Perhaps Mike Brown isn't so Semi-Retired?

[Benton]

(05-04-2021, 05:40 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: They had 10 picks. Of the first half of their draft, they spent 1 on OL and 3 of them on DL. It's literally impossible to call that a "priority".


Yeah, the Bengals were never really a good running team under PA, even before the game passed him by. They had years here and there, and Corey Dillon helped them be good for a few years, but it was generally pretty pathetic. 
(Seasons where they were Top-12 in both are bolded. )

'94: 22nd Yards/8th YPC
'95: 26th Yards/13th YPC
'96: 13th Yards/16th YPC
*Corey Dillon Drafted*
'97: 9th Yards/8th YPC
'98: 21st Yards/15th YPC
'99: 7th Yards/3rd YPC
'00: 2nd Yards/5th YPC
'01: 20th Yards/22nd YPC
'02: 21st Yards/20th YPC
'03: 12th Yards/13th YPC
*Corey Dillon Leaves*
'04: 15th Yards/14th YPC
'05: 10th Yards/10th YPC
'06: 26th Yards/28th YPC
'07: 24th Yards/29th YPC
'08: 29th Yards/30th YPC
'09: 9th Yards/24th YPC (Bengals used 2 big TEs, a FB, and a 6th OL.)
'10: 27th Yards/32nd YPC
'11: 19th Yards/28th YPC
'12: 18th Yards/20th YPC
'13: 18th Yards/28th YPC
'14: 6th Yards/12th YPC
'15: 13th Yards/23rd YPC
'16: 13th Yards/21st YPC
'17: 31st Yards/30th YPC

The Bengals only had 5 playoff-caliber (hence top-12) rushing offenses in 24 years of Paul Alexander, and 3 of them came in Corey Dillon's first 4 years in the NFL, way back before 9/11 to give timeframe reference. He became assistant HC for '03, and in the 15 years of that, they only did it 2 times.

I always assumed that was more of a mike brown thing. I think Mike wants those passing attacks, not so much a ground pound.