The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Bengals HC Zac Taylor on Burrow's "It" Factor, Ja'Marr Chase Pick, HUGE Ravens W

Episode Date: October 27, 2021

Colin talks about what Baker Mayfield has in common with Zoom and Bitcoin (3:00), how Twitter can fool NFL fans (5:00), and who USC should target for their next head coach now that Mike Tomlin has emphatically withdrawn himself as a candidate (8:00). Then, Bengals HC Zac Taylor and Colin discuss what early mistakes he has learned to avoid (11:00), the first time he saw Joe Burrow and how they’ve developed their relationship (14:00), what sold them on taking superstar rookie WR Ja'Marr Chase with the 5th overall pick in the draft (25:00) why they’ve been such a great 2nd-half team (28:00),how Sean McVay has influenced his coaching philosophy (31:00), how he’s become a better play caller (33:00), how he held the locker room together during the first two rough seasons (35:00), and inside the Bengals preparation before beating down the Ravens (38:00), how he plans to prevent a letdown with such a young team after such a huge division win. (44:00), and how long it took to get over a brutal OT loss to Green Bay (47:00).Make sure you subscribe NOW! Also, follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing.

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on Fanduel, whether you love basketball, golf, soccer, or any fantasy sport. There is a contest for every fan. Fan duel. More ways to win. Hi, everybody, and welcome in to our Wednesday morning podcast. Zach Taylor, coach of the Bengals around the corner. Never talked to him. I'm excited to. A couple of thoughts here before we get into it.

Not that I'm cynical, but I tend to look at what things can't do before what they can do. And I'll give you an example. When Zoom came out, right, we go into a pandemic and everybody loves Zoom. and I bought some early stock and then I sold it. And I already even know what the stock price is. And everybody looked at it and thought, oh, my God, I can work remotely. I don't have to leave the house. And my takeaway is, yeah, but it can't give me perfect audio like having coffee at Starbucks.

It's impersonal. It goes in and out. You become very tech dependent. And the other thing is about Zoom is, I like to leave the house. people gain weight during the pandemic because they didn't leave the house. When I go to work every day at Fox, I'm moving around, I'm walking between breaks, I'm going to the bathroom, I'm grabbing a coffee, I'm moving, I'm walking upstairs. Like Zoom culture is not terribly healthy and it can be maddeningly frustrating.

Same thing with Bitcoin. People look, oh, what it can do, make me rich. I look at it and say what it can't do. Buy me a car tomorrow. I'll put a little money in Bitcoin, and I think cryptocurrency has a future. But what it can't do is buy me things tomorrow. And so I'm not interested right now. I've always said this about Baker Mayfield.

It's what he can't do that limits Kevin Stefansky. You can't give him 45 to 50 throws a day. He's got poor judgment. He plays with a cockiness that can be detrimental. You can't have a average to below average offensive. line and win with him. So far, he can't work well with OBJ. I know he can throw, but what he can't do is why I could never give him the bag. I just think too often we look at the cans without realizing the cants are what limit people, limit companies, limit quarterbacks. Something else I think about

sometimes is media literacy. I tell when I speak to college kids or high school kids or young broadcasters, I say, don't fall into the con of Twitter. Do not let Twitter run your show. Only 22% of the people are on it. There's a big con in Twitter. And that's one of the differences between ESPN and Fox. ESPN is overwhelmingly always been run by Disney, a massive corporate entity. And so Disney, executives at Disney, played it safe. Fox is different. It's run by a family, a very entrepreneurial family, the very willing to put their arms around risk. It's not run by social media. And I think one of the reasons that Fox is a much better run company than ESPN, because ESPN too often in my experience fell for the con of Twitter. What's popular on Twitter is not popular. Good executives should trust

their instincts and hire people they think are good, not who Twitter tells them is good. I'll give you great example during the presidential election. It's much more popular to say, oh, Betta O'Rourke is going to be president, AOC going to be president, Mayor Pete's going to be president. You don't get any likes saying, yeah, Joe Biden's going to win by a landslide, or the election before Hillary Clinton's going to win, or at least win the Democratic nomination, because it's not popular to say the old guy's going to win. I saw this with quarterbacks this year. It was much more popular to say, Justin Fields over Andy Dalton. Justin Fields is completely over his skis and shouldn't be playing.

