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Chick Ludwig covers the Cincinnati Bengals. He also writes about his other passions: college football, basketball and golf.Home > Blogs > Chick Ludwig At Large > Archives > 2008 > August > 31 > Entry
No easy way to say goodbye
MARVIN’S TRANSCRIPT
PROVES THE NFL IS
STRICTLY A BUSINESS
LOOKING FOR WORDS OF PRAISE?
YOU’VE COME TO WRONG PLACE
===LUDWIG AT LARGE alert: Some coaches would’ve began their news conferences with filibusters full of praise in tribute to their fallen warriors. Not Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. I had to “pry” some praise for Willie Anderson out of him. Is Marvin callous or compassionate? Judge for yourself . Here’s Marvin’s transcript:===
OPENING STATEMENT
Obviously you all have received the (news release) and I guess the only thing is that we’re pretty excited about where we are. Obviously the big news for you guys is the waiving of three players who have logged significant playing time since I’ve been here, particularly in ’05 and ’06. Obviously, the play fell off in ‘07 and we just haven’t seen a lot of change thus far this year.
It’s kind of a hard decision to make, but it is the decision we made at this point and we’ll go forward. As far as the rest of the roster goes, we’ll look at who comes out on the waivers … and then the possibility of claiming a player or two at some point by noon (Sunday) and we’ll settle our practice squad.
Q. You didn’t see the kind of play out of Willie you needed to?
A. Well, we haven’t seen the day-to-day-to-day that you need. I know it’s contrary to popular belief. It’s important that we start our season healthy and I’ve made that very clear to you guys from the start that it was important that we started the year that way and we have an opportunity to put as close to (as many) guys out there that we know are going to be healthy as we can, and that can practice day-to-day and so forth.
Q. How much does not having Willie hurt in the locker room? He has been a big factor there.
A. Well, Willie was out of the locker room all of last year, so I’ve already made that clear to you too at one point this summer that this could happen, that Willie was out of the locker room a lot. He means a lot but yet last year he was dealing with trying to get himself back and healthy and he was not there a lot of the time.
Q. Was Willie something you missed last year?
A. You don’t miss a person unless he’s playing for you.
Q. From a personal standpoint, how tough was it to let go of Willie?
A. Very tough. He has been significant to me. He has been significant to this organization, beyond me. We’ll see what happens. It may not be over. We’ll see where we’re headed. It gives those guys the opportunity to see if there is some value around somewhere else, and look at that, which is fair, and go from there.
Q. A door could crack open for Willie to come back?
A. Possibly, but you never know.
Q. You have only six linebackers. Were you close to keeping Ahmad Brooks or Jim Maxwell?
A. Yes, but the situation we were in in the back end, being down one and possibly two secondary guys, we felt like going into the game, putting the roster together at this point, now we needed to make sure we were covered there. We seem to be heathy with six guys, and the 53-man roster has to be a reflection of the 45-man roster (for game day), and every time I put it together it looked as though there was going to be an inactive linebacker. And we would maybe be short a guy in the back end. So for both special teams and on defense we had to make sure we were covered.
Q. So Simeon Castille showed you enough?
A. For now. We all just show enough for one day. Nobody is promised tomorrow.
Q. Why release Rudi?
A. We haven’t seen Rudi play and I’ve seen Rudi practice very few times and cut it lose very few times. He got off to a great start, I thought he had an outstanding offseason, I thought he had a great spring and was doing everything, but unfortunately he seemed to suffer from the hamstring and being unable to go out and play and cut it loose. So, as I told you guys, I still see better than I hear. And that was important to us.
Q. Are you sure you want to anoint Chris Perry, given his injury history?
A. Well, obviously we are at this point. You know, we’re all one step from a significant injury and you can’t look forward into a crystal ball, nor can you look behind. On Sunday, when I have to put 45 guys up and running, you have to have some roles. So we have to make sure the 53-man roster also reflects what’s going to be up and active on Sundays.
Q. Will Perry produce now that he’s out of Rudi’s shadow?
A. He’s never had that opportunity, so this is his chance. This is what he’s asked for and wanted. He’s worked extremely hard to return from his injury to have this (opportunity) and he’s made good on it. Now it’s time, so he has everything to play for and it’s his opportunity and it ought to be exciting to him.
Q. Is Perry the bell cow?
A. I don’t know what the determination or the term means, but right now he’ll be our starting back. On first down, we felt very comfortable keeping him in there on third down, so I think he’ll log more playing time than anyone we’ve had back there for a while.
Q. Are you keeping the Palmer family happy by keeping Carson and Jordan together?
A. I don’t think that had anything to do with the decision.
Q. Jordan Palmer showed you enough?
A. Well, we released Jeff (Rowe) and right now Jordan’s third.
Q. Could you elaborate on Willie, Rudi and Deltha O’Neal getting cut?
A. I’m not going to elaborate. These guys have had significant playing time, They’ve done great things and they’re no longer here, so I’m not going to sit here and beat anybody up. But we’ve made these decisions and we’re going to go forward. It’s a tough time around the league and a lot of guys who have had significant playing time around the league are being released. That’s part of it. They’ll find homes if they’re worthy and they’ll be back (in the NFL) one way or another. We’re going to move on and we’re going to try to find the best other guys and right now that’s where we are. Because we’ve got to have guys we can count on all the time.
Q. Chinedum Ndukwe’s progress?
A. He’s doing well. It’ll be close.
Q. You’re keeping DT Michael Myers along with rookie Pat Sims, who has a turf toe?
A. Again, Pat’s not been able to work. We’re probably still a couple weeks away from seeing him, and making a determination on him. We elected to keep an extra guy there as well just so we make sure we go into Baltimore, we go in and I know I’ve got the right guy to suit up on Sunday.
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Comments
By Bonnie
August 31, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this
I don’t think Marvin is callous or cold-hearted. Sometimes we don’t say what we mean to say. I’m sure that goes triple for times when we have cameras in our faces. I don’t think you are more of a humanitarian or compassionate guy than Marvin is. I think he had prepared statements and came out and made them. I’m sure telling 20 or so people they’ve lost their job is a taxing thing to do. Give him a break.By JT
August 31, 2008 2:54 PM | Link to this
This is a athletic business. Athletic skills diminish over time, and you’re usually the last one to know/admit it. Of course, you feel bad for the person behind the number… but EVERYONE feels bad/angry about getting cut. These were absolutely the right moves sentimentality aside.