Quote:While current Bengals have taken to twitter to blast shaky talking points surrounding their team, one of the franchise legends did it the old-fashioned way and answered the phone.

Willie Anderson, the Bengals' all-time right tackle and Pro Football Hall-of-Fame candidate, looked back this week on his career in Cincinnati and questioned the cheap tag that has been applied to Bengals president Mike Brown.

"I'm not defending anyone, but right is right," said Anderson, reminiscing about the turn-of-the-century Bengals who moved from Riverfront Stadium to Paul Brown Stadium and then hired Marvin Lewis as head coach and drafted Carson Palmer No. 1.

"Did Mike Brown do everything right? No. But the guys who played in my era, we can't say Mike was cheap with players," Anderson said. "Everybody got paid. He gave Carson $100 million, he took care of Rudi (Johnson), and he paid Chad (Johnson) when he outperformed his deal."

The way the media talk so down on us (Cincinnati Bengals) is really absurd. The disrespect is crazy but it's life all it consist of is proven people wrong.

— Tyler Boyd (@boutdat_23) February 19, 2020
Anderson, who twice signed contracts with the Bengals that were the richest linemen deals in the NFL, pointed to the final three games of the 2006 season that resulted in losses and an 8-8 finish when one more win would have put them in the postseason in the wake of the 2005 AFC North title.

"That would have been huge if we had gone two years in a row in the playoffs," Anderson said. "There were games we had in the mix and we lost and Mike Brown didn't have anything to do with it. If I missed a block or Carson missed a pass or somebody missed a tackle. I don't know how you blame that on executives."

Anderson also referred to the 2011-15 Bengals that went to the playoffs five straight seasons in the context of the pundits' criticisms.

"It was only a few years ago you were saying they were one of the most talented teams in the league," Anderson said.

Straight ?’s bro! Come September We bouta Turnup all year on they ass. All Season long! #StraightUp https://t.co/aiY06eB8Sl

— ⚡️Primetime!!!⚡️ (@Joe_MainMixon) February 19, 2020
Anderson, who gave up 16 sacks in 13 seasons during a stretch he was regarded as the best right tackle in the game, has watched four left tackles from his era head to Canton (Jonathan Ogden, Willie Roaf, Walter Jones, Orlando Pace) as well as a center (Kevin Mawae) and two guards (Will Shields and Steve Hutchinson). His resume says he should be among the next offensive linemen inducted into a Modern Era Hall of Fame class, but for the moment he'll take on another wrong.

"I feel compelled to fight for the current players because we're all in one big boat," Anderson said. "People still look at me as a Bengal. When they lose, they ask me, 'What happened to y'all?'"

Yes, Anderson thinks Cincinnati is a good spot for LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, the presumptive No. 1 pick.

"You've got some great receivers, one of the best running backs in the league and an offensive head coach," Anderson said. "They know they've got to get better up front, but I think the line played better than people think in the last five games."

ROSS LONGING: You can't just write off Bengals wide receiver John Ross' first three games of last year because he broke a bone the next week and missed the following eight games. Ross, the first Bengal to catch a ball from Joe Burrow, eased himself back on to the field recently when he went for a workout with former Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh in southern California.

After week three of his third season, Ross seemed poised to become that big-play threat that has been envisioned for him.

"I want to build off those first three games. Those are the kind of explosive plays that I think I can make for the rest of my career," Ross said. "It's hard to get into Week 14 shape when you've been out eight to nine weeks, I don't care who you are. The coaches told me that, but that was hard for me to understand because I wanted to contribute like I did at the beginning of the season."

Quote:There were games we had in the mix and we lost and Mike Brown didn't have anything to do with it. If I missed a block or Carson missed a pass or somebody missed a tackle. I don't know how you blame that on executives.

(02-21-2020, 11:41 AM)Big Boss Wrote: I bag on Mike Brown as much as the next guy, but this is perhaps my favorite quote from Anderson and I'm glad an ex-Bengal finally came out and said it:


This organization has its faults.  Plenty of them.  But placing the playoff losses at Mike Brown's feet isn't entirely fair.  His organization put together those playoff squads.  It's not his fault that the coaches and players then failed to execute.

(02-21-2020, 11:29 AM)Au165 Wrote: Burrow working out with Ross is kind of interesting.

(02-21-2020, 12:02 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Ross working with Burrow...

(02-21-2020, 12:03 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: lol when I try to say mike brown doesn't take any snaps on the field no one listens...  But sure when willie says it..

(02-21-2020, 12:41 PM)jj22 Wrote: Carson had it all. Star wideouts, star rb, star studded Oline. FA signings that produced probowlers on Defense. His attacks on the Organization has done the unthinkable and rallied the fans around MB and co.

(02-21-2020, 12:41 PM)jj22 Wrote: Carson had it all. Star wideouts, star rb, star studded Oline. FA signings that produced probowlers on Defense. His attacks on the Organization has done the unthinkable and rallied the fans around MB and co.

(02-21-2020, 01:00 PM)Big Boss Wrote: John Ross
Jordan Palmer
TJ Houshmandzadeh
and (supposedly) dinner with Chad Johnson

He seems to be surrounding himself with Bengals.

(02-21-2020, 01:12 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I've been hard on Mike Brown myself and to be quite honest he deserves a lot of the criticism he gets.

But Carson Palmer painting the gloomy picture that he was only held back by MB is in large part revisionist history. He was on some pretty good teams early on and couldn't get it done. Could MB have done more in the later years ? Yes, But for him to act like nothing was his fault is nuts. Palmer begged for T.O. and got him then fell on his face.

But back to Big Willie, he is right. For the media to be so blatantly disrespectful to the Bengals teams past and present is wrong. The media acts like the Bengals haven't won a game since the Reagan administration.

I fully believe no other team in the NFL, Lions, Redskins, Browns, Jags, Dolphins, Cardinals, pick your scrub of last 10 years or so. Many of whom have done worse than the Bengals would have anything close to this level of disrespect were they in our position.

(02-21-2020, 01:01 PM)Nately120 Wrote: All Carson stuff aside, you do realize the Steelers and Ravens alone at that time had top 3 defenses and multiple HOF players and SB MVPs on their team, right?

I think this notion that the 2003-2010 Bengals had a stacked roster outside of the QB might be a bit overblown here.  

(02-21-2020, 01:22 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Idk we had a couple WR’s that weren’t too bad...

(02-21-2020, 01:25 PM)Nately120 Wrote: We had a lot of good players, but other teams had more good players and better players (including at QB) and I thought Marvin was a lousy HC by our standards.

(02-21-2020, 01:00 PM)Big Boss Wrote: John Ross
Jordan Palmer
TJ Houshmandzadeh
and (supposedly) dinner with Chad Johnson

He seems to be surrounding himself with Bengals.