Football has its own language. It can be spoken several different ways with a variety of terminologies. But at the end of the day, it's still just football.
That's what Bengals offensive line coach and run game coordinator Frank Pollack is trying to stress to his position group.
"Football is kind of funny this way," said Pollack, who is in his second stint with Bengals. (Pollack was Cincinnati's offensive line coach during the 2018 season.) "As I've gone through different teams, everyone runs the same concept, whatever it is -- open edge wide zone (run scheme) -- but they call it different.
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"So, like I tell you guys, yeah, I speak Spanish and you speak French. We come from two different places, but now, we're going to learn how to speak Italian. That's the Bengals' language. We know what a pepperoni pizza looks like. If we want to order a pepperoni pizza, we need to learn how to speak each other's languages."
An order of pepperoni pizza for Pollack, who spent the past two seasons with the New York Jets, equals a vastly improved offensive line, one that will keep Joe Burrow upright. The 2020 No. 1 overall pick had his rookie campaign cut short after suffering a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee on a sack in Week 11.
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Burrow was sacked 32 times in 10 games last season.
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Bengals owner Mike Brown has already said the offensive line is "going to surprise people" this season. That remains to be seen. But Pollack is determined to make good on Brown's promise.
"I've been fired before, and it's no big deal, move on, keep grinding," Pollack said Friday, the team's third day of training camp. "But that said, no, I don't feel any extra pressure. I mean, it doesn't matter. It's my job to produce, get the line to produce. It doesn't matter if it was expected or not. That's my job, get it done or you're out. It's the same thing we demand from the players. Coach is no different."
One of the players Pollack is demanding a lot of is offensive tackle Jonah Williams. Williams, the first tackle taken in the 2019 draft (11th overall out of the University of Alabama), has only been healthy for 10 games in his two seasons in Cincinnati.
Williams missed his entire rookie campaign with a shoulder injury. The former unanimous All-American then suffered a neck injury early in 2020, followed by a season-ending knee injury.
Pollack instructed Williams to put on extra weight to hopefully help with his durability. Williams entered training camp this week at 315 pounds after playing 634 offensive snaps last season at 305 pounds.
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"Weight in football in my view, it's personal for each guy," Pollack said. "What's a healthy weight? I'm no expert. So I'm gonna ask trainers, the strength and conditioning coach their thought on that as well. But it's that fine line of you need to have -- mass times acceleration equals force. So you need to play fast. Right? Accelerate speed. Mass is that weight to generate this force. Well, leverage is thrown in there as well for football, so what's that fine line? Some guys can still play fast and generate and play with leverage 10 pounds heavier than this guy. This guy needs to be a little lighter. And that's going to fluctuate as you get older too. Father Time, man, trust me, I'm feeling that now. So that, you know, it's personal. Everyone's gonna have their own unique weight. It's not just a cookie cutter deal."
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Pollack said Williams can afford the extra weight because he's lean, quick and explosive. Williams agreed, and said he's enjoyed learning the game from Pollack, who most notably played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1990s.
"I think he's great," Williams said of Pollack. "I think the way we run drills at practice, the way we kind of attack the field, and it's just little things like coming out of the huddle quick and confident. Good communication. The tempo that we go through drills. I just kind of feel this whole new energy with the O-line and it's important we bring that to the offense. I think it starts with us and coach is doing a phenomenal job."
Another huge fan of Pollack has been running back Joe Mixon. Mixon, who missed most of last season with a foot injury, gave Pollack the game ball after he scored a touchdown against the Jets in 2019. Pollack was on the opposite sideline.
The gesture was a symbol of gratitude. Mixon wanted to thank Pollack for helping him develop as a professional during the 2018 season. Mixon ran for 1,168 yards and eight touchdowns in 2018, both career-highs.
"He's been very nice to me and has expressed his liking of what I helped him accomplish, I guess," Pollack said. "That's real nice. When the Bengals kicked my butt two years ago here when I was with the Jets, the gesture he did, it was like wow, that was pretty cool, that was unique, that was neat."
