WhoDeyRevolution

Optimism is a scary thing

Apparently everyone on the planet thinks that the Bengals hit one out of the park on nearly every pick of the 2012 draft.  When I saw what Joe Reedy wrote about it - I was excited.  I do like how the Bengals seem to have a plan, and that everyone is on board with said plan.  When I read how Mike Brown is "acquiescing more" to the opinion of others, I fell off my chair.  I also like how Marvin is talking about competition in camp, and "play for pay."  They also did not draft a linebacker from USC - nice.

A couple of caveats that temper my enthusiasm...

The Bengals still have a huge amount of cap space that at this point in free agency, will probably go only towards ensuring a nice fat profit for the family Brown.  The Law Firm was well, perfectly acceptable.  But spend money in the future to win, please.

While Marvin appears to have a good recent handle on influencing personnel, this does not change how he coaches in crucial game situations. (TERRIBLY!)

We're not moralistic, finger waggers, but the Bengals still have that propensity to chase the same character discounts that partially helped derail the Palmer Era.  And they just signed Burfict, whose behavior reminds me of "Odell Henry." 

Drafts can look good on paper, but has anything really changed yet? A couple of new scouts remains the only tangible difference I know of.  The rest is anecdotal stories about Mikey deferring to others in the draft war room.  I still want that practice bubble, which is a no-brainer to everyone except You Know Who.

But it's hard to see what, if anything, looms beyond Suggs-like injuries to torpedo the 2012 season.  They're some expiring coaching contracts land mines after the season that could blow things to holy hell, but well, for now all calm on the western front.

Who Dey?

Comrade Ickey

 

PS - SwB here, please welcome Comrade Ickey into the WDR family. He's going to help keep the blog more active than the past few months.

NFL Draft 2012: Allright Scouts, Er, Scout, LET'S DO THIS

More draft picks like this plz:

Less like this:

No Wonder The Mayans Said The World Would End in 2012: Bengals Announce Hiring Of Two Full-Time Scouts

Per a tweet from Bengals.com editor Geoff Hobson, the Bengals have announced the hiring of two-full time scouts today:  Robert Livingston (former asst. coach at Vanderbilt) and Steven Radicevic (former Director of Football Operations at UCLA).

Much more to come as we figure out exactly who these guys are...but quite frankly I never thought I would see the day when hiring, scouts and Bengals would collide in the same sentence.

Addendum to WDR Bengals State of the Union

Without questions there have been some encouraging trends coming out of the Bengals front office.  However, just because there are encouraging signs doesn't mean all is well.  The need for vigilance remains.  In that spirit, towards the end of the State of the Union post I wrote about some things to look for as "confirming evidence" that Bengals are finally deciding to join the modern NFL.  Among the things I listed, I omitted a major item:  signing their own worthy players who are about to be free agents (hat tip to folks in the comments like "West TX Bengals Fan").

I suppose the operative word here is worthy.  Worthiness will rest in the eye of the beholder, of course.  I have my own opinions but my opinion could be shitty. I think we can all agree though, that guys in the past like JJoe are WORTHY, and it SUCKS to see them just walk away for no good reason.  For now, rather than pass judgment on our roster, I'll simply link to the Joe Reedy post where he concisely lays out all the various current Bengals free agents about to hit the market place to test the value of their human capital in the NFL.  I would hope to see those elusive worthy players on this list as Bengals in 2012.  And if many of these players end up elsewhere, well then, I hope to see some damn good replacements from this list.

And remember folks, a player who has already played for your team is MORE valuable to you than a player of roughly equal talent at the same position from another team.  Logic such as this, for example, would explain why overpaying for Reggie Nelson when you are WAY under the likely floor (let alone cap) for the 2013 season isn't the worst thing in the world.

(see the list of players after the jump)

WDR Bengals State of the Union

Okay folks, we're dusting the screen off and firing up the blog again (at least, we're gonna try).  There have been some very important recent developments that need to be addressed.  All of them positive, all of them welcome, and all of them wonderfully surprising given the Bengals track record.

Let's just dive right in.

First, there was rumor the Bengals would make changes in the personnel department and now there is confirmation that at least one hire has been made.  That hire is Steven Radicevic.  A few things of note for now:

• Steven will have the designation "west coast regional scout" or some such title, which, is the type of title you see in teams with front offices that have excellent long term track records of success (Raven, Steelers).  Hooray.
• Steven has no apparent family or friend relationship to the Brown's that would indicate this is a nepotistic hire in nature.
• Steven, in fact, seems to have both a solid resume in his professional career (though the exact nature of his past job at UCLA isn't entirely clear to me) and also experience as a player in college.

This is without question a positive development.  While the Bengals have made decent decisions with their old way of doing things the past few years, they have never actually addressed anything core to our Manifesto of demands. This finally does. And let's not underestimate that.  Now, I do want to add that with Jim Lippincott leaving, this again isn't necessarily a beefing up of the department, but merely a replacement.  It is similar to the signing of Coles & Bryant in that it felt like an unusual move but was in fact merely replacing a lost employee (in this case TJ).  However, Jim Lippincott was head/director of personnel, not a scout, so thinking of Steven as replacing him may not be the proper way to think about it. Hopefully there is more to come.

