Zac's Culture Club is Saving the Season
Want proof? Look at the Steelers
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When I was younger and knew everything, I suggested Zac Taylor was style in search of substance. Early on, Taylor’s endless references to Culture Change sounded like nothing more than a buck-passing means of buying the rookie head coach more time than he probably deserved.
It was also a sidelong swipe at his predecessor. Marvin Lewis had done the heavy-lifting portion of changing the attitudes and stuck-in-the-mud ways of The Family. Lewis remains the most important coach in Bengals history, post-PB. Without Marvin, there is no Zac.
Taylor’s saying he needed to fix what was broken seemed a little brazen.
I might have been wr. . . wr. . . not completely right about that.
Culture matters. It matters a ton.
It was a reason for Cincinnati’s rapid rise under Taylor. It is a reason the Bengals are an unlikely 8-6. Of course, among Zac’s best moves was to lose in Miami four years ago, giving the Bengals the means to draft Joe Burrow. Not only is Burrow a Top 3 QB. He’s culture personified. How might Zac’s Culture Club be doing now with, say, Deshaun Watson running things? If you don’t have the talent, the temperament won’t take you far enough. But, still.
We might bitch about Taylor’s play-calling, or the fact that he calls plays at all. We might suggest he can be a little timid when masterminding against teams with big defenses. Waiting until the 4th quarter last Saturday to loose the big dogs Boyd and Higgins, for example.
But Taylor gets the big things right. That has become abundantly obvious this year. It has been a crash-and-burn season for starting QBs. Injuries everywhere are tearing at the fabric of even the good teams. Attrition is as big a factor in winning as anything.
So, it turns out, is culture. Attitude, confidence, call it what you want. It’s a huge reason Cleveland is 9-5 without its QB, its best running back and four starting O-linemen. Kevin Stefanski will get coach of the year votes because of the sand his busted-up team has shown. Zac Taylor should get a little COY love, too, but he won’t.
Then, there’s Pittsburgh, the Bengals opponent Saturday. The Steelers are the result of a culture breaking down. They’re a wreck, a word not associated with Mike Tomlin’s teams in the 17 years he has coached them. Tomlin is losing his supremely confident touch. A couple diva wideouts — Diontae Johnson and, more specifically, George Pickens — have disrupted the Tomlin machine. They seem to care little for culture, toughness, attitude or any positive trait that has defined the Steelers for most of the last half-century.
“I don’t necessarily have the answers as we sit here today,” Tomlin said after Pittsburgh lost 30-13 at Indy last week. The Athletic described the situation thusly:
(The Steelers) gave up 30 unanswered points to an opponent that was playing without its top quarterback, top two running backs, top receiver and starting right tackle in a critical game within the AFC playoff race.
The Steelers committed 101 yards worth of penalties, often a telling measure of a team’s lack of focus. The Colts closed out the W with a 15-play drive that included 13 runs, which didn’t say anything good about Pittsburgh’s resolve.
Meantime, Pickens was caught on video taking plays off, a few days after Tomlin said he’d had a positive and productive meeting with the player.
Culture doesn’t go on the IL. Intangibles don’t take plays off. The most impressive thing about the last three weeks has been Jake Browning’s performance. But really, has it been any more convincing than the way Taylor has kept the club from collapsing into a Jenga pile?
This is what head coaches get paid to do. Create unity, accountability, confidence. Head coaches set tones and standards. Whether they call for a tight end to throw a pass on 3rd-and-1 on the other guy’s 12-yard line is not nearly so significant.
It hasn’t been just the head coach, of course. Assistants and players have done their parts. But players are impressionable and assistants take their cues from their boss. Zac has built a Culture Club that believes.
The Steelers are not lacking for talent, certainly not on defense. Their starting QB Kenny Pickett has missed the last two games, but there’s a small chance he might play Saturday. If not, 3rd-stringer Mason Rudolph starts. He threw three passes v. Indy, after replacing the lamentable Mitch Trubisky.
“The road is getting narrow,’’ was how Tomlin put it.
