Next season is going to be brutal for the board regulars. Most of us are realistic, intelligent posters. A lot of us are old enough to have been around for teams that were supposed to be great such as the 2012 and 2006 teams. A lot of the younger and newer posters will be insufferable next year due to the winning expectations the media, coaches abs fans will put on us.

Winning anxiety will sweep this board and the locker room. One reason i respect LeBron so much is he is ALWAYS expected to be a title favorite and he still comes to work and plays without fear. Expectation is a scary thing. How many times have you done something a million times and messed up when people were finally there to watch you? How many times have you lifted a certain weight at the gym then failed when it was time to set a new PR? I am very excited to see how Zac Taylor and Joe Burrow handle this phenomenon.

Winning anxiety utterly destroyed Baker Mayfield. He went crazy his rookie year and the second the Browns were penciled in to be perennial playoff contenders he turned to shit. This roster has the potential to be the next 10 year franchise that seems to always be good like the Packers with ARod and New England with Brady. But we could just as easily become the Phillip Rivers Chargers.


Either way next season is gonna be fun and exhausting

(04-25-2022, 01:32 PM)Housh Wrote: Next season is going to be brutal for the board regulars. Most of us are realistic, intelligent posters. A lot of us are old enough to have been around for teams that were supposed to be great such as the 2012 and 2006 teams. A lot of the younger and newer posters will be insufferable next year due to the winning expectations the media, coaches abs fans will put on us.

Winning anxiety will sweep this board and the locker room. One reason i respect LeBron so much is he is ALWAYS expected to be a title favorite and he still comes to work and plays without fear. Expectation is a scary thing. How many times have you done something a million times and messed up when people were finally there to watch you? How many times have you lifted a certain weight at the gym then failed when it was time to set a new PR? I am very excited to see how Zac Taylor and Joe Burrow handle this phenomenon.

Winning anxiety utterly destroyed Baker Mayfield. He went crazy his rookie year and the second the Browns were penciled in to be perennial playoff contenders he turned to shit. This roster has the potential to be the next 10 year franchise that seems to always be good like the Packers with ARod and New England with Brady. But we could just as easily become the Phillip Rivers Chargers.


Either way next season is gonna be fun and exhausting

Winning will be harder because of the schedule and teams will prepare harder for us in the off season and during game week. Can’t get around that.

But we will be much harder to defend with a much improved OL. We also will be much better because of staff growth, continuity, and experience. The starters on defense will benefit and the defensive staff with the continuity as well. Joe Burrow and his receivers should benefit from their continuity as well. Joe Mixon will get MVP consideration next year watch. This OL is the real deal. But as Baltimore will tell you injuries are the key.

I don't think it's realistic to always expect getting to the AFC Championship Game, but I do think it's reasonable to expect playoffs again for 2022 and 2023.
Anything less will be frustrating.

(04-25-2022, 01:57 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Winning will be harder because of the schedule and teams will prepare harder for us in the off season and during game week. Can’t get around that.

But we will be much harder to defend with a much improved OL. We also will be much better because of staff growth, continuity, and experience. The starters on defense will benefit and the defensive staff with the continuity as well. Joe Burrow and his receivers should benefit from their continuity as well. Joe Mixon will get MVP consideration next year watch. This OL is the real deal. But as Baltimore will tell you injuries are the key.

That's all you can really do. You improve your weaknesses where you can and run it back.

It's not like we lost a bunch of key free agents too.

(04-25-2022, 01:57 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Winning will be harder because of the schedule and teams will prepare harder for us in the off season and during game week. Can’t get around that.

But we will be much harder to defend with a much improved OL. We also will be much better because of staff growth, continuity, and experience. The starters on defense will benefit and the defensive staff with the continuity as well. Joe Burrow and his receivers should benefit from their continuity as well. Joe Mixon will get MVP consideration next year watch. This OL is the real deal. But as Baltimore will tell you injuries are the key.

Joe Mixon isn't going to get MVP consideration on a team with Joe Burrow, or even without Joe Burrow. To put it into a different perspective, Derrick Henry ran for 2027 yards on 5.4 yards per carry and 17 TDs in 2020. He wasn't even a finalist. Genuinely wasn't even close to competing for an MVP, zero consideration. Aaron Rodgers won that year with 88% of the vote. Allen and Mahomes came in second & third, respectively. Mixon will have a strong season, barring injuries, but MVP talk is really beating an absurd drum. 

