Last night was aggravating, disappointing, disgusting and hard to stomach. These things cannot be argued. Last night allowed fear and doubt to infiltrate most, if not all, of our minds when it comes to big center stage games. We fear this team will once again be ousted early in the playoffs. If anyone says some of these worries and emotions did not enter their mind at some point last night or this morning, they are probably lying. These worries and emotions are warranted. Nobody is wrong for thinking or feeling this way. We are fans, which is short for fanatics, it's what we do.

But the sky is not falling, my friends. This team is still the exact same team we were 'fanatically' touting last week as one of, if not THE best team in the nfl. This team still has loads of talent and depth that, quite frankly, no other team in football has. With that point in mind, there were no major injuries and we still have the healthiest team in football.

The sky is not falling.

This defense, with the return of Tez, has become a force. Looking every bit of a top 3 or 5 defense giving up less than 300 total yards per game and stonewalling teams to the tune of 10 points per game.

The sky is not falling.

Now I cannot defend the offense we saw last night, but I'll leave with this. How many of you really believe that last night is what we will see out of this offense the rest of the way? It was a bad night, sure. Dalton played poorly. Eifert ate fried chicken or heavily buttered corn on the cob before the game last night. AJ fumbles on a potential and seemingly promising game winning drive. It was a rough night for this offense, no doubt. But it was an aberration. As hard as it may be to see right now, this offense still is and will be great as the season moves forward. So I say again...

The sky is not falling.

The sky fell long time ago. We thought it might have been patched back up, but how they lost last nights has put that in question.

Sometimes a team needs a good ole beating to keep them level, this wasn't a beating but surely will make them think they aren't unstoppable when they don't play on all cylinders.

All will be fine, we have a great test this week against the "Quitter"

Time to rebound and get back on our winning ways

I've been unimpressed with the offense for 3 weeks personally. It wasn't just last night.

If Green didn't fumble, i truly believe we'd have been 9-0 this morning. Too many mistakes and in the end we just didn't deserve it. It is just one game though. We are 8-0 in the others.

(11-17-2015, 10:12 AM)The Real Deal Wrote: Last night was aggravating, disappointing, disgusting and hard to stomach. These things cannot be argued. Last night allowed fear and doubt to infiltrate most, if not all, of our minds when it comes to big center stage games. We fear this team will once again be ousted early in the playoffs. If anyone says some of these worries and emotions did not enter their mind at some point last night or this morning, they are probably lying. These worries and emotions are warranted. Nobody is wrong for thinking or feeling this way. We are fans, which is short for fanatics, it's what we do.

But the sky is not falling, my friends. This team is still the exact same team we were 'fanatically' touting last week as one of, if not THE best team in the nfl. This team still has loads of talent and depth that, quite frankly,  no other team in football has.  With that point in mind, there were no major injuries and we still have the healthiest team in football.

The sky is not falling.

This defense, with the return of Tez, has  become a force. Looking every bit of a top 3 or 5 defense giving up less than 300 total yards per game and stonewalling teams to the tune of 10 points per game.

The sky is not falling.

Now I cannot defend the offense we saw last night, but I'll leave with this. How many of you really believe that last night is what we will see out of this offense the rest of the way? It was a bad night, sure. Dalton played poorly. Eifert ate fried chicken or heavily buttered corn on the cob before the game last night. AJ fumbles on a potential and seemingly promising game winning drive. It was a rough night for this offense, no doubt. But it was an aberration. As hard as it may be to see right now,  this offense still is and will be great as the season moves forward. So I say again...

The sky is not falling.
No, the sky is not falling. But the middle of the season is upon us and we all know how that effects a certain player on our offense. Here we go......

Less worry about Hue leaving now

(11-17-2015, 10:12 AM)The Real Deal Wrote: Last night was aggravating, disappointing, disgusting and hard to stomach. These things cannot be argued. Last night allowed fear and doubt to infiltrate most, if not all, of our minds when it comes to big center stage games. We fear this team will once again be ousted early in the playoffs. If anyone says some of these worries and emotions did not enter their mind at some point last night or this morning, they are probably lying. These worries and emotions are warranted. Nobody is wrong for thinking or feeling this way. We are fans, which is short for fanatics, it's what we do.

But the sky is not falling, my friends. This team is still the exact same team we were 'fanatically' touting last week as one of, if not THE best team in the nfl. This team still has loads of talent and depth that, quite frankly,  no other team in football has.  With that point in mind, there were no major injuries and we still have the healthiest team in football.

The sky is not falling.

This defense, with the return of Tez, has  become a force. Looking every bit of a top 3 or 5 defense giving up less than 300 total yards per game and stonewalling teams to the tune of 10 points per game.

