dex Posted January 7 Report Posted January 7 Paul Dehner - The Athletic: Zac Taylor made the decision he felt necessary on Monday. In the wake of 9-8 and what he dubbed the “sickening” reality that too many close losses early in the season cost the playoffs despite a magical season from Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, he fired defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. This wasn’t just a line on the transaction wire like many moves can be this time of year. Advertisement This was Anarumo, his first major hire, The Mad Scientist, Loudini, creator of game plans that helped propel the Bengals to the Super Bowl. Six years together in Cincinnati, on top of four years together in Miami. One of his closest confidants and as central a figure in this franchise renaissance as any person not named Burrow. GO DEEPER What forced the Bengals to part ways with DC Lou Anarumo, O-line coach Frank Pollack Somebody had to take the fall. This had to happen after the disastrous two years for his defense. Throwing in three more position coaches only symbolized the failure of the season. Just because one firing happens, however, doesn’t mean the heat lets up. It merely moves. In this case, it’s now directly on the head coach’s chair. You only get to fire a coordinator and blow out the staff once, as Taylor did Monday. After that, the pressure lives squarely on his shoulders. If missing the postseason with Burrow as quarterback demands consequences, missing it again next year could mean a different voice discussing those consequences. Mike Brown, Duke Tobin and the family ownership believe in patience probably more than any in the NFL, but when it comes to watching MVP-level seasons by Burrow go to waste, patience disappears fast. “I feel urgency every single day,” Taylor said. “I’m not lying to you. Pressure’s not the word. You can’t do this job if you’re going to succumb to pressure, I just make the decisions I feel like I need to make. Not because of any pressure I feel. These are the decisions I feel l have to make because I’m the head coach of this football team and the expectations we have.” Taylor has enjoyed the support of ownership still believing in his vision and it’s difficult to deny the largest problem this season was on the defensive side of the ball. If the Bengals defense ranked even 20th instead of 26th in points allowed per drive, that might have been enough to win the division and host a playoff game or two, then who knows? He’s the playcaller for an offense that enjoyed one of the best seasons in franchise history. There’s belief in a culture that never quit to the point they ripped off five in a row to keep hope alive at the close of a seemingly dead season. Maybe more important than all that, he has Burrow’s full support. Advertisement “Our relationship is as good as it’s been,” Burrow said Saturday. “We’ve had some tough conversations. We’ve had good conversations and everything in between. That’s what playing football in the NFL is all about is having conversations to try to improve your team, yourself and everything.” All that holds real weight — for now. Perhaps no day serves as a better reminder about how fast things can change than Monday. Two years ago, Anarumo was on track to land a job as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. He was one of the hottest candidates in the coaching cycle. He fell one spot short and two years later he’s looking for work. That’s the NFL. There are only six head coaches with more years with the current team than Taylor (two in the AFC North). No quarterback-coach combination has ever won their first Super Bowl after five years together. Burrow and Taylor will be going on year 6 in 2025. The urgency to win and seat temperature have never been higher. More than that, they need to win fast. Taylor can’t afford yet another slow start by his team. Digging out of holes in November and December has become his calling card. They played with fire in 2021 and 2022. In 2024, they got burned. GO DEEPER Bengals defensive coordinator search: Who we're hearing as possible candidates Taylor takes the offseason program notoriously easy on players, at times not even using all of the minimal practice time allotted by the league. He’s barely played starters in the preseason and, largely due to injury, opted not to play Burrow in the preseason. He believes in taking care of players so they are freshest late in the year and that decision paid off creating a team that played its best late in the year each of the last four seasons. He’s also 1-11 the first two weeks of the season as a head coach. This year’s loss to the Patriots in Week 1 might be the most egregious — and costly — of all. Advertisement He says he’s open to changing the ways they operate and must be because even his leaders see the need for a different energy in September. “Man, I think it is more mentality than anything,” left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. said. “It’s hard to win. It’s hard to win in life. It’s hard to put yourself in good position. It’s hard to really understand all those things. Sometimes at the highest levels of football, you got to get used to and comfortable pushing yourself to the limit of what it takes to win. These last two years mentally we have been in that state of mind where our backs are against the wall in December and November and we have to fight for a chance to get where we want to get. The mindset, the fire that’s lit underneath your ass at that point needs to be there in July, June, August, all the way through.” When Taylor starts analyzing adjustments to his performance, he must find ways to light that fire. Bengals record by month since 2021 Month Record September 7-8 October 9-7 November 7-6 December 13-5 January/February 9-3 Total 45-29 “We’re going to work like hell to make sure that we start the season the right way to put ourselves in a great position to finish like we did, because there’s a lot of positives there with the way we finished, and it’s sickening that we’re not in the playoffs with an opportunity to keep this thing going, because we finally found a lot of momentum,” Taylor said. “And so it’s just on us as a whole to finish games off earlier in the