Marquis Flowers clarifies comments on Bengals and Paul Guenther

Marquis Flowers cleared up a controversy during his time with the media during Super Bowl week.

A couple of weeks ago, a report surfaced that said Flowers hadn’t talked to Paul Guenther during his time with the Bengals. Considering Guenther was the defensive coordinator, this was a bit confusing.

If it were true, that would’ve been a pretty damning accusation for not only Guenther, but also for Marvin Lewis, who should be making sure his coaches are doing their respective jobs.

Luckily for everyone involved, it seems like there was a misunderstanding, according to Flowers. He cleared the air with Geoff Hobson of the Bengals’ official site.

“I did not say that,” Flowers told Bengals.com. “All I said was a (NFL) defensive coordinator has basically never told me in the terms that Coach Patricia told me that he believes that I can help the team win. That’s what I was saying.”

“Obviously Paulie was the first person that talked to me after I got traded. Thanked me for everything. I have no hard feelings against Coach Paulie,” Flowers continued. “He’s a great coach. It just didn’t work out. It happens sometimes. This league is like that with hundreds of players.”

This really just clears up the confusion more than anything. I’m not sure how many people took the initial report seriously, but it seemed far too unlikely that a defensive coordinator didn’t talk to one of his defenders.

“So I’m not the first player, I’m not the first case. No hard feelings. Everything happens for a reason. I’m just happy to be in this spot with this organization with a chance to be crowned champion.”

Of course, Flowers was traded away this offseason when it was clear he didn’t have a chance of making the final roster. After joining the Patriots, he has proceeded to have a career season.

He has racked up 32 tackles, 3.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a pass deflection after landing in New England from the trade. It is clear that the Patriots have done a far better job of fitting Flowers into their defensive scheme than the Bengals ever did in their own since drafting him in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft.

Guenther has also moved on with the Raiders. He joined Jon Gruden in Oakland for the same position, and he will be taking over one of the NFL’s worst defenses after leading one of the NFL’s better units the last few seasons.

Teryl Austin replaces him, who was the Lion’s defensive coordinator last season. Austin has already pledged to build his scheme around the strength of his players rather than trying to jam players into a scheme in which they don’t necessarily fit. That seems to be a lesson that the entire Bengals’ coaching staff needs to learn going forward.

Flowers doesn’t seem to hold any ill feelings toward the team that never really gave him a true shot on defense. While Lewis and Co. have preferred to play veterans in certain positions, Flowers also had injury issues hit him during his tenure in Cincinnati.

Still, he doesn’t even seem to be bothered by Lewis and his ever-present preference in playing veterans over the younger guys on the roster. In fact, when asked what it was like to play for the two most tenured coaches currently in the NFL (Bill Belichick and Lewis), he complimented the recently re-signed Bengals coach.

“Obviously they are there for a reason,” Flowers said. “They stay with their routine. They know how to get guys to stay in their routine. Guys play hard for them.”

Belichick doesn’t have anything to prove at this point in his career, while Lewis is still looking for his first postseason win. Regardless, it seems as if Flowers is enjoying his renaissance with the Patriots, as the represent the AFC in Super Bowl LII.