(Frank Victores/USA Today Sports)
After numerous teams expressed interest in him as a candidate to become their next head coach, the Cincinnati Bengals have to feel a sense of relief that Jay Gruden will most likely be back as offensive coordinator for the 2013 season. In his first two seasons with Cincinnati, Gruden has quickly developed Andy Dalton and A.J. Green into one of the league’s top quarterback-wide receiver duos and the best part about the offensive coordinator not finding a head coaching job–he gets at least one more year to work with them.
While Dalton improved in just about every major category during his rookie season from a statistic standpoint, it was Green that stood out the most between the two in 2012 as he’s developing into one of the league’s top wide receivers. Green shattered his numbers from 2011 this past season after catching 97 passes for 1,350 yards and 11 touchdowns–including a nine-game streak in which he caught at least one touchdown pass.
The Bengals knew Gruden had the potential to take the offense to the next level after moving on from the Carson Palmer era, but nobody could have predicted to see him have this much success over the first two seasons. At this rate, Cincinnati seems like their offense is only going to get better and better each year with Gruden on the sidelines and after reaching the playoffs in each of the last two seasons–look out for this team once again in the AFC North during the 2013 season.
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