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Cincinnatti Bengals Coaching Staff Key to Bounce Back Year
Published: May 30, 2009
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The Cincinnati Bengals have a group of coaches who have experience working with each other and the organization. Of the 16 assistant coaches on the staff, only two are beginning their second season with the team and more than half the staff has been there as long as coach Marvin Lewis.
This coaching staff witnessed a terrible 2008 season on offense and an encouraging season on defense. The three following coaches will have the largest impact on the 2009 Bengals and their journey to a bounce back year.
Lewis took over the Cincinnati Bengals in 2003 and is now the third longest tenured coach in Bengals history. Lewis is a defense-first coach but his team has never made that their public persona.
Lewis has only made the playoffs once, in 2005 losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round, and has a career record at 46-50-1.
In 2008, the Bengals were awful but there was a bright spot on defense. That unit ranked 12th in the NFL in yards per game and could be better than that in ’09. Lewis’ leadership on the defensive side of the ball could vault a Bengals squad known for lack of defense to a top-ten team.
Lewis began his coaching career at his alma mater, Idaho State where he was the linebackers coach from 1981-84. He spent that decade bouncing around the college ranks until he landed a job with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1992.
After the Steelers, Lewis became the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator in 1996 and held that position through the 2001 season. His defense set the record for points allowed in 2000 while leading them to a Super Bowl victory.
He spent the 2002 season as the assistant head coach/defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins, who ranked fifth in defense that season, before accepting the head coaching job with the Bengals in 2003.
Lewis is considered a great defensive coach and if the Bengals want to rebound from a terrible 2008 season, they will need that reputation to come true.
Continuing with the defensive theme, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer enters his second season with the Bengals and his ninth season as a NFL defensive coordinator.
Zimmer’s defense was much improved last season and is on the verge of being a top-ten unit with the additions they have made in the off season. Zimmer spent six seasons as the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator and coached safety Roy Williams from 2002-06 who was a key free agent pick-up made by Cincinnati in May.
Zimmer can build on youth with second-year linebacker Keith Rivers and the drafting of linebacker Rey Maualuga and defensive end Michael Johnson.
Zimmer joined the Cowboys in 1994 and during that time he coached eight players to a combined 23 pro bowl selections.
He will take his experience coaching the 4-3 defense and apply his accomplished skills to teaching the young linebackers, Maualuga and Rivers, and resurrect the career of Williams. Zimmer is the key to the Bengals defense taking the next step to being a game-changing defense.
On the offensive side of the ball, Paul Alexander is the longest tenured coach on Marvin Lewis’ staff. He has been the offensive line coach for the last 15 seasons and was named assistant head coach the year that Lewis was hired in 2003.
Alexander’s offensive line has had great success while he’s been running the show. They have produced a record-setting game when Corey Dillon rushed for 278-yards in 2000 and have twice set the record for sacks allowed in a season.
In 2005, the line set the the record allowing 21 sacks but then broke their own mark in 2007 with just 17 sacks allowed.
Carson Palmer has been the benefactor from the strong line play. He was the NFL’s fifth-fastest quarterback to reach the 100-touchdown mark and he holds the Bengals franchise record for passing yards in a season and completions. None of these milestones could be reached without a great offensive line.
Even though last season was a disappointment and veteran left tackle, Levi Jones, was released this off season; Alexander inherited Andre Smith as the teams first round pick in last April’s draft.
Smith is expected to anchor the left side of the o-line for years to come and protect Palmer’s blindside as well. Luckily for Smith, there may not be a better coach for him than Alexander.
With Marvin Lewis adjusting his off season approach to gathering talented players on defense his leadership as a defensive-first coach will reign supreme. Coupled with the talents of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer and the Bengals defense is ready to emerge.
On offense the line will be able to regain its previous form and protect Carson Palmer. Palmer will have time to throw and utilize the speed of Laveranues Coles to create the deep threat, expand the defense, and open up running lanes in the second half for Cedric Benson to close games out.
