The anti-elephant in the room is the defense has 7 interceptions in the playoffs. Stafford has thrown 14 TD’s and 9 INT his last 7 games. This team has been clutch.

I expect our best game all season. Cincy 31-17.

I think we all know all of this.

The thing is in playoffs the only stats that matter are wins and losses.

This team has found ways to win.

I hasn't been pretty but it doesn't matter.

I keep saying they're not going to be (insert team name here) kicking field goals and then they do.

So be it. I'll take an ugly SB win too.

Bring on. I couldn't care less about the stats.

While the Rams are a good defense they aren’t the 85 Bears.

We are playing much better teams then we did on our 17 games. The only real concern is not getting touchdowns and kicking so many field goals.

(02-06-2022, 05:44 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The elephant in the room is the defense has 7 interceptions in the playoffs. 

I don't think you know what that term means.

(02-06-2022, 05:53 PM)motoarch Wrote: The thing is in playoffs the only stats that matter are wins and losses.

Actually this lame cliche does not apply when analyzing the matchups to try and get a realistic idea of what will happen.

Otherwise everyone would predict a tie for every Super Bowl because both teams would be undefeated in the playoffs.

(02-06-2022, 06:34 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I don't think you know what that term means.

You are right I meant the anti-elephant in the room

(02-06-2022, 05:05 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Defense wins Championships

Yep. Our D is showing up big, and our O is just good enough with how well our D has performed.

Good teams find a way to win.

High likelihood that the law of averages kicks in and our offense goes off big time to bring up our postseason touchdown rate.

(02-06-2022, 05:20 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: I’ve been telling everyone I know that this game against the Rams will be up to the defense and special teams to win. Have to win the turnover battle too

We have some of the best offensive weapons in the game. No reason we can't put up 24-27 points. Texans got 'em for 22.  Colts put 24 up on 'em , Niners tallied 31 and 27 in their two wins led by the Great Jimmy G.   Cardinals 37 , Packers 38,  etc... etc...

(02-06-2022, 05:13 PM)Science Friction Wrote: Reading this thread, it seems we don't stand much of a chance.  Is there any other team besides LA that you think we would have stood a chance against in this Superbowl.    TB?   GB?    DAL ?   SF?

Again,   week 18 :  Rams 20  Ravens  19  ( Ravens led 19-14 late) ; Ravens had 165 yards rushing.

Bengals outscored Ravens  82- 38.  

I'm not seeing how this is a lost cause.

Its easy to focus on the positives of the Rams and negatives of the Bengals. We have obviously have a chance and have a lot of positives as well. I do like that they haven't seen Chase in person and hope for some bad angles/tackles that he can turn into big gains if not touchdowns.

As far as Baltimore rushing for 165yds. I had to look that up because they have old guys. Huntley rushed for 54yds of that 165. Freeman did go 14 for 74 at 5.4ypc but he did have one run for 32yds of that 74yds. I do believe the Rams have had some bad games here or there against the run. But we've faced bad rush defenses that have basically shut us down. But Mixon > Freeman probably at any point in Freemans career in my opinion and especially now.

(02-06-2022, 06:54 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: High likelihood that the law of averages kicks in and our offense goes off big time to bring up our postseason touchdown rate.

I would not be surprised to see this happen.

(02-06-2022, 05:54 PM)Webbtown Wrote: While the Rams are a good defense they aren’t the 85 Bears.

THANK YOU!!!   Not even close.   '85 Bears would have never given up 165 yards to a pissy Ravens offense.

(02-06-2022, 05:44 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The anti-elephant in the room is the defense has 7 interceptions in the playoffs. Stafford has thrown 14 TD’s and 9 INT his last 7 games. This team has been clutch.

I expect our best game all season. Cincy 31-17.

The 7 interceptions is probably the most surprising stat. How many did we have during the regular season? Feels like it couldn't be much more than 7 especially if we ignore we 18 without most starters.

(02-06-2022, 06:54 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Good teams find a way to win.

High likelihood that the law of averages kicks in and our offense goes off big time to bring up our postseason touchdown rate.

Wouldn't shock me if we have our best offensive postseason performance. I say go all out, be creative and  uninhibited offense. Hit them with the kitchen sink and the frig too. This team is not afraid.

Chiefs> Titans> Rams(lost by a dozen at home to Titans)

We better than the Chiefs. Transitive property of the NFL ???

It's a good thing the defense and special teams stepped up in each case.

(02-06-2022, 05:41 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote:  The offense has struggled though and I'm not sure what the causes for the redzone struggles have been. Protection breakdowns or possibly being conservative to ensure 3pts. 

I too hope they improve in the red zone. However, my personal belief is that Burrow may be playing more conservative/smarter in the red zone than earlier in the season.

He had some careless/aggressive struggles early with that stuff, and he has said that he learns and gets better as the season goes on. 

- Pick 6 inside the red zone to Browns
- Pick in the end zone to Marlon Humphrey when Cincy had an easy fg range
- Pick in the end zone to double coverage against the Chargers when trying to come back. 

He's trying to ensure not making those mistakes and at least having the 3 point opportunity. It could be Zac here as well. 

Anyway, I'm super glad he's being safer with the ball in scoring territory  and ensuring they still have chances for 3. But, that said, gonna need TDs when down there in this game. 

Not sure that our O-line being bad is all of a sudden the elephant in the room.

Believe most have been aware of this for a long time and despite the rushing #'s that came from the Bengals passing attack being so formidable that against bad defenses the Bengals got there's still in the running game while they worried about Chase.

But it has been obvious all year long on short yardage situations, more than not the Bengals were stuffed for loss. This has to be addressed in off season but for now Joe has to roll with what they have.

Rams d-line should feast unless Zac figures out how to keep them off guard, would think Burrow running more in this game could help.

Yet think that all this talk about the Rams D-line being so great is going to highly motivate Hubber, Hendrickson, and Reader and expect Stafford to be rushed into some big mistakes.

Really the offense has to just adapt to the circumstances, play smart and LET JOE COOK. All we need out of this OL now is one game of somewhat okay pass blocking - and TBH the only game where it was really bad was the Titans game. The Raiders and Chiefs performances were both decent enough to get the job done.

Defensively the word is "keep it up". They've made Carr, Tannehill and Mahomes all look below average when it counted most.

The key as a team is also "keep it up". This team does not fold under adversity and more interesting pressuring Burrow seems to be almost meaningless. And I think Zac and the rest of the coaches know it too - OKAY TEAM, ONE MORE TIME! WHO DEY! NEW DAY!