Defensive Coordinator Search

[cincygrad]

BTW - Anthony is now saying he was kidding or trolling online. Between this and the Chiefs play, he has some reputation repair with our fans. LOL.

 

[BKBroiler9000]

x.com

x.com

Define “involved”…

 

[cincygrad]

x.com

x.com

Define “involved”…

He'd be a good hire. And it fits because I'm sure he's still drawing salary from Chicago and might be interested in taking a job for less money with the hopes of rebuilding his reputation.

BTW - It's funny when you read these things on X. Every comment starts with, "he's a good DC but you don't want him as a HC." Nobody is hiring him as a HC. And they aren't going to. Why is this relevant? We just make sure that Zac doesn't spend much time talking to him about time management and we'll be fine. LOL.

 

[BKBroiler9000]

He'd be a good hire. And it fits because I'm sure he's still drawing salary from Chicago and might be interested in taking a job for less money with the hopes of rebuilding his reputation.

BTW - It's funny when you read these things on X. Every comment starts with, "he's a good DC but you don't want him as a HC." Nobody is hiring him as a HC. And they aren't going to. Why is this relevant? We just make sure that Zac doesn't spend much time talking to him about time management and we'll be fine. LOL.

Oh I’d be all for this hire. I was just commenting on the awkward wording of the tweet LOL. “Involved”. Involved in what? Is he helping the Brown family, who he has zero connection to, find a DC? When he himself needs a job? LOL.

I agree on this though. My buddy who is a Bears fan texted me when he saw this and said more or less the same thing. “Great DC, just don’t make him your HC”….good thing we aren’t looking for a HC then LOL

Furthermore- shouldn’t we be saying the same thing about Dennis Allen or Robert Saleh as Eberflus? Did they not all suck as HCs? Hence why all three are looking for jobs LOL

 

[cincygrad]

Oh I’d be all for this hire. I was just commenting on the awkward wording of the tweet LOL. “Involved”. Involved in what? Is he helping the Brown family, who he has zero connection to, find a DC? When he himself needs a job? LOL.

I agree on this though. My buddy who is a Bears fan texted me when he saw this and said more or less the same thing. “Great DC, just don’t make him your HC”….good thing we aren’t looking for a HC then LOL

Furthermore- shouldn’t we be saying the same thing about Dennis Allen or Robert Saleh as Eberflus? Did they not all suck as HCs? Hence why all three are looking for jobs LOL

I thought the wording was odd as well. It sort of makes me curious about whether his agent planted the story to help his market. I mean, the word involved could mean anything including that he might have chatted with someone that knows someone that works with someone in the organization.

 

[BKBroiler9000]

The Bengals giving up 44 points to this Steelers offense is an absolute football war crime…

Jesus these guys fucking blow.

 

[cincygrad]

The Bengals giving up 44 points to this Steelers offense is an absolute football war crime…

Jesus these guys fucking blow.

That game, more than any other one, is the reason Lou had to go. They rang up more than 400 yards passing by throwing checkdowns on 75% of their passes. I still don't know what they were doing that day.

 

[DanBengalfan]

yea, bengals made them look competent.

 

[Cincyfan78]

That game, more than any other one, is the reason Lou had to go. They rang up more than 400 yards passing by throwing checkdowns on 75% of their passes. I still don't know what they were doing that day.

This is where I am going back and forth with Crash over on the main board in the AFCN thread...

I get that the Bengals were like 4 points away from sweeping the Ravens, or whatever - but the Ravens are a really good football team. It sucks getting swept, but you can understand it to a point.

Losing to NE, how they lost the LA game, and then the 1st Pitt game where the defense made that Pitt offense look like it was headed by Brady/Manning. Just unfathomable how you could allow that to happen.

IMO - I think Lou is a fine DC, but his scheme is predicated on things that you can't really control as much as it is about getting a bit lucky. You have to have 4 DL that can both stop the run AND rush the passer. With Hubbard, Reader, and Trey - he got that for 2-3 years at a peak. You also have to have really solid secondary play because not every play that DL will get home. He had that in Prime Bell and Bates, with Awuzie playing above station. Once those guys moved on, aged, and got worse - they couldn't find replacements for, basically, 7 HIGH level players...which is a TALL ask for ANY organization. This is where Lou failed. He saw what they had and refused to adapt his scheme to better fit the change in personnel.

One last thing - too much bend/don't break and reliance on turnovers, which can ebb and flow from season to season. Lou may not have thought it was a big deal to give up 9-10-11 play drives that either ended in just a FG or maybe a deep turnover...but if you can't get off the field in under 7 plays...that's 1 less drive, at a minimum, for Burrow. You do that 2-3 times a game, and that's anywhere from 3-5 drives throughout the game that you don't get the ball back into the offenses hands...that, to me, was always a faulty approach. Especially once this defense started to take on a bunch of water in '23 and this past season with all the turnover. Lou never adapted.

 

[Cincyfan78]

A lingering thought on Lou:

I also don't think he did a good job of developing guys. I know you had guys like Hubbard and others - but they drafted Murphy and barely let him see the field. Ossai same thing. Not saying they needed to play 80% or anything, but the lack of field time really hurt them when injuries came around. They had paper depth, but no actual experience with that depth.

Battle was one of the highest graded rookie safeties in 2023. They brought in Bell and basically benched him full on from the start. Guy was getting less than 3 snaps a game. All while Bell looked WASHED.

