Seriously, he has earned that benefit of the doubt.

It's OBVIOUS that there was a plan going into this draft. There are things that Lou wants to do on defense and he needed certain players in order to do this. Athletic DBs and speed on defense - plain and simple. I am beyond excited to see what this guy can scheme up with the amount of athleticism that he now has in that room. Remember what we did against KC to basically neutralize their entire offense?

Lou is the Andy Reid of defense at the moment. I can't wait to see what he can cook up and scheme with the amount of speed he has in the locker room now. It's going to be awesome.

(05-02-2022, 12:27 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Seriously, he has earned that benefit of the doubt.

It's OBVIOUS that there was a plan going into this draft. There are things that Lou wants to do on defense and he needed certain players in order to do this. Athletic DBs and speed on defense - plain and simple. I am beyond excited to see what this guy can scheme up with the amount of athleticism that he now has in that room. Remember what we did against KC to basically neutralize their entire offense?

Lou is the Andy Reid of defense at the moment. I can't wait to see what he can cook up and scheme with the amount of speed he has in the locker room now. It's going to be awesome.

My how one season changes the perception of a coach.
This time last year, everyone was wanting Lou gone (same with Taylor).

(05-02-2022, 12:29 PM)ochocincos Wrote: My how one season changes the perception of a coach.
This time last year, everyone was wanting Lou gone (same with Taylor).

Yep. 

Until Lou got some of "his" players in FA last year. He got more of "his" players in the draft this year. I'm excited. 

Lou had 2021's 18th Overall/17th Scoring defense despite having Hendrickson, Reader, Hubbard, Ogunjobi, Hill, Wilson, Bates, Bell, Awuzie, and Hilton. You shouldn't have a below average defense with those guys on your roster, doubly so when the 2021 AFCN QBs were absolutely garbage.

(05-02-2022, 12:37 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Lou had 2021's 18th Overall/17th Scoring defense despite having Hendrickson, Reader, Hubbard, Ogunjobi, Hill, Wilson, Bates, Bell, Awuzie, and Hilton. You shouldn't have a below average defense with those guys on your roster, doubly so when the 2021 AFCN QBs were absolutely garbage.

Gave up lots of passing yards... Which probly lead to the focus of this draft

(05-02-2022, 12:37 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Lou had 2021's 18th Overall/17th Scoring defense despite having Hendrickson, Reader, Hubbard, Ogunjobi, Hill, Wilson, Bates, Bell, Awuzie, and Hilton. You shouldn't have a below average defense with those guys on your roster, doubly so when the 2021 AFCN QBs were absolutely garbage.

This.

I am not saying Lou should be replaced.  His teams stepped up in big games.  He deserves to keep building the defense the way he wants.  But he has not impressed me as an elite DC yet.

(05-02-2022, 12:37 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Lou had 2021's 18th Overall/17th Scoring defense despite having Hendrickson, Reader, Hubbard, Ogunjobi, Hill, Wilson, Bates, Bell, Awuzie, and Hilton. You shouldn't have a below average defense with those guys on your roster, doubly so when the 2021 AFCN QBs were absolutely garbage.

Being fair, he basically had the shadow of Bates throughout the regular season.  Apple was awful to start the season, but improved as it went along.  Lack of depth at edge rusher also hurt.  

(05-02-2022, 12:44 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: Gave up lots of passing yards... Which probly lead to the focus of this draft

Jessie Bates completely sucked ass until the post-season. The draft made a lot of sense to me.

(05-02-2022, 12:37 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Lou had 2021's 18th Overall/17th Scoring defense despite having Hendrickson, Reader, Hubbard, Ogunjobi, Hill, Wilson, Bates, Bell, Awuzie, and Hilton. You shouldn't have a below average defense with those guys on your roster, doubly so when the 2021 AFCN QBs were absolutely garbage.

Now did this defensive heavy draft help change much of that? That is the question/debate. Especially given the AFC QB's and weapons have been upgraded.

(05-02-2022, 12:37 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Lou had 2021's 18th Overall/17th Scoring defense despite having Hendrickson, Reader, Hubbard, Ogunjobi, Hill, Wilson, Bates, Bell, Awuzie, and Hilton. You shouldn't have a below average defense with those guys on your roster, doubly so when the 2021 AFCN QBs were absolutely garbage.

