The preseason has made an impact on my thinking. I’m worried w/ Burrow’s injury and watching the Ravens & Steelers they look improved. It’s going to be tougher than I thought. Let’s hope we don’t look too rusty the first few games. I’m slightly concerned.

(08-19-2023, 05:49 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Just looking at this I agree with pretty much all your thoughts and wish we would keep Hudson over Asiasi but you are 
probably right and we keep Asiasi who has been pretty Assiassi...

Hudson impressed me in the first PS game before he went down, Asiasi has never impressed me here at all...

Yeah, there are a number of spots that are open/still in doubt. 

1) QB2 
2) OL: backup slots and 9 or 10?
3) RB: 3 or 4?
4) WR: 6 or 7? 
5) TE3 
6) CB, 6 or 7? 
7) DE: 5 or 6? 
8) NT/DT: 5 or 6?  

I think we have more playable depth on defense. A lot of the offensive battles are ST/PS level guys in my book. 

Johnson III making it was probably a stretch. But I do think we go with 9 OL instead of 10. Who loses that battle of musical chairs and where that extra spot goes to (WR, CB, DL) is the other big question for me. I hlguess we couod carry 3 RBs instead of 4. 

(08-20-2023, 12:16 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Yeah, there are a number of spots that are open/still in doubt. 

1) QB2 
2) OL: backup slots and 9 or 10?
3) RB: 3 or 4?
4) WR: 6 or 7? 
5) TE3 
6) CB, 6 or 7? 
7) DE: 5 or 6? 
8) NT/DT: 5 or 6?  

I think we have more playable depth on defense. A lot of the offensive battles are ST/PS level guys in my book. 

Johnson III making it was probably a stretch. But I do think we go with 9 OL instead of 10. Who loses that battle of musical chairs and where that extra spot goes to (WR, CB, DL) is the other big question for me. I hlguess we couod carry 3 RBs instead of 4. 

I think 4 RBs is pretty much a lock. Not sure who we could try and sneak on the PS. I think Evans has shown too much with ST and pass blocking, Chase Brown is a rookie and I think would get snagged up and I'm not sure on Williams but with the positives he showed last season I'm assuming the coaches are high on him.

Hoping we can find a QB2 after cuts. ATL has a young and talented roster. They are on the upswing and could easily win their division this season. Point being, that wasn't a squad of cupcakes that the guys played on Friday.

Carman is a bulldozer as a run blocker. He has shaky moments as a pass blocker but he can really bully going forward.

I know our strength is Burrow throwing the ball around to the best WR room in the league. But our starting OL should be really good and quite capable of bullying defenses on their own. Throw Carman out there as a 6th OL and we could win games on the back of a power run game like that 09 team running Benson behind Roland as a 6th OL and sweeping the north.

(08-20-2023, 11:56 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The preseason has made an impact on my thinking. I’m worried w/ Burrow’s injury and watching the Ravens & Steelers they look improved. It’s going to be tougher than I thought. Let’s hope we don’t look too rusty the first few games. I’m slightly concerned.

From various comments across different forums, I do feel Bengals fans are way underestimating our division... All signs point to an improved team for Ravens, Steelers and Browns.  Some also forget that last year Ravens were in the drivers seat for the division before Lamar got hurt and a Lamar less Ravens team was on the verge of taking the lead in 4th quarter before Hubbards run back and still has a chance at end of game to tie it and this was without Lamar... 

Steelers look to have hit on 1st and 2nd round picks of Pickett and Pickens plus if Harris has a bounce back year their offense will be good enough with that solid defense they have.  Cleveland is the enigma team but lets just think about of Watson's last full season as a starter with a subpar Texans team in 2020 he threw for almost 5,000 yards with 33 tds and 7 ints and the Browns have some talent so i can;t see Watson performing like he did last year. 

We are still top dog but there are not 3 puppies behind us... get ready for a dog fight this year. 

(08-20-2023, 03:51 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: From various comments across different forums, I do feel Bengals fans are way underestimating our division... All signs point to an improved team for Ravens, Steelers and Browns.  Some also forget that last year Ravens were in the drivers seat for the division before Lamar got hurt and a Lamar less Ravens team was on the verge of taking the lead in 4th quarter before Hubbards run back and still has a chance at end of game to tie it and this was without Lamar... 

Steelers look to have hit on 1st and 2nd round picks of Pickett and Pickens plus if Harris has a bounce back year their offense will be good enough with that solid defense they have.  Cleveland is the enigma team but lets just think about of Watson's last full season as a starter with a subpar Texans team in 2020 he threw for almost 5,000 yards with 33 tds and 7 ints and the Browns have some talent so i can;t see Watson performing like he did last year. 

