02-22-2017, 02:29 PM
(02-22-2017, 10:28 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I am not attacking Dre with what I am about to say, because I do want him extended and I believe he improved tremendously as the season wore on.
This stat is a large part of what I hate about the Bengals defensive coaches, specifically Kevin Coyle. Early in the season, it was almost a reflection of the damn Chuck Breshnahan "don't give up the big play!" days. They were clearly coached to avoid giving up anything deep no matter what, while inexperienced QBs like Trevor Simeon were given easy underneath routes to complete all day. It was a far cry from the Zimmer and Joseph "contest every pass" coaching in the past.
I am not saying Dre didn't do his job, but that I hate the job he was given. Adam Jones being horribly out of shape early in the year didn't help matters much, either. I would likely attribute this to his drinking, which is still his choice to not be prepared.
From my perspective, it seems we've always played off the WRs...even under Zimmer. They've always seemed to put priority on stopping big plays. They'll give you the short stuff, but they rely on sound tackling by the CBs to stop those short passes from gaining any YAC.
Keep in mind that Guenther came up under Zimmer and Zim wanted him as DC for the Vikings. Of course, Marv always has his say with our defense as well. I don't think the defense has changed much from the Zimmer days, and it's still highly effective. Btw...Coyle was the secondary coach for most of Zimmer's tenure.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
