In Dan Marino's second year in the NFL he won 14 regular season games and went to the Super Bowl while setting single season records for passing tds and passing yds. He never accomplished any of those things ever again in his 17 year career.

Winning a championship is as much about being healthy and getting hot as it is about overall talent. We are as healthy as I can ever remember a Bengal team being at the end of the season. And we are as hot as we have been all year.

When Marino lost the Super Bowl in '84 I am sure Dolphin fans were upset but also saying "We will have a lot more chances to win one as long as we have Dan".

With all the people making such a big deal about how all of our stars on offense are all 25 or younger I hope they don't lack the sense of urgency to win it all this year while the iron is hot.

(01-11-2022, 06:37 PM)fredtoast Wrote: In Dan Marino's second year in the NFL he won 14 regular season games and went to the Super Bowl while setting single season records for passing tds and passing yds.  He never accomplished any of those things ever again in his 17 year career.

Winning a championship is as much about being healthy and getting hot as it is about overall talent.  We are as healthy as I can ever remember a Bengal team being at the end of the season.  And we are as hot as we have been all year.

When Marino lost the Super Bowl in '84 I am sure Dolphin fans were upset but also saying "We will have a lot more chances to win one as long as we have Dan".

With all the people making such a  big deal about how all of our stars on offense are all 25 or younger I hope they don't lack the sense of urgency to win it all this year while the iron is hot.

Two other things that also probably impacted the Dolphins getting to the Super Bowl with Marino later in his career:
Free agency started in 1993.
Salary cap came in 1994.

In today's NFL, you really have to try to capitalize on rookie contracts. With the way veterans (especially good QBs) get paid, it can be very difficult to keep your talent and put together a championship-caliber team year-after-year.

The Bengals need to definitely view the next few years as their window and go all in.

(01-11-2022, 06:37 PM)fredtoast Wrote: In Dan Marino's second year in the NFL he won 14 regular season games and went to the Super Bowl while setting single season records for passing tds and passing yds.  He never accomplished any of those things ever again in his 17 year career.

Winning a championship is as much about being healthy and getting hot as it is about overall talent.  We are as healthy as I can ever remember a Bengal team being at the end of the season.  And we are as hot as we have been all year.

When Marino lost the Super Bowl in '84 I am sure Dolphin fans were upset but also saying "We will have a lot more chances to win one as long as we have Dan".

With all the people making such a  big deal about how all of our stars on offense are all 25 or younger I hope they don't lack the sense of urgency to win it all this year while the iron is hot.

Dude, what are you on about?  Who is THEY?

The lack of urgency to win this year? How do you define that? The FO? We cannot make any roster moves or sign a FA.  We have who we have for this run. 

Do you think the players and coaches are gonna half-@$$ things because they think they will be back?  Ridiculous. 

Or that fans of a team that has not won a PO game in 31 years are gonna sit on their hands Saturday? Even more ridiculous.

The urgency should kick in in the off-season. Go get Burrow a real OL for next year so we can keep him upright and healthy. But that is a thread for another day. Hopefully February. 

But we are wildly ahead of schedule. There is nothing left to do this year but play hard, coach hard, and cheer loud. The die is cast. 

(01-11-2022, 07:00 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Dude, what are you on about?  Who is THEY?

The lack of urgency to win this year? How do you define that? The FO? We cannot make any roster moves or sign a FA.  We have who we have for this run. 

Do you think the players and coaches are gonna half-@$$ things because they think they will be back?  Ridiculous. 

Or that fans of a team that has not won a PO game in 31 years are gonna sit on their hands Saturday? Even more ridiculous.

The urgency should kick in in the off-season. Go get Burrow a real OL for next year so we can keep him upright and healthy. But that is a thread for another day. Hopefully February. 

But we are wildly ahead of schedule. There is nothing left to do this year but play hard, coach hard, and cheer loud. The die is cast. 

There are still unsigned players out there that the Bengals could get to try to help out this year, but I think the point was more to try to focus on taking advantage of the fact Burrow and Chase are both on rookie contracts. Therefore, really invest in upgrades over the next couple years (starters and depth), as that window might start closing once Burrow and Chase get paid.

