Offseason To-Do List: Coaching Staff

[Beck Bristow]

Probably the first thing that will need done this offseason is finalizing the coaches for next season.  At the bye, I assumed we would be looking at a new DC as well as a new offensive line coach,  but both those units showed serious improvement in the second half and I would expect Lou back for sure, and Turner pretty likely as well.  

As it stands,  the only position that might change is lb coach,  as our previous one accepted the defensive coordinator position at BC. A couple of interesting possibilities spring to mind here. First, Mark Duffner was the position coach here and is currently on the staff as Senior Defensive Assistant.  He could easily slide into the position coach spot.

The other option is Wade Phillips.  He worked with Taylor in LA and would be a nice addition,  either as linebacker coach or filling into the spot Duffner currently has.

The other coach that seemed like a guarantee to be brought in last season is Bill Callahan. With,  Turner likely sticking,  there isn't an obvious position,  but something similar to Duffner's position would make sense.

I expect minimal changes here honestly,  but bringing in some veteran coaches would be very beneficial in my opinion.  Phillips and Callahan are two guys that are experienced,  but I don't think would undermine the head coach.  Hopefully we get one of them or some one similar. 

[INbengalfan]

3 hours ago, Beck Bristow said:

Probably the first thing that will need done this offseason is finalizing the coaches for next season.  At the bye, I assumed we would be looking at a new DC as well as a new offensive line coach,  but both those units showed serious improvement in the second half and I would expect Lou back for sure, and Turner pretty likely as well.  

As it stands,  the only position that might change is lb coach,  as our previous one accepted the defensive coordinator position at BC. A couple of interesting possibilities spring to mind here. First, Mark Duffner was the position coach here and is currently on the staff as Senior Defensive Assistant.  He could easily slide into the position coach spot.

The other option is Wade Phillips.  He worked with Taylor in LA and would be a nice addition,  either as linebacker coach or filling into the spot Duffner currently has.

The other coach that seemed like a guarantee to be brought in last season is Bill Callahan. With,  Turner likely sticking,  there isn't an obvious position,  but something similar to Duffner's position would make sense.

I expect minimal changes here honestly,  but bringing in some veteran coaches would be very beneficial in my opinion.  Phillips and Callahan are two guys that are experienced,  but I don't think would undermine the head coach.  Hopefully we get one of them or some one similar. 

There's no MAYBE about the LB coach.  he left to be the DC at Boston College.

 

I'm down with both guys here, but not sure Phillips would have mutual interest

[Beck Bristow]

30 minutes ago, INbengalfan said:

There's no MAYBE about the LB coach.  he left to be the DC at Boston College.

 

I'm down with both guys here, but not sure Phillips would have mutual interest

Maybe the only move they make. 

[SmittyBacall]

Going 2-14 and making no coaching adjustments/additions would be a bummer. Way she goes in Cincinnati, I guess.

[SmittyBacall]

I've noticed a lot of Bengals fans (mostly elsewhere) complain about the play-calling in 2019. I actually thought it was somewhere between okay and good. Our inability to score in the redzone was big problem, but elsewhere I thought Zac did a pretty good job considering it's his first crack at it. 

[SmittyBacall]

One thing I will say about the coaching, Lou Anarumo needs to stop dropping lineman into coverage. I hate it with a passion. I've seen Dunlap, Lawson, and Hubbard all drop back. Think for a second, just theoretically, how stupid that is. A.) You're taking your best pass rushers away from rushing the passer, and B.) you're putting them in a position where they will undoubtedly struggle. Makes zero sense. I actually remember seeing Andrew Billings drop back in zone. You might as well take him off the field and play with 10 men.

I tried finding out why coordinators would do this and found this from San Francisco DC Rob Saleh (2017):

Quote

"For the most part, defensive linemen dropping into coverage can serve two purposes. One, when they’re trying to bring an overload to one side to overload a protection. And then the second part is when you’re trying to rush three, and just kind of plug the middle of the field to eliminate any crossers or any low holes, because in our natural three-deep defense, there’s a void in the middle. And to be able to plug that part of the field on occasion. So that’s basically what the main purposes are.

We’ve had two interceptions on drop calls, both of Ray-Ray Armstrong’s interceptions came on dropped calls. We’ve had a couple of pass break-ups, and a couple of third down conversions that we were able to get off the field with drop calls.

But you’re right, when it doesn’t work it looks terrible. Last week, we were inside four minutes, so we ran a run stunt to see if we could create a TFL to get the ball back for our offense, and Ronnie Blair gets stuck on Jimmie Graham. Not what you want, not why you called it. But at that point in the game, we needed to create something, and they caught us.

