Cincinnatians know well the high heat thrown by pitchers in Queen City, the home of the first professional baseball team. Not so long ago, we got to watch Aroldis Chapman light up the gun. More recently, the rocket-armed Luis Mey debuted for the Redlegs. Now, Meadowlark Media’s David Samson is dealing his own high heat in the direction of Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor.
The Bengals lost their season finale to their in-state rival, the Cleveland Browns, 20-18 on Sunday. And, as he always does, Taylor addressed the media after the loss and brought up one of the more eyebrow-raising moments of the game.
The Battle of Ohio Part Deux did not affect playoff standings, as both teams had long since lost any hope of making the postseason.
But the game did have historic implications as Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett entered the game, needing one sack to break the NFL's single sack record. A feat that Garrett accomplished in the fourth quarter of an otherwise meaningless game.
However, in his post-game press conference, Taylor described the scene that unfolded immediately after Garrett sacked Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. And the coach was not pleased with how the celebration transpired.
“There’s five minutes left in our season. We’re playing for our lives here. And, I was never told we were going to stop the game, and in a critical moment like that. And the refs just said that they made a decision that they were going to stop the game and they said they were going to try to do it as quickly as possible. I didn’t feel that. We didn’t sub. We were trying to be on the ball, and to go, and to play with tempo, and the umpire just held the ball so that we couldn’t do anything... Trying to get an answer was not easy. They just said that they’d made a decision as a crew to stop the game when that happened.”
David Samson eviscerates Zac Taylor for “whining”
Taylor’s comments caught not only the attention of the reporters in the room but also that of the most straightforward, tell-it-like-it-is, forget-your-feelings, it's just business, nothing personal, sports commentators, David Samson.
On his latest episode of "Nothing Personal with David Samson," the former President of the Florida Marlins did not hold back in his appraisal of Taylor's post-game comments.
Samson commences his eviscreation of Cincinnati’s head coach with “Zac Taylor of the Bengals lost his mind yesterday, and I’m not here for it. We’re going to show you 36 seconds of this sour grapes whiny coach, Zac Taylor of the Bengals.”
Just in case you were unsure about Samson’s sentiments on the subject, he went on to explain why he feels the way he does about Taylor’s postgame comments:
“Couple things of note there, Zac. Number one. What you’re alleging, if it’s true, there's firings that come. If the umpiring crew stopped the game without the NFL league office knowing, they should all get fired. If the crew did not alert Zac Taylor to the fact that the game was going to be stopped when Myles Garrett got the record, if Myles Garrett got the record, then the crew should be fired.”
Samson goes high and inside on the NFL league office
After flamethrowing Taylor, and throwing strikes at the officials “if” they did not speak with the coaches beforehand, Samson went high and in on the league office when he stated, “If the NFL never got to the crew to tell them that game was or was not going to be stopped, then someone in the NFL ought to lose his or her or their job.”
Samson went on to describe the discussions that arise when something historic could happen at a sporting event and whether it rises to the level of stopping the game.
As a former executive who was in charge of all of the infinitesimal details that accompany everything, including how far apart bathrooms are in a new stadium, down to the centimeter, Samson finds it inconceivable that no one discussed with Taylor what would happen once Garrett broke the record.
For the Bengals-Browns officiating crew, and for most who think logically, stopping the game for a record everyone knew was coming was a rational and logical result of a new watershed mark previously set in 2001 and tied in 2021.
From a fan perspective, whether the officiating told the coaches or not, it should have been logical. Obviously, Taylor did not share that perspective.
Agree to disagree, but agree
However, Samson and Taylor agree that the officials should have explained, before kickoff, the potential of pausing the game to celebrate Garrett’s achievement.
Where Samson takes umbrage, with prejudice, is that the officials did not tell Taylor the game would stop. Samson reiterated, “… But if you are going to stop and allow the celebration for Myles Garrett that took place, the Bengals are told. That’s a hard stop!”
Yet, Samson recognized the seriousness of the situation if the officials did not make Taylor aware of a potential stop in play. He finished his pontification with “If it actually comes out, Coca (Samson’s producer Matthew Coca), that the Bengals had no idea, and it really was only the referee and the crew that made that decision… whoa!”
The problem with Samson saying that he doubts what Taylor said is that the coach later stated emphatically, “I was never informed of that. They never said one word. Not even in the 90-minute meeting before the game, they never said one word about that.”
If we take Taylor at his word and Samson is correct that there should have been a discussion, the coach’s comments look less like sour grapes, but still a bit like whine.
Another “Wait to see” for Samson’s file
Nevertheless, Samson has another item to add to his “Wait-to-see” list.
The NFL may make an official announcement defending the officiating crew and justifying Samson's outburst towards Taylor.
Or, in the next couple of days, we will hear about disciplinary action taken on the officiating crew. But even if that happens, hopefully it does not rise to the level of firing.
That makes two wait-and-sees.