Even though, after 30 years of disappointment, I still hold on to my philosophy, for me, not for anyone else, expect the worse but hope for the best, I 'HOPE' this year is what FINALLY, after 30 years, turns the table for this franchise.

However, remember 2015.  After an 8-0 start, just about everybody here was SB bound, and that probably would have played out had it not been for the dreaded broken thumb.

I know, many will say, but this is a different team with different coaches etc.

Yes it is.  The only 2 players that are still here from that year are Clark Harris and Kevin Huber.

So, even though I walk on egg shells I am still 'cautiously' optimistic and time will tell as, outside of the Jets, it's a tough remaining schedule.

Barring injuries, I still think the Bills will get the #1 seed ONLY because of the cake walk division they are in.

However, if this team can win this division, which would mean they could avoid the Wild Card game, and WIN the first playoff game . . then 'BAR THE DOOR KATY' . . . WHO DEY!!

Hell, I'm worried about the Jets already. The Jags game didn't go all that great and the Jets did beat the Titans just a few weeks ago.

The Jets home record vs. the Bengals? 12-3.

(10-25-2021, 11:52 AM)2MinutesHate Wrote: Hell, I'm worried about the Jets already.  The Jags game didn't go all that great and the Jets did beat the Titans just a few weeks ago.  

The Jets home record vs. the Bengals?  12-3.

The worst thing they could do would be to past the Jets to the Browns!

Somebody needs to say it as cliche as it is, "Any given Sunday"!

(10-25-2021, 11:57 AM)bengalguy71 Wrote: The worst thing they could do would be to past the Jets to the Browns!

Somebody needs to say it as cliche as it is, "Any given Sunday"!

whos QB for Jets now? I heard the rookie got injured?

(10-25-2021, 12:18 PM)kalibengal Wrote: whos QB for Jets now? I heard the rookie got injured?

Mike White

Man, throw off the chains and be recklessly optimistic.

I'm ready to be hurt again!!

Come on man... we've been "cautiously optimistic" for... close to 40 years now?
It's a hard habit to break.

I agree. The last two games have been great and it has certainly been fun to be a Bengals fan recently. But there are people here already talking about playing the Bills or the Titans in the playoffs. The Bengals still have a lot of work to do to get there. I hope that it turns out great but there is still more than half the regular season to go with some good teams to compete against.

(10-25-2021, 12:53 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: I agree.  The last two games have been great and it has certainly been fun to be a Bengals fan recently.   But there are people here already talking about playing the Bills or the Titans in the playoffs.   The Bengals still have a lot of work to do to get there.  I hope that it turns out great but there is still more than half the regular season to go with some good teams to compete against.

 Yep, but if we can hit the bye at 7-2, we're in pretty damn good shape for that rough slate.

(10-25-2021, 01:31 PM)Wyche Wrote:  Yep, but if we can hit the bye at 7-2, we're in pretty damn good shape for that rough slate.

Is it a rough slate though? Sure there are very good teams to play still, but I don't think it's unsurmountable though. I see KC is falling apart, our own division will be a good fight. I just don't see us going into these games with the thought of totally losing the game without even playing yet. We are not out classed anymore. I don't think we go undefeated the rest of the way so don't get me wrong.

(10-25-2021, 01:40 PM)sandwedge Wrote: Is it a rough slate though? Sure there are very good teams to play still, but I don't think it's unsurmountable though. I see KC is falling apart, our own division will be a good fight. I just don't see us going into these games with the thought of totally losing the game without even playing yet. We are not out classed anymore. I don't think we go undefeated the rest of the way so don't get me wrong.

With this team right now I think we are the rough team for those teams. That is how good we looked yesterday.

Keep up what we are doing and we could go undefeated, I doubt it, I bet we lose a couple close games but man this is a good team.

The only teams I have seen better are in the NFC in the Cards and the Buccaneers, maybe the Packers and we could of beat them
like 3 times in our game. I understand the cautiously optimistic crowd though, we have quite the history but we are undefeated
against the AFC right now and we have the Jets next who I think we should beat if we just play disciplined and execute.

(10-25-2021, 12:53 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: I agree.  The last two games have been great and it has certainly been fun to be a Bengals fan recently.   But there are people here already talking about playing the Bills or the Titans in the playoffs.   The Bengals still have a lot of work to do to get there.  I hope that it turns out great but there is still more than half the regular season to go with some good teams to compete against.

Absolutely.  The entire schedule is filled with decent teams with a combined record of 34-32.  Take away the Jets and its 33-27.  It's going to be a long season with obstacle after obstacle and very few cupcake teams.

The Ravens, Browns and Steelers are still right there within striking distance.  I think it'll be a slugfest the rest of the way.

(10-25-2021, 12:53 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: I agree.  The last two games have been great and it has certainly been fun to be a Bengals fan recently.   But there are people here already talking about playing the Bills or the Titans in the playoffs.   The Bengals still have a lot of work to do to get there.  I hope that it turns out great but there is still more than half the regular season to go with some good teams to compete against.

Yeah, Titans beat both the Bills and Chiefs - and the Bills were built to beat the Chiefs.

But, next game up. If Jets can beat a Titans team that had a healthy Henry, then anything can happen.

This is WHY I will stay cautiously optimistic:

Thugsburgh had 4 of their front 7 on defense out with injuries and the Ravens have 15 players on IR, which, to me, is absolutely crazy for one team.

Yes, having said that, injuries are part of the game and can happen in a heartbeat, as we all can attest to especially after 2015.

But, we play some tough teams ahead AND we play both Thugsburgh and Ravens again at home, but there's a good chance they will have many of those injured players back and we just have to hope we don't get any lengthy injuries with key players, not just for them but for the Browns twice, Raiders, Chargers, 9ers, and Chiefs.

Time will tell.