Bengals' Lewis: Geno doesn't look like a rookie

BY NICK ST. DENIS

Geno Smith's 2013 season thus far has been a roller coaster of good and bad. In other words, he's playing the part of a rookie quarterback.

Smith, however, has been a bigger part of the solution than the problem, and anyone who watches the New York Jets signal-caller on a week-to-week basis can see the coaster is progressively trending upward.

"You see him growing and obviously when he takes care of the ball, they’re going to be successful," Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said Wednesday, via NewYorkJets.com. ". . . He’s not playing like a deer in the headlights and necessarily, when you watch how he played a week ago, he doesn’t necessarily look like a rookie quarterback."

Belichick: Dolphins' 'D' scheme very Cincinnati-ish

BY NICK ST. DENIS

Kevin Coyle is a Miami Dolphin, but the former Cincinnati assistant coach hasn't completely shed his Bengal spots.

According to New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, the Dolphins defensive coordinator and former Bengals defensive backs coach has implemented a look to the Miami defense that very much resembles that of his former employer.

"There’s a 3-4 element to it with some over and under, if you will, like the Bengals play," Belichick told reporters Tuesday, via Patriots.com regarding Miami's defense. "It’s a three-man line, but it’s a four-man line – Baltimore, Cincinnati-ish." (photo: June Rivera, Flickr)

Belichick will take his top-ranked offense to South Beach to challenge Coyle's pressure-packed unit, which Belichick says gives opponents many different looks throughout games.