All I care about is our FO putting these coaches and players in a position to succeed. By extension some of these bad rankings are relatively concerning, others less so. We need to foster and grow the culture where FAs come here because they believe they can win a championship with us. That said some of these things seem like simple quality of life upgrades that we should pursue for our guys.

(03-01-2023, 04:23 PM)Nepa Wrote: Here are some more comments:

"The staff itself is well liked, and players credit head coach Zac Taylor for recent improvements that have been made – which speaks to why he grades out as one of the most well-liked coaches in the NFL by his players. However, the facilities and resources offered are ranked far below average.

The Bengals are one of three teams that do not provide dinner to their players; they are also one of two teams that do not provide vitamins, and they are the only team that doesn’t provide supplements. Additionally, players feel that they have some of the smallest hot/cold tubs in the league; they have issues with the showers and toilets not consistently working, and they are the only team that does not have outlets in their lockers to charge devices.

The players who responded to the survey also complained that there is nowhere warm and safe for mothers and kids to go during the game because the Bengals do not provide a family room, unlike the majority of teams. Players reported that wives have sat on the public restroom floor to nurse their babies.

These examples are consistent with players’ opinions, with only 44% of respondents believing club owner Mike Brown is willing to spend money to make the facility better, ranking him tied for 29th in this category."

https://nflpa.com/cincinnati-bengals-report-card

The fact that it's a player's wife should have no bearing in this instance. Why should they be treated differently than other fans? I'm pretty sure they make enough to pay for a sitter for about 4 hours. Now I'm not saying a nursing room is not a good idea, but it shouldn't be restricted to players' wives. 

IMO if the kid is young enough to nurse, he/she is too young to enjoy the game. Leave it with a qualified sitter in a safe/secure environment. 

We have brought in a bunch of Free Agents who have been at other places so maybe the different experience is fresh on the minds of those who can compare facilities. I'm hesitant to feel sorry for these millionaires whining about fringe benefits (free dinner, supplements, vitamins - for crying out loud). I do think the facility feedback should be noted and those are the focuses that can be taken away from this.

(03-01-2023, 05:33 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: F- for nutrition. How is that possible?

Do they give out Lunchables?

Quote:Quality of food: Ranked 31st

• One of 3 teams in the NFL that doesn't provide dinner to players
• One of only 2 teams to not provide vitamins to players
• The only team that doesn't provide supplements to players
  

71% of players say there is enough room in the cafeteria.
Players report that they are encouraged to come in on their off days to work out and prepare for the game; however, the cafeteria is not open on those days, so players can’t even grab a banana before working out.

The first three are all points of actual competitive disadvantage for your team. 

You have the ability to ensure your players are getting another high quality healthy balanced meal (you know there's 20-somethings that can't/don't cook who are just eating out or getting some takout). Just imagine if they could have gotten Chad to eat one less meal of McDonald's per day, lol. 

You also have the ability to make sure players are getting the vitamins and supplements that will not just help aid their workout recovery (and injury recovery) but it also means that the team has a hand in choosing WHAT is going into their bodies, which means they can help keep players from accidentally taking something that contains a substance on the banned list, saving a guy a 4-6 game suspension. A good vitamin program could also help keep your guys healthier as far as illness goes when it starts getting cold. If you save yourself from 2 or 3 guys missing a game from illness or maybe 10 guys play a game at 10% closer to 100 because they aren't fighting off illness. Maybe you prevent a half dozen cramps through the year because they're getting enough potassium and other nutrition. Even if that potentially turns just 1 L into a W, it's worth it.

Also it's just not a good look when we're one of 3, 2, or the only team not providing their players with something.

(03-01-2023, 06:00 PM)bfine32 Wrote: The fact that it's a player's wife should have no bearing in this instance. Why should they be treated differently than other fans? I'm pretty sure they make enough to pay for a sitter for about 4 hours. Now I'm not saying a nursing room is not a good idea, but it shouldn't be restricted to players' wives. 

IMO if the kid is young enough to nurse, he/she is too young to enjoy the game. Leave it with a qualified sitter in a safe/secure environment. 

• One of 11 teams that do not offer daycare
  

If a player's family is being offered it in roughly 2/3rds of other locations, then it does have a bearing. FA is basically a job market, and if your company is not offering perks to the prospective employees that other companies are, it can make a difference.

Now do I think that daycare specifically will be a make-or-break matter for a FA? No. Is it 1 more check mark that can help influence a decision between 2 otherwise equally competitive offers? Absolutely.

(03-01-2023, 06:16 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote:

• One of 11 teams that do not offer daycare
  

If a player's family is being offered it in roughly 2/3rds of other locations, then it does have a bearing. FA is basically a job market, and if your company is not offering perks to the prospective employees that other companies are, it can make a difference.

Now do I think that daycare specifically will be a make-or-break matter for a FA? No. Is it 1 more check mark that can help influence a decision between 2 otherwise equally competitive offers? Absolutely.

