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Marvin Lewis says looking to expand Carl Lawson’s role into LB, Eifert's health, run game change and Ross not in doghouse

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Lewis transforming Xs and Os: 'We have to. We weren't good enough'

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Carl Lawson is involved in defensive changes.

ORLANDO, Fla. _ Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis showed up at Tuesday’s media breakfast and casually took his nameplate centerpiece out of view. For a better view of the table? Or so the media couldn’t find him?

“Both,” said Lewis with the chuckle that sounds like it’s going to be the only thing that’s about the same in his 16th season at Paul Brown Stadium. All signs continue to point to the Bengals’ biggest scheme overhaul on both sides of the ball since Forrest Gregg became head coach at the dawn of the 1980s.

“We need a different team. We weren’t good enough,” Lewis of the 7-9 slog marked by three blown fourth-quarter leads. “We need to be better. We had to improve. One way or the other. Better players, better coaches, better coaching. That’s what we have to be. We weren’t good enough. That’s why I’m here.”

The offensive coup had been expected with the change in line coaches and quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor becoming offensive coordinator in his own right. But on Tuesday Lewis indicated new defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is doing more than tweaking the Mike Zimmer-Paul Guenther scheme that has held sway at PBS since 2008.

One way he knows is because Lewis’ son, Marcus, is on the defensive staff as he makes a transition of his own from assistant line coach to assistant linebackers coach.

“Marcus is mad at me because everything is new. He’s doing lot of drawings,” Lewis said. “It will be different. We’re going to be different. We have to get better. We need to get better on third down. We need to get better closing people out at the end of games. We weren’t good enough. We lost games we were ahead in the fourth quarter. We can’t do that.”

“They need the challenge,” said Lewis when asked about his players trying to adjust after a career in one system. “It’s part of being a player in the National Football League.”

Some of those changes involve making Carl Lawson more prominent at linebacker after a rookie season he primarily rushed from the edge racking up 8.5 sacks. The idea seems to be not to cut down Lawson’s rush chances, but to have him rush from different spots a la Peter Boulware, Lewis’ SAM backer/edge rusher in Baltimore 20  years ago that racked up 70 sacks in 126 career games while logging five seasons of at least 8.5 sacks.

“I think in Teryl’s vision, he sees the opportunity to utilize Carl more in the base defense than what we did with Paul,” Lewis said. “It goes back to where I was in Baltimore. Those are the things we feel good about. That involves Carl’s abilities in the base defense.”

Lewis is also looking for Austin, a former secondary coach for three Super Bowl teams, and new cornerbacks coach Daronte Jones to revitalize the play of the corners with help from more pressure looks.

“We’ve got some corners that have a lot of talent and ability. We have to do a better job of utilizing their abilities as well,” Lewis said.  “We can do more (press man coverage). We have to apply pressure and we have guys who can do that and we have guys on the back end that ought to be able to cover and give us that opportunity. “

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Bill Lazor has a varied resume ranging from old schoolers Joe Gibbs and Dan Reaves to fast-breaking Chip Kelly.

Offensively, Lewis oversaw a massive shift in offense in 2011 when Jay Gruden installed the West Coast offense that replaced long-time coordinator Bob Bratkowski’s Don Coryell look. Lazor has a background in both with a varied resume stretching from old schoolers Joe Gibbs and Dan Reaves to fast-breaking Chip Kelly and appears to be using elements of all.  

“You want to make things where the players understand it and it’s easy to present and teach the players,” Lewis said. “We have a focus from within on how we do things in the running game. So that will be a positive revision for us. Internally it will be just as much (change) as (when Gruden came in). It’s a positive from that standpoint.”

If there had been a fear of more-of-the-same-mediocrity when Lewis returned in stunning fashion to sign a two-year deal right after two seasons at 13-18-1, he says the new coaching staff has immersed PBS in a different, exciting chapter. It’s not every offseason you see coaches holding walk-throughs weeks before the players show up.

“When we kick off on April 16 (with off-season workouts), you have a new air. You have a lot of change. Evolution of things. New feel, new ideas, new offense, new defense, new people,” Lewis said. “Great energy. The coaching staff we put together are great teachers and experts at their field. I’m excited about that.

“The way they have gone about the offseason and leading up to how we kick off, the installation of the playbooks. Offense and defense on paper, taking the time to walk through things in the gym as a coaching staff, offensive staff, defensive staff so everybody is on the same page. The way things will be delivered and presented is important.”

 

 

 

 

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Lewis-transforming-Xs-and-Os-We-have-to-We-werent-good-enough-/e3960b25-33d6-4c0d-a8a3-9ba44f496005

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