Gleanings from the press conference transcript

[bengalrick]

(01-04-2018, 12:06 AM)lone bengal Wrote:  I think its all nebulous. All they have to do on offense is keep chopping and keep grinding while running on their own gas.   

giggle......giggle.....giggle......giggle..............

clap, clap, clap..............let's go!!

[sandwedge]

(01-04-2018, 09:52 AM)PDub80 Wrote: Marvin said nebulous like, 6 times, when asked about specific changes to himself, philosophy, adjustments, etc. Basically he was blaming the players and saying hame day coaching doesn't matter.... Followed up by him saying they have to coach better. He threw out buzzwords like "we're going to spend in FA.... He said this exact thing before during the presser announcing his 2015 extension.... which didn't happen, btw.

What was funny to me is that he was using the word nebulous to mean something that it doesn't.

He basically just trotted himself out there and retreaded the same bs he has for 15 years: Blaming everyone but himself, saying the owner wants to win, and that he has a job to do. Any scheme talk was incredibly vague. They said a bunch of words and said nothing of note, really.

I think I counted myself saying BS about a dozen times in the first 5 minutes of the conference. The same old, we gotta do better chant doesn't work for me anymore. Not once did he mention anything about changing the way he manages a game. Talking about everybody being on the same is great and all, but when players and coaches look over and see the HC with that stupified look on his face, like he is constipated, does exactly instill confidence in anyone.

[*ochocincos*]

(01-04-2018, 12:57 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Hey, I was devastated when Mike didn't retire and Marvin was retained.  Not a thing any of us can do to change either of those things.

What I can do as a fan of the team, is look for any positive that might come as a result, and hope it reflects in a better team next season.

I thinkthe person we (mostly) all believed to be the primary reason for such a crappy offensive performance was Paul Alexander, and he is now gone.
To that, I applaud the organization for making such a move when I think it wouldn't have been a complete shock to see Mike Brown keep him given their history.
It's tough to see so many of these coaches brought back though, and I think that's why there's still plenty of hesitation.
But at this point, the only thing the fans can do is hope or not hope, which then could translate into watch vs not watch.

FWIW, I'm hearing things to make me optimistic, but as Marvin says, I see better than I hear.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(01-04-2018, 09:58 AM)PDub80 Wrote: Great catch. I believe Lazor also said something else I think referring to PA.....

He said that they wanted to assemble an offensive staff where they can have disagreements about players or plan as well as arguments without it becoming emotional. He said that they need to be able to get on each other and say thing that each other might not like, but then get over it and be able to go to lunch together because they were a team and a family.

I believe he was directly referring to PA being emotional about schemes and certain players and throwing a fit/being emotional.

I really like Bill Lazor and enjoy his interviews tremendously.

Wow, if you're right about what Bill was referring to, this just reaffirms what a lot of us have said for years.  In fact, it's even worse than I imagined.  How petty and stubborn do you have to be to start fights over doing your job?

[Daddy-O]

(01-04-2018, 12:06 AM)lone bengal Wrote:  I think its all nebulous. All they have to do on offense is keep chopping and keep grinding while running on their own gas.   

And shoveling

[*rfaulk34*]

(01-04-2018, 12:38 PM)Hoofhearted Wrote: I envisioned this when MB and ML discuss football:

This should be everyone's new sig.

[SunsetBengal]

(01-04-2018, 09:58 AM)PDub80 Wrote: Great catch. I believe Lazor also said something else I think referring to PA.....

He said that they wanted to assemble an offensive staff where they can have disagreements about players or plan as well as arguments without it becoming emotional. He said that they need to be able to get on each other and say thing that each other might not like, but then get over it and be able to go to lunch together because they were a team and a family.

I believe he was directly referring to PA being emotional about schemes and certain players and throwing a fit/being emotional.

I really like Bill Lazor and enjoy his interviews tremendously.

(01-04-2018, 02:26 PM)Wyche Wrote: Wow, if you're right about what Bill was referring to, this just reaffirms what a lot of us have said for years.  In fact, it's even worse than I imagined.  How petty and stubborn do you have to be to start fights over doing your job?

I really like it when we, as fans, get confirmation of things that we had long suspected to be true.  Obviously, Paul Alexander had been given entirely too much sway with his "Assistant Head Coach" title, and was indeed the stick in the mud that many of us had long accused him of being.  Just the same as the quote from the movie A League of Their Own, "There's no crying in Baseball", there is also no room in the world of coaching professional football for favoritism, hurt feelings, or emotional grudges.

