(01-16-2023, 01:50 AM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Last 2 years, playoff run Has been lead by our defense, next week time for ZT , Burrow and offense to finally set up in playoffs. Best defense ever in playoff runs..

They going to solve three backups on the offensive line in one week?  Well, I did say ZT deserved some votes for COTY. 

(01-16-2023, 10:34 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: They going to solve three backups on the offensive line in one week?  Well, I did say ZT deserved some votes for COTY. 

Congratulations on your win Bengal fans!

The defense and offense kinda put each other in bad spots.

The defense didn't do the offense any favors by letting the Ravens sustain long drives.
The offense didn't do the defense any favors by failing to sustain long drives.

It was a little disconcerting that we KNEW what the Ravens were going to do (run the ball, control the clock, don't ask Huntley to do too much) and they were successful at it anyway. Not a great game as far as run defense was concerned. And Apple being a liability isn't great heading into Buffalo next week.

(01-16-2023, 10:31 AM)Destro Wrote: The additional Oline losses really are bothersome. They were not elite to begin with not we have guys who couldn’t beat who we had out there. The only way to go forward is to play call to make diminish the impact. I am not confident that that happens. Putting all my chips on the defense. Aside from Apple, I have always liked the defense. ( Play better Dax ). They get a bunch done, including last year, with little love outside only the jungle.

Yep. Fortunately, this is the same as last year and we were oh so close to winning it all last year. Last year it was just a bad o-line, this year it’s injuries.

We know the formula, and have executed the formula in 4/5 playoff games. Let’s go to Buffalo and do it again.

(01-16-2023, 10:41 AM)Big Boss Wrote: The defense didn't do the offense any favors by letting the Ravens sustain long drives.
The offense didn't do the defense any favors by failing to sustain long drives.

It was a little disconcerting that we KNEW what the Ravens were going to do and they were successful at it anyway. Not a great game as far as run defense was concerned. And Apple being a liability isn't great heading into Buffalo next week.

Fortunately no other AFC team plays that way. Our team is built to play with the high fliers, not the ground it out. Hence why we struggle with Cleveland.

I will say this year’s team is much better than last year’s team. Just need the injuries to stop.

Didn't love some of the tackling attempts they made, Apple sucked, Dax Hill looked like the ghost of Dre Kirkpatrick making just dumb play after dumb play, and they let Huntley look way better than Huntley should ever look... BUT! That said they did get the defensive TD that gave the Bengals their lead and that extends their streak of getting at least 2 turnovers in every postseason game the last 2 years. 13 turnovers total over the last 5 postseason games. That'll help you win some games.

(01-16-2023, 10:43 AM)Rubekahn29 Wrote: Fortunately no other AFC team plays that way. Our team is built to play with the high fliers, not the ground it out. Hence why we struggle with Cleveland.

This. Also to note is the Ravens averaged 160 a game on the ground over the season. 155 yesterday. That was right on their average. Of course, most of the regular season games will be against teams having to account for Lamar Jackson, but the Ravens know how to run the ball. I was disappointed we didn't do more, but it was hardly atorcious defence. 

Offense sells tickets and jerseys. Defense wins championships.

Sometimes the Bengals’ offense will struggle. The Ravens’ defense is built specifically to stop Joe Burrow, period, and last night Joe said this is normal AFC North football. My personal belief is the ramshackle offensive line did an admirable job against one of the toughest run and pass defenses in the NFL.

(01-16-2023, 08:45 AM)Rubekahn29 Wrote: True, but the AFC north, namely Baltimore and Cleveland have just matched up better than any other teams. AFC North still play old school, while the rest of the AFC plays high flying. We match up better against high flying.

Let’s not forget- we are 10-1 outside the division this year and haven’t lost outside the division since week 2.

I think the reason we match up better overall against high flying is because the offense gets more attempts.  We will certainly give up more than 17 to Buffalo, Kansas City, and Jacksonville, but at least our offense will get more than seven possessions.