So over 1/3 of NFL teams don't have them. As of 2019 (the latest data I could find) we're the only facility with an MRI machine on site. I'd like to think things such as these, our 2 consecutive AFC Championships. A young nucleus and top-rated staff would have more influence than ensuring a player's wife has a place to breastfeed on game day. I personally hope the nutritional needs are met for the players.

As I said if they do decide to construct a lactation room I hope they do it for all nursing mothers. Seems unfair that a mother whose husband is making millions to be there receives better treatment than the wives of husbands who had to dip into the 401K, It does seem we put a lot of money into improving the "fan experience" at the stadium last year. I dig that

(03-01-2023, 05:20 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: seems the millionaires want more free stuff.  Probly mad cause bengals close the cafe on days no one is in the office.

But it's not just the players: I'm sure the wives are involved in making decisions for their family.

It's good that this information is out there. As someone noted earlier, a lot of these things are easy fixes. And some of these things are probably spoken about behind the scenes. Now the Bengals can either fix areas they fall short, or, if the assessments are incorrect, then address them upfront with the prospective players and their wives. 

The Bengals are competitive with some of the most important elements for signing free agents; a well-liked and respected coaching staff and training staff. Address some of these other elements so they don't become a factor when a player is undecided whether or not to sign.

Nutrition is a big part of performance.

Kind of surprised by these...and it's our players filling it out...so hard to downplay it.

(03-01-2023, 05:40 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: The last 5 SB winners all rank 22nd or lower overall in this survey. I guess winning doesn't cure all. 

This is the most important thing to come out of this survey.

It’s like Rocky 3:
Balboa trains in a fancy gym with all the amenities and gets KO’d by Clubber Lang.
Balboa trains old school with no fancy equipment and wins back the title.

Moral of the story is you gotta keep them hungry (literally in the Bengals case)

One thing I don't understand is as an adult I pack a lunch when I plan on going to work... even if I ultimately dine out. Half the time I pack a sandwich just to walk over the hill.

(03-01-2023, 07:46 PM)Synric Wrote: One thing I don't understand is as an adult I pack a lunch when I plan on going to work... even if I ultimately dine out. Half the time I pack a sandwich just to walk over the hill.

Answered it yourself.

A lot of these guys are early-mid-20s who have never had to be an adult before. Went from being children to being college students and the main/only focus for most of their entire life has been athletics.

Also a big part of it is what you just said with pack a sandwich. These are professional athletes with huge dietary needs. Joe Thomas ate every 2 hours. Marshall Yanda ate 6,000 calories a day. Jordan Gross ate 6 pieces of bacon, 6 scrambled eggs, two 50g protein shakes, 4 hardboiled eggs, and 2 chicken breasts... before 2pm.... every day. Russell Wilson eats 9 meals totaling 5,000 calories a day. JJ Watt would have 8 chicken breasts (3 of them wrapped in bacon) just for dinner.

That's more than you can just toss into a brown bag, and certainly not something you want to eat cold and sitting around for ages. Guys need to eat huge amounts of calories to keep up their size and muscles (it's why you see a lot of NFL big guys just absolutely shrink down when they retire, they go back to a normal diet). They need the calories somehow, and by providing them with the meals you're ensuring those guys are meeting their caloric needs while still being able to work out and study in the facility and removing it from them having to worry/think about it so they can focus more on football. All while making sure those calories are coming from healthier means like chicken, eggs, and pasta instead of big macs, fries, and soda.


- - - - - - - -
EDIT:
The 49ers were given an A- for Food Service/Nutrition (tied for 5th place). Here's an article from just a couple years ago, it includes a theoretical meal plan for what one of their OL might need to eat in a day. It's way beyond packing a lunch and also probably a whole lot of effort to do for yourself, doubly so if you're a single 21-25-year-old...
https://www.49ers.com/news/niners-nutrition-49ers-offensive-defensive-lineman-meal-plan-diet

Now imagine a guy getting personalized meal plans to meet his caloric and nutritional needs to that degree, while also being provided a personalized vitamin and supplement plan versus a guy who just eats whatever he goes out and orders for pickup/takeout and only taking vitamins and supplements if he chooses to personally go out and research and buy them. One of them has a clear advantage over the other in a contest of physicality.


As an interesting side note, not NFL-related, but athlete diet-related. Apparently Michael Phelps would eat 12,000 calories a day when he was ramping up heading into competitions. That's insane. Preparing that much food is basically a full time job for someone. Lol

All that money on a practice bubble and it turns out that we just needed to fix the toilets and add some charging stations. 

The supplements thing is disappointing for the reasons mentioned.  It seems like a way to improve and protect your team.

I'm surprised that Katie and Elizabeth aren't more on top of the family issues, but it may be a work in progress.

A lot of this probably comes down to the age of the facilities and the last time they were renovated.  The stadium is in need of upgrades to meet NFL standards and negotiations for those are in the works.  

Some of the team spaces were renovated in 2015.  The locker rooms, weight room, and training space got good reviews at the time. 

https://www.stack.com/a/all-32-nfl-weight-rooms-ranked/

Great first day of OTAs. The new weight room is incredible. #Bengals pic.twitter.com/ZGo1TLzLWr

— Kevin Zeitler (@kzeit70) April 20, 2015

 

Is it the Bengals or the County that are responsible for the plumbing?

