.jpg)
People's Choice Awards
.jpg)
People's Choice: Red Carpet
.jpg)
People's Choice: Backstage
Get latest headlines via RSS feeds
NewsVine
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
StumbleuponBengals' defensive coordinator brings passion to team
Thursday, July 31, 2008
GEORGETOWN, Ky. — The Cincinnati Bengals' new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer asked and received.
He wanted to see more spirit from his unit, and it delivered Wednesday, July 30.
When rookie cornerback Simeon Castille soared for an interception, the defensive sideline reacted quickly, engulfing the nondrafted rookie from Alabama with the kind of love he was used to back at Bryant Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
"Coach said (Tuesday) night we needed to show a little more life and excitement, and to cheer everybody on and encourage them," Castille said. "I guess they decided to take it a little overboard."
In Zimmer's defensive constitution, there are checks and balances.
During a blitz period, Zimmer hurled his visor to the turf. Had he worn a watch, he might have pulled a Woody Hayes by yanking it off his wrist and crushing it between the sod and his shoe.
"It was just reaction," Zimmer said. "We just didn't cover like we had been covering. Actually, we ran the blitzes pretty good. But we did not cover in the back end — we weren't intense enough — the way we've been covering in the previous practices. The (offensive) guys were catching the football without being contested, and that's not good."
Zimmer paused for a breath when asked what he's trying to convey to a unit that's trying to pull itself up by the bootstraps, that's searching for an identity.
"These guys have had no success," he said. "They think they're pretty good when they have a good day. So I have to be careful about giving them too much sugar."
Friday's intrasquad scrimmage and Saturday's Black-Orange Mock Game represent mid-term exams.
"It's important they show just the things we've been doing up to this point — not making mistakes, playing real hard and finding out who can play football without some coach yelling at 'em to move over or line up here or do this or do that."
Nothing wrong with a little spit and vinegar to balance out the sugar and spice.
