Introducing the Cro-Mags?

[HairOnFire]

Teams should follow Bengals' example in utilizing practice squad

Bengals' O-line, led by ex-practice squadders, has played great

by Ross Tucker

Sports Illustrated

The Cincinnati Bengals are a virtual lock to win the AFC North with a commanding three-game lead and the tiebreaker advantage over the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens with only four games to play. The reasons for the Bengals' success have been covered -- the resurgence of castaway Cedric Benson; the continued improvement of the defense under coordinator Mike Zimmer; the best cornerback tandem in the NFL in Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph; and Carson Palmer's clutch performances late in games.

What isn't as apparent is the Bengals' secret weapon: their practice squad. You probably know the Bengals offensive line has been outstanding this season, a surprise given that right guard Bobbie Williams was the only starter returning to the same position he had played in 2008. What you didn't know is that three of the linemen who have started at least five games up front for the Bengals are veterans of the practice squad, including two who have spent multiple seasons on what used to be referred to as the taxi squad. Center Kyle Cook, left guard Nate Livings and right tackle Dennis Roland have earned their playing time the hard way and they play like it.

Cook has emerged as one of the more physical centers in the league in only his first season as a starter. He spent the 2007 season on the practice squad and much of the 2008 season on injured reserve after hurting his foot. He's been as big a factor as any in the Bengals success up front in 2009.

Livings, who has split starts with Evan Mathis at left guard after getting hurt earlier in the season, was on Cincy's practice squad for the entire 2006 season and most of the 2007 and 2008 seasons before getting bumped up to the active roster for short stints at the end of both of those campaigns. Roland, meanwhile, has started eight games at right tackle for the Bengals and gotten significant playing time in many others as an extra tight end. He is a multi-year practice squadder as well, having spent 2006-08 working on the scout team of both the Tampa Bay Bucs and Bengals.

The Bengals success up front is due in large part to their use of a part of NFL teams that many organizations squander. Below are some of the dos and don'ts as it relates to the use of practice squads in the NFL:

• Practice squad spots are valuable commodities. Many teams in the NFL do not realize this. Clearly the Bengals are not one of them. With the number of injuries during a season and the demands placed on relatively small 53-man rosters, the practice squad is the only place a young player truly can be developed. In fact, given there is no longer an NFL developmental league like NFL Europe, the practice squad is the be-all end-all when it comes to grooming a young talent who isn't yet ready for the big time.

• It is all about how you develop players on your practice squad. The Bengals clearly recognize that there are certain positions, the offensive line being chief among them, where players typically need extra seasoning and technique work before they are ready to play on Sundays. Assistant offensive line coach Bob Surace actually grades the practice tape of his practice squad offensive linemen as they work on the demo team during the week. That is unheard of, but it gives the players a chance to see what they need to improve while allowing the coaches to chart their progress and know when they are ready to play.

• You can't be afraid to play them. And Bengals veteran offensive line coach Paul Alexander clearly isn't. There are many coaches and front office personnel who would attach a certain stigma to a player who has spent a season on the practice squad, let alone more than one. Not Alexander. He has shown a willingness to play those players once they are ready, and his patience has been richly rewarded this season. The main benefit is the coaches can be sure the player is well-versed in their preferred techniques, having been in the building and learning for years. A side benefit is that former practice squad players will never take their playing time for granted; Cook and Livings, in particular, play extremely hard.

• What not to do. Some teams treat the practice squad spots almost as throwaways and simply take the best guy in training camp at a certain position where they desire an extra practice body during the week. A wide receiver here, a linebacker there, etc. That is incredibly short-sighted. Practice squad players get $5,200 a week and do everything that the members of the active roster do up until noon on Saturday, as they do not travel with the team for away games or stay in the team hotel on Saturday night for home games.

As an example, I once played in Buffalo with a practice squad offensive lineman named Jasen Esposito. He was a solid prospect whom the Bills kept on the practice squad for the entire 2004 and 2005 seasons before declining to offer him a contract to be a part of their offseason program heading into the 2006 campaign. Are you kidding me? The Bills invested two years of time, money, resources, and energy into a young prospect like Esposito, yet he wasn't even good enough by that point in their opinion to be one of the 15 offensive linemen they brought to training camp the following season? If he really wasn't worthy of coming to training camp the next year, that is a terrible indictment of their ability to develop players and a clear mis-use of the practice squad.

It is a mistake that the soon-to-be AFC North division champs would never make. For a team with a reputation of doing things the wrong way, the Bengals sure know what they are doing when it comes to their practice squad. They are being rewarded for their patience and development in a major way this season.

[membengal]

That is one helluva read. Glowing, in fact.

[membengal]

While we are here, note that Tucker said the Bengals have the "best cornerback tandem in the NFL". Nice to see that memo getting out.

