Fear Factor

[Bengal_Smoov]

Coaches like Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin are known for their stern, do it right or start packing style. A recent poll of NFL players asking who they would least want to play for showed that these two coaches were at the top of the list, but they are also two of more successful coaches.

Discipline is a key ingredient in any winning football team, and the Bengals are showing a lack of it. Whose responsibility is it to make sure our players play with discipline, obviously our head coach. So far, Marvin is lacking in that area. Too many times we have our drives stalled by stupid penalities, or helped opposing offensives by giving them yards when we can least afford it.

So maybe today's NFL players needs to be motivated by fear in order to play at the top of their game. Maybe they need the constant threat that if they don't get it done this week, they could be unemployed next week. I don't know what else Marvin could do, he's tried every other approach, he gives them the little things they want and they don't hold up their end. I sure if it came down to Marvin's job or a players', the player will go. I think Marvin needs to take this approach when dealing with these players. A little fear could go a long way.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

Or perhaps these coaches simply had better teams to work with to start.

Then again.... Parcells is having just as bad a season in Dallas as Marvin is here in Cincinnati....

[HoosierCat]

Or perhaps these coaches simply had better teams to work with to start.

Then again.... Parcells is having just as bad a season in Dallas as Marvin is here in Cincinnati....

Yup. And as Conan noted in the "Fire Bill Parcells?" thread last week, it's going to take Bill a few years to straighten out the mess in Dallas -- just as it's going to take more than one season to revive the Bengals.

All the problems with the Bengals can be summed up in one word: personnel. Based on their play this year, few Bengal players would start on any of the league's good teams. On D, Simmons is about it. On offense, maybe TJ, Steinbach, Willie and Levi at most. (You can add Chad in if you're feeling generous, and his potential and speed would probably get him a starting role on most teams, but he has yet to back up his big yap this year. Rudi might make it too, he'd probably look better on a team with a passing game.)

That isn't to say that everyone else sucks, but many of our starters would be backups & rotation types elsewhere: Herring, James, Hardy, Clemons, Smith, etc. And all too many rookies have been pressed into service: Miller, Johnson, Williams, Ratliff -- and of course Palmer is a second-year rookie -- with predictable results. And we've lost some guys who might have made a difference to injury (Warrick, Abdullah, Weathersby, Webster, Beckett).

But whatever the reasons, the bottom line is that we just haven't got the people to win very many games right now. And that's a direct result of the 10 - 15 years of poor personnel decisions made from 1991 on that culminated in the 2-14 train wreck in 2002. Sweeping out all that garbage over the last two offseasons has its price, and we are paying it now.

The good news is that (most of) the rookies will get better, (most of) the injured will come back, and the underperforming vets will be phased out as better, younger players become available. But that isn't going to happen quickly, and certainly not this year.

[Bengal_Smoov]

I'm not buying that stuff about basically wait till next year. The majority of these guys are"Marvin's guys" either through free agency or the draft, he has brought them here.

My point is the players are making the same mistakes, getting called for the same stupid penalities, taking the same bad angles on run support, using the same horrible technique in pass defense and NOTHING is happening. Someone needs to made an example of after the loss on Sunday, to send a message that the way they are playing needs to improve dramatically or you will not be wearing a Bengals uniform much longer. Where is the PRIDE is the my main question? IMO, our defense needs someone on the coaching staff to motivate them by threatening their millionaire lifestyle. The defense doesn't know what a sense of urgency is, someone needs to clue them in asap.