(01-11-2022, 07:00 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Dude, what are you on about?  Who is THEY?

The lack of urgency to win this year? How do you define that? The FO? We cannot make any roster moves or sign a FA.  We have who we have for this run. 

Do you think the players and coaches are gonna half-@$$ things because they think they will be back?  Ridiculous. 

Or that fans of a team that has not won a PO game in 31 years are gonna sit on their hands Saturday? Even more ridiculous.

The urgency should kick in in the off-season. Go get Burrow a real OL for next year so we can keep him upright and healthy. But that is a thread for another day. Hopefully February. 

But we are wildly ahead of schedule. There is nothing left to do this year but play hard, coach hard, and cheer loud. The die is cast. 

We're young and will be able to attract free agents, as well as build with picks in the draft!

We're in good shape!

However, I feel like this entire thread is in bad taste since we have a game that we're focused on winning on Saturday! We have all offseason to chat about the future!

Why would someone post a thread like this?

Such a typical negative fan post. When we stink it's: "wow what a joke organization." When we are finally good and young: "Well we better win it all right now because were gonna stink again soon." Exhausting, just enjoy that things finally seem to be going our way!

Seems like a good thread to me. Uzo said it himself after the W in KC: Nothing but winning the Superbowl is good enough. They expect this of themselves so I expect it too.

Is the fredtoast profile run by a different person than it was a few years ago?

During the Marvin/Dalton/Green years, I remember an endless amount of optimism from him, even when given a dozen chances, they repeatedly proved not to be worthy of that optimism. Now, a few years later, I come back to this board, and it seems the opposite. When the franchise looks like it may have turned the corner, it’s very often skepticism and negativity.

Is this just revisionist history on my behalf? The Mandela effect, maybe?

If someone else created this thread I think some people would be viewing it differently. It's not a negative post nor is it something which isn't important to remember.

Even in this thread people keep saying "we're ahead of schedule." There is no schedule in the NFL there's only the here and now. I'm sure every Dolphins fan thought they were ahead of schedule in his second season too.

Obviously we have no impact on what the Bengals do but opportunities like this year don't come by often. As fans we should never take these seasons for granted.

I think fred is on to something, but I also believe these young guns have the right mindset. I remember that '84 season, and I believe the consensus was that Marino would only improve and the Dolphins would be perennial Super Bowl contenders for a decade. As it turned out, they did host the AFC title game the following year, only to lose in a downpour (from memory) to a New England team that would be Bear chow in the Super Bowl. I think that may be the game that haunts Marino more than any other, outside the Super Bowl loss. The Dolphins were the team that gave Chicago its only loss that year by scoring 38 on arguably the greatest single season defense of all time.

That 1984 season remains far and away the most dominant season a QB has put together in my lifetime. I don't know that Marino is the greatest QB of all time, but he's undoubtedly the greatest QB in his first 1.5 seasons- he started the last half of the '83 campaign and was nearly as dominant.

(01-11-2022, 07:59 PM)Chip Smallwood Wrote: Is the fredtoast profile run by a different person than it was a few years ago?

During the Marvin/Dalton/Green years, I remember an endless amount of optimism from him, even when given a dozen chances, they repeatedly proved not to be worthy of that optimism. Now, a few years later, I come back to this board, and it seems the opposite. When the franchise looks like it may have turned the corner, it’s very often skepticism and negativity.

Is this just revisionist history on my behalf? The Mandela effect, maybe?

Fred is someone who's usually always going to be a contrarian. Back then people were probably being negative about Marvin/Dalton (like they still are now) so he feels the need to defend them and argue against it. People now are being really high on the team so he may bring up things to argue that. People are up on certain coaches/players so he negates it. People are down on certain coaches/players so he defends them. 

The cycle continues. 

I like this thread. As a fan after these last few weeks I've found myself really excited for the future and thinking of this off-season. But we are in the playoffs with a chip and chair. With Dalton it didn't take long to see the narrative of primetime and playoff games every year when we made the playoffs it was please show up and win a game. Now its an unknown and a chance to see how this team steps up on the big stage.

