With all the Jay Gruden hype, and subsequent lack of content on Mr. Gruden via the internet, I thought it'd be fun to do some fan analysis of our new offense ("Mid-West Coast Offense").  Here's what we know: Brat is gone FOREVER (thank you Lord), Jay Gruden is our new OC, QB in 2011-?, Feature RB in 2011-?, WR's in 2011- sorta ?, TE's Gresham,Coffman, & Kelly-?....so for the purpose of this post, let's assume we'll have Carson and Benson on the roster next year, and WR's as Chad,Simpson,Bubba,Shipley, and TE's as Gresham,Chase, and we'll bring Reggie back for the sake of conversation/debate.

Next, let's get a discussion going centered around what M-WCO formations we can EXPECT, what formations we WANT, and what personnel packages would accompany these formations of the future....This is where we can get into the nitty gritty of which players' skill sets will/can be used most effectively and out of what formations.

Please try to limit the "anything other than what Brat did" comments- you can use those old formations, but keep in mind Gruden's WCO roots,AFL background, UFL experiences,  NFL (Tampa) roots and everything he's said to Cincy Media since his hire. 

Here's an exerpt (from bengals.com I know I know...but I coudln't resist when I read it, and know some folks don't go there for news so here you go...)  some comments I put in bold just to emphasise them more.

 This is Coach Harbaugh talking about the Ratbirds organization and why they have continued success:

On why the Ravens have had sustained success:
“That’s such a complicated question. I don’t think there is any one answer. I think we’re built really well as an organization. It starts with our owner Steve Bisciotti, team president Dick Cass and Ozzie (General Manager Ozzie Newsome). They have a good handle on what they want to do, and we’ve been able to build a team that’s consistent with what their vision is for the organization. That’s the main thing. But we’ve gotten lucky, too. Last year we were 9-7 and won a couple of tiebreakers. That probably goes hand-in-hand.”

On his relationship with Ozzie Newsome:
“I’ve known him for a long time peripherally, and obviously the last three years we’ve gotten really close. The first thing is, he’s really talented and he’s really humble. He’s got a nice combination of that, and he’s very confident. He does a great job. He’s really a straight shooter and lets everybody know where they stand. With the players, I think he holds them accountable and he helps me to hold the players accountable. So I think we’re very consistent, he and I, in terms of discipline, expectations and standards. I think we work well together that way.

“The other thing is, he is willing to work with his coach. We probably don’t make any decision personnel-wise or in how we structure the football team that the other guy doesn’t really agree with. If there is a player that I’m not really excited about or don’t want, he’s very tuned into that. If there is a discipline decision or something that we’re doing with our program that he feels strongly about, I’m tuned into that. We’ve each got our area, but at the same time we don’t really do anything that the other person isn’t comfortable with and we try to do something the other person feels strongly about. That works pretty well.”

 

 

So yeah, pretty much the exact opposite of how the Bengals are run...thanks Mike Brown

via www.midwestsportsfans.com

Per Josh's and some others' requests, this post will serve the purpose of day-to-day Bengals & NFL Banter and also serve as a running forum to break new stories that have implications towards the current and future state of our beloved Bengals.  If you're breaking a story, may I suggest using Bold or Italicized font's so that they are more easily recognizable.  This is in no way a personal post of mine, and will be a work in progress so feel free to make suggestions and I'll try and accomodate by editing them in if need be. Also if we want this to stay relevant/easy to find, please rec it so it stays towards the top.

 

Thanks Bengal Nation and as always Thank You Cincy Jungle!

With all the Bengal bashing going on, I thought now would be a nice time to put some actual backing behind all these claims of New HC, new OC, new QB etc. Everyone is quick to burn the ships we rode into the land of mediocrity on, but don't ever back it up with better alternatives. So let's do just that.  Personally, I'm fine w/Marvin as our HC right now- more so, he absolutely deserves an extension (within the terms he wants it, ie: more personnel control, indoor practice facility being the 2 most glaring examples). BUT for those of you who are calling for a new HC, please tell me who you'd rather have and more importanly, why you could see them coming here to coach under MB. Ideally if Marvin doesn't come back/accept extension, then I'd like Zimmer to take the reigns and keep his coaching focus on defense. I think we're all in agreement at DC, nothing wrong there (one of the few bright spots that we can probably all agree on). So next up OC....Brat sucks. fact. but who is out there who would realistically come to the Bengals???  QB is up next. We're all familiar with the QB struggles over the last decade (ok almost 2 decades) Carson Palmer has been and IMO is a franchise QB.Elite....NO, not anymore, but i'm still comfortable with him as our QB (see last years 6-7 game winning drives)....but alas, who can we replace him with? No one is going to trade us their Franchise QB, so that leaves us with drafting a replacement...track record in that department is 1 for who knows the #? Palmer has been our only successful QB in the past 20 years, but it seems everyone thinks we can just easily draft his replacement...how well has that worked in the past before him??? So, let's hear it, who would the REALISTIC QB of our future be???? 

Lastly, incase that was somewhat of a rant/ramble, I want to conclude with summing up my thoughts on those questions with IMO best case scenario's....feel free to disagree strongly, which i'm sure lots of you will.

Marvin-  gets the power he wants and gets an extension, OR move him to GM, Zimmer to HC.

OC- Fire Brat, who do we bring in? Honestely, I don't have an answer for this....  Maybe Zampese (unproven track record) or possibly bring up a OC from the college ranks (Alabama's style would fit our current personnel scheme, as would Oklahoma's, maybe even Texas Tech's high powered passing game.)

---side note: charlie wies would've been a definate upgrade

Palmer- I'm fine with Palmer if we can get OC taken care of and spend a few draft picks on O-line...too many years of missing on a Franchise QB for me to let Palmer walk just yet....

 

Just for fun- Puff Daddy  recently made it known he wants to own an NFL franchise....would anyone be okay w/him buying the team from the Brown family??? one thing we could count on is accountability- that dudes does not tolerate failure/lack of results

 

Thanks for reading, remember we're all in this together.... WHO-DEY !!!!

 

So since it's Friday I thought we in the Jungle could have a little nickname fun. After all, it's not like we're all going to be working diligently w/the start of camp and all the Bengal news on the magical internet..... So I was thinking that "the big 3" is kind of a lame knickname for Ocho, T.O. and AB (plus the celtics use it and who doesn't hate them right?)  So let's open it up and toss around some knickname possibilities.Not sure why I started w/Spanish themed names but oh well....here are a few to start it off:

tres gatos grandes = three big cats

Los Tres Tigres = the 3 tigers

this would leave out AB, but of course there's the "T.Ocho show"

might be a stretch but "receptores abiertos espantosos" = scary wide recievers

"los reyes de la selva" = kings of the jungle

So nobody is talking about Dez. Where does this leave him? Personally I like “Quasby”, but with the addition of Shipley I’m not sure he still fills a need. I wouldn’t be too upset to see Quan moved to the PS, thus leaving Ocho,AB,Bubba,Shipley, Jones,Simpson, and possibly a 7th WR in Briscoe….Remember the level of talent that Briscoe possesses- caused many folks to believe he’s one of our best draft picks this year especially in regards to the round we took him in. What do you all think ?

Poll

Who would you rather keep?

12%

Quan Cosby aka Quasby

33 votes

42%

Matt Jones

112 votes

31%

Dez Briscoe

83 votes

13%

"Bubba" Caldwell

37 votes

265 votes | Poll has closed