Zach Wilson, play him now. He's terrible. Trey Lance, forget Garoppolo. Trey Lance is so unprepared that even on Monday night in a monsoon, when you would have been better off of the running quarterback, and Garoppolo was playing terribly, the coaches wouldn't put him in. It's the con of Twitter. I see people get fired in my industry.

and they'll trend. Oh, loved you. You were the best. And I always think, well, if one eighth of those people consumed your content, you'd still have a job. It's the con of Twitter. Twitter wants new. Twitter pushes back on Andy Dalton, start the old quarterback. Never forget.

Patrick Mahomes sat for a year. Oh, it's interesting. That worked pretty well, didn't it? It's okay. If you have a competent veteran quarterback, you would always have an Alex Smith level player start over a young quarterback. Most young quarterbacks, unless they're stars, they're going to be overwhelmed. But it's the con of Twitter. Nobody wants to hear the incumbent is going to win.

The old quarterback is better. Or the reason that media person lost their gig, they weren't already popular. They had no following. Don't be fooled by it. My old company was, my new company isn't. So third topic, Mike Tomlin is not going to get the USC job. Jeff Fisher is not going to get the USC job. And Pete Carroll's not going to get the USC job.

I have talked to Mike Bone on multiple occasions, sometimes at length. I have only said, please consider professional coaches. Doug Peterson would be my first choice. A former Philadelphia Eagles coach, Andy Reed Disciple, very smart offensive guy. The answer or solution to your problem is almost never in the past, is almost always in the future. For years in years, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and the University of Washington kept hiring people who had a connection to the great Don James. They all failed. All of them, Lambright, Keith Gilbertson, they all failed.

Alabama for years. anybody that had a connection to Paul Bear Bryant, and they mostly failed. USC, there's a reason Pete Carroll worked. He had been fired twice. It was considered a terrible hire. He had something to prove. And at 51, he still had his energy. If you hired Pete Carroll today, he is 70.

He'll be 71 soon. He's already rich. He's already won a national title in college. He doesn't have a real connection to a lot of young progressive offensive coaches that would take that job. And football has changed. Hell, Pete looks outdated offensively with Russell Wilson. What's it going to look like with a college coach? So often, because we have these deep, impactful memories of our childhood or great times in our life, we go backwards to find a solution.

The solution for USC is to find the next great young coach. That's what the Rams did with Sean McVeigh. That's what the Packers did with Matt LaFleur. That's what the Bengals did with Zach Taylor. There's great coaches out there. It's nothing against Marvin Lewis. He's a defensive coach. He's in his mid-60s.

He's not the answer for your NFL team. Folks, the game has changed. dramatically. Jeff Fisher, Pete Carroll, are dinosaurs offensively. I like both. That's not the answer. All right, Zach Taylor, third year as a head coach, first place in the AFC North, which is just crazy. I picked him for last. What do I know? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. So, Zach, third year, Zach to first year, Zach, if you coached against you in week one or two, because this has always been a process. I mean, First of all, culturally, the game changes. Like, if you coached against you, what is something you can really put your stamp on it,

Zach, and go, boy, this is something I've gotten better at. Situational awareness, you know, just managing a game in all three phases. I mean, things as simple as time when to not burn a timeout, which I probably did a couple times by first year. I remember the first game at Seattle, my first ever game at Seattle in the red zone on a third goal from the 15. We burnt a timeout. Your percentages of scoring a touchdown there are very low. You know, so just things like those are I've paid a lot of attention to mistakes. I made the first year during games.

