It is very interesting to really see the two sides of this discussion.

Have some fans who look at this and see the history of the team and history of the coaching staff and see no issue with the report.

Then have the other side that are optimistic about the players brought in the past few seasons and find the report to be inaccurate or lazy.

When I posted it, I didn't give any opinion of my own on the article, really was just curious to see how it would play out. It was honestly very close to what I expected, a split between the so-called "homers" who want to believe and the so-called "downers" who want the team to prove it before they buy in.

Neither side is wrong, just nice to see the name calling targeted at a reporter and not other posters who are fellow fans.

(08-28-2021, 04:43 PM)Murdock2420 Wrote: It is very interesting to really see the two sides of this discussion.

Have some fans who look at this and see the history of the team and history of the coaching staff and see no issue with the report.

Then have the other side that are optimistic about the players brought in the past few seasons and find the report to be inaccurate or lazy.

When I posted it, I didn't give any opinion of my own on the article, really was just curious to see how it would play out. It was honestly very close to what I expected, a split between the so-called "homers" who want to believe and the so-called "downers" who want the team to prove it before they buy in.

Neither side is wrong, just nice to see the name calling targeted at a reporter and not other posters who are fellow fans.

The reporter is just doing his job.  When we are good again people will talk about us, not the 4 win teams. 

Yes the Bengals aren't media favorites now, but I don't see anyone here saying the Jets or Texans are going to give the doubters a big middle finger and make the playoffs.  We are fine with dismissing weak teams as long as they aren't the Bengals. 

(08-28-2021, 12:03 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: I mean, can you blame him?  

This is a team that has been awful as of the late. Their head coach has won 6 games in 2 seasons.  6.  They only won 2 games with Burrow last year.  They haven't had a winning season in 5 years.  Now on top of all of this we have our QB1 coming off a major injury and we won't know what level of play we can expect from him until we can actually see it.  As of right now it's unknown.  He could be exactly the same, he could be even better, or he could be rusty and tenative.

I'm not sure what "ugly" means to Mr. La Confora, but there's a reason Vegas has our win total set at 6.5 in a 17 game season (5th worst in the league).  It's not like this guy is on an island as far as his prediction.

I have no problem with this.  I certainly hope the teams wins more, and I think they have a chance.  It's the NFL afterall, anything can happen and turnarounds can happen overnight.  But this team is not at all deserving of the benefit of the doubt.  They've earned predictions like this.

Yep

Since the middle of the 2015 season, (really the last time you could call the Bengals good), we have a record of 29-58-2.

5 of those 29 wins came against the pathetic 2015-2017 Browns that had a total of 4 wins in those years. And like you say our HC has 6 wins in two seasons ! I can't call foul on anybody saying the Bengals will stink this season.

I don't think it will be "ugly" though. I'm hoping ZT has learned his lessons and is ready to start turning the corner. 

(08-28-2021, 04:54 PM)Nately120 Wrote: The reporter is just doing his job.  When we are good again people will talk about us, not the 4 win teams. 

Yes the Bengals aren't media favorites now, but I don't see anyone here saying the Jets or Texans are going to give the doubters a big middle finger and make the playoffs.  We are fine with dismissing weak teams as long as they aren't the Bengals. 

Very true. And when you look at the other teams on that list and compare them to the Bengals objectively, there isn't a whole lot of differences where you say one team is substantially better than the rest, especially when you examine the coaching and ownerships of say the Lions, Jets, Bengals and Texans.

Think the Bengals will have a promising season actually and end up on the playoff bubble even.

(08-28-2021, 04:43 PM)Murdock2420 Wrote: It is very interesting to really see the two sides of this discussion.

Have some fans who look at this and see the history of the team and history of the coaching staff and see no issue with the report.

Then have the other side that are optimistic about the players brought in the past few seasons and find the report to be inaccurate or lazy.

When I posted it, I didn't give any opinion of my own on the article, really was just curious to see how it would play out. It was honestly very close to what I expected, a split between the so-called "homers" who want to believe and the so-called "downers" who want the team to prove it before they buy in.

Neither side is wrong, just nice to see the name calling targeted at a reporter and not other posters who are fellow fans.

I just thought it was a lazy article. Now if he threw in a team that drafted 10 to 20 in the article I wouldnt have minded.

As much as I would love to join in on bashing on La Canfora I think he is right on the Bengals. I don't see enough star power on this team to suggest a good record. Throw in Burrows rust and heavy defensive change(6 new starters and 5 from free agency). It's hard not to imagine a tough start.

Weirder things have happened though and hopefully both of us are wrong on this assessment.

Shake n Blake also picks the Bengals for an ugly season. I really don't see why anyone would predict differently based both on recent history as well as what we've seen this off-season and camp. I think we made some baby steps towards improving, and we should (hopefully) be more healthy.

I think the over/under of 6.5 wins sounds about right. Hopefully we don't win any at the end, so Taylor and co get another year.

Well..... that's....a....take. I figured I was gonna see something based on logic and say until they prove it otherwise, they deserve the dire outlook. However, the take on QB9 is crazy. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

(08-28-2021, 08:47 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Shake n Blake also picks the Bengals for an ugly season. I really don't see why anyone would predict differently based both on recent history as well as what we've seen this off-season and camp. I think we made some baby steps towards improving, and we should (hopefully) be more healthy.

I think the over/under of 6.5 wins sounds about right. Hopefully we don't win any at the end, so Taylor and co get another year.

I honestly think we're stuck with Taylor.

Excuse train will keep on rollin' no matter what.

