Marvin Lewis has publicly offered a warning of sorts for his players after the Cincinnati Bengals fired defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.

He kept it short and sweet in an exchange with reporters captured by the team’s official website: “Maybe this is what the players wanted. Asked how his players received the news, Lewis said, ‘Be careful what you wish for.'”

https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2018/11/13/marvin-lewis-bengals-teryl-austins-firing-careful-what-you-wish-for/

"You thought Teryl was bad? Wait until you see me run a defense after not having done it in 16 years."

His other telling quote was "first, you change the coaches, then you change the players". I think he just put them on notice...,.

(11-14-2018, 08:57 AM)Sled21 Wrote: His other telling quote was "first, you change the coaches, then you change the players". I think he just put them on notice...,.

Good. We need discipline.

(11-14-2018, 08:57 AM)Sled21 Wrote: His other telling quote was "first, you change the coaches, then you change the players". I think he just put them on notice...,.

Well some of the coaches.  

I wondered if the players had turned on Austin (sounds like they might have). This group wasn't used to playing so poorly.

(11-14-2018, 09:02 AM)HarleyDog Wrote: Good. We need discipline.

And ML has always been good at that LOL. Like most things he does he talks the talk but does not walk the walk

Pretty straight forward warning because each and every player is replacable..Coaches are as well, but it's far easier for coaches to replace players than the other way around..

Marvin is very cunning, bringing Hue in so if everything goes down hill from here on, he can blame the 3-36 ex-head coach. I mean, Hue's record speaks for itself right?

(11-14-2018, 10:53 AM)jj22 Wrote: I wondered if the players had turned on Austin (sounds like they might have). This group wasn't used to playing so poorly.

Pretty sure they did based on last quotes from Burfict and stuff remember after the Steelers loss Burfict said they never call that play?

(11-14-2018, 11:11 AM)Trademark Wrote: Pretty sure they did based on last quotes from Burfict and stuff remember after the Steelers loss Burfict said they never call that play?

 Burfict did miss the first 4 games due to suspencion, not sure if he can practice during the 4 game suspension but maybe it WAS practiced while he was gone? Just throwing it out. The sad thing is despite the D's short comings, they were keeping us in the game and even winning us games, from the squeeler game on, it turned 180. What happened?

(11-14-2018, 11:17 AM)Bengalitis Wrote:  Burfict did miss the first 4 games due to suspencion, not sure if he can practice during the 4 game suspension but maybe it WAS practiced while he was gone? Just throwing it out. The sad thing is despite the D's short comings, they were keeping us in the game and even winning us games, from the squeeler game on, it turned 180. What happened?

I think that KC game both exposed the weaknesses and demoralized the entire team. The TB game kind of got them back up a bit, but not enough then toss in oodles of injuries along with Austin's incompetence and, well, there you have it .

Oh please. Austin was a worthless sack of s*it. Sounds like the players realized this and Marvin, more or less, listened to them. Now Marv is sayin "be careful what you wish for"? Like Austin was some sort of defensive genius?? Get a freakin clue, Marv

I think some of the defensive players quit on Austin after the Pittsburgh loss when he left the middle of the field wide open and Antonio Brown torched them for a touchdown. Remember Vontaze coming off the field yelling about "never practicing" a defensive look like that? Next week against Kansas City their tackling was absolute trash and the entire defense has also been trash since then. Hopefully this will get them playing again, but I'll believe it when I see it.

(11-14-2018, 11:43 AM)Pat5775 Wrote: Oh please. Austin was a worthless sack of s*it. Sounds like the players realized this and Marvin, more or less, listened to them. Now Marv is sayin "be careful what you wish for"? Like Austin was some sort of defensive genius?? Get a freakin clue, Marv

Sunday will be interesting to say the least.

(11-14-2018, 11:43 AM)Pat5775 Wrote: Oh please. Austin was a worthless sack of s*it. Sounds like the players realized this and Marvin, more or less, listened to them. Now Marv is sayin "be careful what you wish for"? Like Austin was some sort of defensive genius?? Get a freakin clue, Marv

How I take that statement is "Get ready to work your tails off", alluding to the idea that perhaps the players told Marvin that Austin was soft, and than now the defense is going to get a shot of hardcore discipline.  (No, not the bdsm type, either.. )

(11-14-2018, 11:46 AM)Lionel Hutz Wrote: I think some of the defensive players quit on Austin after the Pittsburgh loss when he left the middle of the field wide open and Antonio Brown torched them for a touchdown.  Remember Vontaze coming off the field yelling about "never practicing" a defensive look like that?  Next week against Kansas City their tackling was absolute trash and the entire defense has also been trash since then.  Hopefully this will get them playing again, but I'll believe it when I see it.

I just don't think the defensive players bought into Austin's system.  One of the issues with promoting coordinators from within is that players can get set in their ways.  Most of the vets have only played in Zimmer's scheme, since Paulie G was a Zimmer disciple.  I know Lazor gave Dalton a ton of credit this off-season for embracing the new system he was installing and getting the other offensive players on the same page with it.  I don't think anyone did that with Austin's scheme.

If I'm not mistaken, didn't Lewis issue a similar warning after the firing of Ken Zampese?

Man.. if they could just get the first tackle more consistently, or even the SECOND, I feel like this team would be in such a better situation. Even the blowouts wouldn't be so dang bad.

Instead, we are the kings of making a 0-1 yard gain a 5-6 yard gain. Really hurts in the long run.

I'm just not very optimistic about the move. Not because it's Marvin's fault or anything, I just don't believe anything can the right the ship at this point. The talent is a bit underwhelming, our LBs are way too slow for the modern offense, and even our most talented players at the front of the line can't consistently hit the QB.

But things will probably look better on paper, since we don't play many explosive offenses for the remainder of the season.

(11-14-2018, 01:31 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: How I take that statement is "Get ready to work your tails off", alluding to the idea that perhaps the players told Marvin that Austin was soft, and than now the defense is going to get a shot of hardcore discipline.  (No, not the bdsm type, either.. )

Players looked rather lost at times in Austin's defense. While I don't think Austin was ever a good fit with our current defensive talent, I also must allocate a fair share of blame on the players themselves, many of whom exacerbated the schematic struggles by routinely missing tackles and dropping potential interceptions.