Thinking Skins Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 The Washington Redskins lost defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis today when he agreed to become the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, NFL sources said. Sources said the final contractual details still were being completed but the Bengals were planning an announcement for tonight or Wednesday. The Bengals' other remaining candidate, Steelers offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, returned to the Pittsburgh area this afternoon without the job, sources said. He had his second interview with the Bengals in Mobile, Ala., Monday night. The Redskins plan to promote linebackers coach George Edwards to replace Lewis, who oversaw the NFL's fifth-ranked defense this season. Edwards will become the Redskins' fifth different defensive coordinator in a span of five seasons. Lewis, 44, finally got the head-coaching job that he and others in the league felt he deserved after his defense in Baltimore set a single-season scoring record and carried the Ravens to a Super Bowl title two years ago. He failed to land jobs after interviewing in Buffalo, Carolina and Tampa Bay in recent years, getting passed over by the Buccaneers' owners last offseason despite being the choice of General Manager Rich McKay. Last month, Lewis rejected a $1.5 million-per-season offer to be the head coach at Michigan State University, saying he didn't want to settle for something less than running his own NFL team. He emerged as the Bengals' top candidate late last week after his second interview with club president Mike Brown and other team officials in Cincinnati, moving ahead of former Jacksonville Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin. He had to wait for Bengals officials to conduct a second interview Monday night with Mularkey. Lewis had accompanied the Redskins' contingent to Mobile for this week's Senior Bowl practices but will depart as Cincinnati's coach. Lewis succeeds Dick LeBeau, who was fired after a 2-14 season. He becomes the third African-American head coach among the NFL's 32 teams, joining the Indianapolis Colts' Tony Dungy and the New York Jets' Herman Edwards. League officials had been hopeful that the Bengals would hire Lewis at a time when the NFL is under renewed scrutiny for its minority hiring practices. Under the threat of litigation, the league formed a diversity committee and mandated that clubs with head-coaching vacancies had to interview minority candidates. Lewis inherits a Bengals team that hasn't had a winning record since 1990 and is the league's laughingstock, with an undermanned coaching staff and front office. But the cupboard isn't bare. Many executives and scouts around the league felt going into this season that the Bengals had enough talent to be a borderline playoff contender, and they finished the season ranked 17th in the NFL in total defense and 18th in total offense. They have the top overall selection in April's draft and could use it on Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Carson Palmer of USC. The Bengals completed a 16-day coaching search. They contacted the Redskins for permission to interview Lewis on the day they fired LeBeau, and Lewis met with Brown and other team officials in Cincinnati the following day. By the time he returned to Cincinnati for two days of meetings last Thursday and Friday, he already appeared to have the support of Brown's daughter Katie Blackburn, the Bengals' executive vice president, and Coughlin hurt his candidacy by demanding that the club bolster its scouting and coaching staffs. Lewis emerged from that meeting telling associates he was confident he would get the job but not to count on anything for certain until it was done. Lewis never has been a head coach at any level but had great responsibility with the Redskins this season as Coach Steve Spurrier adjusted to the NFL. He is one of the league's best-regarded assistants. In the 2000 season, the Ravens set an NFL record for the fewest points allowed -- 165 -- in a 16-game season. He left Baltimore in the aftermath of the Tampa Bay setback and signed a three-year, $2.7 million contract with the Redskins that made him the league's highest-paid assistant. The Redskins have had top-10 defenses the past three seasons with three different coordinators. Edwards follows Mike Nolan, Ray Rhodes, Kurt Schottenheimer and Lewis as the club's defensive coordinators since 1999, and the move ensures that standout players like Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey and Pro Bowl linebacker LaVar Arrington will have had a different defensive boss in each of their seasons with the Redskins. The defense struggled early on this season to adapt to Lewis's scheme, but players said in recent weeks they thought the transition would be smoother if the team promoted from within and the club could continue to run a similar system. Arrington and veteran linebacker Jessie Armstead strongly endorsed Edwards as Lewis's would-be successor. "I think George Edwards should be the clear-cut choice if Marvin leaves," Arrington said recently. "He's the most qualified. He deserves to be a defensive coordinator. I'm confident we could keep the same system in place and move forward." Edwards played linebacker for Spurrier at Duke