Bengals HC Zac Taylor gets inexplicably disrespected
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was inexplicably disrespected on Thursday evening. The 2022 AP NFL coach of the year was revealed at the 12th annual NFL honors on Thursday night and New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll was the winner. Daboll was certainly deserving of the award after taking the Giants to playoffs […]
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was inexplicably disrespected on Thursday evening.
The 2022 AP NFL coach of the year was revealed at the 12th annual NFL honors on Thursday night and New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll was the winner.
Daboll was certainly deserving of the award after taking the Giants to playoffs in his first season as head coach just a year after the franchise went 4-13 under Joe Judge.
The disrespect for Taylor lies in the final voting tally.
According to AP lead NFL writer Rob Maaddi, Taylor didn't receive a single first-place vote and he wasn't among the top 10 vote-getters.
That's just absurd.
At the beginning of the 2022 season, there were a lot of folks suggesting that Cincinnati's Super Bowl run in 2021 was a fluke. That was because the Bengals got off to a slow 2-3 start.
On Halloween night, Cincinnati fell to 4-4 after a disastrous 32-13 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
The Bengals' season was done at that point according to many analysts.
And how did Cincy respond?
By winning their next eight games and finishing with a 12-4 record (remember, the game against the Buffalo Bills was canceled due to Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest).
That doesn't happen without the right coach at the helm. Sure, Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Jessie Bates, among others, went out there and earned those wins for the Bengals. But Taylor's leadership is what ultimately propelled Cincy's turnaround. And that should count for something.
I mean, the Pittsburgh Steelers didn't even make the playoffs and Tomlin finished in the top 10.
Taylor should've been at least in the top 10 and maybe even the top five. He did a tremendous job this year, helped bring the Bengals out of their Super Bowl hangover, and got the team within one win of a second straight Super Bowl appearance. I'd say that's worthy of being among the top 10 coaches in the NFL.
Featured image via Sam Greene-USA TODAY Sports
