Gene Frenette | Brother's keeper: Jaguars OC Press Taylor, Bengals coach Zac Taylor bonded by blood

Sherwood Taylor, a three-year starting safety at Oklahoma during the Sooners’ heyday under Barry Switzer, surprisingly didn’t envision right away this kind of future for his two NFL coaching sons.

Living in the Trails neighborhood in Norman, Okla. — though his boys spent almost every minute of leisure playing multiple sports and had standout college football careers — Sherwood couldn’t see Zac, the Cincinnati Bengals’ third-year head coach, following in his coaching footsteps.

It would be different for Press, the Jaguars’ first-year offensive coordinator, but only after his older brother found success and fun early on in the profession. Once Press finished up his playing career at Marshall, his father knew he wasn’t going to use a finance degree to go work on Wall Street.

“I honestly didn’t know what [Zac] would do, I just never thought he’d be a coach,” said Sherwood. “He was a student of the game, but I never thought based on our conversations years ago that he wanted to be a coach. I thought there were other things he wanted to do.”

Really, Dad? What else were the boys going to do? This was already in the family blood, seeing as how Sherwood was a former assistant coach at both Oklahoma and Kansas State.

Zac and Press spent all those years organizing pickup football/baseball/basketball games among dozens of neighborhood kids, either at Lidell Field behind the family home or in somebody’s driveway on Cynthia Circle, so coaching seemed like a natural fit.

Considering the Taylor brothers had standout football careers in high school and college, but weren’t talented enough to make it at the next level, the whole coaching thing felt like their destiny.

“I have no skill that translates to anything else other than being in athletics,” said Zac, whose playing career ended after one season as a backup quarterback on the CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ practice roster. “When that time came and I was done playing in Canada, there was only one option and that was to coach. That was everything I had been built for my entire life. I don’t think I’d be comfortable in any other profession.

“It’s just naturally where Press and I ended up. We had been surrounded by that our entire lives. Everything important to us leads to coaching.”

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Press wanted to be like Zac Taylor

Once Zac landed his first coaching gig at Texas A&M, working as a graduate assistant for father-in-law and former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman, and later landed an assistant quarterback job with the Miami Dolphins, there wasn’t much doubt about Press’ career path. Especially after he took a graduate assistant job at Tulsa with no salary, while living in the basement of a house belonging to his mother Julie’s friend.

“You knew right then Press was in it for the long haul,” said Sherwood.

The Jaguars’ first-year OC had already followed his older brother as a starting quarterback at Norman High, then again at Butler Community College (winning two national championships) before heading to Marshall. Once Zac got his foothold in coaching, Press was bound to follow.

“I grew up admiring my brother,” said Press. “Sports was a huge part of our childhood. It’s fair to say I wanted to be like him.”

Zac, 39, and Press, 34, aren’t just connected as brothers. Their life path has both of them ascending fast up the NFL coaching ladder, similar to 42-year-old Packers head coach Matt LaFleur and his 35-year-old sibling, New York Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.

For the Taylor brothers, who have already faced each other four times on opposing sidelines (Press is 2-1-1), both are driven to make their coaching mark.

Looking at where the NFL ride has already taken them, it’s no wonder getting to the top of their profession is a priority and something deeply personal. Just like their sibling rivalry.

Fiercely competitive neighborhood

The late 1990s and early 2000s turned out to be a perfect time for the Taylor brothers to hone their athletic skills.

Between the 13 houses on Cynthia Circle, plus the residences on Barry Switzer Drive and other streets nearby, there were about 30 boys in their early teens willing to play any sport at a moment’s notice.

Press had a front-row seat watching his older brother put games together with multiple phone calls, negotiating like a salesman who had a quota to meet.

“I can’t tell you how many times myself, then Press years later, would call someone to start a baseball or basketball game and I’d tell them, ‘you’re our 10th person, come to the house, you can jump in and play,’" said Zac. “They’d come over and see they were the only person there and they’re like, ‘you just lied to us.’ Yeah, now I got to call nine more people and give them the same line. Eventually, we’d get a game going.”

Not just any game, but one filled with quality athletes who went on to have standout careers. Among the participants were former NFL receiver and Oklahoma All-American Ryan Broyles, future Wake Forest tight end Zac Selmon (son of ex-NFL tackle Dewey) and former Oklahoma basketball player Kellen Sampson (son of current Houston head coach Kelvin).

For 10 straight years, the starting quarterback at Norman High came from the Trails neighborhood. Pickup games in every sport, including “cutthroat football” that usually featured four 5-man teams on a 40-yard field (whoever scored first got one point, the losing team would sit out and first team to 20 points wins), which developed the Taylors’ skill set and often triggered big arguments.

Their football games were so intense, it reached the point where heated discussions about debatable plays had to be resolved by an instant replay camera. Zac isn’t sure how that practice started, but vaguely remembers somebody in the neighborhood offering to tape the games.

“It just evolved from years of playing,” said Zac. “When there was a moment of contention, whether it was the ball not crossing the goal line or if somebody was out of bounds, we’d check the tape. You’d have 20 kids huddled around this camera, replaying it to see if a play stood or not.