I still think there's some solid talent on this defense. You can't draft that many guys who did well in College and then watch them slowly digress, especially a guy like CTB who looked really good last year in spurts, and even this year early on - he was making some really good plays...and then....Hubbard was one of the worst ranked DE's in all of the NFL for WEEKS...and yet on a team with ZERO pass-rush (outside of Trey, of course) - Ossai couldn't get a look? Murphy?

 

[DanBengalfan]

A lingering thought on Lou:

I also don't think he did a good job of developing guys. I know you had guys like Hubbard and others - but they drafted Murphy and barely let him see the field. Ossai same thing. Not saying they needed to play 80% or anything, but the lack of field time really hurt them when injuries came around. They had paper depth, but no actual experience with that depth.

Battle was one of the highest graded rookie safeties in 2023. They brought in Bell and basically benched him full on from the start. Guy was getting less than 3 snaps a game. All while Bell looked WASHED.

I still think there's some solid talent on this defense. You can't draft that many guys who did well in College and then watch them slowly digress, especially a guy like CTB who looked really good last year in spurts, and even this year early on - he was making some really good plays...and then....Hubbard was one of the worst ranked DE's in all of the NFL for WEEKS...and yet on a team with ZERO pass-rush (outside of Trey, of course) - Ossai couldn't get a look? Murphy?

true enough. some folks believe we didn't spend enough on defense, but the reality is, we did, and it just didn't work out. we clearly need someone else at the lead.

 

[Cincyfan78]

true enough. some folks believe we didn't spend enough on defense, but the reality is, we did, and it just didn't work out. we clearly need someone else at the lead.

Regardless of whether they spent well, drafted well, or not...the things that drove me crazy were largely scheme related.

How many times in critical pass-rush situations can you continue to send just 4 guys knowing that if Trey doesn't get home....they are cooked.

That's not to say they needed to blitz all the time, but dropping the 7 (Lou's calling card) was failing against really good QB's because they had all day to throw. I don't care how good your secondary is - if you give a good QB 4-5-6 seconds to throw, someone is getting open.

I could go down a list of schematic issues I had with Lou over the past few seasons - but suffice it to say this: I don't feel that the players were put in situations to succeed enough. Players need to make plays. That's a fact. Missed tackles, bad angles - those things need cleaned up - but far too often - guys were just way out of place - and that points more to the scheme than the players.

 

[BKBroiler9000]

Sources: Cincinnati Bengals Down to Two Finalists for Defensive Coordinator Job

And then there were two...

www.si.com

No idea who SI’s “connections” are in the Bengals front office. But they seem to think it’s between Patrick Graham and Al Golden for the job.

The writer leans toward Al Golden as the favorite.

I’d imagine the Golden rumor checks out given the length of time with no movement and Notre Dame’s playoff run. Similar to when we hired Zac after the Rams’ played in the Super Bowl. If he declines, Graham is the backup option.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Sources: Cincinnati Bengals Down to Two Finalists for Defensive Coordinator Job

And then there were two...

www.si.com

No idea who SI’s “connections” are in the Bengals front office. But they seem to think it’s between Patrick Graham and Al Golden for the job.

The writer leans toward Al Golden as the favorite.

I’d imagine the Golden rumor checks out given the length of time with no movement and Notre Dame’s playoff run. Similar to when we hired Zac after the Rams’ played in the Super Bowl. If he declines, Graham is the backup option.

Could be. Saw that as well.

Another thing to consider is that HC spots are still open. Guys who are DC's but in the mix for interviews with HC spots are in limbo a bit as well as the NFL playoffs in swing.

A lot of moving parts - it'll be interesting to see how this shakes out.

 

[cincygrad]

Sources: Cincinnati Bengals Down to Two Finalists for Defensive Coordinator Job

And then there were two...

www.si.com

No idea who SI’s “connections” are in the Bengals front office. But they seem to think it’s between Patrick Graham and Al Golden for the job.

The writer leans toward Al Golden as the favorite.

I’d imagine the Golden rumor checks out given the length of time with no movement and Notre Dame’s playoff run. Similar to when we hired Zac after the Rams’ played in the Super Bowl. If he declines, Graham is the backup option.

This was my read. I think Golden is the primary candidate. However, I think Notre Dame will be offering a new deal to Freeman and I think they will also be willing to adjust Golden's contract to keep him as DC. If Golden is looking to cash in, my guess is that Notre Dame will ultimately give him more money than we will. On the other hand, he might want to jump back to the pro game - the calendar and commitment is different in this era of the transfer portal and NIL and there are plenty of coaches in the college ranks that find the job overwhelming in the current state. So, if he wants a somewhat stable DC position in the NFL, he could do a lot worse than joining up with the Bengals.

I'm assuming that Graham is the second option and I think he is a good one. I'd prefer Golden given his leadership experience but I would be okay with Graham.

 

[DanBengalfan]

Golden Grahams?

 

[Cincyfan78]

Lou to the Colts.

Best of luck to him - one heck of a ride, but ultimately - couldn't sustain his scheme here.

 

[cincygrad]

Lou to the Colts.

Best of luck to him - one heck of a ride, but ultimately - couldn't sustain his scheme here.

Sadly, I think he'll be one and done. I don't think there head coach survives another year without the postseason and I just don't see how they are getting there without steady QB play. I watched that team play against the Giants late in the season and they were an absolute mess. I was surprised to see them stick with Steichen.