Why Marvin Lewis Can Smile (while the NFL press freaks out)
August 12, 2008
Marvin Lewis is cool. In fact, in his most recent press conference he was almost giddy despite being peppered with usual questions about difficult Cincinnati’s schedule this season (Cinci must deal with the NFC East and the AFC South), the loss of players due to suspension (Odell Thurman and Chris Henry), and the portent of a defense that might not improve on its 24th-ranked 2007 performance. Additional queries dealt with how the outwardly mild-mannered Lewis plans to get the inconsistent Bengals to a second playoff appearance. And if you listen to the NFL press it is widely felt that Lewis’s player choices and low-key demeanor are responsible for the Bengals off-field woes that are reflected in the team’s lack of consistency.
Though he was hired in 2003 for his reputation as a defensive guru, Lewis’ primary on-field problems are on the defensive side of the ball. Off-field, though, so many Bengals players have run afoul of the law that they have become a sad running joke. Because Lewis has taken his team to the playoffs only once 2005, a 31-17 loss to Pittsburgh - and because Cincinnati players have had so many run-ins with the law, the coach finds himself perceived as being on the chopping block this season.
The primary problem, as it is seen, is that Lewis sacrificed “character” players when the team felt it needed to upgrade its team to match that of elite franchises in the NFL. That sentiment was yet again expressed on ESPN’s NFL Monday Night Countdown before the Cincinnati-Green Bay game. Adding to Lewis’ perceived woes, commentator Mike Ditka, a Hall of Fame tight end and former Super Bowl-winning head coach of the Chicago Bears let it be known that it is Lewis’ fault that the players are not performing on the field.
Normally in situations like these it is said that the bottom line is the players are professionals and must take responsibility for their on and off-field actions. Oddly, the feeling surrounding Lewis is that he is a “good man” but not a good assessor of character and is not firm enough with his players.
There is only one problem with this assessment of Lewis: he does not make the drafting decisions. While it is true that the Bengals do not have a general manager on their staff and have far fewer scouts and player personnel people that do other teams, Lewis is not the de facto GM. The tasks of a general manager are split among nine Bengals management members. The nine are led by the troika of Mike Brown, executive vice president Katie Blackburn and vice president Troy Blackburn. These three are augmented by: senior vice president of player personnel Pete Brown, vice president of player personnel Paul Brown, director of football operations Jim Lippincott, director of player personnel Duke Tobin, scout Greg Seamon, and scouting consultant Bill Tobin.
This novenary not only acts to streamline the usually elaborate scouting systems of other teams, but it also - unintentionally - acts to make it difficult for NFL media types to accurately place blame for the Bengals problems on someone in the Bengals front office. Yet it is a misnomer to say that Lewis is responsible for “sacrificing character” for talent.
Since Paul Brown holds the title of “director of football operations,” it would make sense that the press would point fingers in his direction. However, the myth makers and breakers at ESPN would rather incorrectly single out Lewis than blame a member or members of the legendary Brown family for the Bengals’ problems. While ESPN does its thing, the remainder of the NFL press appears lazy or blind to the configuration of the Cincinnati front office.
But whatever the excuse, the NFL press needs to get off Lewis’ back - or realize why, with a 42-38 win-loss record and only one playoff game appearance, why Lewis remains in good stead with the Bengals management.
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24 Responses to “Why Marvin Lewis Can Smile (while the NFL press freaks out)”
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It is my ferverent hope that the Good Lord Above will save Marvin from this most unfortunate fate and deliver him to a REAL NFL team.
Marvin gets no sympathy from me. He’s been too willing to go along with management when they have demonized Chad Johnson.
Big Man-
I wholeheartedly agree. At the same time the under media scrutiny on Lewis predates what has happened with Johnson. And there is one thing that gnaws at me about his relationship with Lewis. I remember when everything first went down and Lewis made mention little things about Johnson and acts of his in the locker room. Lewis tried to keep shit quiet by Chad just had to run off about the happenings. I wonder if that was the point at which Lewis said ‘I tried to protect him but he wants to screw me? Forget this guy.’
Dwil
I had a different vibe from Lewis. He always seemed to think Johnson was too flamboyant, too loud and too outspoken. I find that funny considering he came from Baltimore where Ray Lewis and Tony Siragusa had outsized personalities, but I guess Lewis felt like those guys earned the right to their attitudes because they had been in the league for a while.
Anyway, I felt like Chad was always Chad. He was always about drawing attention to himself and I don’t think Lewis liked that from the beginning for some reason. So Lewis seemed to take little shots at Chad, which of course the media picked up on which is why the meme about Chad being a distraction got started.
I like Marvin Lewis as a defensive coordinator, but as the Ravens defense has shown in recent years, it does not matter who is the coach of them they always perform.
That’s not saying Lewis is overrated by any means, but the Redskins defense hasn’t exactly been horrible either either before or after his tenure there.
