FC. I totally disagreee about Brat now. He won in 05 slinging it all over the place. In 09 they pounded the run and shortened the game. That is mixing it up IMO. Their defense hasn't been good enough to go exclusively no huddle and CP has never been as good as he was in 05 therefore they shouldn't be a no huddle team. Last year someone told him to throw it all over the field again because of the two idiot wide receivers. His head coach lacks the abilitly to know when to use TO's, challenges, and how to manage the clock.

 

As for the complexity of Gruden's offense either Jerome Simpson is a lot smarter or the offense is pretty simple. It took him over 2.5 years to figure out Brat's and it took him a few days to pick up Gruden's. Lapham also said CP could master the offense in a couple days. I'm not saying it won't work. I'm saying it must be simple and he will have to deal with some very good Defensive coaches here.

 

You would be wrong about Carson not looking the same since 2005. 2006 the year after his knee injury he still looked very good and they were using mostly no huddle still. Should have even made the playoffs that year, but special teams decided to choke 2 games in a row. 2007 they just didn't get it done plain and simple. 2008 Palmer hurt his arm, and now after his arm injury I admit Palmer looked different. 2009 they did run the ball more, however guess what they had to do at end of games to win? That was pass the ball. That running the ball had them losing in most games and scoring only 7 points in the opener against Denver. Those games against the Steelers and Ravens they were losing in the 4th, until they went no huddle and started passing the ball. Which once again Brat wouldn't be calling those plays then. Then after the unfortunate injury to Henry that ended up leading to his death, the Bengals offense running and passing started to struggle. Because teams knew the Bengals only had one good receiver then. So they focused on the run. As for last year it is hard to run when your losing early in games, and when your running game gets stuffed for no gain on 1st down. That is what people don't seem to get, in 2009 they ran the ball better on early downs. In 2010 they didn't, which puts the offense into more passing situations.

 

As for Simpson remember he came from a small school. So it was not all about learning the offense, it was about learning defenses and coverages and where to go in certain coverages in the offense. It's same to assume that this time around when learning a new offense, he now already knows how to read defense and coverages so its much easier to learn an offense when you don't need to also learn how to read defenses. Plus as everyone says anyways any West Coast offense is easier to learn, because a West Coast offense focuses more on the players ability to make plays. Its about getting them the ball quick and having them make plays after the catch. Your reading way to much into the fact that it's easier to learn, so it must not be as good. That is just what the West Coast system is, and besides you also have to understand it's not like with a rookie QB that he only has had for a few weeks that he really can get to complicated yet. I very much doubt they have been able to get anywhere close to his whole playbook in. It's something that each week they will install a little bit more and more.

I will never forget a year or so in to Marvin's tenure when it appeared things were going in the right direction and all the "In Marvin we trust" posts.

 

I remember those...

You would be wrong about Carson not looking the same since 2005. 2006 the year after his knee injury he still looked very good and they were using mostly no huddle still. Should have even made the playoffs that year, but special teams decided to choke 2 games in a row. 2007 they just didn't get it done plain and simple. 2008 Palmer hurt his arm, and now after his arm injury I admit Palmer looked different. 2009 they did run the ball more, however guess what they had to do at end of games to win? That was pass the ball. That running the ball had them losing in most games and scoring only 7 points in the opener against Denver. Those games against the Steelers and Ravens they were losing in the 4th, until they went no huddle and started passing the ball. Which once again Brat wouldn't be calling those plays then. Then after the unfortunate injury to Henry that ended up leading to his death, the Bengals offense running and passing started to struggle. Because teams knew the Bengals only had one good receiver then. So they focused on the run. As for last year it is hard to run when your losing early in games, and when your running game gets stuffed for no gain on 1st down. That is what people don't seem to get, in 2009 they ran the ball better on early downs. In 2010 they didn't, which puts the offense into more passing situations.

 

As for Simpson remember he came from a small school. So it was not all about learning the offense, it was about learning defenses and coverages and where to go in certain coverages in the offense. It's same to assume that this time around when learning a new offense, he now already knows how to read defense and coverages so its much easier to learn an offense when you don't need to also learn how to read defenses. Plus as everyone says anyways any West Coast offense is easier to learn, because a West Coast offense focuses more on the players ability to make plays. Its about getting them the ball quick and having them make plays after the catch. Your reading way to much into the fact that it's easier to learn, so it must not be as good. That is just what the West Coast system is, and besides you also have to understand it's not like with a rookie QB that he only has had for a few weeks that he really can get to complicated yet. I very much doubt they have been able to get anywhere close to his whole playbook in. It's something that each week they will install a little bit more and more.

