Thornton + Reedy = Crazy Delicious

Here at WDR we landed hard from time to time on Mr John Thornton.  Not because of his play, but because of how much the Bengals paid him to play (not his fault).  But certainly we have never landed hard on him for his excellent use of the internet to communicate directly with fans and enlighten them with an intelligent, inside perspective on the NFL and the Bengals.

So do yourself a favor and make sure to go to Joe Reedy's blog and read Thornton's excellent recap of Hard Knocks.

The whole thing is fantastic and I haven't seen an inaugural combo as good as the Reedy/Thornton one since Parnell/Samberg, but let's focus on the Fullback issue that we highlighted earlier via Willie Anderson tweets.

Thornton has this to say:

The releasing of fullback J.D. Runnels. I’ve seen guys get cut before but the way that this was done was kinda classless. This guy was the same guy that was doing a good job a few days before, and not only does he get released, but you do it a 5:30 a.m., and you tell the guy he has no ability.

I found this odd as well.  With Jeremi overweight, again, I wonder what exactly the reasons really were for cutting him.  Given the footage of Mike Brown running the personnel meeting (terrifying), and Willie mentioning that Jeremi is a favorite of Mike's, you start to question if that cut made sense from a football ability standpoint at all (despite what Lippincott says).

Anyway, likely a minor issue for the Bengals this season and at least J.D. had time to catch on elsewhere but still a little bit disconcerting to see from the standpoint of a) how personnel decisions get made and b) how things are done by the Bengals organization.

Comments

[bob estes]

Just remember, Jim Lippincott went from working at Moeller high school to a front office position in the NFL.

[CurseofBoJackson]

I look at it this way, Brown harps at one point duringt eh show about needing to carry three TE's and two FB's, so why not keep a guy that would add competition to the position (which is what the entire beginning of the show was focused on right? MAking everything a competition?) That said, I think that the three FB's on the roster right now is plenty, I personally hope (based on what I'm reading) that Vakapuna has the top spot come regular season, but I know better if fat ass is still listed on the roster. Hey, maybe Jason Shirley can play FB!

[TheCarlPickensClause]

I learned a couple of things last night. I have never seen someone in such a high position conduct himself in an unfavorable way as Mike Brown did last night. He is utterly incompetent and is despised by his staff because of said incompetence. His opening speech was uninspired and boring. If he was the one who told Lippincott to cut Runnels the way he did, he should be slapped. That must have been, to quote Carson, "a kick in the balls", as that's what it was like to watch that. The switching of a player from Defense to Offense doesn't really bother me if it seems warranted, but the Chris Harrington idea didn't seem to make sense and you could tell the staff thought the same thing. What bothers me is why you'd switch a guy to a different and unnatural position, rather than signing a capable free agent. For instance, why would you think about moving Harrington to TE after the injuries when a perfectly good Bubba Franks is available and would be cheap? It doesn't make sense--and that's the Mike Brown way.
The only parts I liked about Mikey was at the end of his speech when he said "we will answer our critics on the field", and that he genuinely seems to care about his players (to a fault). He seemed distraught by Kelly and Utecht getting injured and obviously brings back troubled players for second and third chances. I also liked that he's toying with the idea of keeping two Fullbacks. I think the Bengals should keep both Jeremi and Vakapuna. Jeremi is probably still talented but is a question mark. Vakapuna proved that he can run with the ball and block while at BYU. Keep Vakapuna as a Le'Ron McClain type and Jeremi as your true blocking FB.

[Comrade Ken]

Watching the classy way in which they cut J. D. Runnells was bad enough but listening to Mikey boy make a comment like "he doesn't have NFL talent" is sickening. What the fuck does Mikey know about "NFL talent"?

Clearly the most disturbing part was watching Mikey conduct a meeting that Marvin should have been leading. I almost vomited and threw my beer through the TV as I let out several expletives. Even my wife, who knows very little about football, commented on the ineffective way Mikey was conducting that meeting. I got a real sense in watching the coaches in that meeting that they were trying to cover up their complete disdain for being there while listening to someone who knows a lot less than they do and has no business (MB) being there in the first place.

Please Mikey, for the good of the team and this city, I am begging you to step back and let someone who knows what they are doing run this team.

[kotw65]

My perception of the show was that everybody from MFB to the little kid ignoring tank johnson talking at him looked beat down and just going through the motions. I don't know who thought this would be good for this organization but then again when have they really made solid decisions.

Marvin can only do what he can with what he has and it's obvious, he and the rest are just getting by, collecting a check, and they know that "IT IS WHAT IT IS".

That should be the next banner "IT IS WHAT IT IS" status mr. brown quo.

They allow quality lineman like steinbach to leave so they can go younger and cheaper then, find themselves having to shell out millions to an unproven rookie to protect your franchise qb.

It is clear that decisions are made in the here and now with MFB not long term goals other than bob bedinghaus setting them up for 30 years while he worked for the city before he was voted out then given a position of work with the bengals.....

[ky_bengalfan]

Why did they tell J.D. at 5:30 A friggin' M that he was being put on waivers? Good grief, the dude is half asleep when he's awoken with a bright light and camera in his face telling him he's on the next thing smoking outta camp. Come on guys, call him in after breakfast or something.