The heroine these days in the Norman, Okla., Taylor home is Julie, the mother of Zac and Press, not to mention mother of the bride, wife of Sherwood and Pro Bowl travel agent.
"She could have made a career out of booking flights," Sherwood Taylor says Wednesday morning. "She's running the show around here."
Bengals head coach Zac and Jaguars offensive coordinator Press are in the AFC's Final Four with the Bengals in Buffalo Sunday (3 p.m.-Cincinnati's Local 12) and the Jags in Kansas City the day before in their 4:30 p.m. AFC Divisional.
A game away from the dreaded matchup Zac calls "The Doomsday Situation," for the family. If both the Bengals and Jags win, that sets up an AFC title game in Cincinnati between the two.
"We want it to happen, but we don't want it to happen," says Sherwood Taylor, speaking for fathers everywhere.
The boys' youngest sister, Quincy, is getting married after the Super Bowl and has challenged her brothers to bring the Lombardi Trophy to the wedding.
Which is jewelry a bit more coveted than the Taylor Bro Bowl Trophy, which chronicles the results of the NFL meetings between Zac and Press and sits in Sherwood's office in Norman, where he runs his company that sells letter jackets to schools.
"I think that's pretty safe to say," he says.
Sherwood Taylor, the old Oklahoma captain who gave up college coaching to stay in Norman and raise their four kids, is getting a kick out of it all. Last week they were in Duval County to watch the Jags' stunning comeback over the Chargers and then the couple, with, daughter Kathryn, Quincy and her finance, flew into Cincinnati and the next night they watched the Bengals win another fourth-quarter come comeback.
"I had two heart attacks last weekend," Sherwood says.
But, seriously, he's enjoying it. The former Sooners safety would just as soon be in-person rather than at home because he can watch the secondary play unfold and how his sons are attacking them.
"I'm not nervous. I'm not playing," Sherwood says. "I think both of them are doing a good job making use of the tendencies that teams are showing. It's fun to watch."
After Sunday night's game, Zac drove the family back to the hotel. But first he had to drop a game ball off at The Blind Pig, a few blocks from Paycor Stadium.
"He didn't know where it was. He had to us the GPS. I just waited in the car. He wasn't in there too long," Sherwood says. "I'm proud of him. I think he's done a really good job this season keeping the team focused through some distractions. From what the media says, the players like him and respect him and play hard for him and that means a lot."
Here's Julie's itinerary for this weekend:
They drive the five hours from Norman to KC Saturday morning. Jags-Chiefs at 4:30 p.m. Fly to Buffalo in time for Bengals-Bills.
And no leaving early Friday.
"I've got to work some time," Sherwood says.
BILLS AGAIN: Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow summed it up pretty well Wednesday at his weekly newser. The emotional whirlpool from the Jan. 2 game against the Bills that got cancelled when Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest has pretty much calmed with Hamlin bouncing back so well.
"For me personally, not much anymore, now that you know Damar has gotten better," said Burrow of the emotions. "He's back with the team, you're getting all the good updates. So you know, I think at least for me, that's in the past."
Now the questions are about football and the Bengals game plan. It looked so good in the nine minutes before Hamlin was stricken. (Burrow threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tyler Boyd) can/will they use the same one?
"A little of both," Burrow said. "The stuff that we didn't run you, you can carry over, and then you have two more, two more games of film that you can watch, and so you take some stuff and add some new plays off of those game tape you haven't seen, and you go from there."
THE MAYOR: Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard would never nickname himself the "Mayor of Paycor." But it fits. The Cincy-bred Moeller High School product and two-time NFL Man of the Year nominee owns the place after Sunday's NFL postseason record 98-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that broke up a 17-17 game against the Ravens.
Hubbard has heard of the twittering on twitter about what to name it. And like a true man-of-the-people mayor, he's waiting. There is "The Hubbard-Yard Dash," and "The Fumble in the Jungle."
"I've got to let the people decide," Hubbard said. "Those are the two I've heard the most. I saw another one. 'The Immaculate Rejection.'"
Even though middle linebacker Logan Wilson manhandled the ball to cause the fumble?
"I don't know. Just what I heard," Hubbard said. "It's not my place to name it. It's like giving yourself a nickname and that's not what you do."
INJURY UPDATE: Left tackle Jonah Williams seemed to be moving around the locker room OK with his dislocated kneecap, but he didn't practice and Taylor still calls him week-to-week. Also not practicing was right guard Alex Cappa (ankle), cornerback Tre Flowers (hamstring) and nose tackle DJ Reader with a rest day.
