Lou’s Future in the Jungle

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(01-12-2023, 08:12 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Strong disagree. 

Zimmer never had the talent given to him that Anarumo has. He had to make do with defenses starting Chris Crocker, Tank Johnson, Roy Williams, Terrance Newman, Dhani Jones, Nate Clements, Thomas Howard, Manny Lawson, Kelly Jennings, etc.

Miss on a draft pick? Well, I guess you're screwed, because it's either them or a garbage heap low cost FA/redemption project.

Meanwhile Anarumo they go out and sign Reader, Hendrickson, Awuzie, Hilton, Ogunjobi, Bell... all of whom I believe each got a bigger deal than any defensive outside FA I can think of under Zimmer's entire time here.

The reason they withered in the bright lights? Because in the bright lights you're playing better players, and you can only scheme to cover up having Chris Crocker and Tank Johnson so much before it becomes clear they're less talented than the guys you're going against.

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Honestly even the OP is hella disrespectful with calling Lou the best DC this team has ever had. This year is Lou's first year having a defense in the top-16 (above average) in points allowed. That's 1/4 years being above average and 3/4 being below average.

Mike Zimmer was here 6 years and the Bengals were a top-10 scoring defense in 4 of them. They were top-7 in yards allowed in 4 of those 6 years, too.

The only two years where the Bengals didn't have a top-10 defense was Zimmer's first year, when they improved from being 27th in yards and 24th in points to 12th in yards and 19th in points, and 2010 when the whole team was a shitshow.

I'm looking at Dunlap, Dre K, the Atkins steal, Johnson, Burfict, Mauluga, Hall, Joseph, Nelson, Peko, hell even old man Newman, and some others I'm forgetting for sure. Some of those guys faded as the game progressed, but that's a lot of talent and some high draft picks. 

Some of those new FAs we got resurrected their careers here, Apple, Chido, Ogunjobi had a nice year...etc. This defense comes up big against that better opponent you alluded to in your defense of the Zimmer led defenses that wilted. Now, being fair to Mike, a lot of that might've been due to Marvin. That's admittedly speculation though.

I would definitely not consider Lou to be better than HoFer Dick LeBeau. He doesn't get the season stats that Zimmer got either, so there's a debate there. 

I'll close with this though.... playing meaningful games in January and February, who's defense would you rather have out there and have the most faith in? Zimmer's or Lou's? Just look at the Raiders game....do we make a game sealing INT with Zims bunch, or choke away the game? I'm going with this unit, regular season stats be damned.