I write them all down. I make sure I look at them constantly to not make the same mistake twice. These are the things we ask our players to do. You know, so it's no different for me trying to learn from things that I've got to grow from as well. You know, I talked to Lane Kiffin once about this when he first got, you know, a Raiders job or a USC job. And there was a sense that, man, these are great jobs. You don't get a lot of second and third chances. And it was hard to relinquish some play calling power.

because you're like, you have one of the 32 best jobs in the world, in my opinion. When you're a young coach, how do you have the confidence to go, hey, I trust my play caller and not be, you know, Lane had told me a couple of times, it's hard. You want not to meddle, but you realize your career's at stake on every game. Yeah, I mean, you know, I call the plays on offense. And so part of that process is relying on Brian Calhane. over the course of the week because there's a lot of things that do pull me away from the process, you know, whether it's personnel issues or discipline issues and

things where I can't just always devote all my time to get the game plan ready. So I rely on Brian Callahan or Frank Paul and the other office because they do a tremendous job. Sometimes they have to catch me up to speed, you know, on a Tuesday like this. And here's some thoughts that they had and I got to get on board with it. And we just get together over the course of the week and it's been seamless. We kind of share a brain in a lot of regards. We think the same way.

and it's just been a fun evolution of our process over three years. When was the first time you saw Joe Burrow and what was your initial impression? Probably the first time I heard the name was he was considering going to Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati before he went to LSU. That's probably the first time the name popped up. I've known his dad for a long time. I knew Dan and Jamie Burrow, his two brothers that played in Nebraska. I didn't know that there was a Joe Burrow that existed, you know, until Roe.

really he transferred LSU and then he became part of the draft process. And that was really the first time he ever came on my radar. But I've known his family because they're all Nebraska homes and they went to Nebraska. And his brother graduated right before me. So I've known the Borough family for a long time. Yeah, my daughter sat next to him in Baltimore this weekend. She went to the game. Bizarre.

I said it. I actually sent it to Joe. Because I DM him once in a while to wish him well. And in the process of drafting him, when you're sitting down there with your general manager and the Brown family, what could you share with them about the family before meeting Joe to say, like, you have to draft this guy? Well, you know, I didn't know Joe as well, obviously.

So I had a hard time speaking to him, but just son of a coach, you know, and so you do your research, okay, what does that mean? Does that mean he's a football junkie? He grew up. He understands the game and he's got that edge to him, you know, that you need to have. And those are some of the qualities that he did have once we got to know him. So, you know, just it's a tremendous family. You can see why Joe is the way he is.

And we're really lucky to have him. Yeah, he has kind of a Brady. And comparing anybody to Brady is not great. But there is, you know, Jay Glazer always said there's a little bit of an unhealthy obsession with successful people, whether it be if I'm a broadcaster, you're in tech or you're a football player that I was talking. to Mark Sanchez today and he goes, oh God, Joe loves football. Joe loves football. He likes the process. He likes practice.

In your years of coaching players, that's not true with everybody. Some guys don't love it as much. Zach, I mean, if I said to you, Joe loves it. What percentage of players in your coaching experience live for it like a Joe? He's a little bit different that way. He's got the right edge to him. And a lot of people do just. love what football brings to their life. They don't necessarily love everything. They're talented

and it's what's expected of them and they're good at it and they love the things that brings. Joe, from my time around him, he's obsessed with the process, you know, every little detail. And, you know, it's never perfect for him, which is great. That's what you want from your starting quarterback. And it just trickles down to the entirety of the team. Everyone's got so much confidence in them. They don't want to let him down because he's going to put himself to be in a position to be ready. And in his teammates, you can just get that sense. They don't want to let him down. And that's the standard that we're looking for. Can you get in his ear during a game?

You know, you'll hear these legendary stories. Hey, we drew it up in the sand or we did a little wiggle. We'd never practiced. Are you comfortable now occasionally going to a space like that? We're in a game situationally. You're like, try this. Or he offers his opinion to you similarly to do a little wiggle maybe that it's off script. Absolutely.

You know, we just have to make sure it's sound. There's probably been times over the two years. is where we've gone to him. And I just, hey, are you comfortable with this? If we did this, can you see it? You feel good about it? And that's one thing that I do to admire about Joey's. He's very honest.

And he's not one of those guys just going to yes or you to death because you think that's the answer you want. He'll be very honest. I don't understand. I don't want to do that. I don't like that. Please do this. And that's the communication I want.

He's an extension of our coaching staff. It is different when you're talking to a quarterback at times. You want that clear and honest feedback. And Joe's not afraid to give it to you. and I appreciate that. Are you ready to amp up the excitement every college football Saturday this year? All right, it's called Colin Cowherd's Saturday spreads.

