BB: Are you ready to go to The
Jungle?
[Laughter]
Q: The last couple of practices you
have gone out with no pads. Why is that? What are the factors that go into
that decision?
BB: We make out the practice schedule
everyday and we talk about what we need to get done and what's best for the
team. Part of it is the periods. Part of it is the emphasis. Part of it is
the dress, how long it is. It could be a combination of things.
Q: Does it have anything to do with
some of the players being banged up?
BB: Yeah, we've had three physical
games. Sure, I think that's part of it. Yes.
Q: Is Chad Jackson any closer?
BB: He's questionable.
Q: Would you put Ellis Hobbs in the day-to-day category?
BB: That's exactly where I'd put him.
You guys don't need me. You can write the story without me.
Q: How would you describe the style
of Cincinnati's offense? What school?
BB: Explosive. They're explosive.
They do it all.
Q: Do you see a lot of no-huddle from
them?
BB: There are some. I wouldn't say a
lot. I think it fluctuates. There could be a lot. There could be very
little. There could be just a blend in there to change the pace up. I don't
think it's exclusively no-huddle like the Jets, lets say. But they
run it and I'm sure if they want to run more of it they could or if they
want to just mix it in there, they could do that too.
Q: Have they played a little no
huddle in each of their games this year?
BB: The last two. I'm not sure about
the Kansas City game. It's sort of hard to tell on the film. We know
they have it, but it's sort of hard to tell on the film whether the play is
no-huddle or not because of what they do at the line in the last 10 to 15
seconds. It's about the same whether it's no-huddle or not no-huddle.
Q: How would you assess Carson
Palmer's mobility?
BB: Good. He looks fine.
Q: You don't see any lingering
effects of the surgery?
BB: It doesn't look like it to me.
He's a really good player. He can do it all.
Q: How different is he than when you
saw him last?
BB: He killed us the last time we
played him. He's pretty good.
Q: That game was kind of a coming out
party for him. It was one of his first really strong games.
BB: Yeah, we hosted it. He's been
good. We've seen him in preseason. You couldn't do much more than he did in
that preseason game there, the start of the '04 season. Anybody that saw
that game, I don't know, they scored 31 points in the first half or whatever
it was. We couldn't do much. He just went up and down the field. He's been
pretty good when we've seen him.
Q: With field goal kicking and the
holder being seven yards back, why seven yards? Was it further back in the
past?
BB: I think it's anywhere between
seven and eight. The further back you are, the further you are from the
inside rushers, but the easier it is for the guys to come around the corner
and get you. The closer you are to the line of scrimmage, the harder it is
for the guys coming off the edge, but the more you have to get the ball up
inside. You try to find the optimum point for your team, your situation,
your kicker and all of that. Sometimes you might make a little adjustment
there by a few inches one way or the other relative to the laces, coming
back from the center. If you move up a little bit or back a little bit, if
the spin of the ball is consistent you may get the laces right on the
holder's top hand and make it a little bit easier for him. So those are some
of the things you take into consideration.
Q: Has it always been seven?
BB: I think it's between seven and
eight. You'll see some teams closer to eight. Some teams closer to seven. I
would yes, as long as I can remember, probably it was more seven and now
it's probably more seven-and-a-half to eight.
Q: Has anyone ever experimented
dramatically in either direction?
BB: Well, yeah, back in the days when
you had the double jumpers, when that was legal. When those guys like Matt Blair from Minnesota. Everybody had one. It seemed like
they'd get behind the line, run and jump. I've seen it back as far as
eight-and-a-half back then because those guys, it was hard to get the ball
over the line. Teams that were blocking them up the middle with those
jumpers and double jumpers, then you'd move it back and take a chance on the
edge. Some teams, on extra points, I know that some teams move the ball back
a little bit on extra points, cheat it back a half a yard or so just because
it's a shorter kick and you just make sure you get it up. We're going way
back now, but that was back when there was an issue back there too when the
ball was on the goal post or on the goal line, you know, if you were kicking
from the half-yard line. Now you're trying to get it up, not just over the
line, but over the cross bar, if it's that close. It hasn't been in play in
my career, but I've heard other coaches talk about that, you have to kick a
winning field goal when the ball is on the one-yard line or something. You
have to get it up in a hurry.
