City of Brotherly Love Takes on New Meaning Sunday When Bengals Visit Philly
Zac Taylor called it “just another game.”
How can it be, though, when the team you lead as the head coach, the Cincinnati Bengals, will play a team on Sunday whose offense is coached by your kid brother, the Philadelphia Eagles and Press Taylor … in the City of Brotherly Love, no less?
“We’ve done this a couple of times,” said Zac earlier in the week. “This is the fourth time we’ve played each other. … Obviously, the family loves to just tune into one game, and usually, they’re in the stands and they have fun with it.
“But for Press and I, it’s just business as usual. We both want to win and we both want the other guy to feel really bad after the game is over. But it’s always a proud moment for my family and my siblings and our wives.”
Press is the passing game coordinator/quarterback coach on Doug Pederson’s staff. He holds a 2-1 record in games against his older brother, so far.
“There's nobody I'd rather compete with more than my brother honestly,” said Press. “It's one of those things with your family, you're always rooting for them, but if anybody beats them, I want it to be me.
“That's something, it's obviously a friendly competition that will mean something more to us later down the line but right now, it's all about our teams, this game and putting our teams in a position to go get a win.”
The Taylor’s are under the radar, far from being the first family of football, the Mannings – Archie, Peyton, and Eli – or even the Harbaughs – John and Jim.
Yet, both have coached in a Super Bowl, Zac doing it as the quarterback coach with the Los Angeles Rams and Press doing it as the assistant QB coach in 2017. Press won a ring; Zac did not.
“There's nobody I trust more in this business than my brother," said Press. "He's always been that person for me that I can lean on.”
Zac, 37, is five years older than Press and played quarterback at Nebraska. Press played QB at Marshall. Their father, Sherwood, was a defensive back and captain for Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer from 1976-79, and Zac and Press have a sister who is a Special Olympics swimmer.
The Taylors have never worked on the same staff, though Zac had a chance to hire Press when Zac was hired by the Bengals last year.
“I know he’s very happy in Philly, and he’s got a big role there,” said Zac. “The timing is not always right, but I got a lot of faith and trust in Press. I’ve now worked with coaches that have coached with him, and players that have played for him.
“So, I always hear the same feedback - that they’ve got a ton of confidence in him, and that he’s a great coach. But of course, it just has never needed to happen right now, so we don’t worry about it.”
Both coaches have been schooled in West Coast offenses, with Press around Pederson, Pat Shurmur, and Chip Kelly; Zac around Bill Callahan, Jon Gruden, and Mike Sherman.
“When we do talk in the offseason, we have the same terminology and verbiage and understanding,” said Zac. “But when you’re already different coaches, your styles will be a little different.”
Usually, the brothers talk several times during the course of a week. They and their families spend time together in the summer, and football is one of the conversations that take place. Not so much this past summer. Not so much this week, even.
“Our schedules, they are obviously very busy in season, but this week we have not really had a chance to connect, but I think that's been on purpose,” said Press. “Really, this summer, we always spend some time together in the summer, but we kind of left football away because we knew this was coming up early in the season.”
And now it is here, and with both teams needing a win, brotherly love will be put on hold for a few hours on Sunday afternoon.
Get the latest Eagles news by joining the community. Click "Follow" at the top right of the EagleMaven page. Mobile users click the notification bell. And please follow me on Twitter @kracze.
