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In a span of three days, the Bengals’ defense fell apart in yet another loss and the team traded away Carlos Dunlap.
Once a cornerstone player for the franchise, Dunlap was with the franchise for the past decade. And for eight of his seasons in Cincinnati, he was teammates with Adam “Pacman” Jones.
Jones, who has been out of the NFL since late 2018, took to his Instagram story on Thursday to rip the Bengals and their coaches to shreds. His rant primarily targeted Zac Taylor’s coaching staff.
“Y’all need to fix the coaching staff. Special teams suck. The defensive coordinators need to be fired,” Jones said. “But then y’all are cutting (traded) Carlos (Dunlap). I understand what y’all are doing, but I don’t. Y’all are giving up the season I guess. The Bengals won’t win but one more game.”
You can watch the entire rant here (WARNING: explicit language):
“Best 3 technique in the game” that should tell you everything RT @NewStripeCity: pic.twitter.com/rBUVcCOowZ
— Mustafa AkA deltakilo1-1 (@billionaire41) October 29, 2020
Jones’ frustration has been echoed by other Bengals fans as well. The former Pro Bowl cornerback spent the majority of his 12-year career in Cincinnati and spent his prime years with the team, so he still has an emotional connection with the team and has played with many players that are on the current roster.
Geno Atkins played with Jones for as long as Dunlap had, and Jones expressed disgust at how Atkins has been used this season.
”The best (expletive) 3-technique playing (expletive) nose guard. I ain’t ever seen Geno (Atkins) line up over the center. Never in my entire (expletive) career. Geno over the (expletive) center every (expletive) play now.”
We’ve never seen this before simply because former head coach Marvin Lewis led the team for so long, there was never an opportunity for players of his regime to criticize his replacement and his assistants—until now, that is.
Jones may not speak for everyone of the old regime, but it’s hard to disagree with where his anger stems from.