Cincinnati Bengals rookie wide receiver John Ross still hasn’t caught a pass this season — and coach Marvin Lewis has little sympathy for him.
The No. 9 overall pick in last year’s draft was singled out by Lewis for slowing up on a deep ball thrown his way last week by quarterback Andy Dalton, with the coach going as far as to say that he let his team down.
“The thing I told him and it was great because Andy was with him in the hall on Tuesday,” Lewis said, via Paul Dahner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “For Andy, against that coverage to throw him that football, he should understand how the quarterback feels about him. That he expects him to be where he needs to be. He let his teammates down. He let me down. He let Andy down.
“Maybe that ball is not supposed to go there in that coverage, but if you do it right and run like you can run that ball can go there and it can be a big play for us. The receiver can’t dictate where the ball goes. The quarterback has to make the read and do what he does and throw the ball based on the coverage and his progression. In that case, he chose John. Made a nice throw and put the ball where it needed to be and it ended up from you to me away. Had he been running, likely he catches it.”
The play in question can be seen here:
Ross lit up the NFL Combine with his speed, but an injury in preseason cost him much of the season and he hasn’t made any impact even since he got healthy. Still, it’s unusual to see Lewis so publicly blasting the rookie.