There’s a lot of situations where it works, there’s some where it doesn’t. It’s a high risk, high reward play, and we’ve had some really good success, and you saw last week what happened with Ronnie — which I feel terrible for him, but we felt at that time, inside five minutes trying to get the ball back for our offense, create, wreak havoc in the backfield, maybe we can cause a turnover, something. And they caught us in a stunt."

Still sounds stupid to me. The idea of only rushing 3 never seems to work, either.

[sparky151]

Bengals had the worst coaching staff in the NFL last season. Lots of people from Taylor down doing a job for the first time and not very well. Some of it was the late start with him hired after the Super Bowl. Bengals can certainly afford to pay some severance and bring in good coaches. We really do need to upgrade from Turner and Anarumo at a minimum. Bill Callahan would be a good get. So would Kris Richard. 

[sparky151]

16 minutes ago, SmittyBacall said:

One thing I will say about the coaching, Lou Anarumo needs to stop dropping lineman into coverage. I hate it with a passion. I've seen Dunlap, Lawson, and Hubbard all drop back. Think for a second, just theoretically, how stupid that is. A.) You're taking your best pass rushers away from rushing the passer, and B.) you're putting them in a position where they will undoubtedly struggle. Makes zero sense. I actually remember seeing Andrew Billings drop back in zone. You might as well take him off the field and play with 10 men.

I tried finding out why coordinators would do this and found this from San Francisco DC Rob Saleh (2017):

Still sounds stupid to me. The idea of only rushing 3 never seems to work, either.

Dropping linemen is done to surprise the offense with a defender in a zone they don't expect. Rushing fewer than 4 worked for Tennessee last week vs the Patriots. 

[SmittyBacall]

1 hour ago, sparky151 said:

Dropping linemen is done to surprise the offense with a defender in a zone they don't expect.

I get that part, I've just never seen it work. 

1 hour ago, sparky151 said:

Rushing fewer than 4 worked for Tennessee last week vs the Patriots. 

I don't remember seeing that. 

[theJ]

3 hours ago, sparky151 said:

Bengals had the worst coaching staff in the NFL last season. Lots of people from Taylor down doing a job for the first time and not very well. Some of it was the late start with him hired after the Super Bowl. Bengals can certainly afford to pay some severance and bring in good coaches. We really do need to upgrade from Turner and Anarumo at a minimum. Bill Callahan would be a good get. So would Kris Richard. 

I think they'll get better year 2. They won't find anyone better by dropping the current staff (outside of turner/Callahan, which I agree with). May as well see what happens. 

Not every hire is instant lightning. 

[sparky151]

51 minutes ago, theJ said:

I think they'll get better year 2. They won't find anyone better by dropping the current staff (outside of turner/Callahan, which I agree with). May as well see what happens. 

Not every hire is instant lightning. 

Of course  they should be better with an offseason to work on things. But there's no reason to think they will be as good as experienced, successful coaches. We should fire our current coaches and hire some competent ones. The current staff is a liability in addition to our poor front office and lack of good players. Compared with Ravens or Steelers (and perhaps even whoever the Browns hire) our coaches lack accomplishment. 

[theJ]

58 minutes ago, sparky151 said:

Of course  they should be better with an offseason to work on things. But there's no reason to think they will be as good as experienced, successful coaches. We should fire our current coaches and hire some competent ones. The current staff is a liability in addition to our poor front office and lack of good players. Compared with Ravens or Steelers (and perhaps even whoever the Browns hire) our coaches lack accomplishment. 

In any case, that ship has sailed this year. If they were moving on (they weren't) it would have happened a week ago. 

They may still hire some new assistant coaches. 

[fluhartz]

18 hours ago, SmittyBacall said:

Going 2-14 and making no coaching adjustments/additions would be a bummer. Way she goes in Cincinnati, I guess.

yep

[sparky151]

17 hours ago, theJ said:

In any case, that ship has sailed this year. If they were moving on (they weren't) it would have happened a week ago. 

They may still hire some new assistant coaches. 

While the Bengals have to settle for scraps, there are still coaches available who are better than our incumbents. There's never a good reason to no upgrade when the chance presents itself. Fixing the coaching staff and front office is relatively simple compared with projecting college players to the pros. We've drafted poorly recently and given that we expect coaches to scout, we should be looking for better coaches. Otherwise it will be more of the same for the league's worst franchise. 

[THE DUKE]

18 minutes ago, sparky151 said:

While the Bengals have to settle for scraps, there are still coaches available who are better than our incumbents. There's never a good reason to no upgrade when the chance presents itself. Fixing the coaching staff and front office is relatively simple compared with projecting college players to the pros. We've drafted poorly recently and given that we expect coaches to scout, we should be looking for better coaches. Otherwise it will be more of the same for the league's worst franchise. 

Who are these better coaches that are available and what assurances do we have that they will definitely come here if we offer them?  Is the chance actually presenting itself currently?