Does Zac Taylor face more pressure than Joe Burrow for 2020 Bengals?

Both Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow and Zac Taylor are under plenty of pressure in 2020.

[jwplayer L1kZfATH-ThvAeFxT]

The Cincinnati Bengals face immense pressure in 2020.

After the front office helped Zac Taylor massively overhaul the roster, he’s facing a ton of pressure to fuel the turnaround. And after the team used the first pick on Joe Burrow, the former LSU star has expectations to meet.

But NFL Network’s David Carr brought up a good point on a broadcast recently, suggesting it’s Taylor who faces more pressure than anyone:

“You know honestly what I’ve seen from Joe last year…really picking up Joe Brady’s offense and really taking an ownership of that, I really think there’s a lot more on Zac Taylor. After watching the Bengals last year, I didn’t really see an offense that just wowed me as far as Sean McVay did…Joe has to be more accurate down the field (than Andy Dalton) or decisive, have more of an ownership of the offense. But it really is on Zac. Zac has to take a step up, he has to be a little more creative, I mean Joe Mixon’s out there, that running game’s gotta go, you got A.J. Green, you have a ton of receivers out there to throw to.”

It’s hard to disagree. Taylor faced some major hurdles during last year’s lost season. He arrived late, his coaching staff did the same and he didn’t get to make big moves in free agency. His first-round pick got hurt. His hand-me-down roster had massive problems and had poor injury luck. He had to overhaul an entire culture and literally the facilities too, not just coach a football team.

But now Taylor’s out of the excuses zone, no matter how odd this offseason is. He — for now — has a fully healthy roster. He’s got a full season of coaching experience so his offense needs to indeed better resemble something along the McVay lines. And he’s 100 percent responsible for whether Burrow’s ready and developing at a nice pace throughout his debut season.

While all the focus indeed centers on Burrow right now, it’s quietly Taylor who probably faces the most pressure of anyone in Cincinnati as Year 2 for his era gets started coming out of a two-win season.

[vertical-gallery id=36422]