There's a big picture of Carson Palmer dominating the top of the page, but they don't show it to you
on this link. Anyway, here's the story.
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Bengals dialing up success
By Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY
CINCINNATI — If it's 2:30 in the morning and Marvin Lewis' cellphone is vibrating, the Cincinnati Bengals coach knows exactly who's calling. It's
Chad Johnson, the most eccentric of his big-play wide receivers.
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Chad Johnson and quarterback Carson Palmer have developed into the centerpiece of the Bengals' successful offense.</TD><TD rowSpan=2>
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"Whatcha doing?"
"Sleeping, Chad."
"OK, coach. I just wanted to see what was going on."
"He can't sleep, so he's going to call and wake somebody else up," Lewis says. "That's fine. We know where he's at."
Lewis, the motivator behind a 4-0 mark that is the franchise's best start since 1988, is like the obstetrician who is always on call.
If it's not grizzled tackle
Willie Anderson ringing, it's quarterback
Carson Palmer or workhorse running back
Rudi Johnson. Wideout
T.J. Houshmandzadeh has his coach on speed dial, too.
Just one player, though, is prone to dial in the middle of the night. "I don't think there's a player in the NFL who's as close as I am with their coaches," says
Chad Johnson, whose in-your-face gimmicks and touchdown celebrations overshadow a work ethic that makes him welcome in coaches' game-plan meetings. "And (there's) no time to sleep when we've got games to play."
Such open lines suggest that Lewis, 47, feels the pulse of the tight-knit team he is preparing for Sunday night's nationally televised test at the Jacksonville Jaguars. Yet it is also apparent that a squad containing an explosive, No. 3-ranked offense and a vastly improved defense is buying into the passionate approach that Lewis has been preaching in his first head coaching job.
Want to talk X's and O's at midnight? Call me. That's part of our work.
"This is really about what the guys have done," Lewis says. "They believe in preparation and working hard. And it has grown like a virus around here. All I can do is continue to push, prod and urge our guys to continue to work, because there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."
Tuesday, for example, the NFL's universal off day for players, the Bengals' locker room was buzzing with activity from voluntary workouts.
"Everybody has been in this locker room today, and it's only 1:30,"
Chad Johnson, a fifth-year pro, said as he surveyed the scene. "Man, you would not have gotten that when I first got here."
Dave Lapham, a former Bengals offensive lineman, now the team's radio analyst, has witnessed the transformation firsthand. "The mind-set is totally different," he said during a break in the live radio show he hosted from a downtown sports bar Monday night. "Instead of hoping to win, they expect to win."
Work paying off
Before Lewis landed the Bengals' job in 2003, his crowning achievement came in Baltimore, where he coordinated the defense that was the backbone for a Super Bowl XXXV title during the 2000 season. That offers credibility, but the results of Lewis' first two seasons in the Queen City were identical: Stumbling 1-4 starts, late-season rallies and 8-8 finishes. No playoffs.
This season's sizzling start — three blowout wins and a 16-10 squeaker vs. Houston last week — has fueled a frenzy about town and optimism that the team will take the next step and snap the NFL's longest drought of non-playoff seasons. The Bengals haven't been in the playoffs since 1990, when Sam Wyche was coach,
Boomer Esiason was quarterback and Palmer was in grade school.
"We expected to be here, wanted to be here, but you never know," says Palmer. "Anything can happen in this league. So there is a little bit of a surprise to be 4-0. But we haven't done anything yet. We're a long way from being satisfied."
Says Lewis: "We didn't
will this. We worked to do this."
Palmer's growth in his second season as a starter epitomizes the team's rise. Chosen No. 1 overall from Southern California as Lewis' first draft pick in 2003, Palmer has blossomed as the centerpiece for an offense that ranks third in the NFL for yards and second in the AFC to San Diego with 104 points.
He benefits from the continuity of the only NFL offense to return all 11 starters. And he is supported by skilled-position weapons galore, including
Rudi Johnson, who set the franchise's single-season rushing record in 2004 with 1,454 yards, and Houshmandzadeh, coming off a 73-catch, 978-yard breakout year.
