I generally have better things to do than do nothing but complain about the only team I've ever rooted for in this league. Sure, they've had some really lousy teams over the years with no chance for success, but this season ain't one of them. Last time I checked being 5-4 is still winning by the numbers no matter how you slice it, dice it or chop it up. They're 2-1 in the division which ain't nothing. Technically the team is listed as in last place in the division, but they're the highest scoring team in the division and the only team in the division with a winning record within the division.
I know..some of you truly believe yourselves to be eminently smarter than anyone else who still breaths, but if you're so smart why don't you have one of only 32 head coaching jobs in the league? Why aren't you position coaches in the league? I know! You work too hard at your part time janitorial jobs to be bothered with making millions per year so we all understand why you prefer to sit at home playing expert on TV..

(11-10-2021, 10:12 AM)fredtoast Wrote: The haters were wrong for years when we went to the playoffs from '11 to '15.  

Really, because the optimists still slam this era and the QB. The haters focused on the playoff losses and swore we wouldn't win each year and ended up right. 

But again, the "nothing but positive" posters today still slam this 11-15 era and it's qb. So you are giving them too much credit. They slam this era and the qb, but won't let anyone comment on the failures of the last 6 years or so.

(11-10-2021, 02:18 AM)Bengal Dude Wrote: I appreciated the OL coming to Burrow's defense. The Miami game was an embarrassment last season where the OL just sat on the bench while the teams scrapped.

Whit was heralded as a hero during the 2012 Raiders game. Why would you not want your OL to stand up for their QB? 

Hell, the Dallas OL was ripped for not coming to Dalton's defense last year when he took a cheap shot against Washington last season. 

I didn't have issue with them sitting out the ST scrap last year. No one had done anything to their QB; we had cheap shot Miami's PR.

(11-10-2021, 02:18 AM)Bengal Dude Wrote: I appreciated the OL coming to Burrow's defense. The Miami game was an embarrassment last season where the OL just sat on the bench while the teams scrapped.

Whit was heralded as a hero during the 2012 Raiders game. Why would you not want your OL to stand up for their QB? 

Whit vs Henderson 2008 (jags) too.

(11-10-2021, 10:18 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I can't even understand what you are trying to say.

Basically you are saying that when a team loses the coach is not allowed to mention anything positive the team did?  This is what you always do.  You take the fact that Taylor said something positive and try to claim he "hung his hat on it" and that no other coach would do that.  This is total BS.  I see losing coaches mention positive things the team did ALL THE TIME, but when Zac does it you think it is wrong.

It is like you don't even watch anything any other team/coach ever does and then just say that whatever the Bengals/Taylor does is wrong.

I'm saying Bill B, Tomlin etc, would likely think the reaction of the Oline was good as we all do, but they wouldn't openly be so proud of it given the results of the beatdown. 

It's not total bs regardless of what you think. Coaches don't highlight singular positive plays after a beatdown. You really think after the Patriots or Steelers or Ravens take a loss 41-16, that their coaches would openly applaud that moment? 

I think they'd likely say they should have protected him better. And left it at that.

(11-10-2021, 10:58 AM)jj22 Wrote: I think they'd likely say they should have protected him better. And left it at that.

No doubt.

When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less. - Paul Brown

(11-10-2021, 11:04 AM)P W Wrote: No doubt.

When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less. - Paul Brown

Doesn’t really fly in 2021 when you’re being asked questions in a press conference…

(11-10-2021, 11:06 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Doesn’t really fly in 2021 when you’re being asked questions in a press conference…

It does. You just say exactly what I said those coaches would likely say..... 

(11-10-2021, 11:06 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Doesn’t really fly in 2021 when you’re being asked questions in a press conference…

pfft. any nfl quality headcoach handles questions well.

(11-10-2021, 12:28 AM)Benton Wrote: To the bold, we've got two fourth place (in their division) teams, the Ravens and Steelers, and the Raiders, who are having a similar season to ours.

Sure, it ain't easy, but it ain't like it's all trigonometry the rest of the way.

I wish it was Trig....I loved that class.

(11-10-2021, 10:58 AM)jj22 Wrote: I'm saying Bill B, Tomlin etc, would likely think the reaction of the Oline was good as we all do, but they wouldn't openly be so proud of it given the results of the beatdown. 

This is a perfect example of what I was talking about in another thread.

You just made this claim up out of thin air and think it has credence.  It doesn't.  It is just you making stuff up because you have no real facts to rely on.  

And just to prove that you don't have a clue what you are talking about here are some Mike Tomlin quotes from after the Steelers loss to Green Bay that dropped them to 1-3 this year where he praised the improvement in the runnning game.

Tomlin Encouraged By Steps Taken In The Run Game - Steelers Depot

Praising the improvement of the run game or a problem area in a loss isn't praising an on field scuffle that no coach is ideally supposed to support (even if they secretly like to see it) given it could have easily been a flag on their team (which in our case would have made it a 41-13 beatdown). Get it together Fred.