We are still top dog but there are not 3 puppies behind us... get ready for a dog fight this year. 

Nailed it.

I feel the exact same.

(08-20-2023, 06:57 PM)Whacked Wrote: Nailed it.

I feel the exact same.

Ditto.

Repeating as division champ is not a given, but it is not out of reach either.

(08-20-2023, 03:51 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: From various comments across different forums, I do feel Bengals fans are way underestimating our division... All signs point to an improved team for Ravens, Steelers and Browns.  Some also forget that last year Ravens were in the drivers seat for the division before Lamar got hurt and a Lamar less Ravens team was on the verge of taking the lead in 4th quarter before Hubbards run back and still has a chance at end of game to tie it and this was without Lamar... 

Steelers look to have hit on 1st and 2nd round picks of Pickett and Pickens plus if Harris has a bounce back year their offense will be good enough with that solid defense they have.  Cleveland is the enigma team but lets just think about of Watson's last full season as a starter with a subpar Texans team in 2020 he threw for almost 5,000 yards with 33 tds and 7 ints and the Browns have some talent so i can;t see Watson performing like he did last year. 

We are still top dog but there are not 3 puppies behind us... get ready for a dog fight this year. 

Wasn't there threads earlier this off season in addition to various articles by the national media talking about the AFC North being the hardest division in the NFL? I don't think many people are looking over these teams. We went 3-3 against the division last year (not including playoffs) and should expect the same or better this year. 

People thinking a walk to 6-0 are dumb but 4-2 is just as likely as 2-4. I would hardly call Kenny Pickett a "hit" based on what we've seen from him so far.

(08-20-2023, 09:20 PM)TheFan Wrote: Wasn't there threads earlier this off season in addition to various articles by the national media talking about the AFC North being the hardest division in the NFL? I don't think many people are looking over these teams. We went 3-3 against the division last year (not including playoffs) and should expect the same or better this year. 

People thinking a walk to 6-0 are dumb but 4-2 is just as likely as 2-4. I would hardly call Kenny Pickett a "hit" based on what we've seen from him so far.

Pickett is looking good in the preseason. He looked good the last part of the season. He’s surprised me. Still not sold. Todd Monken the Raven’s OC is going to help the Ravens and Lamar. Watson will get some mojo back. If our secondary mostly safeties plays well and the OL comes thru we are fine. But I believe an already tough division is tougher. We don’t need our notoriously slow starts.

(08-21-2023, 09:15 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Pickett is looking good in the preseason. He looked good the last part of the season. He’s surprised me. Still not sold. Todd Monken the Raven’s OC is going to help the Ravens and Lamar. Watson will get some mojo back. If our secondary mostly safeties plays well and the OL comes thru we are fine. But I believe an already tough division is tougher. We don’t need our notoriously slow starts.

The point the talking heads never bring up about Pick6etts strong finish last year. Beat 4-12-1 Colts, 7-10 Falcons, 7-10 Panthers, 6-11 Raiders. The Ravens with Huntley at QB, and the 7-10 Browns. The competition wasn't that great.

And I'm not impressed by a starting NFL QB looking good vs. guys just trying to stick on practice squad. 

(08-21-2023, 09:15 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Pickett is looking good in the preseason. He looked good the last part of the season. He’s surprised me. Still not sold. Todd Monken the Raven’s OC is going to help the Ravens and Lamar. Watson will get some mojo back. If our secondary mostly safeties plays well and the OL comes thru we are fine. But I believe an already tough division is tougher. We don’t need our notoriously slow starts.

I don't think he's trash and I'm sure he's going to improve now having another year under his belt. But I'm not going to claim he's a "hit" yet when he still has more Ints than TDs. 

The most points a team scored in his last 7 games was 17 points. In 4 of his 7 wins Pitt scored less than 20 points. They won inspite of Kenny Picket not beca of. We scored less than 20 points only 3 times all season, for reference. 

(08-21-2023, 09:38 AM)bengalfan74 Wrote: The point the talking heads never bring up about Pick6etts strong finish last year. Beat 4-12-1 Colts, 7-10 Falcons, 7-10 Panthers, 6-11 Raiders. The Ravens with Huntley at QB, and the 7-10 Browns. The competition wasn't that great.

And I'm not impressed by a starting NFL QB looking good vs. guys just trying to stick on practice squad. 

I’m not sold either but he’s looks a lot better than he did the first part of the season. Of course you’d think so.

(08-21-2023, 10:23 AM)TheFan Wrote: I don't think he's trash and I'm sure he's going to improve now having another year under his belt. But I'm not going to claim he's a "hit" yet when he still has more Ints than TDs. 