Q: Why did they do away with the
jumpers?
BB: I don't know. I think you'd have
to ask the experts there at the league.
Q: [Inaudible]
BB: Yeah, yeah, but I mean it's like
anything else. Everybody has an opinion on it. I'm sure part of it was those
guys coming down on the players. It was a safety factor. I'm sure that was
one of the reasons that was given. How many injuries were caused by it, I
don't know.
Q: Isn't it mostly because the league
wanted more points scored?
BB: Look, I'm not on the committee. I
don't know what goes on in those discussions. Anytime you have vote in the
league, there are usually going to be, unless it's a unanimous thing, there
are
going to be two opinions on that. There's an argument on both sides. So,
whatever the prevailing opinion is, obviously that's what carries the rule.
What goes on behind those closed doors in those meetings between the
committee and the officials and whatever league parties are there, I really
don't know.
Q: Hasn't that always been there
though, going back to when Tex Schramm was first there? I think their
first charge was to increase scoring.
BB: I don't know.
Q: Would you like to be in those
meetings?
BB: Would I like to be in them? Not
really. What I want to try to do is coach our team and see if I can make our
team better. I'm not really trying to rule the world. I'd just like to have
a set of rules that are there. You know, the game has changed quite a bit
and the rules have changed. There used to be a time where the rules
committee was made up of coaches. Now there are only a couple of coaches on
the rules committee. Now you have a lot of other people. I'm not sure what
everybody's agenda is or what everybody's point of view is, but whatever it
is, that's what it is. If the league wants to change the rules, which they
frequently do, then they change them.
Q: What do you make of the perception
that sometimes the rules have been changed in response to something that
you've done well?
BB: Whatever the rules are, it's not
our job to legislate them, it's our job to understand them and play by them.
That's how I look at it. Whether there is replay, whether there isn't replay;
whether you can take two consecutive timeouts, whether you can't take two
consecutive timeouts whatever it is it's not our job really to commentate on them.
It is our job to understand them and coach them. That's where my
emphasis is. I just want to understand the rule and I just want it to be
consistent, whatever it is. We've had a lot of different ones, and I'm sure
there will be some modifications going forward at some point. Whatever they
are, it's our job to understand them and play within them.
Q: Can you talk about how much the Brown Family has been an influence on the game and in the league?
BB: Obviously it's been a lot. I
don't know who you could put ahead of them. There are probably a couple you
could put up there with them, like the Mara Family.
Q: The Halas' maybe?
BB: Yes. There are a couple, but
certainly they would be up there at the top and the lineage that has come
from the Brown Family, particularly from Paul Brown. There are a
million of them, but let's start with Don Shula. 347 victories there.
Really you can roll it right down the line. It's been tremendous. Paul
Brown, really to me, he's the father of pro football. There are so many
things that he did as a coach with the Browns and the Bengals,
it's what we do now. He was half a [century] ahead of his time in so many
areas. Preparation. Plays. Techniques. Communication. Nomenclature. Pretty
much everything that is done in the NFL, he did. Now there are different
systems, there are different ways of doing it, but nobody did it before he
did. A lot of what we do now really has its roots with Paul. The West
Coast Offense, that clearly is Paul Brown's offense. That's what he ran.
All the elements that have trickled through in the various decades, that's
really the origin of it. But preparation, scouting, game-planning, taxi
squad, draw and screen passes, blocking techniques he did it all. I was
lucky because I got a little bit of exposure to that as a kid, going to the
Browns' training camps at Hiram, and then the Bengals' training camps
at Wilmington with my dad and with Bill Edwards and people
that went all the way back with Paul, back to Severn School in Annapolis, and Ohio State and Massillon people that had
relationships with him all the way back into the Great Lakes then the Navy program that went way back with him. The elements of what he
did then, and the stories that I heard and then actually going to those
camps and thinking back about them after I was an NFL coach and thinking
back about what I saw there it's pretty remarkable, really. Mike [Brown],
he's certainly been a big part of the NFL as Paul's son, and then taking over
the team in Cincinnati and running it. They've had periods where
they've been every successful and they're certainly in a good upswing period
now. He's one of the real, long-time, members of the league.