It's on Fandul. Free shot at big prices. Really simple. I choose 10 of college football's biggest matchups each week. Make your picks against the spread for each one. And the fans who get the most right win $5,000 bucks in prices. Every damn week. I'll take Michigan State plus three and a half,

against Michigan. I think the Spartan's weakness is their secondary, but it won't be exploited by Michigan's quarterback. I'll take Carolina plus three and a half at Notre Dame. Notre Dame off a big rivalry game. I think they're limited at quarterback. The heels have an advantage here. I'll take them and the points. Oklahoma comes back after an awful performance, a win but a bad performance against Kansas and thumps Texas Tech by over 17.5. All right, those will be three of the 10 picks. Go to fandul.com slash Saturday spreads. Fandul.com slash Saturday spreads. Or you can just download the Fandul app.

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encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

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Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

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You know, that to me is a fascinating relationship. I mean, that you, I've seen it with other quarterback comes over. A coach is like, you tell me what you see. A lot of quarterbacks, you know, due to the hash marks, college to pro, it takes them a while to see the entire field. Could you tell that Joe could see it from his film at LSU? Did or did it take him time at practice? Because take me and the people listening to this, I think a lot of people, they just don't realize that's not a naturally innate thing to be able to have somebody running at you. And you can see four different receivers.

Give me the process for Joe on that when he saw it, why he's so good at it, when you first recognized it. Well, I think for Joe, whether it's naturally or it came about it in high school, he's just got such a high football IQ. It makes sense to them. Just seeing something for the first time makes sense why it's happening. And so Joe, playing in college, you know, the system they were in, Joe Brady came from the Saints. There was a lot of NFL concepts. So there was a lot of full field progressions. You needed to understand the coverage and then understand how the concept attacked it.

And so you could see that on tape how quickly it was going to translate to what we do because there's a lot of crossover there with the West Coast offense. And so we had a good feeling just from watching his tape, watching his 16 games, whatever he played, and then interviewing him, you could tell, hey, this guy's got it. He'll quickly pick it up. Our first training camp, you know,

is the COVID training camp where he had no offseason. And he hit the ground running when we put the pads on. And you could just tell this guy's going to be special right from the get-go. There's a fine line, and I see it with Burrow. There's a fun, I don't know if the word cockiness, but it's really likable. Like, I like him. I think that means something.

I'm not going to mention names, but there have been quarterbacks who are cocky. And I just, I'm like, I don't know if I like them. I watched Brady and Peyton Manning and Eli last night on TV, give each other crap. All of them I found incredibly likable. I mean, like, even in there, as Peyton was digging into Tom, I'm laughing.

It's like a comedy actor. There's something about Joe to me. I don't want to reach here, but there's a like of. there's a likeability about him. And I don't know what it, I don't know what that means or how it manifests itself on the field, but I see it in all of his interviews.

What am I seeing? You're seeing a guy that really doesn't care what other people think. And so he doesn't feel like he's got to put on an act to impress people just because he's in the spot bite. He's just a Joe. And that's just his personality. He's confident because he puts him the work. And, you know,

he doesn't run from that. Yeah, he's got the right edge to him. But I just think the most important thing is, He's not out there to impress people. He just wants to be one of the guys. He's a guy that works hard. He plays ball on the field.

And he's just himself. And, you know, that's a cool thing to be around. You guys went and got a wide receiver, not an offensive lineman. And it was, you know, it was a mixed reaction. I mean, I love the draft, but there's no right answers. The greatest coaches of Wift on first round picks. It's hard. It's not science here at all.

Take me back to the discussions because it was obviously, a great move and Jamar's amazing. Joe was vocal about it, verbal about it. This guy's unbelievable. Was it a long decision? Was it something you went back and forth on that? I mean, take me to the process of that. There was a lot of discussions.

