

How many times have our RB's been hit in the backfield over the last several seasons ? Our QB's had free rushers busting right through on pass plays ?

Like you say they've had a yoke around their necks. Can't wait to see.... a different O.

I love the pundits ( you know who) Taylor changes the type of player pursued in the draft as well as FA and helps facilitate a winning culture and effort but he had little to do with him it was just the better players. The Bengals least penalized team but the same pundit says that doesn’t mean much. Then good coaches shouldn’t have to win close games LOL then that’s totally refuted. Bengals had a very respectable margin of victory. It’s like a political party in power claiming it’s the other party.

[fredtoast]

(06-29-2022, 04:42 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The Bengals least penalized team but the same pundit says that doesn’t mean much.


It’s like a political party in power claiming it’s the other party.

It has been 100% proven that there is not significant correlation between penalties and winning percentage.

So you are correct about the analogy to political parties when it comes to the penalty issue.  Even when proven wrong some people claim it is true just like they do with their politics.

[*bengalfan74*]

(06-29-2022, 04:42 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I love the pundits ( you know who) Taylor changes the type of player pursued in the draft as well as FA and helps facilitate a winning culture and effort but he had little to do with him it was just the better players. The Bengals least penalized team but the same pundit says that doesn’t mean much. Then good coaches shouldn’t have to win close games LOL then that’s totally refuted. Bengals had a very respectable margin of victory. It’s like a political party in power claiming it’s the other party.

It depends

The stats and analytics nerds will argue team A had 10 penalties in given game and still beat Team B that only had 6. Or take it out to the whole season. And I don't doubt it's true. But it's just not that simple and they don't seem to understand that.

When did the penalties come ? What was the game situation ? A personal foul isn't the same as a false start. A false start on 3rd and 2 making it 3rd and 7 killing a drive late in the game is a lot worse than on the 1st snap of the game. You could go on and on. 

And I 100% feel ZT's culture change had an impact on our lowered penalties and I'll take less penalties 10 X out of 10.

[Soonerpeace]

(06-29-2022, 04:42 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I love the pundits ( you know who) Taylor changes the type of player pursued in the draft as well as FA and helps facilitate a winning culture and effort but he had little to do with him it was just the better players. The Bengals least penalized team but the same pundit says that doesn’t mean much. Then good coaches shouldn’t have to win close games LOL then that’s totally refuted. Bengals had a very respectable margin of victory. It’s like a political party in power claiming it’s the other party.

Can’t help you Fred if you don’t think the least penalized team in the NFL doesn’t benefit from that.

[fredtoast]

(06-29-2022, 09:07 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Can’t help you Fred if you don’t think the least penalized team in the NFL doesn’t benefit from that.

I can't help if you refuse to believe the facts that we have already shown to you.

There is zero significant correlation between penalties and winning football games.  If the least penalized team in the league benefitted, then you would be able to show over the years show the least penalized teams winning a higher percentage of games.

But you can't do that because it never happened.  Better DBs get more penalties because they are in tight coverage more often.  Aggressive teams often get more penalties.  And there are probably other reasons I don't know about.  But the numbers prove that fewer penalties does not mean "better team" or "greater chance of winning".

[Soonerpeace]

(06-29-2022, 10:56 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I can't help if you refuse to believe the facts that we have already shown to you.

There is zero significant correlation between penalties and winning football games.  If the least penalized team in the league benefitted, then you would be able to show over the years show the least penalized teams winning a higher percentage of games.

But you can't do that because it never happened.  Better DBs get more penalties because they are in tight coverage more often.  Aggressive teams often get more penalties.  And there are probably other reasons I don't know about.  But the numbers prove that fewer penalties does not mean "better team" or "greater chance of winning".

It’s Football 101, Freddie

[BFritz21]

(06-29-2022, 11:39 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Yep that's definitely fair.
I think when people call out playcalling (or at least myself), it's more often about why try to perform an inside run vs outside, or a pass vs a run, or a deep pass when all you need is a few yards. And as you said, it's typically when whatever was called didn't work.
With all that said, it's not guaranteed that calling some other play would have necessarily worked either. We just assume it would because it's more logical in our minds that it would have.

Disagree.  

Look at 2009: we swept the division and were winning games but everyone bashed Bratkowski, including fans boing at the games, because of his predictable, run-heavy offense.

[fredtoast]

(06-29-2022, 11:18 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: It’s Football 101, Freddie

No it is not.  The numbers prove I am rigth on this.


Penalties don't correlate to wins, losses in NFL - mlive.com


Let me guess.  You also think it is a proven fact that players should not be allowed to drink water during practice because it makes them soft.  And the reason it is true is because you say it is true, right?

[Soonerpeace]

(06-30-2022, 12:04 AM)fredtoast Wrote: No it is not.  The numbers prove I am rigth on this.


Penalties don't correlate to wins, losses in NFL - mlive.com


Let me guess.  You also think it is a proven fact that players should not be allowed to drink water during practice because it makes them soft.  And the reason it is true is because you say it is true, right?

You have this book it’s on page 34 I’m told https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/football-for-dummies-for-dummies_howie-long_john-czarnecki/273297/item/480576/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8O-VBhCpARIsACMvVLPvVP4O3s6RVnUebFL_GfC8aFQ6yfVT3QhyOuGLkC9MdrhelcL5HTsaAlX2EALw_wcB#isbn=0470125365&idiq=480576

[fredtoast]

(06-30-2022, 12:10 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: You have this book it’s on page 34 I’m told https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/football-for-dummies-for-dummies_howie-long_john-czarnecki/273297/item/480576/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8O-VBhCpARIsACMvVLPvVP4O3s6RVnUebFL_GfC8aFQ6yfVT3QhyOuGLkC9MdrhelcL5HTsaAlX2EALw_wcB#isbn=0470125365&idiq=480576

Thanks for proving your level of credibility.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

If the offensive line plays as it looks on paper, I think you'll see a much expanded playbook....and less bitching about the calls. Call it a hunch.

[*ochocincos*]

(06-29-2022, 11:32 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: Disagree.  

Look at 2009: we swept the division and were winning games but everyone bashed Bratkowski, including fans boing at the games, because of his predictable, run-heavy offense.

I'm confused what you disagree about.
I didn't say anything about winning or losing.
Bengals offense was 22nd in the league in points scored, 24th in total yards.
So yes, the team won in spite of a good offense.
So the case of 2009 would fit into what I said...