and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for Spurrier at the University of Florida in 1991. He had college assistant-coaching stints at Appalachian State, Duke and the University of Georgia before spending four seasons on the Dallas Cowboys' staff. He rejoined Spurrier when he was hired by the Redskins last offseason, and he quietly won the respect of his players. "He can really teach," Arrington said. "You can tell his dedication and focus are there, and guys like him. He's a leader." His promotion means that the Redskins will continue to have two African-American coordinators, Edwards and offensive coordinator Hue Jackson. Jackson agreed to a new contract on Friday amid concerns by some team officials that he could be a candidate to join Lewis in Cincinnati. Lewis said Friday night he was staying with the Redskins. Spurrier has said he will remain the team's primary offensive play-caller next season but wants to delegate some responsibilities so he can spend more time overseeing the defense and special teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlanta Skins Fan Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Originally posted by blakman211 Arrington and veteran linebacker Jessie Armstead strongly endorsed Edwards as Lewis's would-be successor. "I think George Edwards should be the clear-cut choice if Marvin leaves," Arrington said recently. "He's the most qualified. He deserves to be a defensive coordinator. I'm confident we could keep the same system in place and move forward." Edwards played linebacker for Spurrier at Duke and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for Spurrier at the University of Florida in 1991. He had college assistant-coaching stints at Appalachian State, Duke and the University of Georgia before spending four seasons on the Dallas Cowboys' staff. He rejoined Spurrier when he was hired by the Redskins last offseason, and he quietly won the respect of his players. "He can really teach," Arrington said. "You can tell his dedication and focus are there, and guys like him. He's a leader." I'm going to drink a beer now, just to toast these quotes. Edwards is a better fit with Spurrier and a better fit with LaVar. I expect we'll see more of LaVar as the true LB, as we saw him last year. And the respect for Edwards as a "leader" is great to hear. If we manage our offseason well (draft, free agents), next year could be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba9497 Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Finally, the Skins can move forward without this distraction hanging over their head. Good Luck Marvin, and be out by noon tomrrow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 I'm crushed. Have fun with ther perenial losers in Cincy, Marv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Genius Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 I expect the Bengals to be 8-8 nect year - provided they dont play Palmer all 16 games. I wonder if the Skins/Bengals might have a option on a draft day trade in the works now. And know, I am not talking about the 1st round pick. Perhaps the #1 pick in Round 2.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 On Channel 4 they said it was a deal worth about a million a year. Lewis must really be desperate to have gotten this chance, the way they strung him along with the Steeler's OC and the way that they offered no changes to their operations and such a low ball salary. I feel badly for Lewis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eparadox Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Bungles 8-8??? HAHAHA, yeah, right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeSkin Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Excellent. Now we can finally get some stability around here. For some reason I have a gut feeling that Marvin is going to fall flat on his face in Cincy. If he was such an a$shole egomaniac as a DC, imagine how bad he'll be as a HC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 the example of Bugel is out there. The Skins management told Joe not to take the Cardinals job and wait for another shot as Arizona was not going to give him the players or resources to succeed....................BUT IT IS VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO CONVINCE SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER BEEN A HEAD COACH IN THE NFL TO PASS ON ONE OF THE 32 JOBS OUT THERE............... There endeth the lesson, grasshopper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sisko Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 As has been said previously, I'm glad our team can now move forward. However, I still contend that both sides got pretty much what they wanted out of Lewis having come here if even only for one season. Happy trails and best of luck Marv. Here's hoping you can at least give football fans a reason to stop calling them the Bungles. Also, it would be cool for the players on that team that always come to play (Lorenzo Neal, Takeo Spikes, Corey Dillon) if he could finally coach them into having a decent season or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skins24 Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 $___.00 says we play the Bengals this preseason... