12-19-2022, 07:29 AM
(12-19-2022, 04:23 AM)pally Wrote: After a lot of year 1 criticism for some of his personnel choices, Zac’s year 4 staff is knocking it out of the park.
We already know of the real possibility of losing D coordinator Lou Anarumo and O coordinator Brian Callahan to head coaching jobs. As was pointed out in another thread Lou deserves Defensive Coordinator of the Year for the way he puts together a game plan. And man those half time adjustments. But let’s talk about the rest of the bunch
QB coach Danr- our next OC. He is lucky yo have Joe Burrow but we have seen many a young QB ruined by their coaching
RB coach- Justin Hill after an early struggle with the new line, in the 2nd half of the season ALL 4 RBs have made positive contributions. The emergence of Samaje Perine under his coaching was literally game changing after Mixon went down with a concussion
WR coach-Troy Walters his young man is going places. The most often asked question on this board was who was going to emerge as WR4. He took a career PS player in Trenton Irwin and turned him into a solid contributor. He’s got the most talented top 3 in the league but none of them are divas, they are all good and willing blockers. All 3 of them have lost time due to injuries and his entire group barely flinched He has the room that could easily implode due to egos and he manages to keep them all happy.
TE coach-James Casey Drew Sample goes down…no problem, Hayden Hurst goes down no problem. The third string guy is now #1 and while Wilcox is no Hurst nor is he a liability.
OL coach- Frank Pollack did anyone else have a bigger challenge at the start of the season. It was a struggle early on but that line can now keep up with any in the league. All we ever asked from our OL was to keep Joe upright and to be not awful. I think, as the season goes on, we can say they have exceeded expectations.
DL coach- Marion Hobby we know how good Reader, Hubbard, Hendrickson, and Hill are but the rest of the NFL is just beginning to learn. Hill is the only starter not to lose time. The backups come in and contribute. Next man up…no problem
LB coach-James Bettchner. He turned Germaine Pratt into a star. Wilson and Pratt are stars. Every single man in this group contributes to the team either on defense or on special teams.
Db coach-Robert Livingston game 16 is the first time all year the opposing QB got 300 yards. Bell and Bates helped build that stat. We all like to complain about Bates but when he’s gone next year he will be missed
DB coach-Charles Burks when a PS player is getting significant time due to injuries and atom Brady doesn’t torch him that is saying something. Awuzie was playing at an all pro level when he got hurt. Eli Apple is quietly having a strong season. And CTB is getting better every week.
Strength and conditioning-Joey Boese. The Bengals are the best 2nd half team in the league. This team’s conditioning work has a lot to do with that. Every team has muscle injuries but our guys have lost minimal time over the year to some of the ticky tacky injuries that used to plague us.
Every position group this season has faced some sort of adversity and each had overcome those challenges. So shout out to these guys! They’ve done an outstanding job this season.
I think 4 years of having the same HC, OC , DC and Special Teams co-ordinator is HUGE ...how many teams in the NFL have that??
Think that is a big reason why we are now so much more consistent and why 'next man up' is working.
Whoever is on the field seems super clear on their role and responsibility - teams like that have high 'floors' typically
