I grew up with the Paul Brown-led Cincinnati Bengals, the greatest teacher the NFL has ever known. The Bengals of the 1970s had players like Ken Anderson, Tommy Casanova, Bill Bergey, Al Beauchamp, Ken Riley and later Anthony Munoz, Tim Krumrie and Boomer Esiason. All of them had the great combination of talent, character and intelligence. The criticism of the 2-14 2002 Bengals (coached by Dick LeBeau) was that they had character and intelligence but not enough talent. They drafted talent but not enough character and football IQ. Now – following a 4-12 season with lots of questions about the future – it’s time to reassess and come up with a comprehensive football operations plan to put the Bengals on the right path.

No matter the criticism of ownership (some of it very legitimate) or how bad it gets, I believe the Cincinnati Bengals will someday compete year-in and year-out for an NFL championship with the right short-term and long-term plan. Do it the right way, and you wind up like the New England Patriots, the premiere organization in the NFL. That’s what they should aspire to. I’ve had the true privilege and benefit of watching the team work at different levels up close – or at least as close as you can without having Robert Kraft sign the paycheck.

If Mike Brown and his daughter, Katie, asked, here’s what I’d do:

1. Hire a true GM and a coach. Don’t laugh but this could be Marvin Lewis. Lewis is a tremendous evaluator of talent, much in the fold of Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore. There’s a reason Lewis is greatly respected around the NFL by people like Bill Belichick (who is for all intents and purposes GM/HC of the Patriots). If you’re Mike Brown, you have to start with the front office and the coaching staff. If you decide that Lewis is a good man and the right coach you’re most comfortable with – which I think is the case and that matters a lot to Brown – then bring him back for another year. Marvin has had to do way too much baby-sitting in the last four years, robbing him of on-field focus.

2. All about operations. If you bring back Lewis (and as I type this, NFL Network’s Steve Wyche reports and the Bengals later confirmed that Mike Brown has done just that) then that means you’ve decided to agree – to some degree – to his conditions of reworking the front office and facilities. While much has been made of the need of a true GM – like Mike Holgrem in Cleveland and Newsome in Baltimore – the Bengals desperately need to invest in their personnel/football ops departments even more. They need more people who can dedicate themselves to football research, including remote college, area and pro scouts who can offer constant input. Jim Lippincott is a terrific football man but he needs help like every other NFL Super Bowl-contending franchise has.

3. Decide Carson Palmer’s future. There is an out clause in his contract – which the Browns smartly wrote in – that allows them to move in a different direction if the wheels fell off. There are obviously those who think that’s what happened this year but upon further review, it is the opinion of this close observer that Palmer was distracted by receivers who made demands on him and he was not allowed to be the true leader of the offense. With Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco gone, Palmer can now work with the future skill stars of the offense in speedy Jerome Simpson, a solid slot receiver in Jordan Shipley (a bigger Wes Welker) and Jermaine Gresham (the best rookie tight end this side of Rob Gronkowski).

4. Bring in Josh McDaniels as your offensive coordinator. This serves a number of purposes. You need a new ‘voice’ and ‘direction’ from Bob Bratkowski for the offense. Josh McDaniels has clearly established himself as one of the best young coaches in the NFL who has worked with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady for several successful years. He has the cache to rework Carson Palmer‘s approach, vision, thinking, etc. Palmer’s biggest problem this season – without question – was forcing the ball into small spaces in coverage. His vision seemed to completely disappear or become VERY narrow. Examples… Tampa Bay, at Pittsburgh, at Baltimore, at Indy, etc. McDaniels would point this out and would be the PERFECT fit for the need the Bengals have. Also, Cedric Benson has proved himself a stud running back in the last two years. He’s 28 with lots left in the tank. Keep him and Bernard Scott.

