https://www.bengals.com/news/quick-hits-bengals-hope-to-copy-rams-super-rebound-postseason-ot-revamped

There is one HUGE difference.

Rams "re-built" for 3 years before they finally admitted that Goff wasn't the QB to win a super Bowl.

We already have the biggest piece to build (or re-build) around. That is a huge advantage. Now that the front office is willing to use free agency we should be competitive for championship as long as we have Joe at QB. There will be seasons ruined by injuries. And the draft is a huge crap shoot, so there will be some slumps due to bad drafts. But overall we should be thinking championship every year.

(03-29-2022, 04:03 PM)fredtoast Wrote: There is one HUGE difference.

Rams "re-built" for 3 years before they finally admitted that Goff wasn't the QB to win a super Bowl.

We already have the biggest piece to build (or re-build) around. That is a huge advantage. Now that the front office is willing to use free agency we should be competitive for championship as long as we have Joe at QB. There will be seasons ruined by injuries. And the draft is a huge crap shoot, so there will be some slumps due to bad drafts. But overall we should be thinking championship every year.

I’d agree but the Rams went after Von Miller and Matt Stafford and went all in. The Bengals are better equipped but the roster was so poor when Taylor took over. I know a NFL HC and NFL OC and the things they commented about Taylor was the culture change, the roster flip, and offensive schemes. But the NFL with the salary cap dooms all teams to short periods of elite success. It’s going to be tough in 2024

(03-29-2022, 04:03 PM)fredtoast Wrote: There is one HUGE difference.

Rams "re-built" for 3 years before they finally admitted that Goff wasn't the QB to win a super Bowl.

We already have the biggest piece to build (or re-build) around.  That is a huge advantage.  Now that the front office is willing to use free agency we should be competitive for championship as long as we have Joe at QB.  There will be seasons ruined by injuries.  And the draft is a huge crap shoot, so there will be some slumps due to bad drafts.  But overall we should be thinking championship every year.

This is why I am willing to use draft capital to upgrade the roster in our current win now mode. Trade a first, second, first and second, whatever...to get a really good player and upgrade a lacking position on a decent contract.

(03-29-2022, 04:22 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I’d agree but the Rams went after Von Miller and Matt Stafford and went all in. The Bengals are better equipped but the roster was so poor when Taylor took over. I know a NFL HC and NFL OC and the things they commented about Taylor was the culture change, the roster flip, and offensive schemes. But the NFL with the salary cap dooms all teams to short periods of elite success. It’s going to be tough in 2024

That's been one of the big things. It's hard to sum up in just a few words. But the players believe in the system now.

(03-29-2022, 04:52 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: That's been one of the big things. It's hard to sum up in just a few words. But the players believe in the system now.

One of the biggest and most obvious changes, yet people on this board LOVE to argue against it or that it doesn’t matter lol

I like the OT change only being for playoffs. No need to extend regular season games longer and we’d have more ties then.

Will see teams winning the toss in playoff OT and kicking now so they have the advantage of knowing what they need.

(03-29-2022, 04:03 PM)fredtoast Wrote: There is one HUGE difference.

Rams "re-built" for 3 years before they finally admitted that Goff wasn't the QB to win a super Bowl.

We already have the biggest piece to build (or re-build) around.  That is a huge advantage.  Now that the front office is willing to use free agency we should be competitive for championship as long as we have Joe at QB.  There will be seasons ruined by injuries.  And the draft is a huge crap shoot, so there will be some slumps due to bad drafts.  But overall we should be thinking championship every year.

Isn't great to finally have hope our team at a minimum is a playoff contender and some years in top 4 to win it all? I agree Fred, huge advantage having our franchise QB and a franchise WR on rookie contracts so we can lock up a lot of the nucleus for 2 to 3 years. In time, it will change, but lots of ways to manage the cap and the Bengals FO is probably already projecting out our cap and contracts for years 2023 to 2025 and they have proven they can manage the cap better than most teams.

(03-29-2022, 05:00 PM)leonardfan40 Wrote: One of the biggest and most obvious changes, yet people on this board LOVE to argue against it or that it doesn’t matter lol

Meh. It counts for something, but it helps when you have Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase on your team. 

