Can Jay Gruden turn the Cincinnati Bengals into a Super Bowl worthy team next year?
The Cincinnati Bengals are turning to Gruden to reinvent and revitalized their deadbeat offense. No, not that Gruden. It is his brother. Jay Gruden is the younger brother to Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden. He previously coached in the United Football League as well as the Arena Football League where he led the Orlando Predators to two AFL championships. He played Quarterback in college as well as in the ALF and is listed as #4 on the AFL’s 20 greatest players.
Jay Gruden was brought in to breathe some life into the sluggish Bengals offense. Quarterback Carson Palmer was so unhappy with the team’s performance this season that he had asked to be traded at the end of the season.
It was just a couple of season ago that the Cincinnati Bengals went to the playoffs and looked like a team that was working towards making its own run at the Super Bowl, but the wheels just came off. When they went to the playoffs they were a run based offense. Because of injuries and a lack of depth at the position the Bengals lost that dominate running game, but had no air attack to make up for it and things went to hell in a hand basket. Gruden will be tasked with putting some punch back into this offense. This will likely mean developing a passing a game around Carson Palmer who is considered by many to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
The expectations will be high. Gruden’s brother cast one hell of a shadow and is known for his ability to put together an offense and get the best out of his quarterbacks. Jay Gruden will be expected to do just that. With Palmer, Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco in place, they have the tools to put together a pretty potent offense. If they want any chance of getting back to the Super Bowl, Jay Gruden is going to have to develop a system that can put these guys to full use.
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