I must say, the more I read about Lazor's ideas and things that he says, the more I'm becoming a fan. (him referring to the offense as potentially powerful and dynamic also helps)  Despite the harsh reality that Mike and Marv still remain in charge, the fact that the two key detriments to offensive production were both eliminated in the same season. (Zampeese and Alexander)  

[sandwedge]

(01-04-2018, 03:58 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I really like it when we, as fans, get confirmation of things that we had long suspected to be true.  Obviously, Paul Alexander had been given entirely too much sway with his "Assistant Head Coach" title, and was indeed the stick in the mud that many of us had long accused him of being.  Just the same as the quote from the movie A League of Their Own, "There's no crying in Baseball", there is also no room in the world of coaching professional football for favoritism, hurt feelings, or emotional grudges.

I must say, the more I read about Lazor's ideas and things that he says, the more I'm becoming a fan. (him referring to the offense as potentially powerful and dynamic also helps)  Despite the harsh reality that Mike and Marv still remain in charge, the fact that the two key detriments to offensive production were both eliminated in the same season. (Zampeese and Alexander)  

Until Merv tells him to slow down in the 2nd half like he did in the first Cleveland game this year.....

[XenoMorph]

(01-04-2018, 01:15 PM)grampahol Wrote: You underestimated the process of fixing the team..
Step one: Get out Mikey's dusty old dictionary 
Step two: Find at least one underused word that leaves the public scrambling to look up the definition of said word
Step three: Use said word repeatedly in next press conference to leave the conference attendees in a nebulous state.

See how easy that was? Now why didn't someone think of using nebulous sooner?  

T-shirt word for training camp

"NEBULOUS"

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(01-04-2018, 03:58 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I really like it when we, as fans, get confirmation of things that we had long suspected to be true.  Obviously, Paul Alexander had been given entirely too much sway with his "Assistant Head Coach" title, and was indeed the stick in the mud that many of us had long accused him of being.  Just the same as the quote from the movie A League of Their Own, "There's no crying in Baseball", there is also no room in the world of coaching professional football for favoritism, hurt feelings, or emotional grudges.

I must say, the more I read about Lazor's ideas and things that he says, the more I'm becoming a fan. (him referring to the offense as potentially powerful and dynamic also helps)  Despite the harsh reality that Mike and Marv still remain in charge, the fact that the two key detriments to offensive production were both eliminated in the same season. (Zampeese and Alexander)  

A few things have really endeared me to Lazor.....he basically called out Merv about picking which personnel to play....he made it a mission to settle the QB down....when he speaks, it's straight forward, has real info instead of vague "isms" and cliches.....and then it seems he told Bach to eff off and called his own blocking scheme.....which has all culminated in the long awaited shitcanning of the Piano Man.  If he never does another positive thing in Cincy, he'll always have a spot in my heart.

[sandwedge]

(01-04-2018, 04:07 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: T-shirt word for training camp

"NEBULOUS"

Ok, I am 51 and had to look the word up, because I have never used it. Merv is really NEBULOUS! vague, hazy, ill defined....

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(01-03-2018, 11:25 PM)Joelist Wrote: Just some thoughts on things from the press conference...

First, I think it was either Marvin himself or Lazor as a condition of staying that got Paul Alexander to not be offered a new contract.

Second, it sounded like the blocking scheme change that occurred near the end of the season and revived the ground game came from Lazor. If yes, that would have really put the nails in Piano Man's coffin as it is pretty ridiculous when the OC has to get involved in line blocking philosophy.

Third (and this is really speculating), some of both Marvin's and Lazor's comments made it sound like they are going to be using more rollouts and designed throws on the run and less timing passes next season. If this is true I would be thrilled, as our receivers are not the type of exacting route runners that excel in a timing offense. It also sounded like they feel Tyler Boyd is ready to step up.

Lazor also made comments to the effect that the present playbook comes across like it was written by three different OCs. Again the language was not as blunt as I would like but he really seemed to be saying the playbook was going to get surgery with an eye to having an actual core offensive philosophy.

There was more, but this stuff stood out to me.

Well thought out Joelist. I took from it mostly the same things, especially about Lazor being the major force in changing
from that zone blocking scheme to something more aggressive. Whether it is more directional blocking or what it clearly
helped the O-line as a whole and gave them a little confidence in the run game. PA never adjusted midseason before.