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gridironmike Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 I hope the Edwards experiment succeeds. The players endorsed Robiske too, then dropped two of three. I am glad it happened now and that Edwards will have an entire off-season to get comfortable. I am ready for less juggling and more stability. Lets fine-tune our defense and bring in the burners for offense. Plug in a couple of guards and lets tear 'em up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyDave Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Lavar knows that edwards isnt gonna have us breakin remotes when on 3rd and 20 by going prevent/zone and giving up a first down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVskinsfan Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 No tears here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PennSkinsFan Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Good luckMarvin. You deserved better than Cincy, but hey, you got your shot. Bring on Edwards. Your job...move the defense from five to at least three. We want steady improvement! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCS Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 So let's see. A coach in the NFL for what? 3 years? Edwards, who most people hadn't even't heard of before he was signed on to the Redskins, spent a good part of the season relatively unknown, is going to be so much more better than Marvin Lewis, a proven DC and now HC. Now I certainly hope that Edwards does well and am glad to hear that the players like him. However, if he does do well, then it could be bacause of Marvin, not in spite of him. We have no idea about Edwards abilities or intentions with the defense. Just a bunch of wishful thinking that he'll do things more the way we fans think he should as oppossed to what Marvin did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 PCS, I don't think anything you wrote is incorrect. I would just add there is another factor in play. The fact is Edwards is so unknown, there's no way we can know what to expect, just as you said. But, because of that, it's likely he's not yet completely tied to one system of coaching. To me, this is the biggest potential positive we may witness. Edwards will allow himself to get out of the system if it's not working and try something else. Look at the two games against Dallas as an example of a defensive coordinator willing to do anything possible to win. And I'm not talking about Lewis. Zimmer let himself alter everything in the hope it would shake us up. I like the willingness of a coordinator to adapt and react strongly to the success of the opposition. I do not like the concept of staying within the scheme at all costs. Perhaps with Edwards we'll see a bit of that. Obviously he's going to enter the year with a directive to keep the same Lewis terminology and base system in place. But, I think Edwards will read off the page a bit more than Lewis felt he had to. And that, to me, is the biggest positive I take out of the change here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCS Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Certainly can't disagree that Edwards may use some........independent thinking with the defense this year. He's in a position he no doubt has coveted. One more rung up the ladder. Which one of us here in the same postition wouldn't? Human nature. Make his own mark on that defense. Possibly some subtle tweaks that most of us won't recognize. Or maybe an obvious one that has S.S. looking over with an " I saw that" glance. However, that could be limited because as you stated, there will more than likely be a directive to stay the course. Actually, that directive was probably in place right about the time Marvin was hired. A directive pointed at consistency. Of course, there is the possibility that after a season under Marvin's system, ( exactly what that may be is still a bit of a mystery), teaching that system to the players under his charge, and seeing the positive effects of that system as the season wore on, Edwards may not want to change a thing. Could be he's sold on Marvin's system. It will be interesting to see next season how much different Edwards, (as a DC), is from Marvin, even if he isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just skins baby Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Actually, he's not lost at all, he's in Cincinnati:silly: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 PCS, The only problem you have with this response is no one really saw the positive effects of the system as the season wore on. Certainly we started weakly and got better through the middle portion. Then we got weak again. So much so Lavar sat upset, speaking of how there was regression going on right before we played Houston. The defense got soft again. It was making the same dumb mistakes. Looking confused. Playing confused. Then, we get the No. 32 and No. 30 offenses in football, stone them, and everyone seems to think we were constantly improving. No way. We were regressing. And, to close the season, we stepped outside the normalcy of the scheme to produce a masterpiece and stopped the Cowboys from running. The Redskins stopped the Cowboys from running. Sold out to stop the run. Music to my ears. Unheard in any ears within this defense, which doesn't sell out. It plays fundamental chain