The AFC North Off-Season Buzz

Our teams are still #1 in our hearts

 

Coaches are starting to fly around the AFC North as teams get ready to attack the free agent market. It would make sense to bring in a particular coaching philosophy before filling it with players, and not the other way around.

Here’s today’s buzz. Enjoy.

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens just hired Marty Mornhinweg as their quarterbacks coach after announcing Marc Trestman as the Ravens new Offensive coordinator yesterday.

My Take: The Ravens continue their trend of hiring successful offensive position coaches or coordinators who tried their hand at the next level and couldn’t make the cut for whatever reason. With these two hires, the passing game seems to be more than covered, but questions regarding their running game will continue until at least the beginning of the 2015 season.  Passing may get a team style points, but a solid running game still wins championships… usually.

Cleveland Browns

The Browns went a less conservative route in hiring John DeFilippo as their offensive coordinator, who previously had experience only as a quarterbacks coach.

My Take: DeFilippo is an up and comer in the eyes of many around the NFL, but is unproven as a play-caller. What will be more interesting is to see how this affects the Browns off-season quarterback decisions. He just coached a mobile rookie QB in Derek Carr, who ended with a respectable first season with 10 TDs and just 1 INT in his last four games.

Cincinnati Bengals

On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Bengals continue to hold some of their coaches hostage by not allowing them to take promotions.

My Take: I get that a team needs continuity, but not allowing secondary coach Vance Joseph to take the Broncos defensive coordinator job with his old pal Gary Kubiak is burning an unnecessary bridge. This is the second time in a four years the Bengals have blocked a promotion. I can’t imagine these actions will aid in attracting future coaching talent.

Pittsburgh Steelers

In positive AFC North news, a belated congratulations is due to the Steelers and their co-offensive players of the year in Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown.

My Take: In a division that has been known for defense, the Steelers found two dynamic offensive talents via the draft, who were by far the best two players at their respective positions in the AFC. Their success may have hurt Ben Roethlisberger’s MVP status, but Steelers fans will take it.