 

(01-16-2023, 01:38 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Offense sells tickets and jerseys.  Defense wins championships.

Sometimes the Bengals’ offense will struggle.  The Ravens’ defense is built specifically to stop Joe Burrow, period, and last night Joe said this is normal AFC North football.  My personal belief is the ramshackle offensive line did an admirable job against one of the toughest run and pass defenses in the NFL.

Amen. 

Look, it looks like we are gonna have to roll with Karras, Volson, Sharping, Adeniji, Carman + Smith, T. Hill, and Prince as our 8 active lineman this week. 
But the running game has been crap since Collins got hurt, before Cappa went down. And that is against teams playing 2 deep safeties ALL the time. 

Being able to run the ball unlocks the offense. It is a weak OL draft. Not many plug & play guys at OT beyond the top 3. The best OG guy plays Cappa's spot. And unless we let some real quality guys walk, we do not have the cap space to sign an upgrade. Jonah has a dead cap number if $12+ mil, so he is here next year. 

(01-16-2023, 03:39 AM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Actually that is nit that far fro. from. But we did not do we on offense 

While reading this post, I was nearly positive that one of the two of us were having a stroke.

(01-16-2023, 01:28 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Didn't love some of the tackling attempts they made, Apple sucked, Dax Hill looked like the ghost of Dre Kirkpatrick making just dumb play after dumb play, and they let Huntley look way better than Huntley should ever look... BUT! That said they did get the defensive TD that gave the Bengals their lead and that extends their streak of getting at least 2 turnovers in every postseason game the last 2 years. 13 turnovers total over the last 5 postseason games. That'll help you win some games.

Holy shit did Dax Hill just straight up forget how to play football or what? 3 penalties on both defense and special teams. He was absolutely brutal.

And anytime 2021 McPherson wants to show up it would also be most welcome.

(01-16-2023, 02:28 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Holy shit did Dax Hill just straight up forget how to play football or what? 3 penalties on both defense and special teams. He was absolutely brutal.

And anytime 2021 McPherson wants to show up it would also be most welcome.

Yeah if he was just not as talented as the guy he was covering or something, you can only hate a guy so much for being talent deficient as that's out of his control. It wasn't lacking talent though, it was just pure stupidity, and that's infuriating.

Agreed. If McPherson can go back to being automatic money, that'd be really comforting. I sure did enjoy PATs not being stressful. Lol

I did have some issues with the defense, but the offense needs to do better even against a great defense. They had multiple chances to end the game, but did three and out after three and out. They even did a double three and out when the Ravens handed them a new set of downs after running the kicker.

I think the defense played horrible the majority of the game. Should have never been that close against a backup, seems to be a trend. However they made just enough plays to win. This was a typical AFCN ugly game that you can’t make a fair assessment. We have got to play better to advance next week. I’m not only worried about our Oline now, but our secondary against Allen. Why teams don’t go deep on us more blows my mind. That will change next week. Come back big Whit…..

(01-16-2023, 03:20 AM)Brownshoe Wrote: They have a one dimensional offense, and a backup QB. They shouldn't have let Baltimore do what they did. The offense played fine in the second half against a very good defense. The defense only letting us have 4 possessions in the 2nd half isn't good at all.

Ignorant comment.And Miami shouldn't have had a close game with Buffalo, San fran. should never have made the playoffs because of Mr. Irrelevant, Dallas should never have been 4-0 with a backup, blah blah blah. It's the freakin' NFL and every player is a damn good player and with the right coaching they coach them up. Huntley is a better QB than Jackson in case you weren't aware of that.He knows how to stay in the pocket and go thru progressions for starters.

This ain't college where my backup 5 star QB beats your 3 year starting 3 star QB every time. Damn near every player in the NFL is identical in size, speed, talent outside of the few exceptions and the difference between winners/losers on a weekly basis is usually based on turnovers and penalties.

(01-16-2023, 02:34 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The team just makes plays when they need to. Really uncanny.

It is.  But we lost to plays like that for decades so I'm happy that we finally have a team that can make those plays.