This alone makes me feel good about bringing back Lazor. He was put in a tough situation and handcuffed for much of
the year. With an entire Offseason i sure hope he is given full reign and not sabotaged in the 2nd halfs by Marv.

With a good O-line coach that knows how to coach up run blocking we will be much better in Play action.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(01-04-2018, 03:58 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I really like it when we, as fans, get confirmation of things that we had long suspected to be true.  Obviously, Paul Alexander had been given entirely too much sway with his "Assistant Head Coach" title, and was indeed the stick in the mud that many of us had long accused him of being.  Just the same as the quote from the movie A League of Their Own, "There's no crying in Baseball", there is also no room in the world of coaching professional football for favoritism, hurt feelings, or emotional grudges.

I must say, the more I read about Lazor's ideas and things that he says, the more I'm becoming a fan. (him referring to the offense as potentially powerful and dynamic also helps)  Despite the harsh reality that Mike and Marv still remain in charge, the fact that the two key detriments to offensive production were both eliminated in the same season. (Zampeese and Alexander)  

No doubt brother, great post.

[SunsetBengal]

(01-04-2018, 04:32 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Well thought out Joelist. I took from it mostly the same things, especially about Lazor being the major force in changing
from that zone blocking scheme to something more aggressive. Whether it is more directional blocking or what it clearly
helped the O-line as a whole and gave them a little confidence in the run game. PA never adjusted midseason before.

This alone makes me feel good about bringing back Lazor. He was put in a tough situation and handcuffed for much of
the year. With an entire Offseason i sure hope he is given full reign and not sabotaged in the 2nd halfs by Marv.

With a good O-line coach that knows how to coach up run blocking we will be much better in Play action.

Wasn't it just in '16, during the failed attempt to make Ogbuehi into a Right Tackle, that Alexander was quoted as saying something along the lines of 'not being able to coach technique during the season, that would have to wait for the offseason'?

[*ochocincos*]

(01-04-2018, 12:06 AM)lone bengal Wrote:  I think its all nebulous. All they have to do on offense is keep chopping and keep grinding while running on their own gas.   

Mow your own yard!
Shovel your own driveway!
Pay your own bills!
Wash your own clothes!

Look at that. I just found new slogans for years to come. You're welcome, Marvin.

[grampahol]

(01-04-2018, 04:21 PM)sandwedge Wrote: Ok, I am 51 and had to look the word up, because I have never used it. Merv is really NEBULOUS! vague, hazy, ill defined....

I knew someone was going to have to look up the word.. Some of us (no names) already knew, but for the sake of camaraderie we'll leave it in Marvins hands to employ Nebulous time and time again throughout the next two years. 

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(01-04-2018, 04:43 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Wasn't it just in '16, during the failed attempt to make Ogbuehi into a Right Tackle, that Alexander was quoted as saying something along the lines of 'not being able to coach technique during the season, that would have to wait for the offseason'?

Yes, this was said i think by Boling quoting PA lmao

So glad this bastid is gone.

[Joelist]

The next real tests will be:

1) Seeing who the rest of the coaches are

2) Free Agency

3) The Draft

If we see new coaches hired who have a more aggressive outlook on the game, we see Free Agents signed BEFORE THE DUMPSTER DIVING PHASE that align with need positions and we see a draft strategy aimed squarely at fixing need areas then we'll know the thinking has really changed.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(01-04-2018, 05:17 PM)Joelist Wrote: The next real tests will be:

1) Seeing who the rest of the coaches are

2) Free Agency

3) The Draft

If we see new coaches hired who have a more aggressive outlook on the game, we see Free Agents signed BEFORE THE DUMPSTER DIVING PHASE that align with need positions and we see a draft strategy aimed squarely at fixing need areas then we'll know the thinking has really changed.

This is why i want Del Rio, he is aggressive and has been a great DC in the past. He just got fired by the Raiders
and is an old friend of Marv's. Maybe he can up the aggressiveness around here, also bring in a new LB coach.

Haslett blowz.

Not sure if McNally or Big Willie are the best to replace PA but i would be down with either after what we have had.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(01-04-2018, 04:43 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Wasn't it just in '16, during the failed attempt to make Ogbuehi into a Right Tackle, that Alexander was quoted as saying something along the lines of 'not being able to coach technique during the season, that would have to wait for the offseason'?

Yup.  That guy was such a dumbass.....and arrogant about being one to boot.