Bengals running back Jeremy Hill said last month that he thought it felt like “now or never” for his team to snap their habit of making it to the playoffs only to lose their first game in the postseason.
Left tackle Andrew Whitworth recently shared his opinion that the team was short on the swagger they needed to feel confident in their ability to win regardless of “how good the football team is we’re playing.” Both players will likely please offensive coordinator Hue Jackson with their thoughts.
Jackson also liked a scuffle between defensive lineman Wallace Gilberry and offensive lineman Matt O’Donnell in Wednesday’s practice because it showed the fire he wants to see from a team that has to “answer the bell” during the 2015 season.
“It’s got to mean something to you when it doesn’t go right,” Jackson said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It’s got to cut you to the core. Last season cut me to the core. I promise you that. I think it’s cut a lot of people at the core because we are tired. I’m tired of being the brunt of jokes. I’m tired of our organization being the brunt of jokes. At the end of the day, that’s what we do this for. I don’t want to be the laughingstock of anything and neither do those players in there on the offense. You have to take a stand.”
The Bengals don’t lack for talent, but they’ve fallen short repeatedly in the playoffs because the offense has fizzled. Jackson bears some blame for that and so does quarterback Andy Dalton, who Jackson says has done “an outstanding job” of making his teammates understand what they need to get done this season. For all the talk of urgency, passion and energy, though, one of Jackson’s former employers could sum up the Bengals’ needs with three little words.
Just win, baby, and everything else will take care of itself.