5. Draft to needs, not best player. Get yourself an impact player with the 4th pick. Early consensus is DB Patrick Peterson of LSU. The Bengals have never been a team to move down and with prime position this season, there’s no reason to start now. With a rookie salary cap looming as part of a new CBA, signing a top-5 pick won’t be nearly the detriment to the Brown family as it has in the past. The Bengals are loaded with young talent. This is a great chance to add to it. Get a guy like Florida’s Mike Pouncey (brother of Pittsburgh Maurkice) as center and then steal a QB in fourth or fifth round. I am VERY HIGH on Greg McElroy. Traditional NFL-system pocket passer, very solid front-foot mechanics and has played in winning system at Bama. He is very, very bright and considered a strong character-type. I see him as a Ken Anderson-type only at a huge program.

6. Bridge QB. Get a good back-up to Palmer to bridge the present to the future. If you don’t bring back Palmer, you need someone to step in and win now. They did that with Jon Kitna in 2003 and it worked out very well early on for Palmer, long before the Bengals became a reality show and before Kimo VonOelhoffen hit his knee in Jan. 2005 and his elbow was banged in Dallas in 2008. Whether or not you bring Palmer back, you need a legit starting QB with experience and no disrespect to Carson’s brother Jordan and his runpee.com website won’t cut it. There are several options out there Alex Smith could be one. They had one in Ryan Fitzpatrick. Only one start in the books but Matt Flynn could be one. Actually, Jon Kitna could be brought back again. That wouldn’t be all bad.

7. Need to raise the on-field leadership of the D. They are clearly a very, very talented and deep group. They have a great coordinator in Mike Zimmer under contract who’s not going anywhere. However, they need what Romeo Crennel had with the Patriots in their back-to-back Super Bowl title years of 2003-04. Richard Seymour, Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel and Rodney Harrison. They were much more than talented players. They were leaders on the field who directed and corrected. That’s what the Bengals could really, really use to reach the next level. That’s exactly what the Steelers have in Troy Palomalu and the Ravens have in Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata.

8. Draft or sign rookie free agent as an energy player. My personal favorite here is Matt Szczur of Villanova. Full disclosure – I am a Villanova ’88 grad but anyone who has watched Szczur on the Main Line of Philadelphia knows this kid can do it all. He’s the best NFL prospect to come out of Villanova since Brian Westbrook and Nova has produced NFL players like Ray Ventrone who played a key special teams role on the perfect regular season of the Patriots in 2007. His brother Ross (Villanova ’10) is on the Pats’ practice squad. Szczur is quick, tough and a bone marrow donor to a girl within the past year so that answers that character question. He has been drafted by the Cubs in MLB which speaks to his pure athleticism. Hearing he really wants to play in the NFL and he would be a perfect fit for a team like the Bengals. The Patriots have done a phenomenal job with this as they have 21 undrafted players on their roster. They’re 14-2. That worked out pretty good.

9. Get back to being a football team, not a reality show. With T-O and Ocho likely on their way out, this should be a pretty easy task. While it’s great that everyone was talking about the Bengals in the last two seasons because of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” in 2009 and Ocho’s and TO’s reality shows, it eventually became a focus. This was completely out of Lewis’ hands. The team committed WAYYY too many penalties that pointed to a lack of discipline and focus. They were among the league leaders in false starts and illegal formations – completely avoidable mistakes if you’re a focused team.

10. Preparation is everything. Too many times over the past five years – even in division winning seasons – the Bengals have suffered from not being ready for a multitude of game situations. They need more players committed to learning all of these scenarios, two-minute drills, etc. Again, while Lewis takes responsibility for this area, he needs more players who are committed to it.

The Bengals have the foundation of a winning franchise but they need to work on the infrastructure. By following the above general game plan, they have the chance of building a winner for years to come.

Respectfully,
Mike Petraglia
@trags

7 Comments for “How the Cincinnati Bengals could become the New England Patriots”

1. Gary Rogers Says:
   January 4th, 2011 at 3:47 pm

   Ummm, yeah, you’re preaching to the choir. Mike Brown is THE worst owner in the NFL, and his record over the past 20 years proves that. While I try to believe that Brown does want to win, it seems apparent to all Bengals fans that he only wants to win if it doesn’t hurt his bottom line. He’s refused to hire a true GM, more scouts, and build an indoor practice facility. Marvin Lewis has said he would stay if these concessions were met—yet Brown says none of the above are in the Bengals plans. How does an owner fight AGAINST needed changes? That’s insanity.

