Bengals DC Lou Anarumo Uses Baseball, Rock Climbing Videos To Drive Home Defensive Message

Jay Morrison | Nov 5, 2024

Sep 8, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo before the game against the New England Patriots at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images / Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI – Highlighting mistakes during film study is nothing new for NFL coaches, but the approach Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo took last week was unique.

Yes, Anarumo rolled clips of the miscues from a 37-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles the week before, but he also cued up some mistakes made by another team.

In another sport.

Watching his beloved New York Yankees commit three errors in one inning in Game 5 of the World Series last week pained Anarumo almost as much as watching a blown assignment lead to 60-yard touchdown.

Yankees lose the World Series after making three errors in one inning, a breakdown pic.twitter.com/l7DwMdgE3W

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) November 2, 2024

To put a fresh approach on his message, he rolled the World Series footage in the defensive meeting the following morning.

"I showed them the errors,” he said. “I said, 'Hey, pitchers and catchers report first in spring training, and the first thing they do when the ball is hit to the left side of the infield (he meant the right side), they cover first base. We arrive at OTAs and the first thing we do is teach communication, tackling, and things like that.”

The Yankees would have been out of the inning had pitcher Gerrit Cole covered first base on a slow roller up the line. Instead, a run scored, the inning continued, and the Dodgers ended up turning it into a five-run inning to tie the game before winning it in the 10th.

That inning also included New York center field Aaron Judge dropping routine fly ball.

“How many pop flies do you think Aaron Judge has caught in his career, and he took his eye off one for one second,” Anarumo told his players, equating that focus to what’s needed when reading their keys on a defensive play. “If you're key reading something and you look elsewhere, you're going to drop the ball, figuratively and literally.”

And there was the routine, short from shortstop to third base than Anthony Volpe spiked into the dirt for an error that loaded the bases.

“I said, 'How many times do you think Anthony Volpe picked up a ball shortstop, a groundball, and thrown it to third base and got the guy out?’” Anarumo said. “Probably two million times in his life. Fundamentals at any level of any sport is the ultimate thing that can sway you from winning and losing.

“I just wanted to say, 'Hey, here's another sport, here's the World Series, and these guys lost it because of fundamentals,” Anarumo added. “That was my message."

Asked if the film session was more for his players or himself, Anarumo said, “That was therapy for me.”

But it’s not the first time he’s gotten creative with videos he’s shown the team.

The first time he did it was ahead of the Week 3 game at Pittsburgh in 2021, when he showed the players a snippet from the documentary Free Solo, which profiles a rock climber who scales the most dangerous walls without any sort of equipment or safety net.

“Thirty people a year die from that type of thing,” Anarumo said. “It's a great show and everybody should watch it. We cut it down, way down, to a minute and change. First of all, climbing that mountain as fast he did, and the physical strain on your body as a human to be able to do that and then the mental focus to every step, every finger grab, if you don't do it, you're going to die.

“Our focus on a football game, if that guy can do that how can we not focus, how can we get tired? That was the message."

The Bengals beat the Steelers in 24-10 after watching the “Free Solo” cutup.

Anarumo played it again Saturday night before the game against the Raiders, and it led to another win as the Bengals prevailed 41-24.

This week there isn’t time for any of that with a Thursday night game road game against the Baltimore Ravens.

But Anarumo will continue looking for any way to keep his messaging fresh, interesting and inspiring.

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