With Regular Season over, and waiting for Play-Off Game.

I'm tempted to not add my choice, but I should give an example.

So for me it was Perine. I never had much faith in him as a back-up to Mixon before this year. However when Mixon was out, Perine stepped in and was great to keep the winning streak going. Perine was a million times better than I thought he was. In fact, he looks like he would be the #1 RB on a lot of NFL teams. I had always thought Bengals were weak in RB depth behind Mixon, but Perine proved me wrong and I'm glad I was wrong. Great to see RB depth like this.

I'm tempted to say a player on Defense and other players, but I want some of you to be able to list names of players that were far better than you had thought at start of Bengals season.

Perine
Adeniji
Irwin
Wilcox
Apple

All of these guys have stepped up.

Volson, guy is only going to get better! Plays with an intent to hurt people.

Eli Apple
Hayden Hurst-I really had no idea what to expect
Cordell Volson-has steadily improved over the season
Chidobe Awuzie- until he hurt his knee he was playing at an elite level
Germaine Pratt-I don’t know of any player on this team has shown the improvement Germaine has from the day he was drafted to now on the cusp of a contract extension. At the beginning of the season he was on most people’s “let walk” list, now most are saying we have to re-sign him

The RBs are good names. I would say both of them, actually. I'm glad that the unit has been so reliable, if not productive. They're the ideal tandem who've accepted their roles, spell each other nicely, and stay healthy.

Volson too. Didn't expect him to slide into a starting role straight out of NDSU. Seriously, that's a huge jump and he's handled it like a pro (literally).

Adeniji as the extra lineman was tremendous. Now he's playing a regular snap again and it doesn't seem to have fazed him. That's all you can ask for from your guys: just be ready.

On D, I'm sure Pratt will get some love for his PFF score haha. But for me it's Bates, #1. I don't if he's been better than expected- because we all expected a lot- but I still think it's remarkable that these guys can be such consistent durable contributors under so much personal pressure throughout the year. They're the kinds of leaders that help teams lay a foundation for championships. I guess I had never expected to appreciate him on quite that level.

Finally, maybe Apple and CTB as the outside guys stepping in for Awuzie. We haven't faced too many deep threats since he went down (that may change with BUF, MIA, LAC and whomever we meet in the SB) but we haven't been picked on too much yet. Of course, part of that can be attributed to Bates, Hilton and all the vet leadership behind them. In that sense, I suppose I could have never expected we'd overcome the injuries as seamlessly as we have. The "next man up" philosophy has really been taken seriously by this team.

Not sure if that's what you were looking for haha but those are the names that come to mind.

(01-12-2023, 02:06 AM)kevin Wrote: In fact, he looks like he would be the #1 RB on a lot of NFL teams.

Perine's 4.1 ypc is outside of the top-32 rushers.
The 25th and 26th ranked teams in rushing yards per carry were at 4.1.

He stepped up pretty decently as a pass catcher and had a couple good games this season, but I don't think he'd be the #1 RB on almost any teams, let alone a lot of them.

Perine had 1.7 yards per rush after contact which wasn't much to write home about, and broke 5 tackles on 95 rushes for 1 broken tackle per 19 rushes.
Dobbins for the Ravens was at 2.2 after contact and 9 on 92 (10.2 rushes per broken tackle)
Chubb for the Browns was at 2.3 after contact and 28 on 302 (10.8 rushes per broken tackle)
Dobbins and Chubb averaged 5.7 and 5.0 yards per carry, respectively.

Perine has just looked better because we spent so much of the year looking at Mixon. The Bengals need to improve at RB.

- - - - - - - -

My answer would be Germaine Pratt. He's turned himself into probably one of the better 2 down ILBs in the league. I'm glad he's shown improvement every year in the NFL.

(01-12-2023, 02:31 AM)casear2727 Wrote: Perine
Adeniji
Irwin
Wilcox
Apple

All of these guys have stepped up.

Apple was worse this season than last.  How in the world did you think he played better?

Saw another Apple response. Befuddled how he can be worse than last season and our worst rated CB but people still think he played better than expectations. Must've really expected him to be much worse than he really was.

(01-12-2023, 03:34 AM)basballguy Wrote: Apple was worse this season than last.  How in the world did you think he played better?

Saw another Apple response. Befuddled how he can be worse than last season and our worst rated CB but people still think he played better than expectations. Must've really expected him to be much worse than he really was.

Apple became CB1 when Chido went down, and totally stepped up when we needed him. That could have be a season altering injury, and we didn’t even miss a beat.

I'll roll with Pratt... but you can't go wrong with all the players mentioned.

It's nice to see our players progress in this era instead of plateuing or degressing with Marvin.

(01-12-2023, 02:06 AM)kevin Wrote: With Regular Season over, and waiting for Play-Off Game.  

I'm tempted to not add my choice, but I should give an example.  