Everyone has known that the problem in Cincinnati has been the frugal Paul Brown situation. I was actually surprised when Carson Palmer signed for as long as he did considering how crappy the conditions are for training campy.
Aside from the Lions, I’d say the Bengals front office is close to the worst in the NFL. Mike Ditka may point a finger at Lewis, but he knows that the ownership in Cincinnati tries to squeeze their pennies.
I’ll have to side with Big Man on this one.
Marvin Lewis is a ‘company man’, pure and simple. Any doubts I had faded away after that instant 180 he did on the Cincinnati police thing. I believe that after not getting a HC job coming off that SB win with the Ravens, Lewis was/is willing to ‘play his position’ to stay a HC.
And I think Marvin had a big part in how this Chad thing went down.
When Lewis was catching heat for his terrible defenses (not all personnel related either) and out of control locker room, it was Chad, NOT Palmer, NOT Willie Anderson, who would defend Lewis and the organization in public.
Let’s not forget that after years of the Carl Pickens and Corey Dillons of the world, in Chad Johnson you have a guy who OPENLY is proud to be a Bengal. Probably the first since Munoz retired. And now the same guy I remember seeing on ‘Real Sports’ sleeping at the Bengals facility, is the only player Marvin Lewis will take a public hard line stance with?
You were willing to keep a guy who supposedly ‘punched’ you and THEN months later got a huge contract extension?
I’m sorry, but again, that’s just company man behavior to me.
I’m with BigMan on this one. I don’t think Chad is Marvin’s type of guy, but Chad is a passionate, hard working player who wants to do great things and who seems to have a rapport with the quarterback. I don’t understand why he can’t make the sh*t work.
Big Man:
I don’t agree with your take on this one. I actually think Marvin was cool with it because he understood that on the field, Chad is a real “G.” He makes plays and he is the type of vocal leader the team does not otherwise have. It’s not Carson Palmer and it’s not Rudi Johnson or TJ Houshmandzadeh or Willie Anderson or anyone else.
The thing which should be GLARING about the Bengals Circle of 9 is how many of these people are related. It appears that 6 of them are related to each other (3 sets of 2 - Blackburns, Tobins, Browns). The Bengals have too many hands in the mix and the team lacks a defensive identity. Marvin Lewis may have accepted decisions to draft some of these players, but it is clear that the Bengals brought in whom they wanted to bring in. This team does not have the defensive imprint of Marvin Lewis. They’re not nasty or even tough. My Steelers routinely pimp slap those bitches all over their own field.
Back in the day, some network did a feature on Chad Johnson coming to the stadium and staying late to watch film and perfect his craft. Marvin spoke glowingly of him and extended rope on several occasions that would not have been extended by other coaches. Further, last night (and I’m sure I’m not the only one who heard this), Carson Palmer admitted to getting sloppy with his execution and effectively regressing as a QB. Now, I see him at least 3 or 4 times a year. He didn’t need to tell me. I saw it. We laughed about his ass at the bar last year.
ESPN blinked. Suzy didn’t say a word about that confession. In fact, the TV crew used a split screen of Chad to suggest (with Suzy) that Chad might have been a distraction. Meanwhile, Chad Johnson continues to run excellent routes, review tape of himself and opponents to perfect his game. He runs over the middle. He runs deep routes, ins, outs, curls, and everything else with the precision of a dancer. Chad’s game didn’t slip…but Ron Jaworski said it did. We’ve already established that that mediocre muhphukka does NOT know what he’s talking about…so much so that he NEVER once used his many hours of spotlights on QBs to focus on Palmer’s regression.
How did the great Ron Jaworski miss the sloppy play of one of the game’s elite QBs? He wasn’t looking. He was busy blaming Chad and being a bitch. Chad Johnson is the best player the Bengals have had in decades — if shit settles down, he might go down as the best since Munoz…that is partly up to Carson Palmer and Marvin Lewis and the Circle of 9.
The Bengals, however, are a profoundly cheap group of quasi-rural Queen City plantation owners who always get what they pay for. Marvin Lewis took the job because the pieces in play are uniquely attractive, but his hands have been tied. It only makes matters worse that teams in his division have recent Super Bowl wins and teams which used to be in that War Zone (Tennessee and Jacksonville) have also enjoyed recent success.
At the risk of being perceived as somewhat less than the TOTAL BENGAL HATER that I am, I have to say that if the Bengals had some luck with David Pollack (health), Ahmad Brooks and AJ Nicholson, this would be a moot point because those 3 would have kicked the living shit out of most of their opponents over the past few years.
I like Marvin. I like Chad. They can make it work, but those two needn’t have an adversarial relationship when they’re both part of the solution, not the problem.
Damn Sweet, I wish I’d read your post before I got started…woulda been a whole heap of Ditto this and Ditto that!! Big up, bruh!!
