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Zac Taylor at the Owners meetings


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8 hours ago, kennethmw said:

Y"All beat that horse, Ya'll beat that dead horse GOOD!!

 

:2dedhorse::2dedhorse:

You can deflect all you want, when your priority in FA is to immediately sign a bad OT and think it was a good move you deserve scorn on a frequent basis. Remember, these are the same guys who were confident with Ced and Fisher when there was zero evidence to do so. 

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19 minutes ago, SF2 said:

You can deflect all you want, when your priority in FA is to immediately sign a bad OT and think it was a good move you deserve scorn on a frequent basis. Remember, these are the same guys who were confident with Ced and Fisher when there was zero evidence to do so. 

 

Good point. As much as I want to blame Ketchup Whisperer for all that, there were at least 5 people over him who could've told him to go pound sand & all but one of them are still here.

 

For that matter I'm not convinced Marvin even had that authority.

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56 minutes ago, SF2 said:

You can deflect all you want, when your priority in FA is to immediately sign a bad OT and think it was a good move you deserve scorn on a frequent basis. Remember, these are the same guys who were confident with Ced and Fisher when there was zero evidence to do so. 

Ahh, the assistant!  Knew it wouldn't be long.😂😂😂

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10 hours ago, kennethmw said:

Ahh, the assistant!  Knew it wouldn't be long.😂😂😂

I can live with the label ”Truth Assistant”.  Certainly better than being, “Defender of Status Quo” for an organization that has consistently underachieved for over a quarter of a century. 

 

With all the LONG overdue changes in coaching ranks one thing hasn’t: The Bengals’ Front Office did next to nothing to improve the team in FA.  At the end of the day a lot of things will have to go right for this team to be a Wild Card team at best. Status Quo. 

 

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Just now, spicoli said:

Why did you expect otherwise? Was there something in their history that made you believe things would be different this year?

No, just responding to Numbers. Some are excited about all the new coaches but the truth is the same Front Office is doing nothing to improve the talent these new coaches will be working with.  A great question to ponder is which younger players are going to step up and begin to shine with this club. Mixon is the only young player I see.

 

It looks so much like 1992. New coaches but most of our best players are near or over 30 with little talent behind them.  The window closed in 2015. 

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25 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

A lot of those promising young guys were on IR last year. Hopefully one or two have breakout seasons. Needs to happen if this team is going to do anything before the window closes on our vets.

First 4 rounds of the draft for Bengals since 2014.  Mixon, Boyd and a few average players at best. Jury still out on Price.

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/draft-finder.cgi?request=1&year_min=2014&year_max=2018&draft_round_min=1&draft_round_max=4&draft_slot_min=1&draft_slot_max=500&pick_type=overall&team_id=cin&pos[]=qb&pos[]=rb&pos[]=wr&pos[]=te&pos[]=e&pos[]=t&pos[]=g&pos[]=c&pos[]=ol&pos[]=dt&pos[]=de&pos[]=dl&pos[]=ilb&pos[]=olb&pos[]=lb&pos[]=cb&pos[]=s&pos[]=db&pos[]=k&pos[]=p&conference=any&show=all&order_by=default

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7 minutes ago, SF2 said:

First 4 rounds of the draft for Bengals since 2014.  Mixon, Boyd and a few average players at best. Jury still out on Price.

 

 

Hubbard looked far better than average to me for a rookie.   Jefferson was hurt.  Ross I obviously have my doubts over but new coaches might be just what he needed from the sound of things. WJ3 is turning into a good CB.

 

Generally speaking I can't really say how good most of the others might be considering how little playing time they saw. That's another common complaint that I'm not convinced was Marvin's fault. 

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Bengals Blending Past and Future In Biggest Venture Ever   

 

Hobson_Geoff

Geoff Hobson

SENIOR WRITER

 
 

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and team president Mike Brown wait in Paul Brown Stadium for the start of Taylor's introductory press conference.

Mike Brown (left) and Zac Taylor wait to make the announcement Taylor is the new head coach.

