When Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor coached at Texas A&M from 2008-2011, he watched the Houston Texans play every Sunday.
The Texas A&M head coach at the time was Mike Sherman, Taylor’s father-in-law. Before he took over at Texas A&M, Sherman was the Texans offensive coordinator under head coach Gary Kubiak.
As Taylor and Sherman watched the Texans, Taylor studied Kubiak’s distinct offense, which meshed Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense with a wide-zone running scheme.
Kyle Shanahan, now the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, was the offensive coordinator on those Texans teams. At the time, the Texans offense used some of the elements that Kyle’s father, former NFL head coach Mike Shanahan, created.