Tough Sledding for Al Golden

[NUGDUKWE]

(Yesterday, 08:15 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: We don’t know all the intricacies of it all. I think Lou was prominent in drafting the defensive players. I think the FO went against his thoughts on Bates and maybe Vonn. But really Myles Murphy,Ossai,Dax Hill? But I heard a comment by a major national ESPN guy ( sorry can’t remember who) they blasted management over Lou’s firing. 

I'm still torn on Lou a bit. On one hand I think it was time to move on and not adjusting was frustrating but when it was good he they made the best teams struggle enough and were solid in the playoffs. 

I still think the draft is speculation. But Dax feels like it had to be more not him since it was done as an attempt to find an early replacement and lous reluctance to play him year 1. Ossai seems like a decent player for when he was drafted and the real issue may be why he found himself off the field for such long periods when he was healthy and this may fall on Lou. Murphy also feels like it's more a problem with how the Bengals evaluate prospects overall. Even if Lou was wanting him his college production was saying he shouldn't be picked at that point.

[SunsetBengal]

(Yesterday, 07:39 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: The Bengals let Bates go so they drafted Dax Hill with the intention of him taking over for Bates.  Lou gave him a chance at safety and he was horrible which is why he was moved to cornerback.  If Hill is this great talented player Lou should have developed I guess we can move him back to safety now that Golden is here?  I think most people that saw Hill play safety would agree the move to cornerback was the right decision

In my mind, Hill played well at CB last year for a reason, he only had to do his job. When the news came out that the reason the defense suddenly improved at the end of the season, and the reason was that Anarumo simplified some things, it was very telling. Dax Hill is a supreme athlete, completely capable of playing boundary corner or deep Safety. To hear that Anarumo had his scheme too complicated reminded me of the days when Bill Lazor was the OC and all of a sudden the offense couldn't function because they were bogged down in all of his complicated terminology and subtle changes by audible.

I'm completely willing to give Dax my full confidence at either position, under a DC that might be a little more relatable in terms of scheme and ease of implementation.

[CJD]

(Yesterday, 07:39 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: The Bengals let talent leave from the defense instead of paying them, then draft a bunch of bad to mediocre talent and its Lou's fault they arent better?    Lou should have been able to turn Zach Carter into a good DT?  How did Carter do with the Raiders last year?  He had Patrick Graham as his DC and a bunch of people wanted Graham as the DC instead of Golden so why didnt Graham do anything with Carter if Graham was such a good DC as some have claimed? 

The Bengals let Bates go so they drafted Dax Hill with the intention of him taking over for Bates.  Lou gave him a chance at safety and he was horrible which is why he was moved to cornerback.  If Hill is this great talented player Lou should have developed I guess we can move him back to safety now that Golden is here?  I think most people that saw Hill play safety would agree the move to cornerback was the right decision

Myles Murphy was never an elite pass rusher in college and even when he was drafted people were questioning the pick but Lou is to fault for Murphy not being good?  Murphy was always a big gamble with the 1st round draft pick.  I wouldnt expect him to turn into Aiden Hutchinson just because Golden is now the DC.

I could list issues with most of the rest of the picks but the overall talent we have on defense is mediocre withe exception of Hendrickson.  I do think the defense will be better this year because these guys have some more experience and should be healthy but I wouldnt expect anything more than a mediocre defense if they dont add some quality free agents.  Lou should not be blamed for the lack of talent he had to work with and neither should Golden.  Golden does not have a ton of talent to work with at this moment.  I do think it could be tough sledding for Golden this year.

The expectation is that highly drafted players play well, yes. You can say it's all the front office's fault for drafting bad players, but very few of those 8 picks were considered "reaches" by consensus media boards. So either the entire NFL scouting world was wrong 8 times in a row for the Bengals' picks or Lou did not develop them.

I wanted us to keep Bates and Reader too. But the defense should not have bottomed out the way it did with the amount of draft capital invested into it.

[SunsetBengal]

(Yesterday, 09:15 PM)CJD Wrote: The expectation is that highly drafted players play well, yes. You can say it's all the front office's fault for drafting bad players, but very few of those 8 picks were considered "reaches" by consensus media boards. So either the entire NFL scouting world was wrong 8 times in a row for the Bengals' picks or Lou did not develop them.

I wanted us to keep Bates and Reader too. But the defense should not have bottomed out the way it did with the amount of draft capital invested into it.

I think that most of us long time board members are going with the latter of the two explanations.

[Joelist]

(Yesterday, 09:08 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: In my mind, Hill played well at CB last year for a reason, he only had to do his job. When the news came out that the reason the defense suddenly improved at the end of the season, and the reason was that Anarumo simplified some things, it was very telling. Dax Hill is a supreme athlete, completely capable of playing boundary corner or deep Safety. To hear that Anarumo had his scheme too complicated reminded me of the days when Bill Lazor was the OC and all of a sudden the offense couldn't function because they were bogged down in all of his complicated terminology and subtle changes by audible.

I'm completely willing to give Dax my full confidence at either position, under a DC that might be a little more relatable in terms of scheme and ease of implementation.

Yep! And the fact that it took Lou 12 games to admit his defensive players were not able to execute the defense he was scheming and to simplify it to something they could understand and execute was damning to Lou as a coach. It reminded me also of Lazor's issues where his offense was struggling because the terminology and calls were overcomplex. 

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(Yesterday, 09:08 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: In my mind, Hill played well at CB last year for a reason, he only had to do his job. When the news came out that the reason the defense suddenly improved at the end of the season, and the reason was that Anarumo simplified some things, it was very telling. Dax Hill is a supreme athlete, completely capable of playing boundary corner or deep Safety. To hear that Anarumo had his scheme too complicated reminded me of the days when Bill Lazor was the OC and all of a sudden the offense couldn't function because they were bogged down in all of his complicated terminology and subtle changes by audible.

I'm completely willing to give Dax my full confidence at either position, under a DC that might be a little more relatable in terms of scheme and ease of implementation.

Nice post Sunset. Complicating things can be the worst thing a coach can do. Too bad Dax could be leaving by the time he actually hits his stride
in the Secondary and might be a great player for somebody else.

[SunsetBengal]

(4 hours ago)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Nice post Sunset. Complicating things can be the worst thing a coach can do. Too bad Dax could be leaving by the time he actually hits his stride
in the Secondary and might be a great player for somebody else.

I'm thinking that Bates and Bell worked so well together under Anarumo because they were already NFL vets when Anarumo stepped into the picture. Bates was already used to pro schemes and terminology, so it might have been easier for him to understand and orchestrate the secondary on the field.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(3 hours ago)SunsetBengal Wrote: I'm thinking that Bates and Bell worked so well together under Anarumo because they were already NFL vets when Anarumo stepped into the picture. Bates was already used to pro schemes and terminology, so it might have been easier for him to understand and orchestrate the secondary on the field.

That certainly would help explain why the Defense under Lou was so much better when both Bates and Bell were here.