AFC Notes: Bengals, Lou Anarumo, Ravens

Bengals

Bengals QB Joe Burrow told the media he is aware that the team is fully expected to win their game against the Chiefs and advance to the Super Bowl.

“I wouldn’t say it’s surreal. I would say winning is expected,” Burrow said, via WLWT. “I think if you would’ve told people that we were going to be in this spot a couple of years ago, I think people would say we were crazy, but we trusted the process, trusted the organization and the front office, and put together a great team and great people and got us to this point.”

Lou Anarumo

Former Ohio State defensive backs Eli Apple and Vonn Bell know that DC Lou Anarumo is drawing up some special things against the Chiefs for their upcoming matchup.

Anarumo may have designs on being a head coach in the future, but HC Zac Taylor is very appreciative of what the two have been able to accomplish together so far.

“We have a mad scientist named Lou Anarumo,” Apple told Ben Baby of ESPN. “Just taking away the easy stuff over the middle. Packing the middle [of the field], making them try to beat us deep, but taking away the deep stuff too.”

“He’s in the lab always coming up with something,” Bell said. “Thinking of something and he wants to put you in a position to be successful. His work ethic is relentless. It doesn’t stop. His mind is always going and always on to the next.”

“It’s not about, ‘This is the scheme and we’re just gonna do it whether it fits the guys or not,'” Taylor said. “He’s constantly evolving it to make sure we’re putting guys in position to do the things that hit their strengths.”

“Whether it’s in college or now in the NFL, [when] you play elite quarterbacks, you just can’t give them the same picture,” Anarumo said. “You just gotta keep changing it and just attempt to keep those guys off balance.”

“I knew Zac, trusted Zac,” Anarumo added of joining the Bengals as defensive coordinator. “We’re good friends, among other things. They had played really good defense here in the past and had some darn good football teams. So there was the allure of that.”

“It’s a goal of every coach to at some point have a chance to run their own ship,” Anarumo said of his future. “But at the end of the day, right now, what’s important is that we beat [Kansas City] on Sunday. And that’s going to be a tall order.”

Ravens

• Georgia OC Todd Monken is believed to be the highest-paid offensive coordinator in college football at $2.01 million per year and is currently set to interview with both the Buccaneers and the Ravens for the same position. (Rick Stroud)