The Zac Taylor Appreciation Thread

[claptonrocks]

59 minutes ago, Le Tigre said:

Update on Bengals working to get extensions for Zac Taylor and assistants

It’s happening. Only a matter of time.
 

https://www.cincyjungle.com/2022/2/8/22924152/bengals-news-zac-taylor-contract-extension-assistant-coaches-cincinnati
 

3yrs?...5yrs?..

Or...

A 1yr extension..😎

[Le Tigre]

I suppose he’s still appreciated. 
 

Maybe with another year’s experience, he can  cease with the first quarter 4 and 1’s at the 50 which hand opponents an instant 7 points, when his defense has just held the opponents to nothing the first drive. 
 

Nah…gotta be aggressive. 

[DanvilleBengal]

To be honest, we went from one extreme of being really conservative [Marvin Lewis] to an extreme of agressiveness [Zac Taylor]. I like the guy for having the balls to go against the grain, but he needs to know when, and ditto with the 3rd and 4th downs. There are times you dont get cute...

[|BlackJesus|]

I like Zac's aggression. Now the play calling could use a little creativity (screens, sweeps, more motion, reverses, bunching 4 WR, hand it to Reader on 3rd and 1 etc) 

 

Hopefully they give him a 6 year extension and give both coordinators extensions and raises as well. 

[TigerJ@w]

2 hours ago, BlackJesus said:

I like Zac's aggression. Now the play calling could use a little creativity (screens, sweeps, more motion, reverses, bunching 4 WR, hand it to Reader on 3rd and 1 etc) 

 

Hopefully they give him a 6 year extension and give both coordinators extensions and raises as well. 

6 year extension? No way they should do this.  

[membengal]

The initial aggression on 4th and 1 should have worked. Tee was wide open. Joe just made an uncharacteristic bad read. 

[Cat]

Bottom fucking line - we give him great protection, and he will have time to make even better reads. All 5 positions should be up for grabs. And will give Mixon some actual holes to run through.

[saphead]

Zachy gone' get paid. Then he can move on up to the upper east side, Indian Hill here we come. 

 

[|Harley|]

We all question the play calling of nearly every coach at one point or another. I can say I really had no problem with him going for it on 4th down, etc. I question the personnel sometimes but I've been proven wrong.

 

Zac Taylor is the modern day coach that you want in order to move forward. Players love him, not afraid of analytics and tech, and isn't stuck in "this is how it's always been done." Glad we have him. He's be a positive factor in bringing in key FAs.

[UncleEarl]

Overall, Taylor has done great.  He deserves an extension and raise.

 

I still question his playcalling, but he does seem to be learning.  Many coaches try to get cute and win games themselves instead of putting your players in a position for them to win the game.  Especially in big games, let your best players win the game for you.  Taylor has been guilty of this.  Sometimes it works.  (goalline at KC game)  Sometimes it doesn't (running at the end of SF game).  I can live with it if Burrow, Mixon, etc can't get it done at the end.  It pisses me off when they can't get it done at the end of the Super Bowl with Perine.

[|BlackJesus|]

Zac has the full support of Burrow which is the most important factor.

 

There is no reason why Zac shouldn't be a 20 year head coach of the Bengals alongside Burrow, ala Tomlin & Rapistberger with the Stealers. 

[claptonrocks]

1 hour ago, BlackJesus said:

Zac has the full support of Burrow which is the most important factor.

 

There is no reason why Zac shouldn't be a 20 year head coach of the Bengals alongside Burrow, ala Tomlin & Rapistberger with the Stealers. 

They have a bond yes..truth trust and respect .

 

If any 3 stay together thru the 20s

its Burrow Taylor....and Chase...

 

Taylor could leave for a huge contract so I'd pay him accordingly.

 

[Jamie_B]

Taylor said he had other offers but wanted to be here. We should have no issues with keeping him.

 

 

[UncleEarl]

Taylor is smart.  The teams that will offer him huge money are desparate.  Likely have no QB and expect him to perform miracles.  How did it go for Taylor with no QB?  He will work it out and stay.  The 20 years thing is a bit much.  Times change, every team is different every year.  It would be foolish for both the Bengals and Taylor to sign a deal like that.  I think 3 or 4 more years is appropriate. 

 

EDIT:  Welp...that was fast   5 years. 

[Jamie_B]

Breaking ... (per my nfl.com phone alerts)

 

Taylor has been extended through 2026

[Jungletiger]

 

[Cricket]

1 hour ago, Jungletiger said:

 

Nice.  

 

Be sure to listen to the end and catch Zac’s story on taking game balls to bars.

 

🦗

[Jamie_B]

This was a good debate.

 

 

[I_C_Deadpeople]

 

Reuniting James Bettcher, Lou Anarumo highlights Bengals’ coaching staff changes for 2022

By Jay Morrison Feb 22, 2022 5 

The first pairing between James Bettcher and Lou Anarumo was prearranged. This time, with their roles reversed, the collaboration was hand-picked.