That's a solid group of players but Reader is the only one who is even close to being considered a blue chipper.  The defense lacks difference makers.  Bates played like one in the postseason and all of a sudden the defense held its own.

(05-02-2022, 01:05 PM)RiverRat13 Wrote: That's a solid group of players but Reader is the only one who is even close to being considered a blue chipper.  The defense lacks difference makers.  

T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett are the only players with more sacks than Trey Hendrickson over the last two seasons.

(05-02-2022, 12:55 PM)jj22 Wrote: Now did this defensive heavy draft help change much of that? That is the question/debate. 

S Ricardo Allen only played 171 defensive snaps last year, but he is no longer under contract. I think Hill might play better than he did.

CB Mike Hilton played over 800 snaps on defense.  That was his career high by far.  He is still here.  He is only 5-9, 184 lbs.  Hopefully one of the rookies will be better than him also.

(05-02-2022, 12:44 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: Gave up lots of passing yards... Which probly lead to the focus of this draft

You could argue they should have focused on the DL if this were the case as well. The pass rush was still not great last year. 

(05-02-2022, 01:05 PM)RiverRat13 Wrote: That's a solid group of players but Reader is the only one who is even close to being considered a blue chipper.  The defense lacks difference makers.  Bates played like one in the postseason and all of a sudden the defense held its own.

The defense was the major reason the Bengals made it as far as they did in the playoffs. 

(05-02-2022, 02:08 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: You could argue they should have focused on the DL if this were the case as well. The pass rush was still not great last year. 

They added Carter and Gunter in the draft plus they have Ossai coming back from injury.

Hendrickson
Hubbard
Ossai
Sample
Hill
Carter
Reader
Tupou
Shelvin

That's 9 just in that group.
If they roll with a 10th, it will be a battle between Gunter, Kareem, Ray, and Hubert.

(05-02-2022, 12:55 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Jessie Bates completely sucked ass until the post-season. The draft made a lot of sense to me.

The 3rd and long in the first half of the SB when he had Kupp around 5 yards short of the first down and the sideline to work with cost them the game as much as any other play. He dove at his feet and came up empty. All he had to do was force him to the sideline and they punt instead of scoring a touchdown later in that drive. It won't break my heart when he's gone. He may be the one lining up the secondary but his tackling is horrible at times for a safety.

(05-02-2022, 02:19 PM)Mer Wrote: The 3rd and long in the first half of the SB when he had Kupp around 5 yards short of the first down and the sideline to work with cost them the game as much as any other play. He dove at his feet and came up empty. All he had to do was force him to the sideline and they punt instead of scoring a touchdown later in that drive. It won't break my heart when he's gone. He may be the one lining up the secondary but his tackling is horrible at times for a safety.

His tackling is horrible at times for a punter or a kicker. He's had one good year and three meh seasons. Thanks for the great playoff run but I've seen enough.

(05-02-2022, 12:31 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Yep. 

Until Lou got some of "his" players in FA last year. He got more of "his" players in the draft this year. I'm excited. 

Hoping this is the case for Frank and the oline after the FA haul. Lou didn't look good until he got some dogs via FA 

With a few exceptions in later rounds (and Drew Sample), the Bengals have generally drafted along the consensus board for most of the last 5 years or so.

Since 2017, I'd say the players that, right after the draft, were considered reaches in the first 4 to 5 rounds were John Ross, Billy Price, Drew Sample, Ryan Finley, Michael Jordan, Jackson Carman, Zachary Carter and Cordell Volson.

Essentially every single one of those players has either underwhelmed or straight busted so far.

It's not a good track record for Carter or Volson to be on right now.

I hope the story ends differently for these two than it did for the other 6 or so players before them.

(05-02-2022, 02:12 PM)ochocincos Wrote: They added Carter and Gunter in the draft plus they have Ossai coming back from injury.

Hendrickson
Hubbard
Ossai
Sample
Hill
Carter
Reader
Tupou
Shelvin

That's 9 just in that group.
If they roll with a 10th, it will be a battle between Gunter, Kareem, Ray, and Hubert.

Mike Danials is under contract.  But if he makes the roster we have problems at DT.

I think Sample may settle in to be a good rotation player like Wallace Gilberry.  D-line plays more rotation than any other position group.  The #2 guys generally play a quarter to a third of the snaps.  they are on the field a lot.