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Chick Ludwig covers the Cincinnati Bengals. He also writes about his other passions: college football, basketball and golf.Home > Blogs > Chick Ludwig At Large > Archives > 2008 > May > 01 > Entry
Method to Marvin Lewis’ madness
PATIENTLY WAITING FOR FRUITS OF THE 2008 DRAFT
I’m looking forward to seeing seven players at the Cincinnati Bengals minicamp, which unfolds Friday through Sunday, May 2-4, at Paul Brown Stadium.
They are linebacker Keith Rivers, defensive tackles Pat Sims and Jason Shirley, and free safety Corey Lynch, plus the wide receiver triumvirate of Jerome Simpson, Andre Caldwell and Mario Urrutia,
The Bengals did a good job of addressing the perimeter of their defense the past two years with first-round cornerbacks Johnathan Joseph (2006) and Leon Hall (2007), and the 2008 free-agent acquisition of defensive end Antwan Odom.
But they needed to improve their defense up the middle, front to back, and they did just that in draft. What good is a middle linebacker if he’s not protected by a couple of monster DTs? Rivers gets the protection he needs in Sims and Shirley, and he gets support behind him in the ball-hawking Lynch.
Head coach Marvin Lewis won a Super Bowl ring as defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens with DTs Sam Adams (in his prime) and Tony Siragusa, plus a middle linebacker named Ray Lewis.
Finally, in his sixth season as Bengals head coach, there is more strength up the middle. Whether or not it translates into another Super Bowl ring for Lewis before his contract runs out after the 2010 season remains to be seen.
But I am encouraged that the Bengals’ D can become a top-15 unit, not a bottom feeder.
What does it mean to have three more competent receivers in the offensive arsenal?
Of course, the trio will help the passing game. More importantly, the trio will ignite THE RUNNING GAME!!!
How?
By spreading the field. That’s how.
Opposing defenses won’t be able to crowd the line of scrimmage with “eight in the box” and tackle tailback Rudi Johnson 4 yards deep in the backfield.
Spreading the field with three and four wideouts will create running lanes for Rudi, Kenny Watson, Chris Perry and DeDe Dorsey.
By running the ball better from a spread formation, the Bengals will be able to throw the ball better, too.
One hand washes the other.
Contact Chick Ludwig at cludwig@daytondailynews.com
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Bengals
Comments
By Mike
May 1, 2008 12:59 PM | Link to this
Chickster, we’ve had three nasty WRs the past couple of years and our running game still struggled. I fail to see how replacing Henry and Chad with these guys will help the running game by spreading them out. We’ve done that. I imagine Caldwell and Simpson will be better blockers, which is good but spreading the WRs out hasn’t helped us too much in the past with below average running backs.By Doco
May 1, 2008 1:24 PM | Link to this
Chick, I have to agree with Mike. Are any combination of these new WRs going to demand more attention than Chad, TJ, and Henry did last year? Also, this Corey Lynch who blocked the FG against Michigan, didn’t he get caught from behind by the KICKER on the same play? How can he be fast enough to play secondary in the NFL?By Old Scratch
May 1, 2008 2:00 PM | Link to this
Yawn! The only thing that could ignite the Bengals running game is if they have blue flames shooting out their butts!By JN
May 1, 2008 2:08 PM | Link to this
Mike and Doco are on it, and Chick is off. Drafting WRs is not going to help; but what may, I hope, help is the signing of TE Utecht. Having a legitimate pass-catching threat at TE can force the LB’s to play stay home and play coverage, not crowd the line where they fill gaps and tackle the RB. Hopefully gone are the days of having the TE be a glorified mini-tackle (and part time FB!?!?) - where teams knew if they were in the game, we were running the ball (same as 90% of the time when TJ goes in motion towards the formation, whats up with that?).By No OT
May 1, 2008 2:16 PM | Link to this
Chick, Looks like your were wrong about taking a OT at #9. ;)By Neut
May 1, 2008 2:23 PM | Link to this
Slow news day Chick?By Neut
May 1, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this
Slow news day Chick?By Tim
May 2, 2008 7:46 AM | Link to this
Lighten up on Chick. Is anyone really counting Henry’s impact last year. If so, don’t … he had no impact. Having 2 new WRs that can get vertical will help the running game, cuz teams will have to worry about more than just 15 yards past line of scrimmage.By gerry
May 2, 2008 9:24 AM | Link to this
whats going on with kenny irons,is he going to be back?