Hey, fellas.  I haven't been on here much of late (got a new job and usually don't post much in season) but I just wanted to pop in and give some serious props to the team.  I was thinking about this other day but I don't think things could be going much better, not only from a team perspective but down to a lot of individual players.

If you had told me Joe Burrow would look this good coming off the injury I would have said this is about as good as you could reasonably expect in year. 2  I don't think he could be playing much better.  Not only is he healthy and had shown to not have any mental issues from the injury, he's shown significant improvement.  His completion percentage is up, his YPA has gone way up, and his deep ball has greatly improved.

If you told me Chase was going to be doing this well... this is obviously a best case scenario.  He's an absolute stud and has already cemented himself as a mighty fine pick only two months in.

Lou Anarumo's defense?  I don't think it could much better than what we're seeing vs. what many predicted.

Hendrickson, Reader, Bell, Wilson, ect.  All of these guys are living up to the contracts or draft position.

CJ Uzomah?  Are you kidding me?  This is more than just a career year.  He's been a top 1/3 of the league Tight End.

Joe Mixon is on pace for a career high in yards and TD's.  Not only that, but he has his best YPC in the last 3 years.  He's been solid.

The offensive line, all things considered I don't think you could ask for much more.  This is about best case scenario for this group.  Jonah has stayed healthy (fingers crossed), Carmen has looked pretty decent, Reif has been solid, and all in all they're a lot better than we've seen these last few years.

Even Zac Taylor, who I'm still not 100% sold on and I still shake my head at his play calling at times, deserves a lot of praise.  He's got the 12th ranked offense, which is a HUGE improvement and has his team at 5-2.  It's hard to argue against that.

Anyways, I don't want to bore anyone too much here; I just wanted to give the team (players and coaches) some credit.  It's been a really fun start to the season.  It finally feels like a new era.

Agree with your points. I’d does feel like a new era. It’s so refreshing.

We really really could have been 7-0

McPherson could be perfect on the year, what a bum!

Not that I absolutely believe it'll happen, but I won't be shocked to see a 15-2 record..

This season has a magical feel to it for sure.

(10-28-2021, 07:49 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Hey, fellas.  I haven't been on here much of late (got a new job and usually don't post much in season) but I just wanted to pop in and give some serious props to the team.  I was thinking about this other day but I don't think things could be going much better, not only from a team perspective but down to a lot of individual players.

If you had told me Joe Burrow would look this good coming off the injury I would have said this is about as good as you could reasonably expect in year. 2  I don't think he could be playing much better.  Not only is he healthy and had shown to not have any mental issues from the injury, he's shown significant improvement.  His completion percentage is up, his YPA has gone way up, and his deep ball has greatly improved.

If you told me Chase was going to be doing this well... this is obviously a best case scenario.  He's an absolute stud and has already cemented himself as a mighty fine pick only two months in.

Lou Anarumo's defense?  I don't think it could much better than what we're seeing vs. what many predicted.

Hendrickson, Reader, Bell, Wilson, ect.  All of these guys are living up to the contracts or draft position.

CJ Uzomah?  Are you kidding me?  This is more than just a career year.  He's been a top 1/3 of the league Tight End.

Joe Mixon is on pace for a career high in yards and TD's.  Not only that, but he has his best YPC in the last 3 years.  He's been solid.

The offensive line, all things considered I don't think you could ask for much more.  This is about best case scenario for this group.  Jonah has stayed healthy (fingers crossed), Carmen has looked pretty decent, Reif has been solid, and all in all they're a lot better than we've seen these last few years.

Even Zac Taylor, who I'm still not 100% sold on and I still shake my head at his play calling at times, deserves a lot of praise.  He's got the 12th ranked offense, which is a HUGE improvement and has his team at 5-2.  It's hard to argue against that.

Anyways, I don't want to bore anyone too much here; I just wanted to give the team (players and coaches) some credit.  It's been a really fun start to the season.  It finally feels like a new era.

Great post & agreed. 

Ine tidbit I'd add on the OL.  Anyone think Spain would be grading out like this? Wowzers.  

[quote='Wes Mantooth' pid='1089191' dateline='1635461392']

Agree with everything except offensive line and Zac Taylor

As an LSU fan, we had a bad offensive line that was made better by Joe Burrow evading everyone. That still needs work.

Zac Taylor is also benefitting from Joe and Chase. I don't think he's a great coach.

Otherwise you're spot on. I see you guys in the AFC championship and I'm not kidding.

Great post by OP and this may be the best offseason ever for the Bengals.

Every single move made is paying huge dividends, its amazing.

(10-28-2021, 09:30 PM)LSUfaninTN Wrote: [quote='Wes Mantooth' pid='1089191' dateline='1635461392']

Agree with everything except offensive line and Zac Taylor

As an LSU fan, we had a bad offensive line that was made better by Joe Burrow evading everyone. That still needs work.

Zac Taylor is also benefitting from Joe and Chase. I don't think he's a great coach.

Otherwise you're spot on. I see you guys in the AFC championship and I'm not kidding.

Some of us caught a bunch of flak for suggesting that 2019 LSU OL was average at best. One specific poster kept bringing up the Joe Moore award, but I thought where those guys were drafted was more telling (none before the 3rd round iirc). Burrow definitely made them look better. And so did having 2 world class WR’s that could get open quickly.

(10-28-2021, 07:49 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Hey, fellas.  I haven't been on here much of late (got a new job and usually don't post much in season) but I just wanted to pop in and give some serious props to the team.  I was thinking about this other day but I don't think things could be going much better, not only from a team perspective but down to a lot of individual players.

