Reply from Mike Brown

[Derrick]

There is so much **** in this letter. Although he did have the courtesy to reply.

February 3, 2017

Dear Mr. ___________,

I have received your letter and can understand your frustration. My response will not be what you want to hear, I know but since you made the effort to write, I will offer it.

You are right that a major missing piece for us has been advancement in the playoffs. We still have fine talent, and I sincerely believe we are better off planning for 2017 from the platform we have achieved, rather than tearing down and starting over.

I disagree with your assessment of Marvin Lewis. His 58-36-2 record since 2011 is the sixth best in the NFL. While we did not make the playoffs this year, Coach Lewis still deserves a lot of credit for leading our team to five straight playoff appearances. Only three other teams accomplished that.

Paul Alexander has had a lot of success in his 23 seasons with the team. The Bengals have been in the NFL's top 10 in fewest sacks allowed in five of the last seven seasons and Coach Alexander's lines have supported a 1,000-yard individual rushing season 14 times.

Every season is different and the pieces obviously did not come together this year. I certainly believe myself that we can quickly regain and surpass the level of our 2015 division championship team. Coach Lewis and Coach alexander have the experience and passion to accomplish this.

I don't presume I will sufficiently persuade you, but I hope this letter makes you understand my viewpoint. I wish you well personally, and we are striving to be ready to show our fans in September that our faith in our coaching staff is justified.

Sincerely,

Mike Brown

[guyofthetiger]

Needs better grammar. Must be a fake. I seriously doubt Mike Brown would even waste his energy replying to a fan. Unless this is a staff form letter.

[Rotobeast]

My hat's off to him, for replying.

Regardless of the pain and frustration we have concerning our team, I've always heard of Mike being a stand-up guy.

I believe him to be a humble man.

However, may an epiphany strike him, concerning Marvin.

[guyofthetiger]

BTW Executives and business owners refer to people as Mister or Miss. Not their first name or coach.

[GreenCornBengal]

(02-10-2017, 12:47 AM)guyofthetiger Wrote: BTW Executives and business owners refer to people as Mister or Miss. Not their first name or coach.

So are you accusing Derek of being full of S*** or are you saying someone else wrote this?? Or both I suppose lol

[*bengalfan74*]

Mr. Brown

I must ask you, what exactly in your eyes have we achieved ? I mean yes going from the laughing stock of the league to having a winning season and making the playoffs in 05 was a huge step forward. But what you don't seem to understand is that's where the achievement stopped.

You can champion the 5 times in a row to the playoff thing all you want. But that doesn't change the fact that Marvin Lewis is 0-7 in those games and it's essentially the same story every time. We get our brakes beat off and are horribly out coached.

Change should be crystal clear as the only logical resolution to this still ongoing problem. What makes you think this coming season will be any different ? If you keep doing the same thing that hasn't worked for what 26 years now ?

Quit being cheap and place winning atop the mantle. Make your coaches accountable, set expectations, and watch the results change.

[Shake n Blake]

Mike Brown is known for personally replying to letters written to him. He's thoughtful in that regard at least.

This also sounds like a typical Mike response. Cherry pick stats, promote mediocre results and offer no hope of change.

I don't doubt at all that this is legitimate.

[bengalsturntup926]

I call fake lol he wouldn't know any stats

[*SHRacerX*]

(02-10-2017, 01:57 AM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Mike Brown is known for personally replying to letters written to him. He's thoughtful in that regard at least.

This also sounds like a typical Mike response. Cherry pick stats, promote mediocre results and offer no hope of change.

I don't doubt at all that this is legitimate.

Kudos to him if it was him, but the line about "14 times in his 23 seasons he has coached a 1,000 yard rusher"....OK, so slightly more than half of the time he can coach up a line to block for a back that would average 62.5 yards per game?  Sounds about like PA.  

Puke. 

[HarleyDog]

I think when Mikey departs us, we should honor him by renaming the street leading to Waste Management Services to Mike Brown Way. It's the least we could do to honor the man and his efforts.

[WeezyBengal]

The stats that he throws out are dumb.

[Okeana]

I can't believe people actually believe this stuff.

[*ochocincos*]

(02-10-2017, 10:50 AM)Okeana Wrote: I can't believe people actually believe this stuff.

Even if this were true, does Mike Brown think a 1000 yard rusher is some sort of great accomplishment?
12 players rushed for over 1000 yards in the 2016 regular season.
At least two more (Melvin Gordon, Carlos Hyde) would have also reached that mark if they hadn't been injured.

If that is really the measurement of success, it's no wonder that the Bengals consider just making the playoffs to be a successful season.
If being just in the top half of the league or being in the top 10 is all that matters, this team will never reach the Super Bowl.

[GodFather]

I do believe Derrick's letter is real because I also wrote Mike Brown a letter and got this response in the mail yesterday.


"The 2016 season was of course a disappointment, and all of us in the organization must share the blame. We believed that we had strengthened ourselves since our 2015 division championship, with key new ingredients and not many pieces lost. But the year reminded us that every season is a new enterprise, and our 2016 pieces obviously were not close to coming together.

But I will not apologize for our overall performance under Marvin Lewis. You may scoff, and no one here would deny that we are long overdue for postseason success, but I still believe this means something toward a realistic forecast for 2017 and beyond. We are not a team devoid of talent, and I believe that continuity with Marvin as head coach offers the best chance to bring us back to and beyond our division championship level of 2015.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(02-10-2017, 01:57 AM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Mike Brown is known for personally replying to letters written to him. He's thoughtful in that regard at least.

This also sounds like a typical Mike response. Cherry pick stats, promote mediocre results and offer no hope of change.

I don't doubt at all that this is legitimate.

fredtoast?  

We have a mole.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(02-10-2017, 12:05 PM)GodFather Wrote: I do believe Derrick's letter is real because I also wrote Mike Brown a letter and got this response in the mail yesterday.


"The 2016 season was of course a disappointment, and all of us in the organization must share the blame. We believed that we had strengthened ourselves since our 2015 division championship, with key new ingredients and not many pieces lost. But the year reminded us that every season is a new enterprise, and our 2016 pieces obviously were not close to coming together.

But I will not apologize for our overall performance under Marvin Lewis. You may scoff, and no one here would deny that we are long overdue for postseason success, but I still believe this means something toward a realistic forecast for 2017 and beyond. We are not a team devoid of talent, and I believe that continuity with Marvin as head coach offers the best chance to bring us back to and beyond our division championship level of 2015.

[THE PISTONS]

While people think it's great that he replied...a CEO of a company should have way more important things to do than to reply to fan criticism letters. Hopefully someone else did this.

[yellowxdiscipline]

lol nice try.

[JumboTron]

I'm guessing the only way to ensure that Mike responded back was to include the money for postage? Especially considering he has never sat down in front of a computer....ever.

[Shake n Blake]

(02-10-2017, 05:11 AM)bengalsturntup926 Wrote: I call fake lol he wouldn't know any stats

I've seen similar quotes from Mike on the mothership. After 2010, he cherry picked the team's record from 2005 to 2009. I've also seen him mention playoff appearances, or how the team "was one of "x" amount of teams to make playoffs x amount of times in x amount of years.

He's the king of twisting stats. I can't be the only one to remember similar quotes from Mike.