Bengals' Zac Taylor Recounts Day He Met Rams' Sean McVay
In 2014, Miami Dolphins quarterback coach Zac Taylor befriended Washington (then) Redskins offensive coordinator Sean McVay at their mutual agents' place. They'd briefly meet again during the season opener.
Fast forward to 2017, McVay took the head coaching job for the Los Angeles Rams but needed to fill a few more positions on his staff. Taylor detailed what happened next on Wednesday's edition of The Rich Eisen Show.
"I saw (McVay) got the job and I didn't even know I had his phone number," Taylor said. "I'm sitting at my house and all of a sudden my phone rings and it says 'Sean McVay.' He offered me the assistant receivers job and told me I had 48 hours to take it. However, he called me back one hour later and said 'Okay, what's your decision?'"
Taylor explained that "it was a little scary" to think that he and his family would move to L.A. for the job, but said McVay's "energy" changed his initial thoughts.
"I said to myself 'I gotta go take this assistant receiver job' and move to the unknown of L.A....it was the best decision I ever made," Taylor said.
© Kirby Lee, USA TODAY
McVay rose to NFL fame for many reasons during his first season, but his "flashbulb memory" stood out to Taylor.
"(McVay) watches his own tape so much to learn from his own scheme, continue to evolve it, asks himself what people are seeing and he's just got that unbelievable memory. I can't do that and it's unique to Sean. We had a great first year and went to the playoffs."
Fast forward to 2019, Taylor took the head coaching position for the Cincinnati Bengals. It took a couple of years to break out of the bottom of the league, and in 2021, Taylor and the Bengals shocked the world by making it to the Super Bowl...against McVay and the Rams. McVay and Taylor were the two youngest coaches to ever face off in a Super Bowl.
Now, on Monday night, Taylor and McVay will meet once again in primetime.
Going into the season, the Bengals were given Super Bowl or bust expectations by the NFL community, while the Rams were expected to finish towards the bottom of the league due to their extremely young and inexperienced roster. However, after two weeks, the Rams are 1-1, while the Bengals are 0-2.
This rematch once heavily favored Taylor and the Bengals, but after their sluggish start, who knows what will happen on Monday night?