season, and it’s on me as head coach to make sure we come out of the offseason, we come out of training camp and we’re ready to hit the ground running from Game 1.” He’ll be looking to hit the ground running with a new defensive coordinator. That could be the exact energy this young defense needs. Plenty of successful teams have felt it. Seven of the 14 teams that made the playoffs this year hired a new defensive coordinator this time last year (Bills, Ravens, Chargers, Eagles, Commanders, Packers and Rams). GO DEEPER Is Joe Burrow on the Carson Palmer frustration train, or is this a temporary setback? If the Bengals are on that list next season, all will be well. Taylor will return this team to the spot where Burrow belongs and Taylor experienced immense success. Remember, he already owns as many playoff victories as all nine head coaches who came before him in Cincinnati. Only, many of those wins came partially due to the game-planning acumen of Anarumo he’ll now try to replace. That’s why it was a decision he says he didn’t take lightly. “Just felt like we needed a change,” he said. Taylor said he is in lockstep with Brown on that decision. “We’re all on the same page,” Taylor said. “We want to win.” Now, more than ever, all eyes stare directly back at Taylor to make sure they do. 1 Quote
-GoBengals- Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 word on the streets is the front office wanted lou to lean on the young players to get them reps and ramped up, instead leaned on the vets he trusted and were smarter in the system, and he pushed back on it and it blew up in his face and cost him his job. whether they felt younger guys would ahve been better than the aged vets early and won a few extra games or if theyd ahve been ramped up faster and won a few extra games in the middle/late season range im not sure.. but they feel games were lost relying on old slower players he trusted in the system more than developing the young talent they had. the defense will be better next season regardless, we wont have that pile of injuries, everyone but Dax will be healthy and 100% ready, dax will take 8-12 weeks to get back in football shape and trust on the knee if past guys tells us anything with the same injury at that position. and i assume some new talent is going to be added.. so regardless should be a middle range scoring defense. I just figured theyd also been middle range with loud and the same personnel changes happening, but seems his stubbornness? cost him his job perhaps. 2 Quote
KA14_HOF Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 Middle-range scoring defense will do quite nicely with this offense. Quote
T-Dub Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 Can't assume this year's offense is next year's offense, but the defense will almost certainly improve. Whether it's enough, who can say? Quote
-GoBengals- Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 40 minutes ago, KA14_HOF said: Middle-range scoring defense will do quite nicely with this offense. Yea we would have been like 13-4 with a mid range scoring defense. concerned that Geisecki may be gone, like he may leave for like 500k more money type gone, he was interviewed after the season and was asked what all goes into deciding where to play next year, he gushed over Joe and th eoffense but said something along the lines of "i have some money to make up for so its hard to tell" referring to him saying he was a top end highest paid franchised TE type guy in Miami then the offense changed and sucked and patriots sucked and it SEEMS like he feels he is due top end money, and thinks he can get it.. in his 7 year career he has only made $25 million, 11 of it in one franchise tag season with Miami. I hope the market is dry for him, but it wouldnt take much for someone to offer up 7-8mil aseason for him and it sounds like he would gladly take it over preferring to be here. its underrated how well Mike slid into Tees role and routes with no notice a few times this season. losing him would be a hit to the team. unless tee is here and healthy all season. 8 minutes ago, T-Dub said: Can't assume this year's offense is next year's offense, but the defense will almost certainly improve. Whether it's enough, who can say? even a lesser offense but more consistent over the season would have gained many wins as well. I keep thinking of it like money ball, how do we buy wins, when i look at what next year would bring, if Tee and Chase are under contract we win vs the patriots by a landslide, thats 10-7, KC, how to quantify that one? better line we convert a late first down dont punt? better DB we dont get PI call? or chalk it up to KC did that 10 times this season so it is what it is? stil l10-7 them, commanders, need one stop, a corner? healthy DT's or healthy hubbard get to Daniles just ONCE on a 3rd down? 5 point game where that get a 40 yard TD pass on 4th down. imrpove any level of defense and thats likely a win, 11-6, both ravens losses? a FG made, a pick to Chase who got cut off, and youre 12-5, call the other a loss still but the same shit applies to it. one stop and dont lose by 1. youd be 13-4 this is all silly nonsense of course, but early even consistent defense and guys on the field you can look at it and think 3-4 win variance is there. but what NEW problems occur? joe get hurt? chase miss games? Trey get hurt? anything can happen, and shit usually does.. so i dont expect perfect healthy seasons or games.. but where can you spend and most easily buy the most likely chance at gaining wins? 2 Quote
sparky151 Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 The best value for money for the Bengals this offseason will be hiring good replacement coaches for the departed. Pay up for a top DC and O-line coach. But they're not on the cap which is funded by the league. Paying coaches more comes out of the family's pockets. 1 Quote