(03-29-2022, 05:29 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Meh. It counts for something, but it helps when you have Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase on your team. 

Joe Burrow is far from the only reason this team is competitive. Many great QB’s get stuck on bad teams/franchises and people say the team wasted a great QB.

If most people/analysts had their way we wouldn’t have Chase anyway so again Zac deserves credit.

Finally, the defense carried us as much as Joe did last year. Those comebacks against KC don’t happen without the right locker room. A playoff win may not happen. How many people saw something go wrong against LV and said “same old bengals” and “ they’ll screw it up somehow”. Years past they would have been right.

It’s a huge part of our success, but like I said, people still love to act like it’s imagined, doesn’t matter, or doesn’t matter that much.

(03-29-2022, 05:36 PM)leonardfan40 Wrote: Joe Burrow is far from the only reason this team is competitive. Many great QB’s get stuck on bad teams/franchises and people say the team wasted a great QB.

If most people/analysts had their way we wouldn’t have Chase anyway so again Zac deserves credit.

Finally, the defense carried us as much as Joe did last year. Those comebacks against KC don’t happen without the right locker room. A playoff win may not happen. How many people saw something go wrong against LV and said “same old bengals” and “ they’ll screw it up somehow”. Years past they would have been right.

It’s a huge part of our success, but like I said, people still love to act like it’s imagined, doesn’t matter, or doesn’t matter that much.

I'm just saying, the culture definitely helps, but it's more important to have good players. 

(03-29-2022, 06:00 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: I'm just saying, the culture definitely helps, but it's more important to have good players. 

By the same token there’s been plenty of teams loaded with stars that didn’t mesh. It’s not a guarantee. But you can’t change the culture unless there’s success. After the bye this team gelled. But let’s be totally realistic. The Pats have not won a playoff game the last 3 years. Bill Belichick has won for a lot of reasons. But players allow success. Zac Taylor had zero head coaching experience. To imply he’s turned it around because he’s got Burrow and Chase is just so ridiculously short sighted. They’ve drafted better, they’ve done better in FA, and the players have raved about team unity. They won 3 playoff games with unreal clutch games. They had the confidence to overcome large deficits against KC twice. They were so clutch in the playoffs and the late season. Trying to minimize Taylor’s huge impact is criminal

(03-29-2022, 03:41 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: https://www.bengals.com/news/quick-hits-bengals-hope-to-copy-rams-super-rebound-postseason-ot-revamped

Nice read. I just love how we have brought everybody back that really helped us get to that Superbowl. A lot of teams that 
win or lose the SB are completely overturned, lose coaches, players etc.

Bringing back BJ Hill was huge along with us fortifying the OL like we did with Cappa, Karras and Collins. Adding Hurst made
it so losing Uzo wasn't a big deal. I mean, we are arguably much better than that team that made the SB and was a play away
and our young coaches and players will only get better at what they do.

McVay said some good things about us, classy guy. Taylor would of done the same if the shoe was on the other foot.

(03-29-2022, 06:29 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote:  Trying to minimize Taylor’s huge impact is criminal

The problem is there is no proof that his "culture" made any difference.

When we just had his "culture" we sucked.

It is obvious we won because we increased our talent level.

If Burrow and a bunch of other top players miss time with injury and we still go to the Super Bowl then I will give Zac's "culture" more credit.  Until then I don't really see any proof of it helping us win. 

(03-30-2022, 02:59 PM)fredtoast Wrote: The problem is there is no proof that his "culture" made any difference.

When we just had his "culture" we sucked.

It is obvious we won because we increased our talent level.

If Burrow and a bunch of other top players miss time with injury and we still go to the Super Bowl then I will give Zac's "culture" more credit.  Until then I don't really see any proof of it helping us win. 

Culture plus talent results in success. Just one doesn’t. But unless the change in culture of team exists then establishing a winning team doesn’t happen. The Rams are prime examples. Sean McVay said this years team was the most connected and I think it showed.