(03-01-2023, 08:09 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Answered it yourself.

A lot of these guys are early-mid-20s who have never had to be an adult before. Went from being children to being college students and the main/only focus for most of their entire life has been athletics.

Also a big part of it is what you just said with pack a sandwich. These are professional athletes with huge dietary needs. Joe Thomas ate every 2 hours. Marshall Yanda ate 6,000 calories a day. Jordan Gross ate 6 pieces of bacon, 6 scrambled eggs, two 50g protein shakes, 4 hardboiled eggs, and 2 chicken breasts... before 2pm.... every day. Russell Wilson eats 9 meals totaling 5,000 calories a day. JJ Watt would have 8 chicken breasts (3 of them wrapped in bacon) just for dinner.

That's more than you can just toss into a brown bag, and certainly not something you want to eat cold and sitting around for ages. Guys need to eat huge amounts of calories to keep up their size and muscles (it's why you see a lot of NFL big guys just absolutely shrink down when they retire, they go back to a normal diet). They need the calories somehow, and by providing them with the meals you're ensuring those guys are meeting their caloric needs while still being able to work out and study in the facility and removing it from them having to worry/think about it so they can focus more on football. All while making sure those calories are coming from healthier means like chicken, eggs, and pasta instead of big macs, fries, and soda.


- - - - - - - -
EDIT:
The 49ers were given an A- for Food Service/Nutrition (tied for 5th place). Here's an article from just a couple years ago, it includes a theoretical meal plan for what one of their OL might need to eat in a day. It's way beyond packing a lunch and also probably a whole lot of effort to do for yourself, doubly so if you're a single 21-25-year-old...
https://www.49ers.com/news/niners-nutrition-49ers-offensive-defensive-lineman-meal-plan-diet

Now imagine a guy getting personalized meal plans to meet his caloric and nutritional needs to that degree, while also being provided a personalized vitamin and supplement plan versus a guy who just eats whatever he goes out and orders for pickup/takeout and only taking vitamins and supplements if he chooses to personally go out and research and buy them. One of them has a clear advantage over the other in a contest of physicality.


As an interesting side note, not NFL-related, but athlete diet-related. Apparently Michael Phelps would eat 12,000 calories a day when he was ramping up heading into competitions. That's insane. Preparing that much food is basically a full time job for someone. Lol

These guys prepare meals at home everyday they can prepare their selves food to take with them. We are also not talking about prepared meals just access to the cafeteria for snacks like a banana on days off. They are provided meals during work days. 

Seems pretty fixable if it’s a real issue and not a couple whiners. Provide dinner, supplements and a place for families.

These things really concern me as a father of 2. If I was an athlete it might bother me about the supplements, but I can also consult a physician about what I should use and acquire those in my own.

(03-01-2023, 09:19 PM)Synric Wrote: These guys prepare meals at home everyday they can prepare their selves food to take with them. We are also not talking about prepared meals just access to the cafeteria for snacks like a banana on days off. They are provided meals during work days. 

-The food quality of the food they are provided was ranked 31st.
-They don't provide dinners and are one of only 3 teams in the league not to.

Snacks like a pre-workout banana was the lowest level example of not having access to off day food. We ARE talking about prepared meals. If you're encouraging players to come in on their off-time and get extra workouts in, provide them with fuel their bodies need for those workouts.

(03-01-2023, 09:52 PM)Gdale_Bengal Wrote: These things really concern me as a father of 2. If I was an athlete it might bother me about the supplements, but I can also consult a physician about what I should use and acquire those in my own.

When you consult that physican for suggestions, make sure you tell them you can't take anything that contains any of the following or is made in a facility that also handles any of the following due to cross-contamination concerns, because if you test positive for any of the following you're getting suspended and losing a huge chunk of money......




The following substances and methods are prohibited by the National Football League:

I. ANABOLIC AGENTS
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---




(This list is 5 years old, so they've added more since then, because they add more every year.)

(03-01-2023, 10:09 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: -The food quality of the food they are provided was ranked 31st.
-They don't provide dinners and are one of only 3 teams in the league not to.

Snacks like a pre-workout banana was the lowest level example of not having access to off day food. We ARE talking about prepared meals. If you're encouraging players to come in on their off-time and get extra workouts in, provide them with fuel their bodies need for those workouts.

I'm sorry I refuse to give any kinda sympathy for a grown man with a steady high pay check that cannot feed himself with all the starvation in the world. If it was football or training related I would be all on board but food sorry no. In the USA food is way to easy to come by even with heavy dietary restrictions. 

Whoa!!!! We’re not last…F yeah we’re killin it. Naw but it is an improvement over years past. At least players want to come here now. Well the ones who don’t put much stock into surveys.

(03-01-2023, 05:33 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: F- for nutrition. How is that possible?

Do they give out Lunchables?

that would get them an A+

Food would be a big one for me. Chilly is good once in awhile but not everyday. I don't know what they have for food but I'm guessing it's pretty basic.
It's good to get a variety of nutrients aside from the basics.