The jokes about no one wanting to coach the Bengals defense may not age well if the Bengals’ defense plays like how it has been during minicamp." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesCincy Jungle homepageHorizontal - WhiteCincy Junglea Cincinnati Bengals communityFollow Cincy Jungle online:Follow Cincy Jungle on TwitterFollow Cincy Jungle on FacebookFollow Cincy Jungle on InstagramLog in or sign upLog InSign UpSite searchSearchSearchCincy Jungle main menuFanpostsFanshotsSectionsLibraryBengalsOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 321 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections #BITESIZEFilm RoomRoster Transactions and ContractsOrange & Black InsiderSalary Cap And CBABengals defenders give rave reviews for defensive coordinator Lou AnarumoNew Jake Fisher Jersey White ,27commentsThe jokes about no one wanting to coach the Bengals defense may not age well if the Bengals’ defense plays like how it has been during minicamp.EDTWe all can remember when Bengals fans and the national media were taking stabs at new Zac Taylor and his inability to land a defensive coordinator.It was pretty well documented that current Taylor’s eventual hire, Lou Anarumo, wasn’t at the top of Taylor’s list. There was reported interest in coaches like Jack Del Rio and university of Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham (who reportedly turned down the job). Obviously, it wasn’t a great look for a new head coach who was viewed as inexperienced already. After weeks of searching, Taylor landed Anarumo, who was the Giants’ secondary coach the year before, and coached with Taylor on the Dolphins’ staff before that. The hire seemed like a desperate one at the time; as many looked at the 52-year-old career position coach and weren’t exactly thrilled. He was the oldest coach Taylor had added to his group, and his only experience as a defensive coordinator came during the 2015 season in Miami on an interim basis. It was easy at the time to be skeptical of the hire and think Cincinnati’s defense was doomed to struggle for another season.Luckily, the players are excited to report that isn’t likely to be the case.“The genuine energy he actually gives off. He wants you to be great,” Bengals’ cornerback William Jackson told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “He’s behind me 95 percent of the time and he’s telling me what I’m doing badly and what I’m doing great. When you’ve got a coach like that Jeff Driskel Jersey , you can’t help but love him. I’m going to listen to everything he says this year and I’m pretty sure my game is going to escalate.”Jackson is one of the Bengals young defenders who fans are probably most excited about. Last year it seemed like he took a step back, though. In his first season playing in 2017, he held Antonio Brown without a catch in two separate games, but last year he seemed like an easy target at times. It isn’t hard to tell what the problem was. After former-Bengals’ defensive coordinator Teryl Austin was fired halfway into his first season, we saw Jackson play better. He alludes to that idea without coming out and saying it.“I don’t know how to explain last year. It feels like new players in here, Jackson said. “Everything is black-and-white. There’s no gray. With Lou, he’s on my case 100 percent of the time,” Jackson said. “He’s harder on me than anyone who’s ever coached me.”Jackson is too polite to call out Austin, but I’m here to help with that. There were clearly times last season where Jackson was put in frustrating positions. There were clearly times where linebackers were meant to drop into a zone and takeaway certain quick inside routes,but Cincinnati simply didn’t have the talent at the position to pull that off. What it resulted in were plays where it looks like Jackson would completely lose his man underneath to a wide-open route http://www.thebengalslockerroom.com/authentic-clint-boling-jersey , but in fact he was meant to drop into a deep zone. That is a very frustrating misuse of Jackson’s talent. He is the ideal man-to-man cornerback in the modern NFL. He has the speed and quickness to run routes with receivers. Why you would ever have him sit back and try and read what receivers and quarterback are doing is beyond me. Especially when you couple it with the other part of the scheme relying on linebackers who can’t cover being able to cover.Jackson wasn’t the only one to notice the difference. Second-year safety Jessie Bates also noted how much smoother things are going in his second defense in two years. Especially when it comes to being prepared to take on high powered offenses like the ones they saw when they played the Chiefs and Saints last season.“Last year we were just seeing that in games and we didn’t really focus on it,” Bates said. “I think we’re doing a good of outing details on that.”It goes farther than that, though. Bates also credits the players on the defense doing a better job of looking in the mirror.