05-19-2019, 03:32 PM
(05-19-2019, 10:29 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I still don't know exactly what people mean by "holding players accountable". I watch a lot of NFL games and pretty much every team sticks with their same starting line up every week. I don't see any teams benching different players from week to week.
Some fans talk about better players setting on the bench, but I just don't see it. Almost none of these back up go to other teams and become starters. On the other hand I have seen players who started for the Bengals that fans claim would not be strting for any other team go to other teams and start.
Most of the claims that Marvin does not hold players accountable simply means "He is not playing the guys I like."
And then when Marvin does hold a player accountable half of ther fan base cries about it.
I'm not saying there are better players behind anybody who is currently penciled in as a starter, but I think Marvin lost the ability to push these guys to consistently play to the best of their abilities game in, game out. As I've said, I don't even chalk that up as a failure on Marvin's part - I think it just naturally happens to everybody.
I guess a decent example would be Carlos Dunlap and (to a lesser extent) Geno Atkins last year. I love both guys, but you do see the knock against them that they disappear at times, or maybe they get a little lazy at times, and that they doesn't always play up to their potential because of that. I think there are ways for coaches to push the buttons of a guy like that in order to get him to play more consistently, but I don't think Marvin ever really tried to do that. Obviously both of those guys need to be starting and playing as much as possible, but I still think you can get more from both of them.
You saw it with Andy Dalton, too. It's not secret I'm a big Andy supporter, but there's been plenty of times where his play hasn't been up to expectations, too. Did Marvin *ever* say anything critical of Andy? I get that he wants to cover his QB, but I don't think there's any harm in saying something like "Andy needs to make better decisions there" where applicable.
...and that's not even getting into accountability as far as stupid penalties, dirty play, and acting like a moron on the field is concerned.