The sky is not falling.

Now I cannot defend the offense we saw last night, but I'll leave with this. How many of you really believe that last night is what we will see out of this offense the rest of the way? It was a bad night, sure. Dalton played poorly. Eifert ate fried chicken or heavily buttered corn on the cob before the game last night. AJ fumbles on a potential and seemingly promising game winning drive. It was a rough night for this offense, no doubt. But it was an aberration. As hard as it may be to see right now,  this offense still is and will be great as the season moves forward. So I say again...

The sky is not falling.
No, the sky is not falling. But the middle of the season is upon us and we all know how that effects a certain player on our offense. Here we go......

(11-17-2015, 10:46 AM)Sabretooth Wrote: Less worry about Hue leaving now

lol. Sad but true. 

I remember during and immediately after the preseason, many on here were worried about the Bengals struggles and how we might be lucky to finish with various good records. Then the Bengals played the first week and just marched to 8-0.

No one should be happy with last night's loss, HOWEVER, we're still 8-1. We only need to win like 4 of our last 7 games to win the division (and that's assuming Pittsburgh goes 7-0 in their last 7 games). Barring a total collapse, we will still make the playoffs and we will still have to deal with getting our first playoff win.

Most of the biggest whiners now are the ones that were only interested in a playoff victory anyways, so we should continue to ignore them.

I will say that I didn't like the loss, but I'm glad I don't have to worry anymore about "will they go undefeated all season". 'Cause if they went 16-0 in the regular season, the pressure to win a playoff game would magnify tenfold and the Bengals already are facing more pressure than ANYONE to win a playoff game.

(11-17-2015, 10:15 AM)jj22 Wrote: The sky fell long time ago. We thought it might have been patched back up, but how they lost last nights has put that in question.

How so?

We've been playing solid on all points up until last night (where we didn't play solid virtually anywhere outside of our corners).

We've always played solid at the 1:00 slot. As usual it's the primetime, national televised games that people wait to see if this is a new team or not. And well, after last night, it looks like it's the same team.

I have seen a lot of Bengals fans complain that we can't shake the playoff and prime time stigma from the media and other fans.

Then we lose and it's the first thing we harp on.

Losses happen. Move onto the next game.

(11-17-2015, 10:46 AM)Sabretooth Wrote: Less worry about Hue leaving now

(11-17-2015, 11:06 AM)Whacked Wrote: lol. Sad but true. 

Losing one game or 3 or 4 more isn't gonna change the fact that Hugh's gonna be mentioned for vacancies all over the league and it's not just because of a stupid rule. 

Let's just hope he doesn't end up in Cleveland.  

(11-17-2015, 10:24 AM)corpjet Wrote: Sometimes a team needs a good ole beating to keep them level, this wasn't a beating but surely will make them think they aren't unstoppable when they don't play on all cylinders.

All will be fine, we have a great test this week against the "Quitter"

Time to rebound and get back on our winning ways

Would you say that this is exactly what the doctor ordered?

A loss can remind you to keep winning. We'll be alright.

(11-17-2015, 11:23 AM)PhilHos Wrote: I will say that I didn't like the loss, but I'm glad I don't have to worry anymore about "will they go undefeated all season". 'Cause if they went 16-0 in the regular season, the pressure to win a playoff game would magnify tenfold and the Bengals already are facing more pressure than ANYONE to win a playoff game.

My thoughts exactly.

We're on to Arizona...(In my Bill B. voice)

WHO DEY!!!

(11-17-2015, 10:49 AM)Hammerthis Wrote: No, the sky is not falling. But the middle of the season is upon us and we all know how that effects a certain player on our offense. Here we go......

you fail at the quote function dude

(11-17-2015, 11:57 AM)Devils Advocate Wrote: Losing one game or 3 or 4 more isn't gonna change the fact that Hugh's gonna be mentioned for vacancies all over the league and it's not just because of a stupid rule. 

Let's just hope he doesn't end up in Cleveland.  

Hue is smarter than that.... No one wants to go to cleveland

The sky hasn't fallen in Cincy since 2010, but I think the main problem is that this team simply has the ability to completely not show up for games and lose against all odds.

Top 5 offense? Doesn't matter.....6 points
Playing a 3rd string QB? Doesn't matter.....he wins
Held the opposing team to 10 points? Doesn't matter.....was too much
Playing at home? Doesn't matter.....loss
Healthy team? Doesn't matter....loss
Playing a losing team? Doesn't matter....loss
and so on

This team doesn't go on losing streaks, and is still going to finish 12-4 or so BUT the ability to come out of the gates and make everyone say "not this, again, not today!!" is still there.

I thought we might kick it this year, but it's still there. Perhaps it's gone now?