Did Bengals get schedule break over Pitt?

[fredtoast]

Each year 2 of the 16 games on our schedule are based on where we finished the year before.  This year those two games are against the defending champions of the AFC West (Broncos) and AFC South (Texans).  The Steelers have to play the 2nd place teams from those same divisions (Chiefs and the Colts).  I think there is a chance the Steeler's opponents could be better than ours.

I was really hoping we would get the Texans early in the season before Oswieller had a lot of game experience with his new teammates.  Instead we don't get them until week 16, prime time on Christmas Eve.  I don't think Oswieller will be a great QB, but he could have one of the best defenses in the league.  If he "manages the game" he could win a lot of games there.  But if Luck is healthy there is a good chance the Colts will be more dangerous than the Texans.

Denver has lost a lot of talent (LT Ryan Harris, DE Malik Jackson, OG Evan Mathis, LB Danny Trevathan) in addition to their 2 starting QBs.  There is a good chance they could end up with a losing record this year.  Meanwhile the chiefs have lost no one from a team that was 11-5 last year and they have added a starting RT (Mitchell Schwartz).  In my opinion, if Jamaal Charles could stay healthy the Chiefs will be one of the best teams in the league.  They have a lot of talent and Andy Reid is an incredible coach.

So, everything else being equal I think the Bengals may have an easier schedule than the Steelers.  Colts and Texans is a toss up, but I think the Chiefs will be a lot better than the Broncos.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

Always hard to say from year to year. But the Broncos having Sanchez or Kap at QB is definately not good
for them to go along with all their other losses. They will still have a great Defense, the same one that got
them a SB win though. I still think we beat them but with that D they will always be tough.

The Texans always beat us up, don't know why. Until we show up against them it is hard for me to predict
a win. Watt and Hopkins are great and Osweiler is a step up from what they had even if they overpaid for
him.

The Chiefs will be good once again i am sure but i don't know if they have the Offense to beat Pitt.

The Colts need an O-line man. They won't beat the Steelers.

I think we have it tougher myself. Don't matter, we will win the Division and sweep the Steelers.

[fredtoast]

Broncos D last year was incredible in the post season. But DE Malik Jackson and LB Danny Trevathan were not just role players. They were key parts of that defense. They will be missed.

[Crowe]

It depends on how well the teams respond this year. SOS is useless to me and while both the Chiefs and Colts could be better than the Broncos or Texans, we won't know until the game is played on Sundays. However, I do think the Steelers caught a break playing us in week 2 when Burfict is out.

[fredtoast]

(04-15-2016, 02:35 PM)Crowe Wrote:  I do think the Steelers caught a break playing us in week 2 when Burfict is out.

I was not surprised by that.  It sucks, but I would have been much more upset if our game against the Steelers without Burfict was at home.

[Au165]

(04-15-2016, 02:03 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Each year 2 of the 16 games on our schedule are based on where we finished the year before.  This year those two games are against the defending champions of the AFC West (Broncos) and AFC South (Texans).  The Steelers have to play the 2nd place teams from those same divisions (Chiefs and the Colts).  I think there is a chance the Steeler's opponents could be better than ours.

I was really hoping we would get the Texans early in the season before Oswieller had a lot of game experience with his new teammates.  Instead we don't get them until week 16, prime time on Christmas Eve.  I don't think Oswieller will be a great QB, but he could have one of the best defenses in the league.  If he "manages the game" he could win a lot of games there.  But if Luck is healthy there is a good chance the Colts will be more dangerous than the Texans.

Denver has lost a lot of talent (LT Ryan Harris, DE Malik Jackson, OG Evan Mathis, LB Danny Trevathan, RB C.J. Anderson) in addition to their 2 starting QBs.  There is a good chance they could end up with a losing record this year.  Meanwhile the chiefs have lost no one from a team that was 11-5 last year and they have added a starting RT (Mitchell Schwartz).  In my opinion, if Jamaal Charles could stay healthy the Chiefs will be one of the best teams in the league.  They have a lot of talent and Andy Reid is an incredible coach.

So, everything else being equal I think the Bengals may have an easier schedule than the Steelers.  Colts and Texans is a toss up, but I think the Chiefs will be a lot better than the Broncos.

CJ Anderson is still in Denver. They matched Miami's offer sheet.

[WeezyBengal]

No.

The Colts are not good. They just aren't. They have so many holes on their team and Andrew Luck by himself cant win them a bunch of games.

[fredtoast]

(04-15-2016, 02:48 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: No.

The Colts are not good. They just aren't. They have so many holes on their team and Andrew Luck by himself cant win them a bunch of games.

To be honest I agree with you.

They messed up and signed some old "names" instead of talent last year.

Their O-line is still very shaky, and their defense is one of the worst in the league.

