BZBot Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Who is to thank for the Bengals resurgence? Gus Frerotte, that's who.Source: http://www.bengalszone.com/article.php?sid=549 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Who is to thank for the Bengals resurgence? Gus Frerotte, that's who.I've argued a variant of this for some time, namely that the hiring of Marvin Lewis can be traced directly back to the signing of Ferotten. It was that signing -- and the subsequent three-headed QB hydra in camp in 02 -- that lead to the infamous pick AJ references in his article.Really, tho, Gus only gets part of the credit. He was just the hammer that hit the shell. It was the FOs decision to sign him, and then LeBeau's inability to pick a QB, any QB, that enabled the shot to be fired. 2002 was a horrible year...but you have to hit bottom before you can get better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekshank Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Interesting theory. There is no doubt that the Bengals were so poorly run that Mike Brown was virtually forced to do thinks differently. That is why I like to give Marvin Lewis a lot of the credit. It was his leadership that turned a 2-14 team to an 8-8 team in just one year. However... it was Carson Palmer who was able to make an 8-8 team an 11-5 team in just his second year as a starter (no, I don't think Marvin could have done it without him). And like it or not... the credit for that pick should probably go squarely to Mike Brown. It is my opinion that if Marvin had his choice, he would have (probably quite wisely) been willing to go to battle with Jon Kitna and trade the #1 pick that year for multiple picks to rebuild the team. Who knows... that might have worked out even better. Maybe the bengals would currently have the defense currently dream of... but hindsight being 20/20, I don't think there is any choice to make other than picking Carson Palmer.So despite his many failures, it was those multiple mistakes that led him to make the two wisest choices in his lifetime. Hiring Marvin lewis, and picking Carson Palmer. Thank you Mike Brown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scxeezy Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 God I hated that guy after that play! I guess this makes me feel a little better about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 However... it was Carson Palmer who was able to make an 8-8 team an 11-5 team in just his second year as a starter (no, I don't think Marvin could have done it without him). And like it or not... the credit for that pick should probably go squarely to Mike Brown. It is my opinion that if Marvin had his choice, he would have (probably quite wisely) been willing to go to battle with Jon Kitna and trade the #1 pick that year for multiple picks to rebuild the team. Who knows... that might have worked out even better. Maybe the bengals would currently have the defense currently dream of... but hindsight being 20/20, I don't think there is any choice to make other than picking Carson Palmer.I think that's probably true, though I also think in the end even Marvin alone would have gone with Carson. Trading the pick sounds good but in reality, the first overall pick is football's booby prize now. The huge risk (read: $$$$$) it entails means you can't get anywhere near its true value in a trade. Of course, he always could have taken Leftwich... The idea of sticking with Kit, tho...I have to wonder not about Marvin but LeBeau. What if Dick had stuck with Jon in 2002? He was 6-10 in 2001 and 8-8 in 2003. What if there had been no 3-headed hydra in 2002's camp and Kit had gotten the nod as starter from day 1? And what if the the 2002 Bengals had won 6 or 7 or 8 games instead of 2? Certainly we wouldn't have either Marvin or Carson.So here's to Dick LeBeau! He screwed up by the numbers, but the Bengals wouldn't be what they are today without him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShulaSteakhouse Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Let's not forget Akili Smith. That was a Mike Brown pick, and was seemingly the last straw for Brown being the only real opinion that mattered on #1 picks (along with Paul Jr.) and seeing Mike Brown flying around scouting players by himself.Akili was so bad it forced Brown to re-think his model and add more scouts and go outside of "the family" to get a real head coach who was up for the task (versus someone at the end of their career who would settle for it). It hit Brown very hard in the wallet for the last time.Thanks for being so sucksessful Akili. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.