https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/al-golden-reveals-new-bengals-injury-takes-blame-for-rough-defensive-showing-in-preseason/ar-AA1KYI9e?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=68a852d78e41485ebce607fa7e595c2a&ei=13

Quote:CINCINNATI — Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden spoke to the media on Thursday and revealed Demetrius Knight Jr. is dealing with a "lower-extremity injury" that kept him out of practice.

He referred all other follow-ups to Zac Taylor as Oren Burks took first-team linebacker reps in the session. Also of note on defense is an undisclosed injury to cornerback DJ Turner II.

"Had a great camp. I wouldn't trade forty-four or forty-nine for anybody in the draft," Golden said about Knight and Barrett Carter. "I think both those guys are learning. They're growing. We're putting a lot on them, obviously. But again, I keep reminding those guys of what Logan [Wilson] was like as a rookie in terms of just the learning curve, and, you know, trying to expedite that, and that's what we're doing right now. But both of those guys, physical gifts, love the game, and prepare like crazy every day."

Golden had plenty of thoughts on the Bengals' defensive performance across the opening two games, where the entire unit allowed 51 total points. The first-team offense got gashed repeatedly, though. With no game action coming their way Saturday, the starters went through a more intense scrimmage session today.

"Any blame on that goes absolutely on my shoulders," Godlen said about the defensive struggles. "That's a decision that we made in conjunction with Zac [Taylor] and just trying to limit anybody's purview in terms of what we're doing. So again, from that standpoint, we have to do better in every phase of the game. We need to tackle better. We need to take the ball away. We need to be situational, where all those little things are really what the standard is in terms of what we're trying to get done in these games, but not necessarily trying to out-scheme somebody."

Golden's front seven got smacked in the mouth across both outings. In the two games combined, Cincinnati's starting defense has allowed 13 carries for 141 rushing yards (10.8 yards per carry).

There is plenty to keep working on, but Golden isn't entirely discouraged.
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"The games are a change-up for us," Golden noted. "To be honest with you, I'm spending all of my time evaluating based on what we see every day in practice. We just had a 51-play scrimmage, and had all of our tools at our disposal. We weren't static. If there's anybody to blame in that situation, it's me, because they're very static looks, and they're very easy for the offense to scheme. And that's the choice that I made. I got to live with that. And right now, just the guys are focused on getting better each day, learning our system, and then obviously transitioning to Cleveland here pretty quickly."

Cincinnati has a few weeks to get things straight as training camp wraps and regular-season practice schedules begin.

"Our ones probably did 35 plays," Golden said about the starting workload in today's practice. "What did our ones play the other day? Eight plays or whatever. So, I'm excited to go upstairs and look at every situation."
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I hope he's being truthful and it's not just coach speak.

(Yesterday, 08:52 AM)Sled21 Wrote: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/al-golden-reveals-new-bengals-injury-takes-blame-for-rough-defensive-showing-in-preseason/ar-AA1KYI9e?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=68a852d78e41485ebce607fa7e595c2a&ei=13


I hope he's being truthful and it's not just coach speak.

I think there's some truth in it that they probably could have been prepared more.

But, I think he's mainly being hopeful that preparation is the issue. Because if talent is the issue...that's way harder to fix.

(Yesterday, 08:52 AM)Sled21 Wrote: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/al-golden-reveals-new-bengals-injury-takes-blame-for-rough-defensive-showing-in-preseason/ar-AA1KYI9e?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=68a852d78e41485ebce607fa7e595c2a&ei=13


I hope he's being truthful and it's not just coach speak.

I mean doesn't every team in the NFL play a vanilla defense in preseason?   And yet our defense certainly looks worse than it did last year.

If it's not coach speak I'm even more concerned.

(Yesterday, 09:25 AM)3wt Wrote: I mean doesn't every team in the NFL play a vanilla defense in preseason?   And yet our defense certainly looks worse than it did last year.

If it's not coach speak I'm even more concerned.

Yes...because the offenses play vanilla too.

Our issues on defense aren't going to be solved by playing a more complicated scheme. Our line is losing 1on1. Our LBs look slow and take bad angles. We don't have that DJ Reader that eats up 2 blockers and lets Wilson run free.

Ray Lewis was amazing, but the Ravens always had huge DT's in front of him and also DE's that could pass rush.

Vanilla defense doesn't mean "don't tackle". So I call BS. Even when our guys were in the right position to make a tackle (so vanilla scheme doesn't matter at that point) they looked terrible in attempting to make that tackle.

(Yesterday, 09:29 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Vanilla defense doesn't mean "don't tackle". So I call BS. Even when our guys were in the right position to make a tackle (so vanilla scheme doesn't matter at that point) they looked terrible in attempting to make that tackle.

Yes. I'm 90% sure it's a talent issue. We have one of the least talented, on paper defenses in the NFL. And likely Golden can't fix that.

(Yesterday, 09:29 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Vanilla defense doesn't mean "don't tackle". So I call BS. Even when our guys were in the right position to make a tackle (so vanilla scheme doesn't matter at that point) they looked terrible in attempting to make that tackle.

Well I also wonder if players who think their roster spot is secured (looking at you Battle) are basically playing not to get hurt, hence the two-hand touch on Washington's QB. Golden should have been all over him for that one.

Getting blown off the ball on every play has nothing to do with "vanilla" looks on defense.

Also, are we just going to ignore last years defense that had the same personel (minus Slayton and Knight) and how putrid they were?