The most points a team scored in his last 7 games was 17 points. In 4 of his 7 wins Pitt scored less than 20 points. They won inspite of Kenny Picket not beca of. We scored less than 20 points only 3 times all season, for reference. 

Well I said I’m not sold on him. But he looks improved to me or more seasoned or comfortable.

(08-21-2023, 10:38 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I’m not sold either but he’s looks a lot better than he did the first part of the season. Of course you’d think so.

Agree to a degree. It's just I wanna see him facing average and above teams in real games before I'm going to say he's "improved". To me he hasn't moved the needle much, yet.

(08-19-2023, 10:59 AM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Agree in the main, but do disagree on a couple. 

I thought Carman was better than last week but hardly good. Had a hooding penalty negate a Jones catch (and ZT clearly disagreed). Did play RT later. I think he is in a battle with Smith & Adeniji to make the roster. 2 of them will whilest Collins is on PUP. Ford has olayed almost exclusively at guard. 

I though Jones played pretty well. 4 for 46. Had a another catch wipen out due to holding. 

I think Shelvin Jackson makes Morgan expendable. 

Sample, Johnson III, Gunter, & Davis all played pretty well in spots. Ossai as well. DL depth is gonna make some roster decisions difficult. 

This is what stood out to me the most as well. 

Also pretty much agree about Jackson as well. I'm not totally sure he'll replace Morgan, but he had a nice game.

(08-21-2023, 09:38 AM)bengalfan74 Wrote: The point the talking heads never bring up about Pick6etts strong finish last year. Beat 4-12-1 Colts, 7-10 Falcons, 7-10 Panthers, 6-11 Raiders. The Ravens with Huntley at QB, and the 7-10 Browns. The competition wasn't that great.

And I'm not impressed by a starting NFL QB looking good vs. guys just trying to stick on practice squad. 

Pickett has a decent set of weapons, a rebuilt offensive line, and a top 10 defense. The Steelers have a really easy schedule so even if they lose to the Bengals the Bengals could be playing catchup in the standings because of the tougher schedule.

(08-19-2023, 05:23 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: Yeah that's why I wanted to keep Apple another year. We know he could be our 1 if needed. Hopefully Turner ends up being good and he has definitely had his moments so far I just assume he'll be inconsistent at the very least as a 2nd round rookie. I watched the drive again and I think Scott looked fine. He may have missed a tackle and he came in on the pass to Bijan and was blocked by a guard which looked borderline to in the back. Most plays he seemed to be playing deep and wasn't involved. It also looked like he would've made the pick on the Hilton tip if Ossai wasn't there.

Regarding Scott, I noticed him miss a tackle in the gap that went for a decent run, other than that, didn't really notice anything bad.

(08-21-2023, 09:15 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Pickett is looking good in the preseason. He looked good the last part of the season. He’s surprised me. Still not sold. Todd Monken the Raven’s OC is going to help the Ravens and Lamar. Watson will get some mojo back. If our secondary mostly safeties plays well and the OL comes thru we are fine. But I believe an already tough division is tougher. We don’t need our notoriously slow starts.

I'm of two minds about Picket and Pickens.  They both looked good at times last season and could progress.  On the other hand defenses and CBs have now had a lot of time and tape to study from last year till now and a sophomore slump for both of them could likely occur (especially Picket), now that they have both put tendencies on tape.

As for the Ravens.....they're going to ask Lamar to be a pocket passer, which he does not have the tools to be.  They're going to run a standard offense, AND he has been sending plays and routes to the OC to implement for him.  He's gotten them off Twitter FFS.  Lamar's ego is going to be his own doing.  He is not capable of being the QB the offense is designed for.  He doesn't have the touch or accuracy.  never has.  never will.  I won't be surprised if the offense is a disaster for Lamar like Denver was for Wilson last year.

Could everything turn out rosey for both?  Sure it could, but I have my doubts.

(08-20-2023, 09:20 PM)TheFan Wrote: Wasn't there threads earlier this off season in addition to various articles by the national media talking about the AFC North being the hardest division in the NFL? I don't think many people are looking over these teams. We went 3-3 against the division last year (not including playoffs) and should expect the same or better this year. 

People thinking a walk to 6-0 are dumb but 4-2 is just as likely as 2-4. I would hardly call Kenny Pickett a "hit" based on what we've seen from him so far.

I am just giving what ive read from various bengal fans or talked to , I see more bengals fans overlooking the division than outside onlookers... in the end what some think matters nothing but I agree our division if teams stay healthy and what I wrote earlier pans out will be a tough one