   And isn’t the definition of insanity “doing the same thing over and over expecting different results?”

2. John Mann Says:
   January 4th, 2011 at 5:10 pm

   I mean really, who were we going to hire to replace Marvin anyway? Rob Ryan is one guy I would have liked to have seen as the Bengals head coach. Whats next? Another city-wide tax to pay for this indoor practice facility? I love how instead of getting millions for the naming rights from Kroger, Proctor and Gamble, to pay off stadium debt, we decide to name it Paul Brown Stadium. Paul Brown doesn’t own that stadium! Hamilton County owns that stadium!

3. joe Says:
   January 4th, 2011 at 9:42 pm

   I totally agree with you, except for the 4th pick. I see AJ Green added to the core to give Palmer a true playmaker, then Pouncey. How about they trade and get Jimmy Clausen from Carolina if Carolina picks Luck? He’s young and can be groomed.

4. buckhntr Says:
   January 5th, 2011 at 8:38 am

   you forgot one key thing. they ain’t got the hoodie

5. James Says:
   January 5th, 2011 at 10:20 am

   Good read with some errors and contentious statements.

   1) I like the idea of eventually moving Lewis into a GM spot. It won’t happen under Mike Brown but has a chance once Katie takes over — if Lewis lasts that long.

   2) Palmer — you missed on a fact – he was hurt against the Giants in ’08 and then played poorly in his last game vs. Dallas due to the injury. You also missed on the film report of Palmer’s ’10 struggles in throwing the long ball and high-velocity intermediate routes. This frustrated T.O. and Chad all season — although they never complained openly about it, you could see the frustration from both. And the short/long/wide right/wide left problems on the deep balls continued with all of these attempts the last two games with Simpson and Caldwell. I’ve read opinions of QB coaches and orthopedic surgeons about this, and they converge on the idea that the UCL injury is chronic and has changed Palmer’s top end skill set. This makes Palmer a short-term option in the real world as a game manager until a new QB can be groomed. Unfortunately, Brown & Lewis don’t seem to recognize this or simply aren’t admitting it. Further, the front office floated the rumor prior to the last weekend that Palmer will be back in ’11 even after Palmer floated the statement that he wouldn’t take a pay cut from his $10.5 million 2011 salary. So you can already see the safety in the box as the Bengals attempt to assert themselves as a run-first team next season.

   3) I also like the idea of replacing Bratkowski with McDaniels. However, Brown doesn’t trust outsiders and now is stating that he doesn’t want a lot of internal changes going into 2011 with the CBA problems and lockout imminent. The Raiders faster than expected announcement that Cable is out and the subsequent rumors that Hue Jackson is in are a hint that the Bengals floated Jackson an OC/Asst HC role, that Jackson gave Al Davis an ultimatum and that Davis decided to go with Jackson now rather than losing him to the Bengals. Given that failure to get the desired replacement, Brown and Lewis are likely to stick with Bratkowski another season out of fear that “less is more” during this atypical NFL off-season.

   4) Drafting/Player Personnel — until Brown expands his input from full-time scouts, the Bengals will continue to make bad judgments. At present they rely on their coaches to perform the bulk of site and film assessments, and this has given them poor returns over time on players that have flaws that weren’t adequately considered prior to acquisition. The list here is long and includes both draft picks (Thurman, Henry, A.J. Nicholson, Reggie McNeal et al.) and UFAs (Sam Adams, Antonio Bryant et al.). From yesterday’s press conference, it is apparent that Brown still thinks his scouting system works and that Lewis is not going to challenge this in the present.