They didn't do anything to upgrade the defensive personel. Why are we surprised this defense has looked bad?

I don’t see any way the defense plays better than last year. Meaning the will finish lower than 25th, and that didn’t work out to well last year.

(Yesterday, 09:53 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Getting blown off the ball on every play has nothing to do with "vanilla" looks on defense.

Also, are we just going to ignore last years defense that had the same personel (minus Slayton and Knight) and how putrid they were?

They didn't do anything to upgrade the defensive personel. Why are we surprised this defense has looked bad?

call our preseason Defense any flavor you want, we are terrible vs the run and bad vs pass

signing Trey will help but its not gonna fix this mess

As someone who believes in holding coaches accountable, I can't help feel bad for Golden's situation.
You'll get the first round pick...but he needs a bunch of coaching and will hold out longer than any others.
You will have the NFL sack leader...but he is also going to hold out.
90% of the rest are disappointments.

The vanilla thing is BS. As is the short sample size. You can be good, or at least not terrible, in basic D. And 4/4 TDs by the opposition like a hot knife through butter.

I get he is ficusing in implementing the system and evaluating players rather than preparing for the opponent. But doesn't his job entail both? It should not be an either/or. He should be doing both.

(Yesterday, 10:00 AM)Timanky12 Wrote: I don’t see any way the defense plays better than last year. Meaning the will finish lower than 25th, and that didn’t work out to well last year.

IF they can generate turnovers, that would help a lot. But, with no pass rush, they likely won't.

(Yesterday, 09:53 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Getting blown off the ball on every play has nothing to do with "vanilla" looks on defense.

Also, are we just going to ignore last years defense that had the same personel (minus Slayton and Knight) and how putrid they were?

They didn't do anything to upgrade the defensive personel. Why are we surprised this defense has looked bad?

I am with you, the Commanders were not running through holes, they were canyons! It looked like an NFL team playing against a college team.  Not only were the canyons wide and deep but the defense did not tackle well at all.  It is scary bad and not related to vanilla defense because of preseason.  I do not buy that, mostly vanilla run plays gashed our elementary defense. 

(Yesterday, 11:36 AM)M.W. Wrote: I am with you, the Commanders were not running through holes, they were canyons! It looked like an NFL team playing against a college team.  Not only were the canyons wide and deep but the defense did not tackle well at all.  It is scary bad and not related to vanilla defense because of preseason.  I do not buy that, mostly vanilla run plays gashed our elementary defense. 

Yeah, the defense in preseason games were scary bad. I hoped the first preseason game was an anomaly and the defense would look much better the second preseason game. But then the Commanders first two drives, Washington scored in just 4 plays (including three runs of 19,15 and 14; the other went for 1 yard) and 3 plays (including runs of 5 and 27 and a pass of 12). 

There is nothing quite as enjoyable as a shut-down, punishing defense, like the Eagles showed in the Super Bowl. Now I would be delighted with just a mediocre defense.

(Yesterday, 10:00 AM)Timanky12 Wrote: I don’t see any way the defense plays better than last year. Meaning the will finish lower than 25th, and that didn’t work out to well last year.

You may be correct, but I would wager they will be better once we start real games week1. Slayton and Hill have yet to take a snap together. Turner and Hill play a few snaps so far. Stone has played few snaps.

I think our secondary will be better than 2024 group. I think Slayton will help our run defense immensely. I think Jackson and Jenkins are better in year 2. Overall, I see us being in 17 to 20 range.

We were playing VERY vanilla; to me TOO vanilla. They were lining up the exact same way no matter what the offense showed. I related on another thread how they lined up a 4 man front in two bunches of two with a huge open space in the middle and only 2 LB - needless to say the play resulted in an explosive run play. There was no adjustment or reaction at all to the offense showing inside run. I get not wanting to reveal your stuff in a meaningless game but this sets your defense up to fail and also deprives them of live game speed practice of the real system so when they do play real games they execute the defense correctly.

It's hard for me to be sold that come game 1 the switch will be flipped and suddenly the defense will be playing like a top unit...

(Yesterday, 02:33 PM)Joelist Wrote: We were playing VERY vanilla; to me TOO vanilla. They were lining up the exact same way no matter what the offense showed. I related on another thread how they lined up a 4 man front in two bunches of two with a huge open space in the middle and only 2 LB - needless to say the play resulted in an explosive run play. There was no adjustment or reaction at all to the offense showing inside run. I get not wanting to reveal your stuff in a meaningless game but this sets your defense up to fail and also deprives them of live game speed practice of the real system so when they do play real games they execute the defense correctly.

This is my issue if we refuse to play our defense in preseason and practice then how long will it take our defense to get up to par this season.

How many games do we lose while the defense finds its footing in a new defensive scheme.

(Yesterday, 09:29 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Vanilla defense doesn't mean "don't tackle". So I call BS. Even when our guys were in the right position to make a tackle (so vanilla scheme doesn't matter at that point) they looked terrible in attempting to make that tackle.

This. I got into a spat with someone on the discord because they tried this claim and I said no, they are literally playing poorly. Scheme can expose things for sure, but there are still run lanes to fill and tackles to make and they weren’t doing that. I know Logan said the other day that Washington schemes a couple things that worked well for what they were playing but that doesn’t explain how one of their lineman was able to run Knight into Logan and block two guys by himself.

Scheme matters but at the end of the day it’s wasn’t like they were running exotic route combos or some crazy concept. One of their long TD runs was counter trey which is something you run in high school.