“I think we’ve established some accountability in the room from top to bottom and that has shown on the field,” Bates said of the overall defense. “I feel really good about what we’ve done so far, but we have to keep building on it.”This is all well and good, and many of you have probably heard players talk like this in the past. However, it is clear that Anarumo’s plan is working out well on the practice field already, according to Hobson:Sometimes the best way to confuse an offense is make everything look the same but do different things out of it. It is similar to the way successful offenses run multiple kinds of plays out of the same formation. It’s very telling when an offensive player takes the time to go over to the defensive coordinator to try and understand what is happening better.“Basically, it’s all the same dudes,” Tyler Boyd said. “But they’re teaching it so well over there Alex Erickson Jersey , it seems like they’ve been playing together since before I even got here … They dominated (Tuesday) at the end of practice, so it’s great to see that. The defense is starting to win some days. We know we’ve got a high-powered offense, but it’s always good to see these guys bring the energy.”It is obviously still early, but we weren’t seeing offensive players talk about how the defense was confusing them last season, and players were’t talking about how easy the defense was to learn while people also talking about how well they are smothering the offense.If this keeps up, Anarumo will have plenty of people eating crow. Oakland Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther has felt a lot better about Clelin Ferrell’s play over the past two games, and it’s no coincidence.The fourth overall pick in the draft, Ferrell has been lining up more at his customary defensive end spot after splitting time moving inside and outside. He’s also fully health after dropping nearly 20 pounds during a trip to London for a game earlier this season.“I was so happy today when I weighed in at (266) this morning,” Ferrell said Thursday. “I was like, ‘Thank God. I’m finally back to my weight.’ After we got back from London Clayton Fejedelem Jersey , I stepped on the scale and I was 250. I just felt bad, felt weak and all those things. It’s all a learning process. I’m just excited to keep building because they remember November.”One of three first-round picks by Raiders general manager Mike Mayock and coach Jon Gruden this offseason, Ferrell has been noticeably more productive recently.The Clemson product had his best game of the season last Thursday night during Oakland’s win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Ferrell had 2 ½ sacks and three hurries while leading the Raiders’ best pass rush of the season and forcing Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers into three interceptions.Guenther said he noticed Ferrell turning the corner a week earlier when the Raiders beat the Detroit Lions 31-24.“I really think the light came on for him in the second half of the Detroit game,” Guenther said. “And then he went out against the Chargers and played really good. You can just tell with the look in a guy’s eyes. You know when he starts making plays, you can start saying, ‘Hey I’m starting to figure this out.’ It’s the look in the guy’s eyes and the way he’s handling himself. And he came out the other night and played really good, so hopefully he can keep that up.”When the season began the Raiders were thin along the interior defensive line but had plenty of depth at end, so Ferrell was asked to move inside. That muted his production somewhat and led to plenty of criticism, both from fans and the media.Ferrell insisted it didn’t bother him, and both he and the Raiders repeatedly said he was making continual progress.Still http://www.thebengalslockerroom.com/authentic-john-ross-jersey , it felt more than a little satisfying to finally have the stats to back it up.“At the end of the day for me I’m all about personal player development growth, and then just how we’re winning games,” Ferrell said. “I don’t really focus on the stats. I never have, because when you’re chasing stats you can kind of get caught up in things and then you’re not really focusing on what you need to do to win.“But it’s always good to kind of shut people up a little bit. People can kind of get on your nerves. Not as far as it’s getting to me, but you kind of hate hearing nonsense, especially when a lot of people aren’t as informed. I don’t blame people for that. It is what it is. I’ve been through this before in college. I’ve always had the spotlight on me. It just comes with the game,” he said.Notes: Guenther said there is “a very good chance” that newly signed defensive end Dion Jordan will play Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. … CB LaMarcus Joyner (hamstring) remains sidelined and is a long shot to play against the Bengals. If Joyner is unable to play, Nevin Lawson or Daryl Worley could replace him in the nickel slot.__