“We were probably very innovative that way, ahead of the NFL a couple years in terms of a replay system.”

Almost every part of the Taylor brothers’ adolescence revolved around non-stop competition. During separate 45-minute interviews, Zac and Press had trouble containing their excitement talking about playing games in the old neighborhood.

“If we weren’t out there playing seven-on-seven or five-on-five [football], then we were playing baseball, or basketball in someone’s driveway or cops-and-robbers until midnight,” Press said. “It was pretty idyllic for us.”

Not just the Taylors' boys on Cynthia Circle, but for many others growing up a short bike ride away. It provided fuel that helped advance them in athletics and many into different facets of coaching.

“We competed every day in every sport imaginable,” said Zac. “We were learning, whether we realized it or not, how to lead, how to get people to come together and learn different skills. I’d put our street and the way we grew up competitively against any neighborhood on the planet earth.

“There’s no way, no one could ever tell me that they grew up in a better competitive environment than Press and I did. I won’t believe it. We had tough kids in our neighborhood. You kind of had to be that way to survive. It’s served everybody well as they’ve gone forward from Cynthia Circle.”

Trash-talking Taylors

It’s no shock two brothers who both played quarterback at the same high school and junior college, even if they’re almost five years apart and now married with kids, still like to needle the other about which one has the upper hand in anything.

Press admits he’s usually the instigator, the one who takes every opportunity to get in a dig at his older brother.

“I don’t know what will trigger it, but I probably get into it more because I’m the younger sibling, that’s my job,” Press said.

When Press was on the Colts’ offensive staff last year, Zac visited him in the offseason. He flippantly asked his brother why he put a replica Lombardi trophy (Press won a Super Bowl as the Philadelphia Eagles’ assistant QB coach in 2017) in a certain room of the house, and Press fired back: “I don’t know, where do you put yours?”

At the time, Zac had lost in his lone Super Bowl appearance as a Los Angeles Rams QB coach in 2018 to the New England Patriots, so Press wasn’t about to pass up that low-hanging fruit.

“He was giving me crap for where I put the trophy in our home, giving me a hard time, so I took my shot,” said Zac.

This brotherly back-and-forth banter has been going on for decades, more so the last 15 years. Press has no qualms reminding Zac that he quarterbacked Butler to two national titles, while Zac lost in the NJCAA title game during his only season.

When Zac visited Press in Jacksonville last month, or whenever they speak on the phone during the season, most of the conversation isn’t football-related. It’s about their families or other subjects, but the underlying sibling rivalry is never far away.

Press and Sherwood each made first-team All-State in high school, so Zac gets that friendly reminder. Zac can always counter with winning the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year while quarterbacking Nebraska to a 9-3 record in 2006, while Press was predominantly a special-teams player at Marshall.

“That’s just part of the competitiveness in our family,” said Zac. “Whether it’s playing board games or the NFL, we can’t tolerate being on the losing side. That’s unbearable for us.”

But when it comes to comparing their athleticism, there’s little disagreement. At 6-foot-3, nearly three inches taller than his younger brother, Zac had the more ideal quarterback size, which is why he likely advanced more at the position.

“I would say my brother was a better quarterback and I was the better athlete,” said Press. “If we went out and played basketball right now or raced, I’d like my odds. If we had an accuracy competition [throwing the football], I’d bet on him.”

Sherwood adds it’s not just the brothers’ skill sets that were different as quarterbacks, but also their mindset in attacking defenses.

Zac did things by the book. Press was more improvisational, like the time he drove Norman High the length of the field in the last minute against rival Norman North, winning the game on a risky quarterback-keeper play. As a point guard in basketball that same year, Press got creative and hit a floater to beat Norman North again at the buzzer.

“If you gave Zac instructions, he’d tell you exactly what you said and carry out a play as designed,” said Sherwood. “Press never paid attention to instructions. He had his own way of doing things and usually pulled off something pretty unimaginable.”

Can Jaguars follow Cincy blueprint?

As Press begins his first OC job, getting to work with No. 1 overall draft pick Trevor Lawrence as his quarterback, it’s hard to escape the potential irony of the Jaguars — who report to training camp on July 24 — trying to duplicate the reversal of fortune Zac’s Bengals pulled off with another top draft pick (2020), QB Joe Burrow, leading that offense.

Nobody envisioned Cincinnati, after going 2-14 and 4-11-1 in Zac’s first two seasons and Burrow recovering from a torn ACL as a rookie, orchestrating one of the greatest turnarounds in NFL history.

The Bengals went from five consecutive losing seasons, with Burrow only in his second year and coming off a horrific injury, to within an eyelash of winning the Super Bowl, falling 23-20 to the Los Angeles Rams.

Cincinnati did it by hitting home runs on consecutive first-round picks, Burrow and receiver Ja’Marr Chase, as well as signing quality free agents like D.J. Reader, Trey Hendrickson, Vonn Bell, Mike Hilton, Larry Ogunjobi, Chidobe Awuzie and Eli Apple to revamp the defense.

