03-21-2018, 04:13 PM
The last "big" off season I can remember for Bengal fans was 2010.
First of all there was the afterglow from the magical 2009 season where a bunch of last minute heroics hid tha fact that the '09 team was all smoke and mirrors. After that team beat Pittsburgh in the 9th game of the season (without scoring an offensive td) they went 3-5, and did not beat a team that was better than 5-11. Over their last 5 games they were outscored more than 20 points per games (128-65).
Second there was the using of a first round pick on a "pass catching" TE. The pass catching TE had been like a unicorn for Bengal fans before they drafted Gresham with the 21st pick.
Finally there was the signing of Terrell Owens. At the time even I felt this was a huge move by the Bengals. In the first 8 games of the '09 season when Chris Henry was playing the Bengals passing game ranked 10th in tds, 13th in passer rating, and 18th in yards. But after Henry went down teams just bracketed Ochocinco because our other WRS (Caldwell, Coles) could not beat single coverage. With no receiving threat from the TEs (Coats, Foschi) or the RB (Benson) our passing game dropped to 30th in yards, 27th in tds, and 21st is passer rating over the final 8 games of the season.
So it seemed like the Bengals had made two crucial moves to improve our passing game and since we already had a running game and solid defense anticipation was near an all time high for that 2010 team.
But don't worry. I am sure nothing like that will ever happen again. So we don't have to worry about our optimism from this off season melting away in a series of bitterly disappointing losses.
No way.
First of all there was the afterglow from the magical 2009 season where a bunch of last minute heroics hid tha fact that the '09 team was all smoke and mirrors. After that team beat Pittsburgh in the 9th game of the season (without scoring an offensive td) they went 3-5, and did not beat a team that was better than 5-11. Over their last 5 games they were outscored more than 20 points per games (128-65).
Second there was the using of a first round pick on a "pass catching" TE. The pass catching TE had been like a unicorn for Bengal fans before they drafted Gresham with the 21st pick.
Finally there was the signing of Terrell Owens. At the time even I felt this was a huge move by the Bengals. In the first 8 games of the '09 season when Chris Henry was playing the Bengals passing game ranked 10th in tds, 13th in passer rating, and 18th in yards. But after Henry went down teams just bracketed Ochocinco because our other WRS (Caldwell, Coles) could not beat single coverage. With no receiving threat from the TEs (Coats, Foschi) or the RB (Benson) our passing game dropped to 30th in yards, 27th in tds, and 21st is passer rating over the final 8 games of the season.
So it seemed like the Bengals had made two crucial moves to improve our passing game and since we already had a running game and solid defense anticipation was near an all time high for that 2010 team.
But don't worry. I am sure nothing like that will ever happen again. So we don't have to worry about our optimism from this off season melting away in a series of bitterly disappointing losses.
No way.