You know, you only had to pick five players because we were picking fifth. So you didn't need to have a conversation about 30, guys. You know, you knew it was going to be one of the five. And there was a couple of quarterbacks that were going to come off the board. So we took our time. There was no need to make a decision before April hit. You know, we were going to use all three months. of it. But the most important thing is we need to be more explosive. You know, the relationship

with him and Joe weighed into it a little bit. That wasn't the deciding factor. We need to be more explosive. Having a great explosive receiver helps your offensive line as well. So not only does help your quarterback, it always does it help your offense, because you can score more points and take some of the pressure off of them. So at the end of the day, you look at a lot of championship offenses that have had stellar quarterbacks, and a lot of them had three really good receivers. and defenses couldn't hone in on them. And so that's our point of attack. It's put a lot of weapons out there.

And I mean, you look at Jamar Chase's 80-year touchdown there. The other day was a slant route. That's a quick game. The linemen don't have to protect very long. And I don't have to call any extravagant play. I called a slant flat for 80 yards. You know, it doesn't get much easier than that. And so, you know, we're obviously very happy with the decision.

Seven of the eight divisions right now are led by the best quarterback in the division. Two weeks ago, 14 of 14. the best quarterbacks would have won if Josh Allen didn't slip on a fourth and inches quarterbacks always been important there's no question about it Zach but it does feel like Tom Brady told me yesterday

he said sometimes the league feels like a skills game a skills competition because receiver and quarterback you know the safety rules now every receiver can go over the middle it used to be everybody had you know Michael Irvin you go over the middle the rest of the guys up the sideline and I thought to my

When you go into drafting now, because the receiver and quarterback are so valuable, I mean, if it's a coin flip on personnel, do you just now go more than ever for the skill player over the lineman? Or is that oversimplifying it? For me, that's oversimplifying it. You know, you're based on the value. You're basing it on the need. There's a combination of as it comes down to the draft. So it's not always as simple as that. but again when you picked the fifth pick

you know we knew we needed another weapon and we had a sense that Jamar would be there and so that settled it for us but we certainly had long lengthy conversations and people gave the pros and the cons to it you know we made sure we don't just settle in on a guy and this is going to be great there's a lot of people who do a great job

presenting the other side of the argument of room and we need all that to make a third decision you know Zach when in the middle of last week's game you guys had a great second half and I think one of the things as somebody that loves football, you get about 15 minutes, you know, offense veers off to the right, the defense to the left. You obviously made some tweaks and they were wildly successful.

And I always think to myself, man, what did you go to the chalkboard? What is Zach doing? If you could now in retrospect, without giving away secrets, you clicked something at halftime. What was it against the ray of? That's really been our MO the whole season. We've come out strong. I don't know what our numbers are coming out the second half, but we've scored on dang there every time we got in the ball in the third quarter and in the first half as well.

And so it's more just a matter of the first half getting into a rhythm. You know, we've shot ourselves in the foot sometimes on some short-yarded situations where we feel like when we just get that first, first down, we really get rolling at score points. And so I think a lot is made of these adjustments that happen at halftime. we're just going back through the call sheet. We have a better sense of what we're seeing from the other team. And we're just pulling plays that maybe we haven't called yet.

Maybe some things we made mistakes on in the first half that we can get back to and just clean up. And so there's no extravagant 12-minute conversation that we're having in there. It happens pretty quick. And we're at the point now when we've got so much confidence in our guys on offense, these are things that we've repped a lot. We're not putting in a lot of new stuff. We've got a lot of stuff in our arsenal and our guys are responding really well to it. going back to Sean McVeigh, you're obviously a very sharp guy.

But, you know, when you're around somebody that is, you know, he's really verbal, he's really quick, he's really good with people. If I said to you, you know, give me something. I mean, you obviously had a point of view on how to coach football. But is there one thing you took from Sean that you look at and go? Yeah. I mean, I always say, you know, the old Tony Bennett's a legendary singer, he always says, steal from everybody. called research. If you steal from one guy, you're a thief. So take stuff from everybody. Give me a little bit of your influences. Let's start with McVeigh. And Nick Sabin always credits

Don James from Washington, the legendary old defensive football coach. I mean, he says, like his practice schedule, I took it. Give me some Sean stuff and other influences in your life. Absolutely. That's a tremendous question. I'm saying for Sean, he always has a great understanding what's going on around the league. A lot of times before I'd gotten with Sean, it was very singularly focused on the opponent that week. Sean's got a broad vision of what's going on around the league and how people are attacking.