“It wasn’t as simple as drafting a player, or just signing random free agents we didn’t know anything about,” Zac said. “We knew all along it was about adding the right football character. For us, it doesn’t always have to be Pro Bowl-caliber players. It just needs to be the right guys who understand their role and are going to make the roster better.

“It allows you to play your best and reach your full potential as a team. That’s what I felt we did down the stretch last year. It doesn’t happen painlessly. The chemistry takes a while to get going.”

The Jaguars can only hope a similar player acquisition formula, under the direction of head coach Doug Pederson and GM Trent Baalke, works as well for them. Besides Lawrence, recent No. 1 overall pick Travon Walker and the return to health of sidelined first-round pick Travis Etienne, they spent big in free agency by acquiring seven likely starters.

While Press would love the Jaguars to make a Bengals-like turnaround, the NFL’s unpredictability makes him reluctant to go into any such comparison. Still, he likes the makeover on the Jaguars’ offense, relishing the opportunity to jump-start a unit that averaged a league-worst 14.9 points last season.

The Jaguars invested $153.5 million on adding free-agent receivers Christian Kirk and Zay Jones, along with tight end Evan Engram and guard Brandon Scherff. Unlike predecessor Darrell Bevell, at least Taylor gets the benefit of Lawrence being a year older with a better arsenal of weapons.

“That’s the fun part of it,” said Press. “You want a chance to kind of create something, build something. To do that here would be great. You feel like you got a lot of pieces in place. There’s a core group of young players that you’re really excited to work with and continue to develop.

“Everybody wants to accomplish the same thing: make this place special.”

Bro Bowl stakes feel different

The entire Taylor clan has been immersed in sports for as long as any of them can remember. Quincy, 30, the youngest of Sherwood and Julie’s four children, ran track in high school and also played volleyball.

Kathryn, who is 22 months younger than Zac and has Down Syndrome, has been cleaning up at Special Olympics competitions in Oklahoma for years, winning a slew of 25-yard titles. Kathryn’s exploits in the pool are as much a source of pride for the family as the accomplishments of her brothers.

But with the meteoric rise of Zac and Press through the NFL coaching ranks, the spotlight on them only figures to intensify. Future head-to-head matchups will garner more attention because their input into game-planning is much greater since that first meeting back in 2015.

That’s when Zac got his only victory as the Miami Dolphins’ offensive coordinator against Press, then in his third season as the Eagles’ quality control coach under Chip Kelly. Miami won 20-19, preserving the victory with a late fourth-quarter interception in the end zone of Philadelphia QB Mark Sanchez.

Before Press got a measure of revenge in back-to-back years (2017, ‘18) as the Eagles’ quarterbacks coach — beating the Los Angeles Rams, where Zac coached receivers one year and quarterbacks the next — Dad decided with his sons’ blessing to have some fun with the family rivalry.

Sherwood got one of his friends who owns a trophy shop to create some unique hardware. He called it the “Bro Bowl Trophy,” engraving the results from games where Zac and Press coached against each other. The only one missing is their last encounter in 2020, where the Eagles and Cincinnati played to a 23-23 tie in Zac’s rookie season as a head coach.

The trophy, which sits in Sherwood’s office at the same house on Cynthia Circle, takes on a different meaning now. With Zac being a head coach, and Press now one promotion away from possibly becoming one (Pederson thinks that’ll happen one day), the family feels more uncomfortable at the prospect of future Bro Bowl matchups. The brothers are scheduled to face off in 2023 when the Jaguars host Cincinnati.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal when I had [the trophy] made because Zac wasn’t a head coach,” said Sherwood. “Now that both are taking on more responsibility, you can’t really be happy for one [winning] and the other having to deal with a loss. I’m glad they’re not playing this year.”

Had the Jaguars not beaten the Indianapolis Colts 27-10 in the final game last season, it was possible going into the last week that Press and the Colts might have faced Zac and Cincinnati in the AFC wild-card round.

Zac admits now he was less than enthused about the brothers potentially squaring off in the postseason.

“I’d say we prefer not to play each other, just for the stress on our families,” said Zac. “It’s not as big a deal for Press and I. It’s more our wives, our parents don’t want to deal with that.”

Bro Bowl or not, the Taylor brothers vigorously support one another and don’t take kindly to anyone talking bad about the other. Just don’t expect the private verbal jousting between them to subside any time soon.

“There’ll be something to talk about with those two forever,” said Sherwood.

At least for the next five, 10 or 20 years, the coaching journey of Zac and Press Taylor should be fascinating to watch.

No matter what happens, their genuine brotherly love and rivalry will never end for as long as they live.

“I think most people are probably that way with siblings,” Press said. “Yeah, we’re going to talk trash to each other, but we’re also each other’s biggest fans.

“That’s family, that’s blood. I’ll always have his back. I think he’s the same way. But at the same time, if somebody’s going to beat him, I certainly want it to be me.”

gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: NFL brothers Press Taylor, Zac Taylor share deep coaching bond