So for me it was Perine.  I never had much faith in him as a back-up to Mixon before this year.  However when Mixon was out, Perine stepped in and was great to keep the winning streak going.  Perine was a million times better than I thought he was.  In fact, he looks like he would be the #1 RB on a lot of NFL teams.  I had always thought Bengals were weak in RB depth behind Mixon, but Perine proved me wrong and I'm glad I was wrong.  Great to see RB depth like this.

I'm tempted to say a player on Defense and other players, but I want some of you to be able to list names of players that were far better than you had thought at start of Bengals season.

Cordelle Volson.  Fourth round pick with a ton of experience at NAIA level, but clearly meant as a backup/developmental guy that comes in and steals the starting job and never looks back.  

Honorable Mention:  Trenton Irwin.  I was still butthurt about letting Pryor go after the preseason as he was bigger, stronger, faster....but Irwin knows all the subtleties about route running and really has contributed at a time of need.  

Hurst- Nice having a proper route running TE Uzomah was a class bloke to have in the locker room but nowhere near worth the money the jets paid him.

Perine- I was ready to murder him in February questioned his heart but he’s been class and arguably RB1 I wonder if that play in the SB lit a fire under him too?

Volson- Been steady and for a rookie that’s all you can ask.

Irwin- The worry when Chase went down TI stepped up and will be an important piece during the playoffs.

Hubbard- Probably the best year of his career so far.

Players who I’ve found to be a let down:

McPherson-Struggled this year like the Steelers game got in his head and he’s never quite recovered.

Apple-Now we never expect a right lot from old Eli but that guy could **** every girl in a brothel without a condom and he wouldn’t catch anything a bit like when a potential pick comes his way.

Collins- Great run blocker but Christopher Reeve could have beaten him off the line this season.

(01-12-2023, 02:42 AM)sandwedge Wrote: Volson, guy is only going to get better! Plays with an intent to hurt people.

No he doesn't

Perine
Volson
Hill
Taylor-Britt

(01-12-2023, 02:31 AM)casear2727 Wrote: Perine
Adeniji
Irwin
Wilcox
Apple
Volson
Pratt
Chrisman

All of these guys have stepped up.

FIFY

Ted Karras- I thought he would be a serviceable Center but he has been an anchor and solid as a rock in there. Not to mention he seems to be an incredible locker room leader. A+ signing.

Cam Taylor-Britt- I thought we reached on him and when Chido went down I thought the difference would be massive. He has proven me wrong and boy did we need him to. He plays well out there and even when he gets beat he's usually right there inches away from making the play. I think he is going to blossom into a top 15 CB in the league one day. Not to mention his tackling is great.

Pratt- This one is obvious. His game went from mediocre to great. I know PFF isnt a super reliable measure but just to try to quantify how much better he's been this year these are his career PFF grades by year:

2019- 51
2020- 41.5
2021- 47
2022- 80.6(!!!)

Talk about the light coming on.

Apple, CTB and Volson. Before joining us, Hurst used to be a below average player, lot of falcons fans did't care when he was released. Dude got some guts and he's always playing his heart out here. As for CTB and Volson, both have played well so far. Volson struggled a bit early season but he has improved since then. CTB... there's a reason we traded up to pick him. If I'm not mistaken Zach said after the draft that there was a huge gap between CTB and the next guy on their board. The last three drafts have produced some great starters and the FO deserves credit fot that.

Gotta be Trenton Irwin....I didn't even know who he was.

(01-12-2023, 10:36 AM)Wyche Wrote: Gotta be Trenton Irwin....I didn't even know who he was.

I love me some Trenton Irwin. It's like the dude comes to the stadium with his lunch pale and goes to work. Total blue collar player who isn't afraid to get dirty. Takes hits and bounces back up wanting more. More heart than I've seen in most players. He's my guy.

BJ Hill. I thought Larry O would be a huge loss, but BJ has played better.

I'll now add a name besides Perine who looks much bigger and stronger as if hitting the weight room and eating his Wheaties.

I add DJ Reader. Did anybody know he was this good ? I didn't. Reader looks Pro Bowl in there stuffing the run. He gives us a Krumrie or Atkins at DT and that was a big concern after Ogunjobi went Free Agent.

I agree with Irwin name listed, nice surprise. I'll add Hurst has filled the hole left by losing Uzomah. I liked Uzomah, but I like Hurst also. They are different styles of TE, but Hurst was a good add on. Hurst plays all out with a high motor, a top notch TE.

So I add Reader and Hurst to players who have played greater than I thought going into season. I had hopes on Hurst, but I wasn't sure of how he would fit in the offense. No problem, he fits into this offense great. Reader is such a huge part of this Defense now.

So losing Uzomah and Ogunjobi could have set this team back, but look how Hurst and Reader stepped up. Yes to those who mentioned Irwin, what an addition to an already talented group of WR's.