 

So you agree that Brat could and did win by calling plays more than one way?

 

It all boils down to Brown hired a "name" to appease the fans, but he didn't get a successful NFL coach or coordinator. He went with Gruden and hoped fans would buy into the name.

I will never forget a year or so in to Marvin's tenure when it appeared things were going in the right direction and all the "In Marvin we trust" posts.

 

:lol:

So you agree that Brat could and did win by calling plays more than one way?

 

It all boils down to Brown hired a "name" to appease the fans, but he didn't get a successful NFL coach or coordinator. He went with Gruden and hoped fans would buy into the name.

 

Yes he did. However his way of calling plays also led them to losing most of those games, and needing Palmer and the offense to go no huddle with under 3 minutes to go to come back and win.

 

Just look at ALL THE PLAYERS comments especially over the last year on what they thought about Brat's play calling. It left a lot to be desired, and was predictable and lacked any imagination. How many times over the years have we seen guys get wide open because of a broken coverage in the secondary because the route combinations we used maybe confused them? We see it happen all the time in the NFL, but did we ever see it happen here with are offense? They confused no one. They got by on having talent to work with, who could still do well even in a system that wasn't the best in helping them out. Then what happened when these guys started getting older or injuries, we saw how the offense no longer could create any seperation for our guys, because people knew what was coming.

 

I mean its sad when I have seen more receivers open in this preseason than I have over the last few years in his system. All the players who have said stuff about Brat's system speaks volumes to me. Which you can't base it on what Palmer said, because he is not the type of person who will throw ANYBODY under the bus. He probably has been frustrated with Chad many of times, but yet still never threw him under the bus either. So when asked if it had to do anything with Bratkowski it's not like he is going to come out and say yeah I hated his system. Especially since there was no reason for him to throw Brat under the Bus when he knew he wasn't going to play in Cincy anymore anyways.

 

Bratkowski had a system, but was not able to expand from that. Yes he might run the ball more, but it was still the same plays which people had seen in the division for over 10 years. People knew what he was going to do, which makes it very hard for an offense to do well. Jay very well could end up being a very good OC, or average, or not good at all. It's to hard to tell anyway, however once they didn't get McDaniels I am happy they got who they got out of anyone else out there.

I will never forget a year or so in to Marvin's tenure when it appeared things were going in the right direction and all the "In Marvin we trust" posts.

 

Marvin Lewis is not the problem. Bill Belichick wouldn't win in Cincinnati. Marvin is 60-67-1 with 2 division titles, 2 four-win seasons, and four seasons at or within a game of .500. Considering the owernship and management in Cincinnati, I don't think he's done that bad. I think he'd be fine if Brown were more dedicated to putting a good product on the field. His job looks to be secure for 2 more season at a minimum. Considering they've gone to a youth movement, I can't see him getting axed no matter what happens this year.

So you agree that Brat could and did win by calling plays more than one way?

 

It all boils down to Brown hired a "name" to appease the fans, but he didn't get a successful NFL coach or coordinator. He went with Gruden and hoped fans would buy into the name.

 

I do want to clear this up though. Even though I didn't like Brat and that he needed to be gone, doesn't mean I think he is bad. I mean the man has been in the NFL a long time, been an OC for two teams. So he definitely knows more football than me or you, however he just was no longer good for the Bengals. You hardly see OC's in one place anymore as long as he was. That is because it gets hard because when your with one team for so long teams start picking up on what you do. He was here for 10 years, teams knew what the Bengals were going to do and in an offense that is not meant to confuse defenses, but just meant to be run right that is not a good thing. It's hard to execute when teams know what is coming. It just was not a good fit any longer, and hadn't been for the last few years.

Marvin Lewis is not the problem. Bill Belichick wouldn't win in Cincinnati. Marvin is 60-67-1 with 2 division titles, 2 four-win seasons, and four seasons at or within a game of .500. Considering the owernship and management in Cincinnati, I don't think he's done that bad. I think he'd be fine if Brown were more dedicated to putting a good product on the field. His job looks to be secure for 2 more season at a minimum. Considering they've gone to a youth movement, I can't see him getting axed no matter what happens this year.

 

Marvin Lewis does deserve some of it. Yes he is giving a tough job with what he has to deal with. However things he can control is the use of timeouts, clock management, etc. Which those area's he is one of the worst in football at, and has played huge roles in some games they ended up losing.