Mike Brown allowed a smile to sneak away, like James Brooks or Archie Griffin leaking out of the backfield of a new offense he hopes scores like the old days with the same kind of new age creativity.

The observation had just been made at the end of this week’s NFL annual meeting in Phoenix that the Bengals new head coach, Zac Taylor, seemed to be an old 35.

“I don’t know that he’s an old,” Brown said. “But he comports himself well. He’s not 83, but I’m not uncomfortable when I talk to him.”

Brown, the Bengals’ 83-year-old president, is overseeing the biggest off-season coaching and scheme changes in franchise history, while mixing some principles from when he and his father ran the club at the creation. As his daughter, executive vice president Katie Blackburn, and her husband, vice president Troy Blackburn, along with director of player personnel Duke Tobin, expand their role as power brokers, Taylor is exerting his own broad influence. He and his young guns coaching staff that is the largest in Bengals history are tearing down Paul Brown Stadium walls and renovating hallways while building two new playbooks they hope engineer a fresh vitality through the roster.

“We allowed him to have his way and we tried to support him as best we could,” said Brown of the freedom with which Taylor has been operating. “I think it has met with everybody’s satisfaction. Not just his, but ours, too. It seems to be meshing together in a way that’s a little different for us. But I think good.”

Even the days are starting out differently. Before Taylor, it used to be just Brown and head coach Marvin Lewis meeting in the corner office or chatting on the phone first thing in the morning. Now with Brown and Taylor are the Blackburns, Mike’s son, vice president Paul Brown, and Tobin.

“More voices,” Brown said.

 

Duke Tobin, the Bengals' Director of Player Personnel, speaks during the 2019 Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. (Perry Knotts via AP)

Perry Knotts/AP Photos
Duke Tobin led the head coaching search.

But Brown’s voice is still the strongest. Taylor is taking advantage of those 83 years and realizing that, well, how many NFL head coaches can just waltz in to the owner’s office at any moment?

“Zero? One? He’s there every day,” Taylor said this week. “Very involved. I talk to him every day. Very involved. Can you imagine (taking a step back)? It’s something you’ve done every day of your life. I would never want to walk away from it. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

 

Taylor is finding out, too, that when Brown outlines possible outcomes of situations, not to be surprised when he nails it.

“When he says something you better pay attention because there’s a lot of history and experience behind everything that he says,” said Taylor, who was then asked about specifics. “Everything he said. I would shake my head. From the interview process to now.”

During his own availability in Phoenix this week, Taylor was asked to tick off some of the myths about the Bengals that may have been shattered during his first two months on the job. Taylor wasn’t sure if he had ever heard any, so he asked for some.

How about the old reliable narrative that isn’t so reliable? Mike Brown doesn’t want to win?

Taylor had to shake his head again.

 

“I’ll dispel that myth right now. I’ve never seen someone who wants to win as badly as Mike Brown,” Taylor said. “I just can’t tell you how much I’ve learned from him and how much respect I have for him. And I‘m not saying that because he’s the owner of the team I’m the head coach for. It’s something that people come to you here, head coaches GM, the respect they have for Mike Brown is off the charts. It’s been a really enjoyable couple of months being around him every day, hearing his insight, his knowledge and his experience.”

Brown, who as his father’s future assistant general manager advised him to pursue an AFL franchise in Cincinnati before anywhere else, is used to being in beginnings.

“It’s new, it’s different and we’re going to find out,” Brown said of his new staff. “We’ll get a feel for them as they go about it. They all have good certification and backgrounds and I’m as interested as anybody to see how it fits together on the field. How it all works. It’s going to be quite different for us. I think that’s what our fans wanted. They thought we needed that. And I think maybe they’re right in how they feel.”

Taylor got the sense the Bengals were open to change right from the get-go when they first met the week after the season.