There’s a chance Pittsburgh will win. Maybe Mike Tomlin finds a way to make his players care as one. We’re not clairvoyants here at TML. The crystal ball has been busted since about 1965.
Ja’Marr Chase won’t play. Maybe Flash finally meets Pan for Jake Browning. It could happen. It’s the NFL, man.
Regardless, I’ll never again underplay the importance of culture. I’ve seen its sway all over the league this year. In Cincinnati, for example.
Now, then. . .
STICK TO SPORTS. . . I filled up my car for 25 bucks yesterday. Gas prices down, inflation down, unemployment down, interest rates are expected to fall in ‘24, we avoided a deep recession. US economy weathered COVID calamities better than anywhere in the world.
But hey, the economy’s in bad shape, doncha know. Better keep stashing those dollars between the mattresses.
As mentioned before in This Space, I’m not an economist. My dad was. I inherited none of his talents. But I know packed restaurants when I see them, and loaded golf courses and roads filled with new vehicles and record attendance for pro and college sporting events.
I think they call that “discretionary spending’’. People seem to be doing a lot of it.
EPIC TALES OF DOC’S DEGENERATE HEARTBREAK, PART 500. . . I placed a 4-way NFL parlay on Saturday morning: (1) Rams beat DC, (2) I take the Under on that one (3) Bengals cover v. Minnesota (push) and Eagles straight up over Seattle on Monday night.
Seahawks at their 8 with one TO and less than 2 mins to play. QB’s Drew Lock, a backup. I’m counting my Bens. . . then Lock drives them 92 yards in a minute. I lose. Again.
Question: What is so hard about keeping the ball in front of you on defense, especially when you know that’s all you have to do, to win the game? Why is Philly’s brand-new DC, the loathsome Matt Patricia, lining up seven defenders in or very near the box when the Seahawks are some 50 yards from the end zone and need a TD to win? Why does Matt Patricia still have a job?
How does a Hawks wideout get single-covered in that situation? Dude caught a 20-something-yard TD gamewinner.
Sonofa. . .
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . One of the nicer Buffett tunes. His world had gone from sailin’ ships to rakin’ moms backyard. Lovely.
From the stick to sports department....no economy is ever perfect. There are people who are always left behind and have something legitimate to grumble about....but jeez you are right...how much better does it need to get? And, if President Joe took heat for $4 gas shouldn't he get credit for $2.67?
Anytime a big change is instituted by government, there is pain felt by society. The old ways are comfortable and hard to let go of. The new ways feel odd and out of sorts. There are bugs and growing pains, especially at first.
I continue to applaud Biden's push to move us from oil into a new era of renewable energy sources, even as he knew he would bear the brunt of tremendous criticism and resistance. It's a change that is necessary and unavoidable, despite many, many doubters, and it's taken both courage and guts on his part to push it and push it hard. Witness how the ignorant media treated a previous president who pushed this same agenda. He was vilified for being a visionary by a short sighted, self interested congress, much like today's GOP side of the aisle. He ended up becoming known as the most decent, kind, and generous ex-president in modern times, because at heart he was a smart and good man who dared to challenge the nastiest, most vicious corporate powers in America-The Big Three- in the 70s. His name was Jimmy Carter, and we would probably not have had to fight our horrible oil wars in the Middle East if we had followed his energy policies then instead of laughing at him and continuing to burn oil like drunks downing Wild Turkey for the last 45 years. Much money and many lives would have been saved. Visionaries are often the last people to get their due, and sadly, it is often post-humous.
Yes, we are feeling the pain of the transition. It takes time to get all the needed new technology in place. When cars getting 25mpg were mandated along with unleaded gas in the 70s, that took time and growing pains, too. Wind energy equipment is rapidly being developed on a smaller, more efficient scale for urban landscapes. Charging stations for electric cars are springing up as quickly as they can be built. People screaming the sky is falling because not everything is perfect during a transition are wasting other's time. Again, it took courage and guts on Biden's part to push us away from oil, and we will bear the costs on the front end, but on the back end we will have a stronger, more independent country, and the value of that is immeasurable.