Cincinnati Bengals: Winning without Vontaze Burfict
By Kenn Korb
Coordinator Changes
A final point of emphasis to look at is the coaching changes. Towards the last few games of 2017, it seemed those changes would include Marvin Lewis. Wins against Detroit and Baltimore saved the coach who has been here since 2003, but change definitely was needed. That change has shown up big-time with the coordinators.
Offensively, the team re-signed Bill Lazor. This doesn’t at first sound like a change, but remember: Lazor wasn’t the starting offensive coordinator in 2017, that was Ken Zampese. If you’ll remember, it was Zampese who was in charge as Cincinnati started 0-2 behind some of the most depressing offense seen in franchise history.
For what it is worth, Lazor was in charge while the team went 7-7 the rest of the way, but even more so, he was acting as coordinator while not having much chance to install his own gameplans. With a full offseason this time around, that offense looks much more potent, with ideas implanted that this team has never even considered before (such as using A.J. Green in the slot).
Defensively, out went long-time coordinator Paul Guenther and in came Teryl Austin. Guenther’s last year helming the defense saw a pathetically low number of turnovers (14; second-lowest in the NFL). He also didn’t seem to be all that inspiring to his players (if he would talk to them at all, apparently).
Austin came in after leading a Detroit defense which often outperformed its meager talent the past couple years, and in 2017 was insanely good at forcing turnovers (32, third-most in the league). Take a guy who can lead and inspire a talent-deficient unit to underratedly decent seasons and give him the deep cache of defensive talent Cincinnati has on tap, and the results we’ve seen through two weeks are exactly what one might expect: dominance.
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Injuries and a couple tough road games coming up could leave Cincinnati with two straight losses in the coming weeks, but even then, the team will be 2-2 at worst when Burfict is set to return.
Adding somebody as dynamic as him into a defense which is already playing at a high level could elevate them to elite status from here. Even if it doesn’t necessarily get there, the team which Burfict will be returning to is exponentially better than the one he returned to from suspension in 2017.