Jason Cole of yahoo sports was on a local Baltimore sports show yesterday evening (Garceau and Marks on 105.7) and they asked about the Bengals and how legit they were. Cole immediately pointed to the defense as being what is driving their being legit and that defense was able to do so much because Hall and Joseph were easily the best pair of corners working in the NFL right now and that Cincy can do so much because they were just erasing opposing team's receivers freeing up the rest of the defense for different looks and schemes.

Nice, again, to hear that memo getting out.

[COB]

Let the homages to Mike Brown's personnel acumen start flowing. They're going to come after this season, and it is going to kill some folks to have to read it. LMAO.

[HairOnFire]

Let the homages to Mike Brown's personnel acumen start flowing. They're going to come after this season, and it is going to kill some folks to have to read it. LMAO.

And speaking of MomsLikeMe, whatever happened to Kid Steakhouse?

Too soon?

All joking aside, the article does point out the reason why so many Bengal fans were busy complaining this offseason about no changes being made on the O-Line, while other Bengal fans argued the O-Line had been almost completely blown up, from A to Z.

[Pidge]

Let the homages to Mike Brown's personnel acumen start flowing. They're going to come after this season, and it is going to kill some folks to have to read it. LMAO.

Haha, whatever he's doing or not doing these days, kudos to him. Yeah yeah, 18 yrs blah blah. He's been given enough s**t. He'll be given some props, even if they are given indirectly to "the franchise". I can see the spittle fly already.

[HoosierCat]

Let the homages to Mike Brown's personnel acumen start flowing. They're going to come after this season, and it is going to kill some folks to have to read it. LMAO.

Well, I can find plenty of good things to say about Mikey this year, but specifically regarding the o-line, I think the credit goes to the Bengals' offensive line coaches, and in particular the much-maligned Paul Alexander. That's Tucker's point: that the Bengals spent a couple seasons shaping guys like Cook and Livings. That's the coaching staff at work.

[volcom69]

Its great and amazing how they use all there linemen in almost every game. Just imagine how good they can be with another year under there belt. Great read!

[JoePong]

Let the homages to Mike Brown's personnel acumen start flowing. They're going to come after this season, and it is going to kill some folks to have to read it. LMAO.

Well, I can find plenty of good things to say about Mikey this year, but specifically regarding the o-line, I think the credit goes to the Bengals' offensive line coaches, and in particular the much-maligned Paul Alexander.

When has Paul Alexander ever been much maligned? Did I miss something?

He's been very highly regarded around the NFL and considered one of the top O-Line coaches in the NFL for a long time now.

[HoosierCat]

When has Paul Alexander ever been much maligned? Did I miss something?

As usual, yes.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

Well, I can find plenty of good things to say about Mikey this year, but specifically regarding the o-line, I think the credit goes to the Bengals' offensive line coaches, and in particular the much-maligned Paul Alexander. That's Tucker's point: that the Bengals spent a couple seasons shaping guys like Cook and Livings. That's the coaching staff at work.

Absolutely. I certainly don't give Mike Brown credit because the coaching staff was able to pull 3 offensive linemen out of their ass. Serious props to Alexander and crew.

[COB]

When has Paul Alexander ever been much maligned? Did I miss something?

I much maligned him last year. Screamed and hollered on these boards for him to be fired. And just about every time I did, the same poster came to his defense, touting him as a very good line coach who was just having a down year.

Steakhouse, take a bow, as Paul Alexander has proven to be, just as you claimed, an excellent line coach. Then admit that you are wrong about our GM/scouting situation.

[COB]

Well, I can find plenty of good things to say about Mikey this year, but specifically regarding the o-line, I think the credit goes to the Bengals' offensive line coaches, and in particular the much-maligned Paul Alexander. That's Tucker's point: that the Bengals spent a couple seasons shaping guys like Cook and Livings. That's the coaching staff at work.

Absolutely. I certainly don't give Mike Brown credit because the coaching staff was able to pull 3 offensive linemen out of their ass. Serious props to Alexander and crew.

So when our players suck, it's Mike Brown being cheap and not paying enough scouts, right? Now when our players play, Mike Brown doesn't get any credit? Poor Mike, can't get any props from us message board posters. At least he can put his feet up and survey the first place, smashmouth team his franchise is fielding. Then he can think about that franchise, worth about 700 million bucks, for which he paid about 1.5 million. Yea, Mike Brown, what an idiot.

[HoosierCat]

So when our players suck, it's Mike Brown being cheap and not paying enough scouts, right? Now when our players play, Mike Brown doesn't get any credit?

Gee, someone took his a$$hole pills tonight.

I'll turn this one over to Hair, who spent years insisting that when our players sucked, it was their fault. Mike Brown wasn't missing tackles, dropping passes, etc. Well, okely-dokely.

