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Around the Senior Bowl, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor made a comment about the blueprint written last year by the San Francisco 49ers — the one where the 49ers went from coaching the Senior Bowl to playing in the Super Bowl.
John Ross has similar thoughts.
Ross, who is already getting familiar with Joe Burrow, says he understands why media and onlookers have bashed the team. But he also sees how the team could pull a 49ers.
“It’s become the norm for the media to attack a team that doesn’t do that well,” Ross said, Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “It’s not OK, but it comes with the territory. Once we start doing better, we’ll flip the script just like the San Francisco 49ers. Two years ago they won four games. Now they go play in a Super Bowl. That can be very much anyone’s story. Just how hard you work in the offseason and how well the team comes together. We’ll see where the next couple of months ago.”
Is a turnaround quicker than most would predict possible? Always. This is the NFL and things change by the week.
If Burrow, the presumed No. 1 pick, meshes well with a talented crew headed up by A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon and gets some help from a revamped defense, a big swing is always possible. Few can ever reasonably expect a 49ers-type turnaround, but it clearly isn’t impossible.
Ross will have to be a part of this, of course. He showed flashes of major production early last year when a coaching staff actually gave him a chance before getting hurt again.
While he left it unsaid, Ross surely understands he has to play a role in this.
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