The reunion was finalized Friday and officially announced by the Bengals on Tuesday, with Bettcher named the team’s linebackers coach as one of three new assistants on Zac Taylor’s staff in 2022, along with Charles Burks (cornerbacks) and Derek Frazier (assistant offensive line).

Anarumo, the Bengals defensive coordinator for the past three seasons, worked for Bettcher with the Giants in 2018. Bettcher was New York’s defensive coordinator and inherited Anarumo as his defensive backs coach.

“Lou had already been hired to coach the secondary, and I had known him a little bit, but we’re just kind of getting to know each other from a working standpoint and man, sometimes you just become fast friends with people,” Bettcher said. “The thing I respected so much about him is that he and I were coming from different systems defensively, but when we sat down to put together what we were going to do, everything about him was just trying to get it right. It wasn’t about being right, it was getting it right and caring about the details and carryover and commonality. We were just on the same page with it instantly, and it was awesome.”

When Al Golden left after two seasons as linebackers coach to be the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, Anarumo and Taylor zeroed in on the 43-year-old Bettcher even though they knew it wouldn’t be an easy hire with Bettcher still under contract with the 49ers. The Bengals needed to get San Francisco’s permission, and they had to be willing to pay more than they would for a position coach without Bettcher’s coordinator experience.

Bettcher had just completed his first season in San Francisco after taking off a year from coaching in 2020, when the Giants fired Pat Shurmer and his staff. Bettcher’s title was senior defensive assistant/run game coordinator, but he ended up coaching the linebackers when Johnny Holland had to step away from the team to battle cancer.

Led by the linebacker corps of Fred Warner, Azeez Al-Shaair and Dre Greenlaw, the 49ers ranked third in total defense and seventh in run defense in 2021. The 49ers held the Bengals to 3.31 yards per carry, their third-lowest total of the season, in a 26-23 San Francisco victory at Paul Brown Stadium on Dec. 12.

“One of the biggest allures for me to go to San Francisco was it was a different system than I had ever run,” Bettcher said. “It was a chance to learn a new system, a different way to look at things, a different way to find some answers. Career-wise, it’s fun to do that sometimes.”

Bettcher made sure he would be ready for whatever position opened in any scheme. His year away from the field was not a year away from the game.

He set up an office at his home in Arizona and some friends in the league helped him out where he could log into their system.

“I had access to practice film, game film, everybody’s tape across the league, just as if I were in my office at the facility,” he said. “So I was able to go through and watch a lot, and I used it as an awesome year to grow. And it was the COVID year, so I got to spend a bunch of time here with my family, so it was pretty awesome personally and professionally.

“It completely re-energized me,” Bettcher added. “And then that opportunity in San Francisco opened up to work with Kyle (Shanahan) and help DeMeco (Ryans) in his first year coordinating with some different roles, from situation football to two-minute to third downs to run-game-specific stuff, you name it.”

Bettcher was the coordinator in Arizona for three years prior to running the Giants defense. His defense ranked fifth in 2015, second in 2016 and sixth in 2017.

The Bengals will be the fifth NFL team he’s worked for after eight seasons at the college level. He said he’s excited about working with Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt and the rest of the linebackers, but one of the biggest lures to reuniting with Anarumo is a chance to be involved more heavily on the player evaluation side of things, with the Bengals asking more of their assistants in that realm than most teams across the league.

“When it’s done at the highest and best level in terms of selecting players, in terms of evaluating personnel, in terms of creating an environment where everyone’s on the same page, that’s when you’re highly involved,” Bettcher said. “It doesn’t mean you make the decision. It means you do the work. You work the players up, you watch different guys, you compare them and then you have really open dialogue about those players. That’s what Zac and Lou have said they love about it there. That’s when it works best. There’s no agendas. Everyone is just doing the work and you’re comparing the notes and coming to whatever the right decision is.”

Bettcher will start that process next week when he flies from Arizona to Cincinnati just before the coaches, fresh off their vacations, head to Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine.

And just as Bettcher and Anarumo will be catching up, so will offensive line coach Frank Pollack and Frazier. The 48-year-old Frazier worked as Pollack’s assistant for two years with the Jets from 2019 to 2020. And their relationship goes back even further to 2005, when both were coaching the offensive linemen at Northern Arizona.

Frazier will work alongside Ben Martin, who has been the Bengals assistant offensive line coach since Taylor arrived in 2019, giving the team three coaches for the position group needing the most improvement in 2022.

This is Frazier’s second NFL job. He coached 19 seasons in the collegiate ranks before joining Pollack in New York. He returned to college to coach the offensive line at the University of Wyoming in 2021.

Burks, 34, replaces Steve Jackson, who coached cornerbacks the past two seasons. Burks comes to the Bengals after spending the past three seasons with the Dolphins, the past two as cornerbacks coach. Burks coached eight seasons at the college level prior to taking the job with Miami.

In addition to the three newcomers, the Bengals promoted Jordan Kovacs, 31, to assistant linebackers coach. Kovacs had spent the past three seasons as the team’s defensive quality control coach.