[GreenCornBengal]

I think opponent wise, they may have the easier schedule. When it comes to travel though, they have it really nice. I was shocked when I heard only one of their away games (Miami) is farther than a 4 hour drive from Pitt. Seems absurd. Guess it just was a chance occurrence, but dang that must be nice for their players and fans!

[fredtoast]

(04-15-2016, 02:53 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: I think opponent wise, they may have the easier schedule. When it comes to travel though, they have it really nice. I was shocked when I heard only one of their away games (Miami) is farther than a 4 hour drive from Pitt. Seems absurd. Guess it just was a chance occurrence, but dang that must be nice for their players and fans!

Yep.  Who they play and where is set by a formula.  The league only has discretion over when they play the games.

[NATI BENGALS]

(04-15-2016, 02:30 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Broncos D last year was incredible in the post season.  But DE Malik Jackson and LB Danny Trevathan were not just role players.  They were key parts of that defense.  They will be missed.

They won the Super Bowl with Peyton Manning racking up 141 pass yards 1 INT 0 TDs 5 sacks a 56.5% completion percentage and a 56.6 QB rating.

He had more multi INT games that he started than multi pass TD games last year.

He is an all time great. But he was far from great last year.

He was arguably the worst QB in the league last year. If they get someone halfway decent it will be an upgrade.

Hopefully Von Miller has a holdout that last into the season. Either way they are still loaded. But we almost beat them at their house last year. With our backup QB. So I think we win it. But I'm not ready to give the Chiefs that division. They lost their big CB too.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(04-15-2016, 03:14 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: They won the Super Bowl with Peyton Manning racking up 141 pass yards 1 INT 0 TDs 5 sacks a 56.5% completion percentage and a 56.6 QB rating.

He had more multi INT games that he started than multi pass TD games last year.

He is an all time great. But he was far from great last year.

He was arguably the worst QB in the league last year. If they get someone halfway decent it will be an upgrade.

Hopefully Von Miller has a holdout that last into the season. Either way they are still loaded. But we almost beat them at their house last year. With our backup QB. So I think we win it. But I'm not ready to give the Chiefs that division. They lost their big CB too.

And i don't find Sanchez or Kaepernick halfway decent either.

Losing Malik Jackson one of the best DT's in the game last year and one of the best cover LB
in Travathan should also hurt them big time. They will still have a good Defense but they cannot
just replace these guys. They were two of the best in the league at what they do.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(04-15-2016, 02:44 PM)Au165 Wrote: CJ Anderson is still in Denver. They matched Miami's offer sheet.

Don't worry, Fred will ignore that little fact entirely. Next time you want him to acknowledge your post, say something with the slightest negative connotation about Marvin Lewis, Mike Brown, or the Bengals. He'll reply in about 30 seconds then.

Not to mention the fact that when the Bengals chose Nate Livings over Evan Mathis, it's "the great" Paul Alexander being "smart" because Livings got all that money from Dallas one year before being out of the league. The Broncos lose Mathis though and it's going to crush their team, obviously. Same with losing Harris, their backup LT.

The Broncos' "losses" have been exaggerated quite a lot. The Bengals lost more than the Broncos did this offseason.

[fredtoast]

(04-15-2016, 02:44 PM)Au165 Wrote: CJ Anderson is still in Denver. They matched Miami's offer sheet.

Thanks.

corrected my post.

[Au165]

(04-15-2016, 04:46 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: The Broncos' "losses" have been exaggerated quite a lot. The Bengals lost more than the Broncos did this offseason.

Disagree with this. Jackson and Traveathon are big losses on the level of losing Jones. Mathis and Harris are on par with losing Sanu. Then add on they lost both QBs and gained Mark Sanchez.....I'll take our off season over theirs.

[Garrus]

(04-15-2016, 04:46 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Don't worry, Fred will ignore that little fact entirely. Next time you want him to acknowledge your post, say something with the slightest negative connotation about Marvin Lewis, Mike Brown, or the Bengals. He'll reply in about 30 seconds then.

Not to mention the fact that when the Bengals chose Nate Livings over Evan Mathis, it's "the great" Paul Alexander being "smart" because Livings got all that money from Dallas one year before being out of the league. The Broncos lose Mathis though and it's going to crush their team, obviously. Same with losing Harris, their backup LT.

The Broncos' "losses" have been exaggerated quite a lot. The Bengals lost more than the Broncos did this offseason.

That is completely untrue. Ridiculous statement to say the least.

[fredtoast]

(04-15-2016, 04:46 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Not to mention the fact that when the Bengals chose Nate Livings over Evan Mathis, it's "the great" Paul Alexander being "smart" because Livings got all that money from Dallas one year before being out of the league. The Broncos lose Mathis though and it's going to crush their team, obviously. Same with losing Harris, their backup LT.

