Bengals rush offense under Marvin Lewis

[Daddy-O]

There's no denying that Marvin always had the goal of establishing the run, as is the case with most every coach. But actually having the means to do so is another topic for discussion.

When you compare the Bengals OL's in Marvin's tenure to others in the division you can definitely see the difference in talent. Whether or not this is on Marvin or the front office is again another topic for discussion. The years in which they were successful running the ball they were also generally successful in the win/loss column - in most cases there is a direct correlation.

For the most part games in the NFL games are decided by a select number of plays, many of which occur late in the 4th quarter and have to do with keeping the chains moving. Although Marvin has had successful running teams, rarely were they good at closing games out on the ground and that is the most important statistic.

I am really looking forward to the new approach of a Zac Taylor led team. The ability to adjust in game, not just at halftime but series to series. But at the end of the day he also needs to find a way to get his team to close games out, otherwise it'll be more of the same.

I used to love (well actually hate) watching the Steelers close games out with Jerome Bettis under Bill Cowher. They'd get the lead and just pound Bettis down your throat in the 4th quarter. Boy was that frustrating as a fan of the opposing team.