'Optimistic' Lewis Eyes Extension

Joe Reedy of the Enquirer wrote today that Marvin Lewis is 'optimistic' about a contract extension (his current two-year deal expires after the 2012 season).

Love or hate Lewis, whether he deserves blame or not, one thing is clear.  In today's environment, there is not one team in professional sports that would have the same coach for NINE SEASONS after zero playoff wins. 

Sometimes it's lucky to work for Mike Brown.

Almost a great move: Hue's Back

This is almost another great move by the Bengals, but then I read the beyond the headline:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/17/hue-jackson-returns-to-the-bengals/

Seriously the man is an offensive genius. Let Hue do what he does best: offense. Let him help Gruden up in the box with the play calling, who although did well at times was not consistent as he needed to be. The position they filled him for is either a smokescreen so it would not create a contraversy in the media, or they are just ignorant. My hope is the former, but the rational side of me says it is the later.

I have to admit Mike Brown is consistent. If you help him screw over someone in creating a deal of a lifetime, then he is forever indebted to you. First Bedinghouse, now Jackson. It's as if he has his own wookie life debt tradition he lives by.

More to come in the coming weeks.

Fuck You Texasnsns

For the record, y'all got some dumbass helmets.

Know Your Enemy: Q&A with Houston Chronicle Blogger Steph Stradley (aka "Texans Chick")

Hey folks - Steph Stradley has been kind enough to allow the Comrades at WDR to invade her Texans blog for Q&A ahead of the matchups in recent years vs Houston.  Our most recent preview, for Saturday's playoff game just went live moments ago.  We're returning the favor now (actually for a 2nd time, read her previous Q&A here).  So read on to find out all you ever wanted to know about the Texans from a very passionate and insightful fan.  In case you doubt her credentials, allow me to produce her blogging CV:

Steph Stradley (@StephStradley) is a Houston-based attorney who writes a Texans blog for the Houston Chronicle online and her personal/professional blog here. In 2006, she was voted Ultimate Texan fan, and the Texans sent her to the Super Bowl.

Impressive.  Let's begin.

What in this Texans season is surprising to you?

I thought before the year, even with Peyton Manning healthy, that the Texans were favored to win the AFC South if they stayed healthy. Football Outsiders predicted they would win the division, and they were just predicting an average defense for the Texans.

Though I knew that the Texans defense would improve with competent coaching and key free agent signings, I had no idea that the Texans switch from the 4-3 to the 3-4 would result in this much improvement.

People in Houston love Wade Phillips. The Phillips family has a special place in Houstonian's hearts due to our love of his father Bum. Going from hating watching our defense to loving it in one year, it feels weird but good weird. It was hard hearing that Phillips was getting surgery--you worry for a guy in his 60s. Wade Phillips in his last presser was pretty emphatic about not being satisfied with just getting to the playoffs and wanting to win the whole thing. Going through major surgery will get you thinking about your mortality and how many chances you have left.

Before Matt Schaub's injury, the Texans were playing the sort of balanced football that Gary Kubiak has always wanted to play but hasn't been able to because his defenses for many years were so terrible. Philosophically, the Texans offense is not designed to overpower teams but rather to keep them off balance. It recognizes that more often than not, the defensive players will be more athletic, so to counter that, the offense is designed to look the same whether a play is run or pass. Ideally, the Texans prefer to keep down and distance sane, see what the defense does, and then exploit mismatches to get big plays. They want to get a lead, and then wear defenses down with their running game in the second half, and with their mobile, athletic offensive line.

Open letter to Whitworth and Peko

Skimming Hob's articles last night looking for fodder and I came across this little bit.

Whitworth pulled Peko aside in the locker room when word filtered through that the Chiefs had lost.

“I told him how proud I was,” Whitworth said. “We started this thing back in June putting OTAs together ourselves. It’s been a long journey with all the crap we had to get their attention off of. Who was leaving? Who was coming? Who’s not staying with us and all that. To be where we are, who would have believed it? We’ve got our future in front of us.”

Congrats guys. You two do have a lot to be proud of, and we commend you both on your efforts. We at WDR respect everything you did leading up to this season and have to deal with on a regular basis, primarily your hopeless boss. 

It is very easy to overlook the hard work and effort the players make to try to change the culture at Paul Brown Stadium. Over the years, we have come to experience their attempts as being futile. In the end, Mike Brown always finds a way to ruin a good thing. Regardless of the obstacles, you both managed to take a team that appeared to be imploding before the season officially began and helped mold it into something that has a foundation for potential success in the coming years.

Our new year's wish is that your boss in the coming offseason does not screw up what you have begun. We hope that you get the opportunity to build upon what you started so that the two of you and we, the fans, have a chance to experience something - together - that this town has been deprived of for way too long: a championship team. 

 

Sincerely,
The Fans