He's always attacking. That's his mentality is I'm always trying to attack and get explosive plays. And then the third thing I would say is just how he empowers and the people in the building and makes you feel valued. You know, whatever role you're in, you feel like you are a part of the success. And he does a great job making you feel like you're a part of it. even when maybe you're not, you know. And so that just speaks to Sean as the person and how he gets so much out of his staff. And you've seen so many people leave onto, you know, bigger roles. And it's

because he just instills a lot of confidence in people. And you believe in exactly what they're doing there in L.A. And so it's easy to go to go and take it somewhere else and have success. You know, other influences in my life, I coached for my father-in-law is Mike Sherman. And I think the thing that the number one thing I learned from him was just always be honest with your players. You know, and sometimes it feels like it's harsh, but they respect that honesty. They may not in that moment, but they will weeks later or years later or months later, whatever it is. But he was always very honest. And I know that the players appreciated that.

And so I've tried to take that from him. And then, you know, my junior college coach who has since passed away, his name was Aaron Torres. He was my office coordinator. I transferred from Wake Forest. I was a skinny kid. I had no talent. I was weak. I didn't have a lot of confidence.

I wasn't playing a week force. I go to this junior college. And he just, he made me believe in myself. And I remember I threw an interception in the championship game and he took the responsibility. I shouldn't call that play. I was a stupid play call.

It's not your fault. And that's the first time I'd ever heard that. You know, it's not my fault. I'm the quarterback. I threw the ball. And that has stuck with me every day I've coached. You know, there's sometimes a quarterback will throw a pick. It's not his fault.

I might have put him in a bad spot. I'll tell him when it's his fault. But there's a, other times there's things that happen where we just got to put that behind us and move on. And those guys don't have to feel the pressure of all, man, I made a huge mistake. No, you didn't. You know, it was a stupid call. Or they met the corner made a great play and let's move on and learn from that.

So, you know, I've had a lot of great mentors in my life. And there's just a couple that I can have. Tell me the last time you made a call with Burrow. And as you said it and you gave it to Joe, you thought, oh, Jesus. Do you doubt your, I mean, God, Zach, you got eight seconds here. You can't, you've had to have given a call and thought, what the hell am I doing? I don't like this.

Yeah, I won't get specific into the last game, but there was one in the last game for sure, you know, that I was pretty bad at myself. There was one last year. We scored a touchdown on it. I called a quarterback sneak on a third and one. And he got under center and just started shaking his head. He didn't like the work.

So then I'm stuck, you know, so he's kind of just standing there. And I give him a different call and it ends up being a 30-yard touchdown run. but that was a moment like, okay, I can read your body language out there on the field. You don't like this. So let's get to something else as quickly as we can. You talked about play calling. Zach, do you, I mean, because when you say body language,

I saw Dan Campbell this weekend do something I really liked. Something happened. There was a special teams play that work. And he literally went to each as a coach, because he's not play calling. He went to each player individual. And it was like, I love that. and he looked all of them in the eye. That balance of play calling and head coaching,

it's real personal on the sideline. I mean, you know that. You have a bad drive. These are 24-year-old guys. They lose confidence. Give me the balance of all that on a sideline on game day. Yeah, you're making sure, you know, as a play caller, that there's particular players you want to see.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the Ford. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health. purpose and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told,

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap little Kim's boobs at the VMA? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but yeah, yeah, literally. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me. your host and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

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seek out, you know, certain situations. Maybe they're not getting the ball enough. You want to make sure that they're engaged because there's a lot of guys. I rely on their energy over the course of the game. And sometimes when you don't feel that energy, I'll go address it with them. Hey, we're going to get you involved, but I need you to think until you make it a little bit because it does affect me. You know, over here on the sidelines. And I think our staff does a really good job, you know, where I can just say things on the headset.

Sometimes they can address it. But there are other teams you need to do it one-on-one. And I think Dan Campbell, I coach for him for a couple years. And he's as good as it gets in terms of relating to the players and motivating those guys and getting them to run through a wall for him. So there's no doubt that he'll get those guys going. When you're in your first couple years, you don't have Joe Burrow yet. Then there's last year you do.

