ZT and this Bengals team are 5-2 in the last 7 games dating back to last year against Pitt. Yes, they aren’t world beaters, but they have beat who they are supposed to aside from Chicago. They have to continue with this mentality and steal a couple wins from great teams this year and just maybe they could be in the conversation at the end of the year for a wild card.

I think we can win 7ish more games legitimately between “easier” matchups and stealing a game or 2.

While injuries have been somewhat mild I want to see what we can do with everyone healthy on the field.

earlier returns are good we caught a few teams at the right time.... will have to see how the rest unfolds

(10-01-2021, 08:48 AM)CarolinaBengalFanGuy Wrote: I think we can win 7ish more games legitimately between “easier” matchups and stealing a game or 2.

While injuries have been somewhat mild I want to see what we can do with everyone healthy on the field.

This team reminds me a lot of Marvin Lewis' final year as head coach where we started out the gate 4-1 but everything goes to shit by year-end. That could very well happen again this year.

Our schedule gets pretty tough at the end of the year (Cleveland twice, Baltimore, KC, LA, LV, SF, DEN). None of these defenses are "free" by any means. When I think of the matchups now, any team with a competent interior D-line can make our offense stall, which means our defense stays on the field longer, which leads to points. Can't afford to do that against any of the AFC West teams, SF, and Cleveland. Baltimore...maybe? We did do a great job containing Lamar Jackson for an entire game last year and the Defense is much improved this year so....

Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the winless teams are better than what their record shows (except the Jets). Jacksonville last night proved this, and it took a HOF clinching kick and a slew of shit reffing for the Ravens to make it out of Detroit. I could see a hungry Lions teams going into PBS and squeaking one out . 

On the bright side, after watching four games, I don't see any games where the Bengals shouldn't at least go down to the wire. If they stay on the right side of iffy ref calls, make true grit plays (Logan Willson stop on 4th and goal), and injuries are kept to a minimum, anything can happen.

I think we can beat Detroit, New York, and Pittsburgh for sure.

I think we have a good chance against Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver, and San Francisco

We could certain steal a game from Baltimore and Cleveland.

That’s 9 games although be lucky to go 2-2 against the good chance teams

Good teams win the games they should and steal one or two they can't. I think we have done that so far sans the Bears game, but I can argue we stole one from Minnesota we probably shouldn't have as well. I think somewhere around 8 wins give or take one is a legit possibility for this team.

(10-01-2021, 09:56 AM)THE Bigzoman Wrote: This team reminds me a lot of Marvin Lewis' final year as head coach where we started out the gate 4-1 but everything goes to shit by year-end. That could very well happen again this year.

Our schedule gets pretty tough at the end of the year (Cleveland twice, Baltimore, KC, LA, LV, SF, DEN). None of these defenses are "free" by any means. When I think of the matchups now, any team with a competent interior D-line can make our offense stall, which means our defense stays on the field longer, which leads to points. Can't afford to do that against any of the AFC West teams, SF, and Cleveland. Baltimore...maybe? We did do a great job containing Lamar Jackson for an entire game last year and the Defense is much improved this year so....

Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the winless teams are better than what their record shows (except the Jets). Jacksonville last night proved this, and it took a HOF clinching kick and a slew of shit reffing for the Ravens to make it out of Detroit. I could see a hungry Lions teams going into PBS and squeaking one out . 

On the bright side, after watching four games, I don't see any games where the Bengals shouldn't at least go down to the wire. If they stay on the right side of iffy ref calls, make true grit plays (Logan Willson stop on 4th and goal), and injuries are kept to a minimum, anything can happen.

Dude, why even go there after a win like last night?

(10-01-2021, 10:07 AM)CarolinaBengalFanGuy Wrote: I think we can beat Detroit, New York, and Pittsburgh for sure.

I think we have a good chance against Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver, and San Francisco

We could certain steal a game from Baltimore and Cleveland.

That’s 9 games although be lucky to go 2-2 against the good chance teams

Given what's going on with Lamar's back, he very well may not be there when we play them, and without him they are done.

(10-01-2021, 09:56 AM)THE Bigzoman Wrote: This team reminds me a lot of Marvin Lewis' final year as head coach where we started out the gate 4-1 but everything goes to shit by year-end. That could very well happen again this year.

Our schedule gets pretty tough at the end of the year (Cleveland twice, Baltimore, KC, LA, LV, SF, DEN). None of these defenses are "free" by any means. When I think of the matchups now, any team with a competent interior D-line can make our offense stall, which means our defense stays on the field longer, which leads to points. Can't afford to do that against any of the AFC West teams, SF, and Cleveland. Baltimore...maybe? We did do a great job containing Lamar Jackson for an entire game last year and the Defense is much improved this year so....

Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the winless teams are better than what their record shows (except the Jets). Jacksonville last night proved this, and it took a HOF clinching kick and a slew of shit reffing for the Ravens to make it out of Detroit. I could see a hungry Lions teams going into PBS and squeaking one out . 

On the bright side, after watching four games, I don't see any games where the Bengals shouldn't at least go down to the wire. If they stay on the right side of iffy ref calls, make true grit plays (Logan Willson stop on 4th and goal), and injuries are kept to a minimum, anything can happen.

Teryl Austin has us as a historically-bad defense and had he not been fired/Marv taking over, it would've been the worst defense in NFL history.

Our offense is doing just as well as it did that year, but our Defense is light years ahead.

Not an apt comparison in the slightest, period.

(10-01-2021, 10:18 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Dude, why even go there after a win like last night?

Because some people live to be negative, as you know.

(10-01-2021, 10:18 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Dude, why even go there after a win like last night?

Because you can't be disappointed when you have low expectations.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.meme-arsenal.com%2Fen%2Fcreate%2Fmeme%2F2324010&psig=AOvVaw36zrrbjPr3xIQdE_3CGJg9&ust=1633369153615000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCICtjrPkrvMCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ

To me it seems like there are usually 4 or 5 NFL teams that are worse than all the others, 4 or 5 who are better, and 20-25 teams who win and lose games based on individual matchups, who has a hot hand, or which team makes a couple of more key errors over the course of a game. The Bengals have moved from one of the worst to one of those middle of the pack. We have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. If we get a good consistent full game out of both offense and defense we can beat about any team in the league. We have more overall talent on defense, but we have a lot of talent at our skill positions on offense.