“I think that started with the interview process,” Taylor said. “I wanted to make certain I was very clear how you want to do things, and if you’re not on board with it, let’s not go down this road. And so the Blackburns and the Browns have been awesome at just having open dialogue, clear communication, talking through every decision. And we’ve been on the same page every step of the way. And that’s all you can ask for in this profession. When there’s distance there and you don’t have that daily communication, I think that it can be a tough road sometimes. So I’ve learned to really appreciate that open dialogue and clear communication and everyone being on the same page with everything. So that’s been really healthy and really helpful for me as a new coach.”

 

But Brown is also adhering to some rock-bound beliefs:

- He still loves his players and he sees no problem extending the Bengals’ career of his best one, wide receiver A.J. Green, even though he’s had two season-ending injuries in the last three seasons. He also still loves quarterbacks. “Quarterback is what pro football is all about,” he declared this week. “That's what will give you a top team, when you have a top quarterback.”) He’s looking for Andy Dalton to return to form with a healthy offense this season and has no qualms about approaching him after the season and in his contract year to talk more. As Troy Blackburn says, “These are very proven winning players. It’s hard to find those.”

“I think he's a proven commodity, isn't he?” Brown said of Green. “The price range for him will be something for him will be something we can figure out, will come together … It's true with anyone, if they suddenly get an injury that it reduces them. Well that changes the equation, but I never plan on that happening. I like to think that won't happen. If A.J. is healthy, he's as good a receiver as anybody in the league.”

As for Dalton, Brown remembers the Andy of the first four weeks last season with all his weapons and he got the Bengals off to a 3-1 with two fourth-quarter wins and the winning TD pass to Green in Atlanta in the last 10 seconds.

 

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green (18) makes a catch over Miami Dolphins free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick (29) during the second half of an NFL football game in Cincinnati, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. (Frank Victories via AP)

Frank Victories/AP Photos
Catches like this are why Mike Brown has no plans to let A.J. Green get away.
 

“I think it's a good year for him to show like he can, like we think he will. After he re-establishes himself we would want to get together with him and see if we can extend it,” Brown said. “I think Andy is a good player and that he will rebound off last year. He was hurt. We lost so many other pieces. It fell apart, but if he's healthy and we stay healthy enough, I have confidence in him.”

- As in years past, if the Bengals are going to drop money on anyone a) it’s most likely going to be on their own player or b) it’s going to be at a premium position, usually the edge like offensive tackles, pass rushers, wide receivers. Guards and safeties need not apply.

Troy Blackburn does a lot of the free-agent deal making and he offered two perspectives this week. One for a deal that did happen for right tackle Bobby Hart and one for a deal that didn’t happen for Bucs linebacker Kwon Alexander. Alexander is one of those speed linebackers the Bengals desperately need and it didn’t get past the initial phone call even though new senior assistant Mark Duffner stood on the table for one of his position players in Tampa the last three years. Not at north of $14 million per year.

“He’s played one full year out of four,” Blackburn said. “Good athlete and we’ve got coaches connected with him that talk positively about him. Does that make him a $14- 15 million a year guy? Wow. We hear everything the fans say. We understand it, we respect it, we process it. But remember. We have a finite set of options we can pursue.”

That’s why they ended up re-signing Hart as their starting right tackle even though the web sites graded him down allowing 10 sacks and a league-high false starts. And even though among fans he was as popular as higher taxes.

 

 

 

https://www.bengals.com/news/bengals-blending-past-and-future-in-biggest-venture-ever

 

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On 3/27/2019 at 11:40 PM, Inigo Montoya said:

Still glad they are finally going in a new direction.  The stale, conservative Marvin regime needed to go and at least they brought in an outside coach with an offensive background.  Do I feel very good about Taylor hiring Turner as oline coach or the re-signing of Bobby Hart?  No I do not.  The same goes for the process of hiring a defensive coordinator.  It didn't inspire very much confidence.  There have been plenty of moves this offseason that will be second guessed.  I'm sure some them will also work out favorably.  We still have the draft coming up to add pieces too.  It will be interesting to watch it play out and I'm reserving judgment until we see results on the field.

But there's absolutely nothing negative about this approach!!!    lol...

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