(08-28-2021, 10:24 PM)BengalsRocker Wrote: I honestly think we're stuck with Taylor.

Excuse train will keep on rollin' no matter what.

Yeah, we'll see how the season goes but I've expressed skepticism we will "know what we have" in ZT by the end of 2021.  Let's see what we COULD say...

- Burrow took time to get back into game form
- Chase took time to get back into game form
- the o-line took time to gel
- the o-line took time to forget Turner's crap and learn Pollack's system
- no one can win with Lou Anarumo as a DC (he's the next coach on the chopping block now that Turner is gone)
- player X/Y/Z got injured
- we lost X amount of games that we should have won because they were so close

...and so on BUT maybe this team gets it together and is awesome, or maybe nothing goes wrong and ZT is out of excuses.

(08-28-2021, 08:47 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Shake n Blake also picks the Bengals for an ugly season. I really don't see why anyone would predict differently based both on recent history as well as what we've seen this off-season and camp. I think we made some baby steps towards improving, and we should (hopefully) be more healthy.

I think the over/under of 6.5 wins sounds about right. Hopefully we don't win any at the end, so Taylor and co get another year.

I think the defense is a reason why someone would predict differently. We only have 2 starters that were on the team when this coaching staff took over and while you could argue that might not be a good thing all reports from camp/preseason is that the defense is looking good. While I'm optimistic about Burrow and the Oline I admit that we have alot of unknowns going into the season and we can't fault anyone for assuming the worse. 

Looking at the season and trying to be optimistic/realistic I think 9 wins is possible and should be the bar they set for the coaching staff although as someone else mentioned we might be stuck with Taylor and Co. because of Burrows injury its kind of a built in excuse this season. I think the wheels are really gonna have to fall off to fire them which could happen with a very bad first half of the season because wins are gonna be hard to come by at the end of the year because of the schedule atleast on paper.

(08-28-2021, 10:57 AM)Nately120 Wrote: The Jets will make it to the divisional round.  Bengals over Lions in the SB. 

Actually pretty funny.  My buddy is a Lions fan, so we kind of pull for each other's teams.  We have a deal that if they are ever playing each other in the Super Bowl, that we have to go to it.  Pretty safe that it won't be happening any time soon....at least on their end.  

(08-28-2021, 11:39 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: You could probably make about a million dollars on $100 betting that if that happened.

More like a $10 bet. Kind of like betting the sun will rise in the west tomorrow morning.. 

(08-28-2021, 11:34 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: I think the defense is a reason why someone would predict differently. We only have 2 starters that were on the team when this coaching staff took over and while you could argue that might not be a good thing all reports from camp/preseason is that the defense is looking good. While I'm optimistic about Burrow and the Oline I admit that we have alot of unknowns going into the season and we can't fault anyone for assuming the worse. 

Looking at the season and trying to be optimistic/realistic I think 9 wins is possible and should be the bar they set for the coaching staff although as someone else mentioned we might be stuck with Taylor and Co. because of Burrows injury its kind of a built in excuse this season. I think the wheels are really gonna have to fall off to fire them which could happen with a very bad first half of the season because wins are gonna be hard to come by at the end of the year because of the schedule atleast on paper.

Realistically with a healthy Joe Burrow this season less than 7 wins is a failure in my eyes in terms of ZT.

If I weigh in the Bengals front office as part of the equation 4 or 5 wins is where ZT lands in the hot seat with Joe Burrow playing every game.

The problem is JB play/health isn't the only factor in Taylor's job stability.

Any of the 3 wrs goes down.  Boyd, Higgins, Chase.

The defense struggles.  Lou is given the axe instead.

The O-line loses 1 or more starters.

All of those pretty much let ZT off the hook for the FO in my opinion.


As far as the D.  They sure do look vastly improved but my excitement and expectations is tempered.

I remember watching the Bengals D looking like world-beaters in pre-season...  only to put up one of the most historically bad defenses in franchise history.

So yeah...  I'm gonna wait until the season actually plays out until I feel great about them.

This is definitely a pivotable year for the Bengals. Some of the Qs of this team are apparent and it will largely depend upon whether the individuals involved step up or not.

1) The OL -- This has been debated to death. Really the biggest thing is chemistry and injuries.
2) Joe Burrow -- Will he 'take a step' forward? Will he lead the Bengals as a 'gunslinger' or as a game manager.
3) Our D -- A lot of changes. Will they be disciplined and 'do their job' as Marvin used to say? Or will they try to do too much, get out of position and get burned. There will be about 3 - 5 games that will depend upon them to win. Are they up to the task?
4) Coaching -- The track record is simply not good. Will the changes bear fruit? Will we adjust where we need to?

The only area in my mind that seems pretty solid is special teams with the KR and PR position still a bit in the air, but I think that will be nailed down pretty quickly.

Can we win 11 games? Yes. Can we win 4 games? Yes.

I can confidently predict Zac will be gone before I can predict another winning season.

We have a tougher schedule this year, but when you look at last season, and the number of games we lost but where the scores were very close (yeah yeah, I know a loss is a loss) , then you look at the improvements this team has made, I can see 10 wins. The defense seems to have made huge strides, (QB's are going to be able to throw at LaShaun Sims this year) and hopefully we will have a full season with JB, and a lackluster AJ has been replaced by Chase. I think 10-7 is the mark Taylor needs to hit this year.

If Taylor manages to wins 10 games I’ll make his picture my avi for an entire year…

(08-29-2021, 11:30 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: If Taylor manages to wins 10 games I’ll make his picture my avi for an entire year…

Career or this season?