He gets hurt. You're losing football games. Zach, how do you maintain, you know, the old great baseball manager, Billy Martin used to say there's 25 guys. Ten hate me, 10 love me. I've got to keep five away from the ones that hate me. This is a world where you got old players, young players, special teams players. Not everybody's going to love you. When you're losing games, you can lose guys in the locker room.

How do you maintain it? Because you clearly did. It's never met an effort thing with the Bengals. When you guys have lost, it's been injuries. It's been, you know, personnel situations. How do you maintain it when you're on a three-game losing streak? Yeah. It was always about building the foundation and trying to win games while we did it.

But being honest about our process. Hey, here's why we're doing the things we're doing. We believe in it. We're not afraid to adapt and adjust, which we have done plenty over the last three years. And we're going to be honest and consistent with our players. So just because we're losing doesn't mean I'm going to change my attitude every day and become this different person that I wasn't during training camp at that first year. And now we're losing.

So I'm going to be a jerk to everybody and blame everybody by myself. So that wasn't how we were going to go about it. And we could sense that first year was going to be a difficult year. But we just had such positivity in the locker room. And you could identify the players that were going to be with us through the end. And you empower those guys. And they pull a lot of guys with them. And then the next year, you add players in the draft and pre-agency that are captains.

They've won championships, whether on their college team or competed for playoff titles with the Saints and some other teams of guys we added. And you start to get more and more of those guys. And then everyone's just pulling in the same direction. And we got 53 guys in the locker room right now. I love every single one of them. I look forward to walking in the locker room and there's not one guy you don't want to make eye contact with, you know, because you don't want to have a conversation with them, which sometimes happens in locker rooms. But we just got everybody on board. Everyone's believing.

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that could lead to adventure. And they see you. Their fearless guide is this fascinating world. Find a forest near you and start exploring at discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. What I find fascinating about football is sometimes Lou Holtz used to say you get a different team every week. The quarterback broke up with his girlfriend. The defensive back flung to test.

Now you don't have that. but you were so zoned in against Baltimore. It was so obvious. You obviously go in optimistic or confident, but is that game, did you sense you were going to get that performance? That, I mean, that was as big a bingle win. We were saying this on my show. I can't remember a bingle win where I walked away and went, okay, I think different about the organization. Did you have that good a week of practice?

Did you sense that would happen? I really did. And there's been plenty of weeks where we didn't have a great Wednesday practice, a great Thursday practice. And it happens and you address it and you make sure they know. We got to come back tomorrow. Last week was an outstanding week. Guys were locked in.

Players were meeting extra because Baltimore, you know, they stress you in all three phases. They do a tremendous big. They got great staff. They got great players. They've been competing at a high level for a long time. And our guys knew that. And so we just got a really smart football team.

You know, at the end of the day, you wake up on a Sunday. Sunday morning and you know you've got a tough game ahead you. And you know, you're a little bit stressed there for a moment. But I just sit there and think, hey, we got talent. Our guys are smart. They're going to go out there and do their jobs as long as we put them in good position to do it. And that's the point that we're at right now with the Spengals team. Would you rather face now Harbaugh is a special teams coach.

Give me the challenges of facing on game day another offensive coach, Kevin Stefanski, or a defensive coach Tomlin. Do you, Zach, coach a little differently based on who's on the sideline in your personal chess match? Not necessarily. No, it's more just on the tendencies of what type of aggression they have, situationally, fourth down, those types of things. And it's not always a factor of whether they're an offensive defense,

to special teams. You know, you just try to get a sense over their career, what their philosophy is. So it's more of that. It's less about Mike Tomlin. and Kevin Siffansky and Harbaugh, and it's just more about their overall philosophy as a team. How do you make sure that you don't have tendencies?

Do you have somebody scout Zach Taylor? Do you have somebody scout the Bengals? Absolutely. You know, we've got people within the building, analytics people that do a great job, giving us the information. You know, we self-scout our own side of the ball, too, as well with some of our coaches.

