Paul Daugherty on Bengals. Not good.

[HarleyDog]

Sounds like we are screwed. Paul is usually not anti-bengal. I mean, he is truthful and no Hobspin, but not normally this blunt. Good read and feel he is spot on. After Marvin Lewis's presser, I think any little faith I had remaining in him is gone. Not to mention (I'm sure Fred has stats) the defense seems even worse since he took over. Yesterday was not healthy to watch and I only was able to start watching part way through the 3rd qtr. Feel sorry for those of you who watched it for 60 minutes.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/blogs/daugherty-blog/2018/11/26/tml-browns-bengals-hue-jackson-marvin-lewis-nfl-coach-hot-seat/2112979002/

Quote:Ain't gonna change it, can't rearrange it can't stand the pain when it's all the same to you, my friend’’


You’d think that Sunday marked a turning of the page, and in other towns, it would. There comes a time, in other places, when the need for change is obvious and obeyed. When not enough people are following the familiar edicts for success. They aren’t Chopping Wood or Running On Their Own Gas or Doing Their Job. They certainly aren’t Moving Forward in any productive way.
In other places, losing by 15 at home to the Browns would merit at least discussion of change. Fifteen? Yeah, technically. I mean, the score was 20-35. But it was 0-28 and 7-35 before that. Adding a couple cosmetic touchdowns meant nothing. It didn’t even affect gamblers.

I asked MLewis two questions at the post-game post-mortem. Here they are, verbatim, with his responses:

Q: Why do you think you have to come in here, week after week, and say the same thing about what went wrong?
A: It’s three weeks in a row. It’s unfortunate, so that’s the bad thing.

If it were just the last three weeks, OK. Do Your Job has been around here as long as Lewis has. DYJ comes up every time the Bengals lose. DYJ is as much a part of Marvin’s legacy as 0-7.

The coach said a codicil to DYJ is to relax and respond positively to a setback. The Bengals don’t handle adversity well, especially on defense. That suggests they’re not exactly confident in their individual and collective talents.

Q: If the team can’t relax at home against an opponent it can be traditionally pretty good against, when might it relax?

A: I don’t know that the opponent matters. You’ve just got to do your job. Whether you’re on the road, whether you’re at home. They’re playing football. It’s just the execution of football, time and time again.

Well, OK.

Without further ado:

TEN THINGS.
This was the worst L since the infamous ’15 playoff meltdown. And maybe more telling about a coach and his staff. The Men got slapped, every which way. Outcoached, outworked, outplayed. Four possessions to start the game, 4 TDs. One team wanted to win. The other wore stripes.

Andy Dalton now has more career TD passes as a Bengal than Boomer Esiason. Statistics are dumb.
DYJ. Don’t point fingers, don’t lose your head, don’t go cowboy. Hmmm. Who might that describe, kids? Who complains lots of the time, who’s always talking to officials, who leads the world in fines for conduct unbecoming? (Though not this year.) Who came back from suspension when the Bengals were 3-1 and since are 2-5? it’s unfortunate, so that’s the bad thing.


I guess Hue’s presence on the Bengals sideline was overrated. In fact, given the motivation it gave the Browns, it made things worse.
Rock bottom? Maybe. Maybe not, if Dalton can’t play v. Denver’s D Sunday.

Browns fans in the North endzone seats started barking in the 4th quarter, when the Bengals threatened to score. Browns fans yelled “D-u-u-u-ke!’’ in unison when Duke Johnson got the ball. Browns fans accounted for, what, 15,000 of the 56,122 “tickets distributed’’ Sunday?
I mean, Browns fans?

Players aren’t here to help the heathen media, and mostly they don’t. To almost a man, their answers were the same and have been for a very long time. They need to: Executelookinthemirrorhopefullyturnitaround. They have to: Stepupcometogetherfocusfigurethingsout.
Or, theydon’tknow.

I loved Baker Mayfield’s attitude coming out of Oklahoma, and nothing has changed my mind. This guy walked on twice in college. Undersized, feisty. Maybe you don’t want every QB to have his sort of edge, but it works for him. Dude’s a winner. Barring injury, the Browns are set for a decade at QB.

If I’m Hue Jackson, I take that football that Browns safety handed to me and do my best to stick up his youknowwhat. I cause a scene right then and there. It made the kid, Damarious Randall, an instant folk hero in Cleveland. It could have shaken the Bengals from their coma. Could have.

Meantime, Mayfield had this to say afterward, when asked why his postgame reunion w/Jax was so brief: “I didn’t feel like talking.”
Mayfield elaborated: “Left Cleveland, goes down to Cincinnati, I don’t know. It’s just somebody [who] was in our locker room, asking for us to play for him and then goes to a different team we play twice a year. Everyone can have their spin on it, but that’s how I feel.”
Speaking of Hue Jax: He’s the obvious heir to MLewis. He is the perfect Mike Brown hire. Mike’s “comfortable’’ with him. It’s the perfect Cincinnati hire: Welcome back one of our own. Those of youse clamoring (and re-clamoring) for Lewis’ dismissal, be careful what you wish for.

The TM Column.
Now, then. . .
ALL THE GUYS THE BENGALS WON’T GET. . . SI.com’s early list of potential coaching hires.