Yo, yo, what's up?

And I got a special guest, Zach Taylor, head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Always appreciate you coming by, hanging out with me.

First off, for those out there, we go way back, okay, like four flats in the Cadillac.

He, as I got hurt with my spleen injury, he saw me trying to rehab from that as a backup quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So we had a little history together. Wasn't the smoothest on my part. I was going through a lot of crap of that part of my life. He's probably like, man, that guy was crazy at that time. No, no, it was tough for me, too. I was a six-string quarterback and I was only five in the building. So I think there had Jake Plumber sign. He wasn't even there. Right. Wasn't even there. Right. Trust me. I was only there briefly, but I appreciate you. Always been great today. No, you did a great job in your first year. And listen, I'll be the first one to say, like, you know, I was skeptical about your hire. Like you were one of those guys where I said, man, this guy's a head coach in the future. I didn't think it was coming yet. Sure. You know, what was it like year one? I mean, just kind of give us an overview of your first year as an NFL head coach. Well, there's a lot of things that come your way, adversity-wise, and you know what's going to come. You don't know how it's going to come. But you just got to build the culture the right way starting in April.

And we felt like we did that. Our players believed in the direction we're going, what we're trying to achieve. Second half the season, we certainly felt like guys settled into our schemes, and we found a better way to utilize some of the guys we had around. So a lot of optimism for us going into year two.

Yeah. Players believe it, coaches believe it. It's exciting time to be a day. Yeah, when do you feel comfortable? Because I even asked like Cliff Kingsbury and a few other coaches and they were like, I'm still in the process of really kind of feeling comfortable and all that. You know, was there a point during the year where you're like, okay, I'm into my routine, I got this, I feel good.

Every week was a little bit unique for us. you know was there a point during the year where you're like okay I'm into my routine I got this I feel

good every week was a little bit unique right for us right and so I really feel like starting now this

offseason 2020 second time going through everything right now you start to feel a lot more comfortable

and makes it a lot a lot easier the pressure of being winless right and dealing with? I mean, that's got to be some weight on your shoulder.

And I know from my buddy Kyle Shanahan, his first year, he started at 0 and 10,

and I know it was like wearing on them.

You know, give people some insight to what it's like, you know,

the ownership looking over you, they're expecting a new win from their

higher and all that. What's that like? Well, you put a lot of pressure yourself. Yeah. And so it is, the more it goes on and you don't win in games, you certainly feel that pressure. You don't feel early in the season, but as the season gets going, you sure do. And to get the first one off your back. You know, to get that first win, does take that pressure off. Now you go play and be a little looser.

The players felt that a little bit too as well. You know, to get that first win, does take that pressure off. Now you go play and be a little looser. The players felt that a little bit too as well. Yeah. You know, we didn't win as many games as we should have or we expected to, but there's a lot of things that we can pull from last year that would make us better. Yeah, definitely. I mean, you played a close in a lot of games. You got a lot of talented guys, like you said. For you as an offensive play caller and a guy that's an offensive, you know, game planner throughout the week and all that. How did that affect you being a head coach, you know, for the first year? I know you got to see Sean McVeigh kind of do it. But what was it like for you kind of going through it? You got to be able to make some adjustments on the move. Right. We lost our first two left tackles in training camp. So right out the gate, we're playing week one with third string left tackle. Just things like that, you got to be able to adapt and adjust. Maybe some things you thought you're going to be better at in the summertime that you've got to adjust and make some improvements from the season. But it's good. You learn from all that stuff. I had a great offense coordinator Brian Callahan. So like you said, it was being the head coach and the play caller. When you can trust the season, but it's good. You learn from all that stuff. I had a great offense quarterback at Brian Callahan. So like you said, it's being the head coach and the play caller. When you can trust the guys that are helping you every single day, that goes a long way. Yeah, okay. So now we got the quarterback issue, right? We don't know Andy Dalton. Is he going to be back? Where is he going to go? All that. He's done some good things for the Cincinnati Bengals. But I'm one that will sit there and go, I think it's maybe time to turn the page and start a new era, whatever it may be. What's kind of your guy's outlook for the offseason here as far as Andy's concerned? The good thing is we know we got a really good starting quarterback and Andy Dalton. And so that's a great place to be because it gives you a lot of options there on the table.

And so Andy's been great through this whole process with us. We're going to be up front with him. We have made into decisions. Right. But we have told them, hey, we'll let you know as soon as we get to that point. All right. And let's just say, okay, we don't know this yet,

but okay, if we wanna take Joe Burrow,

then you're going to let him know

and kind of try to help facilitate a trade which you guys have kind of talked about a little bit number one what's best for the Cincinnati Bengals yeah number two is how can we help him and we owe that to him man there's a lot of mutual respect there between him and the Bengals organization he's done a lot lot for the city. He's won a lot of games,

but the teams have some great positions. And so I certainly owe that to me. All right, I got a, I got a thing. And like, you know, everybody, I've been, I've been yelling for the Bengals to rebrand lately, okay? You're still the Bengals, that's fine, but like how the Broncos change their look, right? And there's been a few teams. The Patriots change their look. I'm talking about the bangles. I want them to change their helmet, all right? I know you probably can't speak on this. But, I mean, did you ever hear anybody on the team roster? Anybody say anything about that? I mean, anybody ever talk about? This is the first I've heard of it.

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