-GoBengals- Posted January 10 Report Posted January 10 On 1/8/2025 at 4:34 PM, sparky151 said: The best value for money for the Bengals this offseason will be hiring good replacement coaches for the departed. Pay up for a top DC and O-line coach. But they're not on the cap which is funded by the league. Paying coaches more comes out of the family's pockets. not really, revenue share has little or nothing to do with the cap per se, the revenue shared is X amount, its not for the cap or anything specific, and the revenue shared covers well over every salary in the building. Last year the revenue share was $404 million, cap was like 266million. the only spending limit you have is you arent going to pay a coordinator more than the HC, and the HC makes 4.5 mil. So your cap is probably 3.5mil to spend on a DC. Which is plenty, i think there are only 4-5 DC's in history that made in that range. Sagnuolo is at 3.5, Fangio made 4.5, zimmer for dallas had made 4mil. the league average is around 1 million. and Lou was making more than that. Quote
Le Tigre Posted January 10 Report Posted January 10 On 1/8/2025 at 4:54 PM, GoBengals said: its underrated how well Mike slid into Tees role and routes with no notice a few times this season. losing him would be a hit to the team. unless tee is here and healthy all season. People will say “well All will be back”. Not so sure about that, with two shredded knees in 2 years. i suppose they can stab back at the draft again…but Mike was a great pick up. No reason why they can’t scrape together that 8 mil he might take. Quote
-GoBengals- Posted January 10 Report Posted January 10 5 minutes ago, Le Tigre said: People will say “well All will be back”. Not so sure about that, with two shredded knees in 2 years. i suppose they can stab back at the draft again…but Mike was a great pick up. No reason why they can’t scrape together that 8 mil he might take. they could pay him, draft is pointless unless youre going top 2 rounds IMO, All if back will be a shell of himself even if he can recover, until mid-late season. So no hope there of course with the weapons we have, throwing to any random TE isnt the end of the world. but god damn Mike was a utility knife that fire great. Heres to hoping the market for him is dry 3 Quote
sparky151 Posted January 10 Report Posted January 10 19 hours ago, GoBengals said: not really, revenue share has little or nothing to do with the cap per se, the revenue shared is X amount, its not for the cap or anything specific, and the revenue shared covers well over every salary in the building. Last year the revenue share was $404 million, cap was like 266million. the only spending limit you have is you arent going to pay a coordinator more than the HC, and the HC makes 4.5 mil. So your cap is probably 3.5mil to spend on a DC. Which is plenty, i think there are only 4-5 DC's in history that made in that range. Sagnuolo is at 3.5, Fangio made 4.5, zimmer for dallas had made 4mil. the league average is around 1 million. and Lou was making more than that. You make my point for me. NFL teams are contractually obligated to pay players according to the CBA. Other expenses are optional for the owners and the Bengals don't spend freely on coaches. The Bengal coaches make considerably less than other NFL staffs or the Ohio State staff. It's pennywise and pound foolish as winning more games, especially in the playoffs would be well worth the extra few millions they save by going cheap. 19 hours ago, GoBengals said: they could pay him, draft is pointless unless youre going top 2 rounds IMO, All if back will be a shell of himself even if he can recover, until mid-late season. So no hope there of course with the weapons we have, throwing to any random TE isnt the end of the world. but god damn Mike was a utility knife that fire great. Heres to hoping the market for him is dry The market for Gesicki won't be dry. He took a cheap deal for 2024 to show he could be a good receiving TE when paired with a legit QB. He did that and will get decent offers. The Bengals should extend him but he'll probably cost 2-3 times what he made in 2024. Quote
-GoBengals- Posted January 10 Report Posted January 10 2 hours ago, sparky151 said: You make my point for me. NFL teams are contractually obligated to pay players according to the CBA. Other expenses are optional for the owners and the Bengals don't spend freely on coaches. The Bengal coaches make considerably less than other NFL staffs or the Ohio State staff. It's pennywise and pound foolish as winning more games, especially in the playoffs would be well worth the extra few millions they save by going cheap. The market for Gesicki won't be dry. He took a cheap deal for 2024 to show he could be a good receiving TE when paired with a legit QB. He did that and will get decent offers. The Bengals should extend him but he'll probably cost 2-3 times what he made in 2024. maybe we both have a point on the first one here... "out of their pocket" is maybe exaggerated, as its all covered. but sure if they DONT spend it they can use it elsewhere.. but nothing has indicated they underpay coaches or anything. like stefansky makes a mil ayear less than taylor, mcarthy in dallas makes less than taylor, Saleh even in a market like NY made 500k more than taylor. I think Lefluer in GB also makes 5mil, and thats with zach on a 3 year old "going rate" from 2022 extension, id imagine he would be in the 6-6.5 range if he gets another extension. so i just iamgine they use the funds how they would either way, pay a fair market rate for what they are getting. tends to be their MO for a long time. As for Mike. It wont be dry, youre right, does he draw the line anywhere? like if the Bengals are offering 5.5 a year, and a jets are offering 6.5 a year, is he going there, with higher taxes higher cost of living, what if its NY for 7.5? wonder where his breaking point is.. he def said he loved it here and joe is the best, but he made a point to mention he has money to make up.. whats the dollar amount he is will to go be on a terrible team for? he turns 30 this next season, so depending the length of the deal, it could be his last. 1 Quote
sparky151 Posted January 11 Report Posted January 11 What's your source for NFL coaching salaries? I doubt Stephansky makes less than Taylor as he's been NFL coach of the year twice. Or Saleh in NYC or McCarthy in Dallas. Quote
saphead Posted January 11 Report Posted January 11 I would guess there will be more pressure on ZT to win the opener than to win another playoff game. Quote
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