05-10-2019, 10:57 AM
(05-10-2019, 09:31 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I think the bolded illustrates why they weren't a SB Team. They lost to the SB Champions down the stretch and to 2 other playoff teams.
It's hard to say.
Agree totally on Jeremy Hill. When is the last time you saw a RB fumble in this situation outside of the Bengals?
It's hard to evaluate what would have happened after seeing the total meltdown. It's hard to say that with Dalton, the same wouldn't happen. For some reason, this team shrinks in big games.
They lost to the Super Bowl champions down the stretch in OT with a backup QB instead of their MVP. They lost to the Steelers down the stretch in a game where their MVP QB was knocked out for the season early on in the game. They barely lost to an equally great Cardinals team on the road on a goofy call, and they fell asleep against a division champion Texans team after starting the season 8-0. I don't think any of those losses are indications that the 2015 Bengals with Andy Dalton were unfit for a postseason run. You're reaching here.
The "total meltdown" never happens if Andy's out there because in all likelihood they're not in that situation in the first place. I strongly believed they would've won that game by multiple scores at full strength, because they were plain and simple the better team that year.
Of course, if Andy doesn't get hurt they probably don't play the first week of the postseason anyways, but come on... to imply the 2015 team wasn't SB caliber is pretty ridiculous.