Temple,
So you know about Ron Jaworski and his “Aikmanitis”. That is to say if the qb threw the ball into the upper deck of the stadium, the receiver “ran the wrong route.”
awb:
No doubt. It’s all part of the PRP - the Psychopathic Racial Personality…because that love of QBs doesn’t extend across the Great Divide. Jaworski is pathetic. CJ had a career high in yards, a 200 yard game last year, a 3TD game, and a season of watching Carson lock in on TJ in the Red Zone — and Jaws still blames CJ even after Carson admitted getting sloppy. That’s the disease. Unfortunately, the only known cures are labotomies, incarceration (lifetime), and murder.
As a Steeler fan, I would like to see Chad Johnson trampled by a herd of buffalo.
That is all.
lol
As a Lions’ fan, I would just like to see my team make the playoffs this millenium…
before they trade Roy Williams to the Cowboys for a roll of quarters and a 4th round draft pick
Hmmm
Didn’t know that (Bengals front office power structure), his non chopping block status makes sense now.
smh @ Espn
“Adding to Lewis’ perceived woes, commentator Mike Ditka, a Hall of Fame tight end and former Super Bowl-winning head coach of the Chicago Bears let it be known that it is Lewis’ fault that the players are not performing on the field.”
This same Mike Ditka that’s one of the worst coaches to ever win the super bowl, prefering a flext defense to Buddy Ryan’s famed “46″? The same Ditka who had more personnel authority in New Orleans than Lewis has in Cincinnati and still couldn’t win more than 6 games in a season? Marvin’s at least got a winning record in an environment where others have failed miserably (Dave Shula, Bruce Coslet, Dick Jauron) for like a decade-and-a-half.
As for the player misdeeds, even on a MNF broadcast last season, the crew pointed out that historically Mike Brown took on players with checkered pasts just to use these incidents as leverage in contract negotiations. Makes sense since he’s one of the cheapest owners in the league (hello Dr. York), if not the cheapest.
And on that last note, if things don’t work out in Cincinnati, hopefully he’ll come and coach the 49ers. Nolan doesn’t have any off-field scandals to deal with, but he’s the worst game-coach, but hey, a good ol’ boy that i’m sure Ditka and the NFL old boys prefer.
Even though I’m a big-time Eagles fan, I still have to say that Jaworski did take Palmer to task last night for his regression. Tirico asked him did he still consider Palmer an elite QB and he said because of his sloppy play last year that he lost that status. He didn’t pile on him but he did clearly state Palmer had slipped.
My question was what had Palmer done to earn elite status as an NFL QB anyway except throw a pretty ball?
@Mike: Nolan is a freakin’ prick and if he didn’t look good in a suit and his father hadn’t coached the team the Niners would have fired him a long time ago. Still trying to figure how this guy still has a damn job. Go coach Santa Clara or San Jose State and et out of the league.
To HarveyDent
Re: Nolan
Word
It should be noted that Chris Henry, a player in whom just a month ago Marvin Lewis was publicly stating that he was”not interested” , is now the subject of internal discussions within the Bengals about possibly returning.
Adam Schefter report here: http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d809f6747
Lewis consistently allows this organization to humiliate him in public. Like I said: Company Man, through and through.
Temple3,
Thanks. Your post nailed it too.
Great points sweet and temple.
Yeap that dude lewis is a straight up and down company man.
The WWL is reporting that the Bengals are about to resign Chris Henry. And these two articles are classic examples are the ‘Pacman-ing’ of Black Athletes.
On July 23, ESPN says:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3500922
————————————————-
Lewis said it won’t be with the Bengals.
“I’m not interested,” Lewis told reporters Tuesday, before the team’s annual preseason luncheon. “I don’t think it would be productive for our football team. You have to be a productive part to be an NFL player, and there’s responsibilities to being an NFL player. It’s a privilege, it’s not a right. There’s a lot that comes with being an NFL football player.”
**SNIP**
The Bengals weren’t pleased with his performance on the field after he returned, but were prepared to give him a chance to keep his roster spot. They released him after he was accused of punching a University of Cincinnati student and breaking his car window with a beer bottle in April.
————————————-
You see, Chris Henry was not only a bad guy, but also wasn’t ‘performing on the field’. Apparently, his roster spot was in trouble.
Well my, my, my, have things have changed. Apparently, the Bengals actually NEED Henry (from today):
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3541693
——————————————————–
But the Bengals had shown interest in Henry since the charges were dropped. There was a feeling in Cincinnati that the team may have overreacted in cutting its former third-round draft pick before the judicial system ran its course.
The Bengals have struggled in the past when Henry was not on the field. Last season the team was 2-6 while Henry served an eight-game suspension and 5-3 during the second half of the season with Henry in the lineup.
—————————————————
In a 4 week period, Chris Henry has gone from a non-performing punk to a guy whose a critical piece of the offense and whose release was an ‘overreaction’ .
SMH at all of this. And Marvin “I’m not interested” Lewis just got punked by the Bengals again.
Company man, through and through.
Correction: Should say “who’s” instead of “whose”
Also, the ‘Pacman-ing’ phrase was in reference to MODI stellar ‘PacMan as Black Man” work.