Q: Can you think of any other coach
that has had that success on all three levels, high school, college and the
pros, the way Paul Brown did?
BB: Not right off the top of my head.
You look at the Lombardis and the Shulas and guys like that.
You look at some of the college coaches, Bear Bryants, guys like
that. There obviously have been other coaches that have been successful at
all three levels, Chuck Fairbanks would certainly be one that you'd
have to put up there, but he certainly stands out. It wasn't just his record which, it was his record, don't get me wrong but the way he did it and how he really turned
pro football into a professional football league. People were trying to keep
up with him and emulate what he was doing and following his system. He
really turned it into a pro football league like it is now, instead of just
a bunch of guys running around out there playing football. He made it truly
professional. I spent a lot of time with Jim Brown, and Jim and I
talk a lot about how they did it when Jim played for Paul and their system,
and their preparation, their practices, how they handled things
terminology and all those type of things. Again, it was so much like what
we're doing now. It's really remarkable.
Q: How does Cincinnati use Chris Perry? Is it a traditional, third down back type of thing?
BB: Chris Perry?
Q: Their third down running back?
BB: Their third down running back is
[Kenny] Watson.
Q: How do they use Chris Perry?
BB: How much has Chris Perry played? I want to say he's on [Reserve/PUP].
Q: He's not on injured reserve. But
he's been hurt.
BB: You're not talking about Tab
Perry, right?
Q: No, I'm talking about number 23.
BB: I don't think I've seen him in
any of these games. He's played against us in the past, but I haven't seen
him recently in the role he's been in as a third back. Watson has really
been doing that for them and he's returned some kicks.
Q: In the preseason, Willie
Andrews was used on offense. Is there a point where he might play on
offense in some of the next few games?
BB: When you only have 45 players,
you have to have players backing up at multiple positions no matter how you
slice it up. He's a guy that has worked in multiple positions for us. I
don't know how close it was to
I think right now his major role for us is on
special teams, but he has worked on offense and defense. I think that if we
had to play him there, that he would be prepared to do hopefully what we ask
him to do. I don't think that would be everything, but it could be a role,
sure.
Q: How has he embraced his role as a
gunner?
BB: Good. Good. He's been productive
for us in coverage. He's been one of best coverage players.
Q: Does it take a certain attitude
and a certain mindset to play that gunner position?
BB: Yeah, I think that's a very
difficult position to play. You're out there basically getting double-teamed
on every play with some restrictions on what you can do. It's hard. That's a
tough spot to play and it takes a player that has, a) a mentality, but also,
b) some type of skills to be able to beat that type of tight alignment that
those DBs play against them, where you either have to split them or outrun
them or out-quick them or do something. You have to get away from two guys
and they're lined up a foot away from you. It's hard. It's a tough spot to
play.
Q: Where are both he and maybe Jonathan Smith in terms of getting a chance to return punts?
BB: I think they should be ready to
go every week, like all players should be. If they get that opportunity,
then hopefully they'll be ready to take advantage of it. We have other
players that do that. That's not really their call. That's a coaching
decision. So, if the coaches call on them, then hopefully they'll be ready
to go. But we have other players as well that are working those spots. It's
really out of their control, other than to prepare. That's in their control.
Q: With Smith in particular,
would it be maybe you want him to get a little more acclimated to the way
you do things here before you give him anything extra to do?
BB: No. No, I don't think so. The
decision comes down to who we feel are the best players to play in the
situations as they present themselves. That's what that is based on.
Q: Do you feel like Doug Gabriel is ready to play a full game?
BB: I don't know. I think every
player should be prepared to play as much as they're called upon to play by
the coaches and then those are the decisions that the coaches make. That's
what coaching decisions are personnel substitutions and plays. That's not
in a player's control. I don't think they should worry about it. I don't
think they do worry about it. I think they prepare to play and need to be
ready when they're called on. We'll make the decisions that we feel like are
in the best interest of the football team period. |