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Marvin Lewis' coaching may now have paid off. "We didn't will this. We worked to do this," he said.</TD></TR><TR><TD>
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Yet the quarterback's quick maturity is reflected with an NFL-best 71.8% completion rate and 112.2 passer rating, second in the league. Palmer, also second with nine TD passes, hasn't thrown an interception in 10 quarters. Dating to last season, he has seven games in a row with at least a 100 rating.
"The decisions he's making are awesome," says backup quarterback
Jon Kitna, who was the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year in 2003 as Palmer learned from the bench. "He's just been so consistent, and he hasn't made any unforced errors. He's playing so well right now that we can falter a little bit in other areas and he's making up for it."
Lewis' decision to switch from Kitna to Palmer last year — early in the offseason and without as much as competition in minicamp — was a bold move that has paid off. "I wouldn't call it a gutsy move,"
Chad Johnson says. "He was a first-round pick. ... He had to get in there sooner or later."
Johnson and Palmer have meshed well. Last year, Johnson earned a second Pro Bowl spot in a row with 95 catches for 1,274 yards. He again ranks among NFL leaders with 26 catches and 374 yards.
Yet beneath the stats is a developing bond between players whose idea of a neat road trip last November was to drive to Indianapolis for a Monday night game between the Colts and Minnesota Vikings. The primary purpose: to gain a better grasp of the flow that exists with the Colts' record-breaking quarterback-receiving duo,
Peyton Manning and
Marvin Harrison.
The chemistry between Palmer and Johnson was evident last Sunday when they improvised for an 8-yard completion over the middle to convert a third down that led to the game's first points.
"That's why we took that trip last year, because of situations like that," Johnson says. "Peyton knows Marvin's going to be there and trusts him every time."
Defense doing its job, too
As the offense continues to evolve, it is the defense that is turning heads — and bailed out the Bengals on Sunday. Houston's
David Carr was sacked seven times in a performance that Lewis figured was the type of close game that might have led to a bungling loss in the past.
Last season, Cincinnati was 19th in the league for fewest yards allowed and gave up the fifth-most points in the AFC (372). This year, Cincinnati has allowed just 38 points, fewest in franchise history after four games, and a 9.5 average that is second in the NFL.
The defense also leads the NFL intakeaways (17) and interceptions (12). In wins against Minnesota and Chicago, the Bengals became the first NFL team in 35 years to post back-to-back games with five interceptions. That's one reason why Cincinnati could be penalized a franchise-record 17 times and still beat the Vikings by 29 points in Week 2.
"You can't really explain the turnovers," says Lewis, whose secondary is anchored by veteran cornerbacks
Deltha O'Neal and
Tory James. "They've done a good job understanding the routes and getting their heads into the game."
With Lewis, it always comes back to gaining an edge with hard work. Rookie middle linebacker
Odell Thurman surely senses this. With a team-high 35 tackles, the second-round pick from Georgia was named the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Month for September.
"That was the wrong guy to give the award to," Lewis says. "We've been on his butt, and we keep that foot right where it belongs."
So, you've been a little hard on him? "From the time he steps in here in the morning," Lewis says. "Even when he's not here, I'm on him because he's not here."
Thurman realizes his coach once tutored all-pro
Ray Lewis, who plays the same position. When Marvin Lewis coached
Ray Lewis, he often spoke of him growing into an extension of the coaching staff. Now he says the same of Thurman.
"He doesn't compare me to Ray, but he uses him to make me hungry," Thurman says. "He'll talk about how Ray stays in the film room and says, 'If you want to be that, that's what you've got to do.' Maybe that explains his style."
Indeed it does.
"That's what he needs to do to be great," Lewis says of Thurman. "If he wants to be an average, show-up-on-Sunday guy, then so be it. But he'd have a hard time playing here."
With the season only at the first-quarter mark, Lewis has so many more buttons to push. Given the penalties, missed tackles and other errors, he realizes the team hasn't played to its potential and will need to with Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Baltimore on the schedule before Thanksgiving.
He's also talking up experience gained from a few "big games" and the need to stay grounded and focused.
"I tell the players, 'As much fun as you're having now, it's a lot more fun in January,' " Lewis says. " 'Don't let this get in the way of that.' "
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