But now that they are playing well, Mikey is a genius.

Like I said, I can find plenty of things to give Mikey props about, starting with the hire of Mike Zimmer, stepping up to resign Benson and Crocker, and even taking a chance on Larry Johnson.

But until you can show me the tapes of him coaching up Kyle Cook, I'm giving that one to the coaches.

[COB]

Gee, someone took his a$$hole pills tonight.

Guilty. But in an ironic turn, they come in suppository form. It's not something I'm proud of.

Anyway, I agree Mike shouldn't be given credit for specific coaching jobs. But he should be given credit for the positive turn in the areas for which he has previously taken blame. Coaching hires, player contracts, scouting.

I hope we win the Super Bowl, then instead of walking onto the field to accept the trophy, he blazes out of the tunnel through a thick wall of fog in, you guessed it, the Lumina. Victory lap around the Super Bowl field with the Lombardi trophy as a hood ornament.

[HoosierCat]

I hope we win the Super Bowl, then instead of walking onto the field to accept the trophy, he blazes out of the tunnel through a thick wall of fog in, you guessed it, the Lumina. Victory lap around the Super Bowl field with the Lombardi trophy as a hood ornament.

Perfect.

nyway, I agree Mike shouldn't be given credit for specific coaching jobs. But he should be given credit for the positive turn in the areas for which he has previously taken blame. Coaching hires, player contracts, scouting.

I agree...and I've defended him on several of those fronts to the point of being called a Mike Brown apologist. So sorry if I snapped at you.

Though I still think a few more scouts wouldn't hurt matters...

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

So when our players suck, it's Mike Brown being cheap and not paying enough scouts, right? Now when our players play, Mike Brown doesn't get any credit? Poor Mike, can't get any props from us message board posters. At least he can put his feet up and survey the first place, smashmouth team his franchise is fielding. Then he can think about that franchise, worth about 700 million bucks, for which he paid about 1.5 million. Yea, Mike Brown, what an idiot.

Think, McFly. If there appeared to be any actual method to the madness, then yes, I'd give Mike credit. But if there was a plan, here's what it amounts to:

"Boys, here's what we're going to do. We're going to rely on our ability to find 6th rounders and scrap-heap FA and turn them into starter quality linemen in time to completely overhaul our crumbling OL, and there is absolutely no plan B. By the way, I really hope it works because otherwise our $90M QB will have a lot of blood on his face and no knees to speak of."

Does that sound smart to you? No. It's f**king stupid, because the probability of pulling that off is very, very low. Now all props to the coaches for in fact doing so, but making that your plan was sort of like putting your 401(k) into lottery tickets. If it works, great, but it's still stupid.

By the way, if your point is to defend the football acumen of Mike Brown, you have two decades of reality against you. Business acumen is a different story, as our Hamilton County taxpayer friends can surely attest.

[TJJackson]

Two words....Mike Brown

another two words....Blind Squirrel

another two words.....Salary Cap

another two words.....Shared Revenue

[COB]

"Boys, here's what we're going to do. We're going to rely on our ability to find 6th rounders and scrap-heap FA and turn them into starter quality linemen

Fiction. Mike Brown Hate Syndrome causes selective memory loss. 6th rounders? Try first rounders, as in 6th pick in the first round, spent on the offensive line.

As far as their being no Plan B, we're on Plan B, and it's working. When our first rounder's agent couldn't understand reality, his season became a project and we fell to plan B.

As far as all your (or anyone's) criticism of Mike Brown, I've got two words, and I've been waiting a loooong time for this: Scoreboard, bitch.

[101Airborne]

"Boys, here's what we're going to do. We're going to rely on our ability to find 6th rounders and scrap-heap FA and turn them into starter quality linemen

Fiction. Mike Brown Hate Syndrome causes selective memory loss. 6th rounders? Try first rounders, as in 6th pick in the first round, spent on the offensive line.

As far as their being no Plan B, we're on Plan B, and it's working. When our first rounder's agent couldn't understand reality, his season became a project and we fell to plan B.

As far as all your (or anyone's) criticism of Mike Brown, I've got two words, and I've been waiting a loooong time for this: Scoreboard, bitch.

As a Mike Brown hater I can freely admit that, of late, he has seemingly made some very solid decisions that have worked out. I am glad to be winning (understatement of the century there) and will give credit where credit is due. However, having Ole Mikey do some things right for once isn't going to suddenly make me repent my past criticisms. Even a Super Bowl win this year wouldn't suddenly make the past 18 years not exist. So, props SoP, way to not suck, daddy would be proud. If the trend continues into future years, bye gones will be bye gones.

