Zac Taylor Describes Origin of Playoff Game Ball Idea

The Bengals head coach has helped produce plenty of celebrated moments over the past two seasons.

CINCINNATI — Zac Taylor and the Bengals have produced some special moments for Cincinnati fans over the past two seasons and the game ball tradition is a great marker for that.

Taylor came up with the idea on his drives home from the stadium before the team started to hit its stride with Joe Burrow.

It's taken on a life of its own as he described to Brandon Saho on The Mental Game Podcast.

"Those tough nights I had when we were not winning games and you're driving down, I think it's Third Street-Second Street. The street that drives by the Reds stadium and driving home and just thinking about okay, what a parade would look like, big wins and people in the streets and, and then I'd get closer to my house and I drive through, you know, Mt. Lookout Square and there's a great scene over there.

"And on Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday, I'm coming home from work and there's a great scene in there, and their watching sports games and I think, man, what a great thing it would be to share in a playoff win experience with these people who have yearned for this for so long and so the (playoff game against Las Vegas) ended and I think the first thing I shook Rich Bisacchia's hand, the head coach of the Raiders, and the first thing I did was go to Doug, you know, probably at midfield and say 'We got to get those balls, and let's get to work on this thing.'"

Check out the full story from Taylor.

The emotional story behind Zac Taylor’s game ball tradition for Bengals playoff wins. 🧡🖤

Full Coach Taylor episode available now on @MentalGamePods. pic.twitter.com/hTjTpQwFF3

— Brandon Saho (@BrandonSaho) June 7, 2023

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