And sometimes it's good to have some tendencies. You know, sometimes I like to see that we're this percentage of something because we know we've got some things in our back pocket that are going to counterbalance that. And so it's not always a terrible thing to have some tendencies when you know that you've got a great opportunity to break them and get some explosive plays off with it. So, yeah, that's a big part of what we do during the week. Are you a, you know, Bill Walsh, I script 12 plays, which I always think is smart because it reduces maybe chaos. But also, if you see something that you didn't expect to see and you're running. a play, like where do you fall as an offensive coach on scripting plays?

Yeah, we've certainly got some early calls. And the purpose is twofold. It's to give your players, especially the night before the game, a sense of what direction we're going to start the game on. So they can mentally go to sleep and wake up the next morning and have an understanding of, hey, here's probably the first eight or ten normal down the calls we're going to get to. And then secondly, it's getting a chance to see how the other team's coming out and attack you right away.

So you try to do some different things with personnel and formations and try to get a sense for that to continue to adjust as the game unfolds. And, you know, so there's a, there's a couple different ways to approach it. But I like to make sure that our players have an understanding of how we're going to start the game. Many of your best players, Zach, are young, not collegiate young, but there are older locker rooms and younger locker rooms. We have an extra game this year.

How do you avoid, I mean, you're in first place, you'd be a number one seed. Do you think about, okay, we just had the biggest. win in a long time. Okay. How do you coach them off, you know, that emotional peak? Is that something you think about? Like, man, this is, let's not get too high here because this league punishes the overconfident. They do.

You know, and I think we had a good win on the road against Pittsburgh early in the season. That was a similar situation. And our guys responded well the next week. And so we just have enough, you're right. We have a lot of young players, but they don't act young. You know, they're mature. They understand. We've got enough veteran and leadership with the Riley Reeves, the Vaughn Bells,

all those guys that have been there and done it at a high level that are helping bring these younger guys along. And the standard's too high right now, and our guys understand that. And so I feel very confident the type of leadership we have on the team to not fall in some of those pitfalls that could be in front of us. Bingles number one seed. I mean, listen, you obviously have confidence. But I mean, if you look at that on paper, do you think, wow, this is this is working a little faster than I thought?

No, all I look at is we put ourselves through seven games in a good position to be able to achieve the things that we talked about in the preseason. But all that really matters is beating the Jets. You know, and so again, anything can happen each week. I see a Jets team that's really hungry and they're going to present some problems to us. And so our focus right now is just being on six and two, and that's all that really matters. finally that Green Bay game is you know there's an old saying in coaching don't let a loss beat you twice I thought you had the game won twice I mean Green Bay probably thought the same but how long do you kick yourself how poorly do you sleep when you go home that night and you're like oh crap we had Aaron

Rogers I mean not that it was a circle game they're all circle games but God Zach you played well you made the Packers were uncomfortable a lot in that game. Was that a night you go home and your wife's trying to connect and you got a million things going off in your head? Yeah, you're right. That was a tough one. But, you know, having coached for a long time in this league, you're going to have a lot of tough ones. And the important thing is that we just learned from some of the things that we could have done better. And for me, some situations that could be better. Some players or guys could have done a better job, putting themselves a position on. And you just, you have to do your best to put that one behind you as

quickly as possible. And just learn from the things that you can learn from and try to use those to help you win some games in the future. Yeah. That was one of those games. You know, it was one of the rare instances where I watched the team lose and I thought, oh, yeah, they're good.

They're buttoned up. I mean, that was my takeaway as a fan, a consumer. I was like, oh, yeah, you outplayed Green Bay. I mean, you felt like you outplayed him probably. We felt like we were in a position when, you know, and so, uh, we didn't. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you doing this, Coach. Thanks a lot, Colin. Appreciate having me.

At the Volume Sports, YouTube channel, Twitter, Instagram, rate review, subscribe. We'll talk soon. The Volume. If you love to be remembered as the person who gives the best birthday gifts, I'm here to tell you that 1800flowers.com is your ultimate birthday gifting destination. 1-800 Flowers has thoughtful and artfully created options that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise. Shop thousands of unique gifts at 1-800flowers.com for exclusive offers and great values. To order today, visit 1-800flowers.com slash tune-in. That's 1-800flowers.com slash tune-in. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Oden to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen it.

the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to and learn the heart. Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to,

listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human