   5) Leadership/Energy/Preparation — the “intangibles,” as Jimmy “the Greek” used to call these, run low in Cincinnati. Willie Anderson recently explained that internal leadership has been suppressed during the Mike Brown era, and one can easily note on game day that there are no Ray Lewis or Tom Brady top figures to light the fires of team spirit. This situation puts a lot of pressure on an NFL coach to constantly give his team “pep” talks, and that’s not a good system to motivate grown, professional men in the long run. You need a sustainable, internal system based on natural leaders who enforce policy, make big plays, are vocal and are committed to nurturing young players into “The System.” Bill Bellichick understands this and is well supported by his ownership. Lewis understands this but has been undermined by continually having only divisive vocal members (T.O., Corey Dillon, Chad) and silent leaders (Palmer, Dhani Jones, Whitworth). In order to change, however, you have to look yourself in the mirror, take ownership of the failures, determine the problems and resolve to fix them. The mirrors are running in low quantities these days down at Paul Brown Stadium, so your column will remain peer Fantasy Football long into the second decade of the new millennium.

6. Mike Says:
   January 5th, 2011 at 1:27 pm

   Agreeing on many points here. There’s a solid core of talent, and 2010 was lost to poor front office and coaching. No management support means lots of costly mistakes, and that is exactly what has happened to the Bengals.

   Getting Brat out of the OC job and replacing with McDaniels would be fantastic. Will it happen? Shake the Mikey, Baloney Breath Brown Magic 8-ball and find out!

7. James Says:
   January 6th, 2011 at 8:19 am

   Mike:

   I, just as you, grew up in Cincy in the 70′s and routed through the early PB years, the failures with Tiger Johnson and Homer Rice, the re-birth with -Forrest Gregg and — we can’t forget — the “wicky-wackiness” of Sam Wyche. Can you ever forget that game in 1987 when Wyche blew that game to the 49ers at Riverfront the week before the strike started? Pure Agony there.

   Move forward 24 years now and we’d be happy to take Wyche and those days back. And that’s how bad it is. We all got excited and talked about the “solid core” of talent returning in 2010. We thought Palmer was still the 2005-07 version, that Benson would get 4.5 per carry again, that we’d have a stout FB, that the receiver corps had a nice mix of experience and youth and that the OL was returning in full after a successful 2009. And each of those statements was flawed suggesting that 2009 was somewhat of a mirage and/or that we underperformed in 2010.

   In the NFL it all starts at the top. T.O. pointed this out and was castigated, but he nailed a bullseye even if that’s not an acceptable norm in a Mike Brown world. Although I’m not looking to T.O. for business advice, you do have to look first at management, at coaching and at the player leadership in a business that typically delivers Quality in a top-to-bottom manner. In Cincinnati the leadership is absent. There is only a “man behind the curtain” who doesn’t want anyone looking in, who isn’t changing his ways and who has somehow forged a sustainable business model using these dated methods.

   Mike, I feel your pain because, like you, I have lived it out from youth to adulthood. Our mutual inability to “quit” the Bengals despite all logic telling us to do so illustrates the pyschic bond that one’s home town team carries within many individuals. We still wear Bengals items occasionally even though we know that we’ll be laughed at and criticized — sometimes really well-meaning people even tell you that they’re “sorry” that the Bengals are your team as if a relative had died or your house had been hit by a tornado. Within us there is that glimmer of a hope that the Bengals can win and somehow re-energize the spirit of our youth. And that is the hope on which Mike Brown preys and on which his profit margin is realized.

   The press conference of January 4th was the equivalent of Puxatawney Phil seeing his shadow albeit 29 days early. Despite your excellent analysis and my secondary comments, there will be no Cinderella moments in Mudville next year, the year after or any year under this business model. Slowly I am coming to grips with that in a manner that closely resembles the stages of loss and grieving. I know that sounds odd and maybe stupid, but examine that concept. I think you’ll come to realize then the reason why you are having trouble simply enjoying your closeness to football brilliance in New England and your ongoing attempts and eternal hope of change from your boyhood team.

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