If we would have been flagged and thus not had the shot at the field goal effectively ending the half losing our poise and looking more like a meltdown, and down by 17 instead of 14 which easily could have been the case, would this be a different conversation?

I know everyone can't coach, but in the interest of coming for folks, you shouldn't sacrifice your integrity. But I'll restate as a coach, I would have liked to see it, I wouldn't have admitted it after a 41-16 blow out. Some disagree and I am fine with that.

(11-10-2021, 03:05 PM)jj22 Wrote: Praising the improvement of the run game or a problem area in a loss isn't praising an on field scuffle that no coach is ideally supposed to support (even if they secretly like to see it) given it could have easily been a flag on their team (which in our case would have made it a 41-13 beatdown). Get it together Fred.

Super Bowl winning coach Mike McCartrhy roasted the Cowboys for not coming to the defense of Andy Dalton after the play where he got wiped out with an illegal cheap shot.  How many Super Bowls have you won as a head coach JJ?

Again, I suggest you get some facts instead of just making shit up in your head if you want to debate me on an issue.

(11-10-2021, 03:17 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Super Bowl winning coach Mike McCartrhy roasted the Cowboys for not coming to the defense of Andy Dalton after the play where he got wiped out with an illegal cheap shot.  How many Super Bowls have you won as a head coach JJ?

Again, I suggest you get some facts instead of just making shit up in your head if you want to debate me on an issue.

Mike McCarthy isn't a good coach. Rodgers, Packers and Cowboys fans will tell you. Can't even manage the clock, and will likely be fired this season. Next! 

(11-10-2021, 03:33 PM)jj22 Wrote: Mike McCarthy isn't a good coach. Rodgers, Packers and Cowboys fans will tell you. Can't even manage the clock, and will likely be fired this season. Next! 

How many Super Bowls have Packers and Aaron Rodgers won without McCarthy?

He has a .600+ career winning percentage.  He has made the playoff 9 times in 13 years and has a .556 winning percentage in post season.

Eagle fans claimed Andy Reid could never win a Super Bowl.  I look at results over the opinion of uneducated fans.  
Sometimes fans just make shit up in their heads and claim it is true.

(11-10-2021, 10:12 AM)fredtoast Wrote: The haters were wrong for years when we went to the playoffs from '11 to '15.  They were forced to change their tune from "worst in the league" to "Can't win a championship" but most of those years these guys still predicted we would not even make it back to the playoffs.  Theses are the guys who  claimed the Bengals would never use a first round pick on a TE, OG or OC.  These are the guys who claimed the Bengals would never sign any big dollar free agents.  

I think the big problem here is the extremists.  There are a very few who just constantly have nothing but negative takes.  They often make up shit out of thin air to come up with claims that start with "You know the players think.  .  ." or "You can tell by the look on his face.  .  .  " or "The Bengals will never.  .  .  ".  Or they work really hard to twist stats to make the team look as bad as possible.

There are really only a small handful of these extreme negative type posters.  And when it comes to overy optimistic posters I can only think of a couple.  Mostly, right now we are all talking about what is wrong with the team.  It is clear we have some problems.  Just most of us don't see it as a complete lost cause.

The problem here is that the things you claim were "extreme negative" takes were all based in truth.

1. "We can't win a championship" - Well? We were 0-7 in the playoffs, so was this really an unreasonable take. The answer is no.

2. "The Bengals will never use a 1st rounder on a TE, G or C". Well? We didn't for decades until we suddenly did. Were people really being unreasonable for doubting something that hadn't occurred in decades? Do you think the Bengals will build a practice facility in the next 5 years? Probably not, right? Guess that makes you extremely negative then.

3. "We won't splurge in free agency". Same deal. I can count on maybe 2 fingers how many times the Bengals had splurged in free agency prior to 2 years ago. So were people unreasonable to doubt? People like you even brought up FA failures every year to defend the team for never splurging. Now your tune has changed to this.

Sure, people should never speak in absolutes. "Never" is a strong word. That said, the doubt was perfectly understandable, and pretending otherwise is being disingenuous just to help make a stronger point.

(11-10-2021, 03:43 PM)fredtoast Wrote:  I look at results over the opinion of uneducated fans.  

Well then look at his results when he doesn't have a hall of fame QB who still has carried his team to 3 straight NFC Championship games without him.

Same with Andy Lewis I mean Reid.

Let me know what I'm missing as I prepare my Cliff Notes:

We all think it's a good thing the Oline came to JB's defense

We all don't think it's a good thing that Zac called it a good thing.

(11-10-2021, 10:52 AM)jj22 Wrote: The haters focused on the playoff losses and swore we wouldn't win each year and ended up right. 

Actually they mostly predicted we would not make it back to the playoffs until we had went a few years in a row.