You have to keep in mind that the Bengals are not a run heavy team, and they will not be a run heavy team. This team will live and die by Burrow & co. with Mixon as the sidekick. If anyone is winning MVP from Cincinnati, it is Burrow. He does have a real chance at doing that. 

(04-25-2022, 02:19 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: That's all you can really do. You improve your weaknesses where you can and run it back.

It's not like we lost a bunch of key free agents too.

The only guys really gone of note are Uzomah, Spain, and Ogunjobi.
Bengals could always pick Ogunjobi back up when he's healthy, Spain back up after the draft, and Hurst is about on par with (if not slightly better than) Uzomah.
Add in 3 upgraded OL plus the upcoming draft, and the Bengals definitely have the capability to get back deep into the playoffs.

I have no doubt that this year isn't going to be easy. It's very, very difficult to return to the Super Bowl and I think that difficulty has increased since going to a 17 game regular season. I don't have anxiety over it though and in reference to Mayfield having winning anxiety, that may have affected him but I don't think it will have an affect on Burrow. I could be very wrong but Burrow doesn't seem like the type of QB that is affected negatively by stress and expectations.

Overall I just hope the Bengals don't lose some of the games they should win like the games against the Bears and the Jets last year. Also I think it's going to be difficult to win the AFCN again. I'm very much looking forward to this season with a hopefully improved O-line. If they fall short I won't be upset but also understand with the talent they have they are in the window to win big. With very expensive contracts coming up in the next 2 years or so now is certainly the time to hope the can make a return to the Super Bowl.

This year will be interesting and will show if last year was kind of a fluke or if the Bengals players and coaching staff have what it takes to build on success. I'm looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

Extra Game a Year
Extra Playoff Spot a Conference.

Teams got some extra Motivation vs us this year as since we were just in a SB no one will sleep on us this year.

(04-25-2022, 03:22 PM)ochocincos Wrote: The only guys really gone of note are Uzomah, Spain, and Ogunjobi.
Bengals could always pick Ogunjobi back up when he's healthy, Spain back up after the draft, and Hurst is about on par with (if not slightly better than) Uzomah.
Add in 3 upgraded OL plus the upcoming draft, and the Bengals definitely have the capability to get back deep into the playoffs.

Yep. Plus we have guys that are young and still improving. Should be a much better offense atleast.

Looking forward to next year & the draft this weekend.

(04-25-2022, 01:32 PM)Housh Wrote: Next season is going to be brutal for the board regulars. Most of us are realistic, intelligent posters. A lot  of us are old enough to have been around for teams that were supposed to be great such as the 2012 and 2006 teams. A lot of the younger and newer posters will be insufferable next year due to the winning expectations the media, coaches abs fans will put on us.

Winning anxiety will sweep this board and the locker room. One reason i respect LeBron so much is he is ALWAYS expected to be a title favorite and he still comes to work and plays without fear. Expectation is a scary thing. How many times have you done something a million times and messed up when people were finally there to watch you? How many times have you lifted a certain weight at the gym then failed when it was time to set a new PR? I am very excited to see how Zac Taylor and Joe Burrow handle this phenomenon.

Winning anxiety utterly destroyed Baker Mayfield. He went crazy his rookie year and the second the Browns were penciled in to be perennial playoff contenders he turned to shit. This roster has the potential to be the next 10 year franchise that seems to always be good like the Packers with ARod and New England with Brady. But we could just as easily become the Phillip Rivers Chargers.


Either way next season is gonna be fun and exhausting

First of all, Housh, I'm not sure that 477 posts qualify me as a regular.  But if you're talking about me when you say realistic and intelligent -- why, thank you.

I'm well into my senior years and have been a Bengal fan since the beginning.  Super Bowls of the 80's a hazy memory.  The Marvin years had their moments, but man, the frustration.  Carson's knee.  Hill's fumble.  Walking up Elm Street after yet another playoff heartbreak.  

The disaster of 2019, then Burrow's knee in 2020, left me wondering if the Bengals would even be relevant again in my lifetime.  Then came last year.  Magic.  My all-time favorite Bengals team.

