The tougher cuts involving some bigger names will no doubt be the main segment in next week’s season finale, as the team is required to say goodbye to 22 more players to get to the league-mandated total of 53 by Saturday.
Tuesday’s episode both began and ended with cuts. First we saw Marvin Lewis pulling aside offensive guard Otis Hudson following a walk-through to inform him he would not be making the trip to Dallas and would be part of the cuts to 75.
Hudson reacted nonchalantly and offered Lewis a handshake and a hug.
The show ended with another series of cuts involving tight end Richard Quinn, kicker/punter Quinn Sharp, wide receiver Jheranie Boyd and linebacker Jordan Campbell, all of whom were undrafted free agents and long shots.
All took the news gracefully, telling their coaches and the cameras that it has been a great experience.
“The main reason I chose to come to Cincinnati,” Campbell said in his exit interview, “was to not only play for a great head coach, but to be surrounded by great linebackers. It’s something that’s going to propel me forward for my next adventures.”
Here are some of the other key moments from the fourth episode:
Joiner injury
The Bengals placed Brandon Joiner on the injured/waived list Tuesday afternoon, and Tuesday night we found out why when he saw the first-year linebacker go down with a torn ACL.
We didn’t get the agonizing aftermath like we did with Larry Black in the season debut, but we did have an uncomfortable front-row seat as Joiner lay on the ground screaming and clutching his knee.
And we also saw the seemingly callous nature of the business of football as the team immediately moved on, with linebackers coach Paul Guenther rallying his group to tell them that Joiner’s misfortune is their break.
“We had another one of our guys go down today, so understand this: You young guys are going to get plenty of opportunities,” Guenther said.
Springboro practice
Some local fans got their chance to appear on the show, including the Springboro High varsity team as Marvin Lewis met with them before the Bengals practiced Aug. 19.
The focus of the segment, however, was on the sloppy nature of the practice, with offensive coordinator Jay Gruden saying “We’re on a high school field. It doesn’t mean you have to play like high school.”
Wide receivers coach James Urban added that it was “a (expletive) embarrassment.”
The scene quickly cut to the meeting room the next day, where Gruden let loose with a profanity-laced tirade, calling it “Mickey Mouse horse(expletive) football. We all had a hand in it, and it can’t happen for us to be as good as we want to be. Ever. Yesterday we took a major step backward.”
One positive note that came from the session was coaching intern Greg Ellis, a 12-year NFL veteran, telling rookie defensive lineman Margus Hunt, “You have the ability to be a $100 million player.”
Zimmer zigs, not zags
We’ve come to expect Mike Zimmer to act a certain way when he’s not pleased, but the defensive coordinator took a different, softer approach in dealing with second-year defensive tackle Devon Still.
Soft spoken and expletive-free, Zimmer simply asked Still what his goals were after football, and then asked him what his goal was in football.
When Still said he wanted to embrace the backup role and make sure when he enters the game for Pro Bowler Geno Atkins, there would be drop off in play, Zimmer calmly replied, “You should have higher expectations than that. I don’t want you to think of yourself as a backup. There’s no reason why you can’t be a dominant defensive linemen if you’ll pick up your intensity level. I think you’re a tough guy, but I don’t think you play like a tough guy. It hurts me that I can’t get you playing as good as I know you can play.”
Zimmer then asked Still if he wants him to get on him harder, to which Still replies “Yes, sir.”
“OK. I’m going to ride you then,” Zimmer said.
Careful what you ask for, Devon.
Harrison up in arms
When a meeting in linebackers coach Paul Guenther’s room turned into an arm wrestling match between J.K. Schaffer and Jordan Campbell, you just knew James Harrison would end up muscling in on the action.
Harrison’s success in the NFL is as much a result of his extremely competitive personality as it is his sheer talent. He proved that during OTAs when he not only captained the winning team on the team’s bowling field trip, he also rolled the highest game of any player on the team.
So when the competition involved brute strength, you had to expect Harrison would get in the mix, which he did. And he won in a matter of seconds.
Not surprisingly, no one else stepped up for a challenge after that.
Harrison claims to hate the Hard Knocks cameras, but the feeling obviously isn’t mutual. Even though next weeks’ finale is sure to focus on cuts – and Harrison is sure not to be among them – it’s doubtful we’ve seen the last of No. 92 on HBO.
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