Props to the old guys

[*SHRacerX*]

(01-06-2021, 11:27 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: I became a fan in 2005. I was young, had just turned 12 and didn't know much about football. I was aware that Cincinnati was good, but I didn't know much about the up-and-comers on the team. What was the excitement like around Palmer? I have to imagine it was similar to Burrow this year. He blew up that year and the offense was high-flying. 

It was high around Palmer, but we had seen several QBs come in that were heralded but incredibly ineffective in Cincinnati.  David Klingler and Akili Smith were can't miss prospects that missed by a mile, so there was still a lot of skepticism.  Palmer actually sat his rookie season and they played Jon Kitna.  The team was 8-8 and on the rise.  Everyone believed Palmer would take them to the next level.  He did.  The 2005 season was the season where the Bengals finally outplayed the steelers (and most of the league) and went 11-5.  When the steelers assbagged Palmer's knee the 2nd offensive play of the opening playoff game, it all came crashing back to earth.  Although a lot of people think that knee injury was why the Bengals failed in 2006, Palmer actually had one of his best seasons in 2006, after the injury.  That 2005 season was like offering a glass of water to a guy that had been crawling across the dessert.  Fans here were so excited, but that playoff game, ending to the steelers like it did, really took a lot of wind out of the sails.  

The team took some "short cuts" on their talent for 2005, with poor character guys that were available in later rounds.  They began acting out and suspensions followed.  ESPN and the like took it upon themselves to plaster any Bengal legal issue on the front line news.  They became a team the rest of the league hated.  Numerous injuries and suspensions took their toll and then the Bengals had one final shot under Palmer in 2009 with Ced Benson carrying most of the load.  They lost in the first round of the playoffs that year despite a huge game from Benson.  Rather than look at his own poor effort, Palmer blamed the team (ownership) and quit.  

The Bengals drafted Dalton and Green and surprised everyone (for a team supposed to go 0-16 without the almighty quitter) and made the playoffs.  The Bengals kind of stayed there in playoff purgatory for 5 straight seasons.  Good enough to make it, but not good enough to advance.  That being said, I still believe if Dalton isn't injured in 2015, the Bengals win the Super Bowl that year.  They were better than the eventual champ, the Broncos, and damn near beat them in a prime time game in Denver with AJ McCarron as their QB.  Just like the 2005 team, it was so close, but a key injury to their QB ended it. 

After five more years of dismal football following the last playoff appearance in 2015, the Bengals drafted Joe Burrow.  An Ohio kid that had just had the best season for a QB in the history of college football.  Everyone thinks the Bengals would ruin him, but I look at him as the guy that can't be ruined.  Although almost nothing went well in Burrow's first year, I feel like it will only make him stronger in the long run.  I am optimistic the Bengals will make some key FA moves, have a great draft, and they will be at least competitive and maybe a playoff team next year.  I can't wait.