defense. Against Houston there was an early play that struck me because it was like so many other plays. Wells was running at Bruce. No where to go. Lavar was just standing, watching for the cutback. He played his spot perfectly. That play went for nothing and had he cut back, it'd have gone for nothing. But, there were no hats on the ball, so to speak. We don't have a defense that is designed to get bodies around the ball. That would be outside the scheme. Our defense is one where each man has his job and if he does it, the plays will come, but he's not really supposed to go to the play. This is a key reason why we generated so few takeaways as a defense. Had Lavar snapped down on that play when it was clearly over, he may have surprised the back and popped the ball loose. Against Dallas we were flying toward the ball. Two completely different styles, even within the same scheme. While Edwards may be sold on a proven scheme, he won't get there from the fact we improved over the course of the year. He'll get there because of what Marvin did before. But, let's not pretend we saw a constant migration toward dominance. Dominance appeared, yes. But, it was timed with the two worst offenses in football. Little else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsThug Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Lewis had to take the Cincy job because the window was closing for him -- you only have a couple of years after a super bowl win when you are a hot commodity as a DC and a media favorite for a head coaching position. I just wished for his sake it was any other franchise but the Bengals. I like Lewis, and wish him well. Edwards I don't know squat about -- but aside from his defensive system, I am worried that he will not have the authority and clout to lobby for drafting defensive players which we so desperately need, especially on the line. I hope he can make his voice heard with DANNY BOY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCS Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 "The only problem you have with this response is no one really saw the positive effects of the system as the season wore on" Actually Art, the only problem, as I have stated, with statements made in this thread has been in regards to Edwards. Simply put, we just don't know. That's all. Any assumptions we make about what he may or may not do as DC are based on either what we think we know or wishful thinking based on what some felt Marvin did wrong. That's pretty much it. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 PCS, On that I don't think anyone could disagree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skins24 Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 So let's see. A coach in the NFL for what? 3 years? Edwards, who most people hadn't even't heard of before he was signed on to the Redskins, spent a good part of the season relatively unknown, is going to be so much more better than Marvin Lewis, a proven DC and now HC. Now I certainly hope that Edwards does well and am glad to hear that the players like him. However, if he does do well, then it could be bacause of Marvin, not in spite of him. We have no idea about Edwards abilities or intentions with the defense. Just a bunch of wishful thinking that he'll do things more the way we fans think he should as oppossed to what Marvin did. 2001. Ray Rhodes, a proven DC(and HC) is gone. Who do we have to replace him? Some unknown. The head coach's brother even. We have no idea of his abilities and intentions for our defense. What happens? We stay a top 10 defense. No matter who the DC is, we have too many good players on our D for it to falter too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nighthawk Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 There seem to be some people questioning the move of George Edwards to Defensive Coordinator based on his lack of NFL coaching experience. Let me make one minor nitpicky correction. Park City continues to write that Edwards only coached three years in Dallas. He's actually coached 5 years. 4 in Dallas as their LB's coach and one here as our LB's coach. If you look at both Lewis' early career and compare it to Edward's career, they are quite similar. Both started out at coaching LB's in Div. I-AA programs. Lewis at Idaho State and Edwards at Appalachian State. Both coached three years at their respective programs before moving on. Lewis moved on to coach LB's at Long Beach State, then New Mexico. Edwards moved on to coach LB's at Duke then Georgia. Now you can argue that Duke and Georgia are have better programs than LBS or NM. Now, after 9 years of coaching at the collegiate level, Lewis became LB's coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers under Dom Capers. After 7 years of collegiate coaching, Edwards became LB's coach for the Cowboys under Dave Campo and this past year our LB's coach under Lewis. Lewis spent five years at Pittsburgh before becoming the DC for the Baltimore Ravens and Edwards has spent 5 years coaching at Dallas/Washington before becoming our DC. I don't think there should be any question that he has enough NFL experience to be our DC especially when you take into account where he's coached and with whom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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