Marvin Lewis Speaks on Underachieving, Knuckleheads and Being on the Hot Seat

There is no more man in Cincinnati that is more sure of himself than Marvin Lewis (Pete Rose owns the lifetime achievement award, however). He is the Teflon Don around these parts.

In an interview with the Bengals official site, Lewis talks about expectations, underachievement and being on the hot seat ("You don't really believe that, do you?").

"We keep spending all this time on the knuckleheads instead of on the good guys; that's a problem," Lewis said. "When you spend all your time coaching knuckleheads and not spending the right amount of time with the right players in the right direction because you're putting out fires over here, putting out fires over there ... ."

Despite some rough edges still around (uh, 85), the team did do a lot to shed some of the "knuckleheads" from the roster. Chris Henry and Odell Thurman are both gone after repeated run-ins with the law that led to NFL-mandated suspensions.

Lewis swung his weight even further when he told owner Mike Brown that he didn't want a cheaper Chris Henry back ... despite Brown's willingness to bring him in.

He also stuck to his guns about running the football ("We don't run. We don't have effective play-action passing. We don't screen.") and lessons being learned.

He didn't say it, but it really seems as if accountability is a main focus. Again, Henry and Thurman paid for their issues; the team handled the Chad Johnson situation by calling his bluff; coaches were replaced during the offseason; many players are left fighting for a position on the depth chart.

Of course you can't have accountability if you don't adhere to it yourself. To fans, Lewis is on a scorching seat. It will be interesting to see what happens to a transitional Bengals team in a tough AFC North and a brutal schedule awaiting them.

"We might have had a hell of a time getting to where we got last year," he said. "I don't know. Did I overachieve or underachieve last year? I'm not quite sure. I think we can do better. But I don't know. Maybe based on all the injuries we won more games than we were supposed to win.

"I don't think so, but some people will say that. I don't think so. I think we had an opportunity to win a lot more games and close some things out. So, yes, in my mind, I don't think we won as many games as we should have won. So we have underachieved."