The Cincinnati Bengals defense has lost some big defensive players in Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell this offseason after being dominant in the postseason the past few years.
Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com talked to defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo about how he has had so much success with the Bengals so far.
Louie Cioffi, the Bengals defensive quality control coach, said that Anarumo has taken the best of all the places he’s been and the coaches he’s worked with and put that into his playbook.
“It’s been on display the last two years and helped put us in situations to win championships,” Cioffi said.
Fresno State defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle was at the Bengals’ practices when they were at the Kettering Health Practice Fields and he said they have the type of camaraderie that he feels in a college locker room, and the players are very good at adapting when they need to in game.
“You can’t change your (core) so how do you tweak it with a different guy playing the dime position or a nickel that can play safety or a safety that can get in the box and play the run and corners that can make it look like they’re in man, but they’re playing a zone.” Coyle said.
Here’s what Anarumo said about his defense, per Hobson:
“The league is nickel. Pass defense is now 70 percent of the time. To say you’re 4-3 or 3-4, everybody is doing the same four-down stuff. And then you sprinkle it in. Five down, six down, whatever you do. And we acquired the kind of players we felt like we needed to do it.”
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Story originally appeared on Bengals Wire