If you had told me Joe Burrow would look this good coming off the injury I would have said this is about as good as you could reasonably expect in year. 2  I don't think he could be playing much better.  Not only is he healthy and had shown to not have any mental issues from the injury, he's shown significant improvement.  His completion percentage is up, his YPA has gone way up, and his deep ball has greatly improved.

If you told me Chase was going to be doing this well... this is obviously a best case scenario.  He's an absolute stud and has already cemented himself as a mighty fine pick only two months in.

Lou Anarumo's defense?  I don't think it could much better than what we're seeing vs. what many predicted.

Hendrickson, Reader, Bell, Wilson, ect.  All of these guys are living up to the contracts or draft position.

CJ Uzomah?  Are you kidding me?  This is more than just a career year.  He's been a top 1/3 of the league Tight End.

Joe Mixon is on pace for a career high in yards and TD's.  Not only that, but he has his best YPC in the last 3 years.  He's been solid.

The offensive line, all things considered I don't think you could ask for much more.  This is about best case scenario for this group.  Jonah has stayed healthy (fingers crossed), Carmen has looked pretty decent, Reif has been solid, and all in all they're a lot better than we've seen these last few years.

Even Zac Taylor, who I'm still not 100% sold on and I still shake my head at his play calling at times, deserves a lot of praise.  He's got the 12th ranked offense, which is a HUGE improvement and has his team at 5-2.  It's hard to argue against that.

Anyways, I don't want to bore anyone too much here; I just wanted to give the team (players and coaches) some credit.  It's been a really fun start to the season.  It finally feels like a new era.

It is a new era, this Defense is badazz. Great at stopping the run and just throwing Defenses off. The moment an Offense thinks
they are starting to roll our D steps up and ***** slaps'em. Love this Defense, pay Ogunjobi please, I want this guy here for many
moons. On Offense we should only get better as the year rolls, we are young and the new players and coaches are still finding 
their stride. Quinton Spain? Yeah, pay this man too.

All of the positivity the Bengals have been receiving (deservedly so) in the public is making me itchy. I feel like Reese Bobby eating dinner with his family at Applebees.

(10-29-2021, 06:45 PM)BengalFanInNJ Wrote: All of the positivity the Bengals have been receiving (deservedly so) in the public is making me itchy. I feel like Reese Bobby eating dinner with his family at Applebees.

You're not alone...

(10-28-2021, 08:18 PM)grampahol Wrote: Not that I absolutely believe it'll happen, but I won't be shocked to see a 15-2 record..

I'm on board with everything and I hope it unfolds . .  BUT this forum sounded like this in 2015 at 8-0.

15-2 would mean the number one seed, but 15-2 and the number one seed mean NOTHING if it's one and done!

One game at a time!  WAIT and see for me!!

As for Uzomanamana, I honestly thought by his play and usage the last few years that his NFL career may be a short one. Man, Burrow brings out the best in people cause now he has new life. His game has increased significantly.

I tried mentioning last year after CJ went down that the targets before he did showed Burrow had a lot of trust in him. I think he represents a very capable NFL TE and I am glad we didn’t go a different route this off-season as he is a pretty solid value now for his production.

(10-29-2021, 06:56 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: As for Uzomanamana, I honestly thought by his play and usage the last few years that his NFL career may be a short one. Man, Burrow brings out the best in people cause now he has new life. His game has increased significantly.

Truth, I admit I was one of the guys last year before Uzo went down I could of cared less if we moved on from him. Then he 
caught Burrow's first TD pass in the NFL and I changed my mind before he went down with the bad injury. Then he was in 
recovery with Burrow so this year I kind of figured they would be on the same page once Uzo was completely healed, pretty 
amazing how well he healed with Burrow and how they have such chemistry together late in Uzo's career and he is playing 
WAY better than he ever was when he was young.

(10-29-2021, 07:02 PM)Au165 Wrote: I tried mentioning last year after CJ went down that the targets before he did showed Burrow had a lot of trust in him. I think he represents a very capable NFL TE and I am glad we didn’t go a different route this off-season as he is a pretty solid value now for his production.

Same here, hope we keep Uzo around for awhile too, even if he ends up being second fiddle to a pass catching freak TE that
honestly could put this Offense at the top. Uzo helps team morale and is one funny dude, great guy to have around.

(10-29-2021, 07:34 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Truth, I admit I was one of the guys last year before Uzo went down I could of cared less if we moved on from him. Then he 
caught Burrow's first TD pass in the NFL and I changed my mind before he went down with the bad injury. Then he was in 
recovery with Burrow so this year I kind of figured they would be on the same page once Uzo was completely healed, pretty 
amazing how well he healed with Burrow and how they have such chemistry together late in Uzo's career and he is playing 
WAY better than he ever was when he was young.


Same here, hope we keep Uzo around for awhile too, even if he ends up being second fiddle to a pass catching freak TE that
honestly could put this Offense at the top. Uzo helps team morale and is one funny dude, great guy to have around.

One thing I love is that teams didn’t plan against TE use in Cincinnati for a long time. Burrow has made him a threat, now they’ve got to plan against Uzomah. That opens things up.

(10-29-2021, 07:39 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: One thing I love is that teams didn’t plan against TE use in Cincinnati for a long time. Burrow has made him a threat, now they’ve got to plan against Uzomah. That opens things up.

It does, pick your poison. Teams have to look for Uzo on Play Action now big time along with Chase, Higgins and Boyd.

Pretty scary Dog.

(10-28-2021, 07:51 PM)wanga Wrote: Agree with your points. I’d does feel like a new era. It’s so refreshing.

You mean a NewDey!