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New Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson is quickly making it clear he expects nothing short of excellence from his players. Already having thrown the gauntlet down for Andy Dalton to be great and A.J. Green to be 'greatest of all-time', Hue is at least saying all the right things to make you feel this offense could become 'elite' in 2014.
One of the biggest differences in Hue's style vs. that of his predecessor, Jay Gruden, is his in-your-face brand of coaching. Green has quickly taken notice of this.
"He’s always in your face. There’s always something you could be working on. That’s the biggest thing with him with me. He’s always on me,’ Green said, via Bengals.com. "It doesn’t matter what I’m doing right. He’s always going to be in my face and I like that kind of stuff. I love a guy that’s going to push me to that next level."
Green also agrees with Hue that there's still plenty of room for improvement in his fourth NFL season.
"I agree, I agree," Green said. "Last year my numbers were better, but I didn’t finish out the year the way I wanted to. Some little things. I got tired a little bit. The knee wasn’t feeling all right. I feel like I’ve got to push through the season and finish the season a little stronger than I did last year."
Green is talking about how he wants to be remembered as one of the top five receivers of all-time and right now he’s, "Not even close. Not even close."
Though he didn't openly say it, Green hinted at the fourth-quarter drop against the San Diego Chargers in the latest playoff loss still nagging him.
"It doesn’t matter what I do, the kind of catches I make. That’s my job. He always told me that’s my job. To catch the ball. No matter how great a catch it was."
In OTAs, it's hard to take much out of what goes on in them, as players are practicing much slower and without pads. However, it is nice to hear Bengals coaches and players saying all the right things, not settling on past success and openly challenging each other to get better.