The seize this opportunity might be more for the fans to cheer for it all this year rather than the next few years because we're here now. The players and coaches should be playing hard and only thinking of this year. I think guys like Burrow and Chase that got here so quick have enough teammates and coaches to remind them of the significance of making the playoffs. I can't wait to see how this team battles come Saturday.

(01-11-2022, 08:12 PM)TheFan Wrote: Fred is someone who's usually always going to be a contrarian. Back then people were probably being negative about Marvin/Dalton (like they still are now) so he feels the need to defend them and argue against it. People now are being really high on the team so he may bring up things to argue that. People are up on certain coaches/players so he negates it. People are down on certain coaches/players so he defends them. 

The cycle continues. 

As someone who hasn't been on these boards that long I like Fred ( Not saying anyone doesn't). I get that he seems like a contrarian but he always falls back to the stats and lets that be his base line. Which I think is a fair way to judge things. Also when he tells me I'm wrong he backs it up with numbers and atleast I learn something.

(01-11-2022, 08:17 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: As someone who hasn't been on these boards that long I like Fred ( Not saying anyone doesn't). I get that he seems like a contrarian but he always falls back to the stats and lets that be his base line. Which I think is a fair way to judge things. Also when he tells me I'm wrong he backs it up with numbers and atleast I learn something.

Ive been on these boards since the old forum just under different names because I would forget my passwords lol I like Fred's contributions to the board and I think the only people who don't are complete homers who can't take anything negative being said about the team. 

That said he does like to cherry pick the stats he uses to support his opinions sometimes. We probably all have though. 

I also wanted to say that I had heard that about Marino before. It was told by Roethlisberger who said Marino told him his experience before his 1st superbowl. How Marino had got there so early and assumed he would be back but it never happened. I'm sure he played hard in the Superbowl but if he knew it was or may be his only chance he felt he could've done more. At least that seemed to be the point.

(01-11-2022, 06:37 PM)fredtoast Wrote: In Dan Marino's second year in the NFL he won 14 regular season games and went to the Super Bowl while setting single season records for passing tds and passing yds.  He never accomplished any of those things ever again in his 17 year career.

Winning a championship is as much about being healthy and getting hot as it is about overall talent.  We are as healthy as I can ever remember a Bengal team being at the end of the season.  And we are as hot as we have been all year.

When Marino lost the Super Bowl in '84 I am sure Dolphin fans were upset but also saying "We will have a lot more chances to win one as long as we have Dan".

With all the people making such a  big deal about how all of our stars on offense are all 25 or younger I hope they don't lack the sense of urgency to win it all this year while the iron is hot.

Actually a positive post from Fred. He may be starting to feel the vibe. 

The holy grail in football is the Lombardi Trophy, and it could be yours in the final game of the season. Go bengals! Just a couple of games to go.

For more unusual Dan Marino pontificating, please see:

https://www.phinzoneforums.com/

or

https://finheaven.com/forums/miami-dolphins-forum.4/

or

https://thephins.com/forums/miami-dolphins-forum.3/

(01-11-2022, 08:17 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: As someone who hasn't been on these boards that long I like Fred ( Not saying anyone doesn't). I get that he seems like a contrarian but he always falls back to the stats and lets that be his base line. Which I think is a fair way to judge things. Also when he tells me I'm wrong he backs it up with numbers and atleast I learn something.

Oh, I don’t dislike fredtoast. Fred has been around since I joined the Bengals online community a dozen years ago, and I’ve always had a positive view of him…it just seems like a role reversal from pre 2018 Fred. Maybe the Bengals finally broke him.

FWIW, I can typically agree with the left, right, and center views of the team, and all of the opinions have value. It’s just that during moments where there isn’t much to be negative about, I’m gonna find it hard to agree with negative opinions (not that this thread is really terribly negative).

I'm not sure how some are making this in to a bad thing.
We cry and moan every year about injuries.

The whole point of the thread is

"Winning a championship is as much about being healthy and getting hot as it is about overall talent. We are as healthy as I can ever remember a Bengal team being at the end of the season. And we are as hot as we have been all year."

Do it.

Go get the title.