Everything you say is true.  It is going to be harder this year.  But by God, we are the defending AFC champions.  I've heard a lot of noise about other AFC teams this off-season.  But if they want it, they are going to have to take it from us.

It's setting up to be another great season.  Enjoy it.

(04-25-2022, 05:08 PM)masonbengals fan Wrote: Looking forward to next year & the draft this weekend.

If anyone ever gets a chance to attend the draft in person, I highly recommend it.
When it was here in Nashville in 2019, I had a great time going down on Saturday for Day 3.

IMHO ….

The reasons we may not repeat despite having the same talent (actually, much improved)…..

1. Our schedule last year vs this year: apples and oranges.

2. We avoided COVID and injuries while others did not (Rat Turds and Browns)

3. It took other teams way too long to use a better D-scheme to shut Chase down.
He ran wild for 3/4’s of the season and had such a ridiculous impact. This slowed down
considerably once other teams got smart.

4. The AFCN just got much better

5. As did the Dolphins, Bills, Raiders, Broncos and Chiefs.

I just don’t see a SB appearance due to the above.

(04-25-2022, 02:40 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: Joe Mixon isn't going to get MVP consideration on a team with Joe Burrow, or even without Joe Burrow. To put it into a different perspective, Derrick Henry ran for 2027 yards on 5.4 yards per carry and 17 TDs in 2020. He wasn't even a finalist. Genuinely wasn't even close to competing for an MVP, zero consideration. Aaron Rodgers won that year with 88% of the vote. Allen and Mahomes came in second & third, respectively. Mixon will have a strong season, barring injuries, but MVP talk is really beating an absurd drum. 

You have to keep in mind that the Bengals are not a run heavy team, and they will not be a run heavy team. This team will live and die by Burrow & co. with Mixon as the sidekick. If anyone is winning MVP from Cincinnati, it is Burrow. He does have a real chance at doing that. 

I betcha he gets votes. Votes is consideration.

(04-25-2022, 06:02 PM)Whacked Wrote: IMHO ….

The reasons we may not repeat despite having the same talent (actually, much improved)…..

1. Our schedule last year vs this year: apples and oranges.

2. We avoided COVID and injuries while others did not (Rat Turds and Browns)

3. It took other teams way too long to use a better D-scheme to shut Chase down.
He ran wild for 3/4’s of the season and had such a ridiculous impact. This slowed down
considerably once other teams got smart.

4. The AFCN just got much better

5. As did the Dolphins, Bills, Raiders, Broncos and Chiefs.

I just don’t see a SB appearance due to the above.

You could be right, injuries will be a tell. Let's hope ZT and co are onto something and keep the injuries down.

Our schedule last year included quite a few of the play-off teams from both NFC an AFC, we won most and was very close in the others. So even though schedule "might" be harder, we are quite battle tested already as well.

I see us in the hunt for now, so keep on winning and let the cards fall where they fall.

(04-25-2022, 06:03 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I betcha he gets votes. Votes is consideration.

I’d take that bet. Mixon will get zero votes. You are vastly overrating Mixon, the offensive line and how much the Bengals will run the ball.

(04-25-2022, 06:46 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: I’d take that bet. Mixon will get zero votes. You are vastly overrating Mixon, the offensive line and how much the Bengals will run the ball.

they will finish top 10 in attempts

Bengals run that rams offense

(04-25-2022, 07:00 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: they will finish top 10 in attempts

Bengals run that rams offense

The Rams finished 23rd in attempts. They were seventh in 2020, when they had Goff. Once they upgraded their QB play, they let Stafford loose and won a Super Bowl. The Bengals will likely do the same thing imo, just with improved efficiency in the run game.

(04-25-2022, 07:00 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: they will finish top 10 in attempts

Bengals run that rams offense

The Rams were ranked 23rd in rushing attempts last season.  But I'll give a little, they were ranked 7th in attempts in 2020 but 18th in 2019.  So over the last 3 years on average they were middle of the road in rushing attempts.

(04-25-2022, 06:46 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: I’d take that bet. Mixon will get zero votes. You are vastly overrating Mixon, the offensive line and how much the Bengals will run the ball.

I'd bet they'll try and be balanced a bit. And having a big lead, which I hope happens some, leads to more running plays. But I get what you're saying. With Burrow and this set of receivers I highly doubt they're gonna go old 3 yards in a cloud of dust.