The Broncos' "losses" have been exaggerated quite a lot. The Bengals lost more than the Broncos did this offseason.

Don't know what all this gibberish about Livings has to do with anything, but Mathis was a better player for the Broncos than he was for the bengals.  he was their starting LG.  I am not saying his loss will "crush the team" but it creates a hole they have to fill.

I did not know Harris was a back up.  According the ProFootballReference.com he started all 16 games last year.  

A third starting o-lineman (Louis Vasquez) and starting TE (Owen Danials) are still unsigned free agents.

Broncos also lost SS David Burton who played 53% of the defensive snaps.

So to re-cap, right now the Broncos have lost starters at 5 positions on offense (3 O-line, QB, TE) and on defense they have lost two key starters plus a SS who played over half of the snaps.




The Broncos did give a huge contract to free agent OT Russell Okung, but he has never played a full 16 games ever in his 5 year career.  If he can stay healthy he can fill one of the holes on the O-line, but teh Broncos have still lost a lot more than the bengals.

[fredtoast]

(04-15-2016, 04:59 PM)Au165 Wrote: Disagre Mathis and Harris are on par with losing Sanu. 

Mathis and Harris were full time starters.

Sanu only played 60% of the snaps for us.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(04-15-2016, 04:59 PM)Au165 Wrote: Disagree with this. Jackson and Traveathon are big losses on the level of losing Jones. Mathis and Harris are on par with losing Sanu. Then add on they lost both QBs and gained Mark Sanchez.....I'll take our off season over theirs.

Malik Jackson is crazy overrated. The guy played next to Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, and Derek Wolfe. NFL.com has Jackson as being 5th in sacks for the Broncos in 2015. You say he's like losing Jones, I say he's like losing Gilberry (who was also the Bengals' 5th place sack total in 2015). You plug someone else who's halfway decent and they'll get some results with all that attention taken off of them.

I agree Travathen was a loss probably equivalent of Jones, in that the Bengals still have Green at WR and the Broncos still have Marshall at LB.

Mathis was a loss probably equivalent of losing Nelson. (Which in my mind is actually a step up from Sanu)

Harris isn't a loss like Sanu, more like when they lost Collins. He was their backup LT who was forced into being a starter. The Bengals didn't mind because they still had Whitworth. The Broncos didn't mind because they still have Okung. Heck, the Broncos still had two talented LT after Harris left, so they traded one of them away.

Losing Peyton Manning's mind/leadership hurts, but his arm was just shot. He'll be a loss like Leon Hall. Leadership, but clearly lost some things they can do on the field. Osweiler was on pace to have like a 20 TD/12 INT season. I'm pretty sure refusing to pay him $18m/yr was a huge plus, not a minus. The Broncos had the 31st Team QB Rating in the NFL last year and threw a 19 TD/23 INT ratio... and won the SB. Mark Sanchez can probably handle those lofty standards. Lol

- - - - - - -

I really don't think the Broncos lost any more than the Bengals did. Maybe I was a bit off saying the Bengals lost more, but I would solidly call it a wash, and seeing as how they won the SB and the Bengals lost in the first round (again), kind of silly to think that a similar amount of loss this offseason would be in the Bengals favor.

[fredtoast]

(04-15-2016, 05:29 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Losing Peyton Manning's mind/leadership hurts, but his arm was just shot. He'll be a loss like Leon Hall. Leadership, but clearly lost some things they can do on the field. Osweiler was on pace to have like a 20 TD/12 INT season. I'm pretty sure refusing to pay him $18m/yr was a huge plus, not a minus. The Broncos had the 31st Team QB Rating in the NFL last year and threw a 19 TD/23 INT ratio... and won the SB. Mark Sanchez can probably handle those lofty standards. Lol

Broncos got all the breaks last year.  I doubt that will happen again.

Sixteen percent of the Broncos tds (6 of 38) were not scored by the offense.  That is twice the league average of 8%.

They beat the Ravens 19-13 without scoring an offensive td.

They needed a 63 yard interception return td to take the Browns into overtime where they won 26-23.  that was one of three games that the Broncos won last year.

They beat the Chiefs 31-24 on a 21 yards fumble retrurn td with just 27 seconds left in the game.

Then they won 3 post season games with only 3 offensive tds.  They won the Super Bowl by 14 points with one td scored by the defense, and the other by the offense on a FOUR YARD drive set up by a forced fumble.

There defense will probably still be very good next year, but the losses of Jackson and Trevethan will hurt.  they won't be as good as they were last year.  And they will use their top draft picks on offense.  

I wpuldn't be surprised to see either Kaepernick or sanchez put up better numbers than the Broncos got from their QBs last year.  But they won't get all the breaks, and their defense will not be as good.  I am predicting 8-8 for the Broncos.  That is with a new QB behind a O-line with three new starers and probably a new starting TE.