(03-30-2022, 03:18 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Culture plus talent results in success. Just one doesn’t. But unless the change in culture of team exists then establishing a winning team doesn’t happen. The Rams are prime examples. Sean McVay said this years team was the most connected and I think it showed.

Sorry, but I just don't see it.

The Rams are a prime example.  They have had the same head coach culture for 5 years.  They didn't win it all until they upgraded the talent at QB.

(03-30-2022, 02:59 PM)fredtoast Wrote: The problem is there is no proof that his "culture" made any difference.

When we just had his "culture" we sucked.

It is obvious we won because we increased our talent level.

If Burrow and a bunch of other top players miss time with injury and we still go to the Super Bowl then I will give Zac's "culture" more credit.  Until then I don't really see any proof of it helping us win. 

You are going to suck when you start out with a team with terrible play in the trenches. I don't care what culture you have or
how good of a coach you are. Belichick would of sucked with what Zac and Lou started out with.

Takes a bit to build this up. You win games in the trenches and lose them there like we did in the Superbowl against the Rams
with our terrible O-line play.

(03-30-2022, 04:57 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Sorry, but I just don't see it.

The Rams are a prime example.  They have had the same head coach culture for 5 years.  They didn't win it all until they upgraded the talent at QB.

You never will. The play by the Rams in the trenches was a prime example, Their DL outplayed our OL by a large amount.

This was the difference and the better QB over Goff. You don't understand the correlation of building a good team from the 
trenches out. This is what both teams tried to do, McVay just succeeded cause overall he had a better team in the trenches.

Doesn't matter what culture you have or how good of a coach you are with terrible play in the trenches. Stafford would suck
if their OL was as terrible as ours was.

I know I sound like a broken record but this is the truth.

(03-30-2022, 02:59 PM)fredtoast Wrote: The problem is there is no proof that his "culture" made any difference.

When we just had his "culture" we sucked.

It is obvious we won because we increased our talent level.

If Burrow and a bunch of other top players miss time with injury and we still go to the Super Bowl then I will give Zac's "culture" more credit.  Until then I don't really see any proof of it helping us win. 

The proof lies in Marvin's teams who had the talent as well.  Then the thug culture reared its ugly head a ripped a playoff loss straight from the clinched jaws of a certain Bengals victory and handed it to their arch-rival instead. In front of the home fans no less who were desperate to taste the sweetness of playoff success. Yet instead were served more bitterness from foolish mistakes made by very talented individuals with sketchy morals. 

I for one applaud Zac's culture change and hope to see no more Burfict's or Pacman's just because they're talented.  

Maybe it does not help a team win as you claim, yet it may just very well keep them from beating themselves.

 Marvin had many of talented teams but never won a single playoff game ? 

(03-30-2022, 04:57 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Sorry, but I just don't see it.

The Rams are a prime example.  They have had the same head coach culture for 5 years.  They didn't win it all until they upgraded the talent at QB.

Well I’ll take McVay’s opinion over yours. He said it was the key.

(03-30-2022, 09:24 PM)Go Cards Wrote: The proof lies in Marvin's teams who had the talent as well.  Then the thug culture reared its ugly head a ripped a playoff loss straight from the clinched jaws of a certain Bengals victory and handed it to their arch-rival instead. In front of the home fans no less who were desperate to taste the sweetness of playoff success. Yet instead were served more bitterness from foolish mistakes made by very talented individuals with sketchy morals. 

I for one applaud Zac's culture change and hope to see no more Burfict's or Pacman's just because they're talented.  

Maybe it does not help a team win as you claim, yet it may just very well keep them from beating themselves.

 Marvin had many of talented teams but never won a single playoff game ? 

Compared to the 2021 team? None of Marvin's teams had that level of talent. Even cumulative by patchworking together all the best parts of past Bengals teams it's probably still better.

Compared to all of Marvin's 16 years here, 2021 had the best QB, best WR group, best RB, best DL (past DLs were good but always had a weak link), best S, and best K.

That's comparing 16 years of opportunities to 1 and the 1 single year still comes out as the best ever in that window in every category other than OL, TE, LB, CB, and P.