[HairOnFire]

I'll turn this one over to Hair, who spent years insisting that when our players sucked, it was their fault. Mike Brown wasn't missing tackles, dropping passes, etc. Well, okely-dokely.

It was the players fault. Or haven't you heard about the big change that happened this year? Because get this, this years group of players say they decided to buy in this year instead of another year of going through the motions....while cashing their game checks.

So who besides me knew ahead of time that trying your best, instead of tanking it up, might make a difference? (C'mon now, I can't be alone on that one.)

But now that they are playing well, Mikey is a genius.

Few will call him a genius. That said, you've got to be a slack-jawed mouth breathing moron to seriously believe THIS team was built without Mikey's input, or in the example currently being discussed, that this teams O-Line was constructed in a manner that Brown didn't sign off on.

Like I said, I can find plenty of things to give Mikey props about, starting with the hire of Mike Zimmer, stepping up to resign Benson and Crocker, and even taking a chance on Larry Johnson.

But there's the rub, because you don't get to pick and choose which moves Mike signed off on....because he signed off on all of the moves that were made, and all of the potential moves that weren't. In other words, it's his team you're so excited about this year and in the grand scheme of things it hardly matters if you give him props or not.

But until you can show me the tapes of him coaching up Kyle Cook, I'm giving that one to the coaches.

Fair enough, but we're still talking about coaches Mike Brown hired and players Mike Brown signed, right?

[HairOnFire]

If there appeared to be any actual method to the madness, then yes, I'd give Mike credit. But if there was a plan, here's what it amounts to:

"Boys, here's what we're going to do. We're going to rely on our ability to find 6th rounders and scrap-heap FA and turn them into starter quality linemen in time to completely overhaul our crumbling OL, and there is absolutely no plan B. By the way, I really hope it works because otherwise our $90M QB will have a lot of blood on his face and no knees to speak of."

Does that sound smart to you? No.

Well, if it sounds stupid that's on you because that's your take on things. My take is the Bengals correctly determined the key to any future success had to come from running the ball and playing good defense, and the article points out fairly well how the Bengals were able to cast off overpaid and overrated lineman like Levi and the dancing Bear and still get dramatic improvement in the running game using a scheme built around massive blockers who may be less talented, but play much harder.

It's f**king stupid, because the probability of pulling that off is very, very low.

I'd say the opposite is true. The odds the Bengals couldn't pull off their primary goal, becoming an elite running team, were miniscule using the methods picked. Best, the odds are remarkably high the Bengals can continue pulling these types of things off every year for as long as you care to think about. And perhaps most important of all, the offense is no longer utterly dependant on the health of a 100 million dollar QB or a cadre of batshidded wideouts all running ridiculously precise timing routes that takes years to learn.

By the way, if your point is to defend the football acumen of Mike Brown, you have two decades of reality against you.

But when defending Mikey, who am I debating? Is it someone willing to discuss the things we see right now OR am I forced to endure the ravings of someone who would rather pull the withered example of Ki-Jana Carter out of a hat?

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Probably the most overrated group in the NFL.

Can't pass protect now that teams have them figured out, and you have to give it to the RB's 40 times a game to eek out 3.1 ypc.

All I hear is complaining about the offense on here, all year long, and on the radio, yet the o-line is praised? For what? Because most of them are dregs?

Of course if you give a great RB the ball 36-40 times a game, he could get 100+ yards in his sleep with all the 2 and 3 yard dinks and dunks. 40 x 3 = 120. Brilliant plan!

One TD against the Lions and the o-line is being praised?? HA!!! Unreal.

[Wraith]

I will freely admit to being a Mike Brown basher and some of his moves have been downright idiotic (Akili Smith for example). But this season and actually for the last several seasons he and his front office have done an excellent job getting players in here to help us win (and getting some players out of here who haven't)

Examples:

Getting Brian Leonard for nothing.

Resigning Chris Henry for a minimum contract over the objections of everyone (including his head coach)

Letting TJ walk and using that money to sign Roy Williams, Tank Johnson, and Laverneus Coles

Letting Willie, Levi, and Stacey Andrews walk in free agency (particularly since Levi did want to be here)

Keeping Ochenta y Cinco banking on his love of football and the coaching staff's ability to get more good seasons out of him

Not listening to chuckleheads like me when I implored him to draft Rey Maualuga in the first round.

Damn good drafting from 2007 to present

Getting Andre Smith for half the slotted value which will bring dividends for years.

Free Agent acquisitions of Chris Crocker, Chris Benson, and Dhani Jones in 2008 that are really paying off this year.

[TJJackson]

Scoreboard, bitch.

No doubt -- I just dont credit MB for any of that

Said another way, from my point of view: they are winning DESPITE the negative influence of Son-of-a-Genius

which makes the winning all the more amazing when it does eventually happen, like now