After making his rounds on the media circuit, former Browns head coach Hue Jackson is ready to go back to work. Jackson has agreed to return to the Cincinnati Bengals staff in the role of special assistant to head coach Marvin Lewis. It is the recently fired coach’s third go-around with the Bengals, having spent two stints with the franchise from 2004-2006 and most recently 2012-2015.
In a statement, Lewis laid out how Jackson will assist him daily basis. “I have a great comfort level with Hue and his ability to assist me with the day-to-day responsibilities on defense, including analyzing our opponents and helping me on game days with the players and defensive coaches,” he said.
The duo has plenty of familiarity with each other given Lewis’ lengthy stint as Bengals head coach, which began in 2003. He was in charge of the team for both of Jackson’s stops in Cincinnati, first as a receivers coach and later as an offensive coordinator. This is also the second time that Jackson has joined Lewis’ staff after failing as a head coach himself.
In 2011, Jackson was dismissed as head coach of the Raiders after guiding the organization to an 8-8 record and promptly returned to Cincinnati as a secondary assistant & special teams during the offseason. Eventually, Jackson worked his way up to being the team’s offesnive coordinator between 2014-2015. His success in the role earned him the Browns head coaching gig in 2016 but culminated in his firing two weeks ago after winning just three of 40 games he coached over the last two and a half season.
Jackson clearly wasted no time returning to work and rejoining the Bengals, which has become somewhat of a safety net for him to fall back on when he flops elsewhere.
The timing is also interesting given that at 5-4, Cincinnati is still very much in the mix for a playoff spot and their remaining schedule features two game against the Browns in weeks 12 and 16. That’s something Browns safety Damarious Randall found hilariously ironic.
— Damarious Randall (@RandallTime) November 13, 2018
In other words Hue we play the browns twice tell us what you know ???…
— Damarious Randall (@RandallTime) November 13, 2018
Jackson certainly gives the Bengals a competitive advantage in that he can provide some insight into the Browns playbook. There’s not really much Cleveland can do to adjust either because changing an entire playbook mid-season is no easy task. Still, the Browns offense has looked much more efficient in recent weeks under new offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens and there is always the possibility that Kitchens can adjust some of the verbiage in anticipation of those two meetings with the Bengals.
Whether or not Jackson’s knowledge of the Browns really aids his new team in winning those games though is anyone’s guess though. Even if the defense sort of knows what is coming, they still have to stop it and given the way young
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