Part of the problem is beating the Ravens or the Browns still just puts us into a tie with them and we lose that tie breaker. Beating the Steelers both times would put us ahead of them.

(11-14-2023, 10:16 AM)BoomerFan Wrote: Part of the problem is beating the Ravens or the Browns still just puts us into a tie with them and we lose that tie breaker. Beating the Steelers both times would put us ahead of them.

Right now the Ravens have beat 2 teams that we’ve lost to



They still play a few teams that we played.



If we win Thursday and beat the Steelers and Colts and Jags we could look up in 5 weeks and be winning the division or have 1 more tiebreaker over Baltimore than they have over us.



Really the Brown still have Texans and Jags too so if we win out next 3 division games we could actually hold tiebreakers over all 3 AFCN teams if we all finish with the same record


We could actually own 2-3 tiebreakers over Pittsburg even if we split the games because they lost to San Fran and still have Seattle and Jags.




So the Jags game is looking like the most important game of the last few regular seasons



We’ve gotta beat Pittsburg twice


I think if we do that the WC takes care or itself

(11-13-2023, 09:12 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Squeaking in with the 7 seed is not good.

It was added because of money, not because there were so many good teams who were missing the playoffs. That's why those teams are 0-6 with uncompetitive games more often than not.

It's not like baseball playoffs where getting into the playoffs means anything can happen. Football playoffs generally the better team just wins. I believe something like only 1 of the last 24 teams to play in the Super Bowl didn't win their division that year.

While I agree in general, the Bengals would not be your 'usual' #7 seed. Regardless of the ups and downs over the course of the regular season, I think most #2 seeds would rather play the other candidates, than the Bengals. Maybe Baltimore would want to play us for some revenge, but I think teams would probably rather play the Texans etc.

We're more than still in this fight and I expect us to be in contention in Week 18. But the conference record is a real handicap to our chances. We moreorless cannot allow it to come down to tiebreakers as we probably won't have them in our favour. That means we're in a position where we'll need another win than the other teams will need, and that's less than ideal.

Even though the division is more than in play as well, I just don't get the feeling we'll take it this year.

(11-13-2023, 09:02 PM)Lucius Cincinnatus Wrote: It's going to be tough to overtake some of these teams, for sure. 

The browns have 6 wins and games against Broncos, Rams, Bears, and Jets. Hard to imagine they don't get to at least 10 wins. 

Texans have 5 wins and 2 games against the Titans, and games against the colts, jets, cardinals, and broncos. Idk if the Texans are at the point you can pencil in wins against teams yet, but I see a minimum of 9 wins with a tie breaker against us. 

The Steelers have 6 wins and still play the colts, cardinals, and patriots. Though they for sure aren't good enough to call a game a win ahead of time, but still, 9 wins is likely. 

All to say, I agree and if we lose Thursday, we will have to go 5-2 in our last 7 games to get to 10 wins and even then, given tiebreakers, Idk if I love our chances. 

we are behind on most tie breakers regarding the AFC.    will need to separate via record

(11-14-2023, 10:13 AM)WychesWarrior Wrote: Yeah, realistically Thursday is going to be tough with too many key contributors out and poor depth behind them. We should sweep Shitsburgh, and should beat Cleveland. That tidies things up a bit in our division. I feel like the WC is still readily available.

I honestly don’t understand how you think we should beat Cleveland. I like our chances against the Chiefs more than the Browns. The browns just man handle us every freaking game.

(11-14-2023, 10:00 AM)Housh Wrote: I just find it hilarious they boiled all that shit onto their last OC because the offense was too Josh Allen centric but the new offense is even more Josh Allen centric lol


Maybe it’s just Josh Allen guys

They showed an interesting graphic, late in the first half last night.  Josh Allen responsible for 201 TDs, and 93 turnovers.

(11-13-2023, 08:09 PM)Housh Wrote: I say this to say……dont lose your damn minds if we lose Thursday

Yeah, good luck with that. lol

(11-13-2023, 09:12 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Squeaking in with the 7 seed is not good.

It was added because of money, not because there were so many good teams who were missing the playoffs. That's why those teams are 0-6 with uncompetitive games more often than not.

It's not like baseball playoffs where getting into the playoffs means anything can happen. Football playoffs generally the better team just wins. I believe something like only 1 of the last 24 teams to play in the Super Bowl didn't win their division that year.

Agreed, this team has shown already that it struggles versus teams with physical lines, on both offense and defense.  The Bengals can be explosive when the conditions are right, but they continue to struggle moving the ball with any consistency on the ground and even through the air when teams have a pass rush dialed in.

Unless this team really gets dialed in on both sides of the line and hits a hot streak, they really could be one and done in a Wildcard matchup.

(11-14-2023, 12:09 PM)Ell Prez Wrote: I honestly don’t understand how you think we should beat Cleveland. I like our chances against the Chiefs more than the Browns. The browns just man handle us every freaking game.

Chubb is out, which helps us, I don't trust Watson, which helps us. We beat them the second time last year at home, Watson was playing then, coincidentally. Their defense is tough, no question. 

(11-14-2023, 10:11 AM)Nepa Wrote: Agreed. Bad luck is the wrong word in many cases. Buffalo injuries have been bad luck, but they also were badly outcoached in this game. Sean Payton was just a genius for the Broncos the whole game. 

Even getting the 12 men on the field by Buffalo was a genius play on his part, since rather than kick after a time out, he has the Broncos run a play and then run the FG unit out on the field, executing flawlessly, while Buffalo was discombobulated. Payton did the same thing at the end of the first half, running a play that ended with only 14 seconds left, no time out left, and got the kicking time in position in plenty of time to make a kick at the end of the first half. 

The end of the first half kick was just well, well coached. I looked at the reply. After the play concluded with 14-seconds left, the Broncos center  moved to a new location, other players shifted, new players came in, all within 14 seconds, and set up with time to spare. Payton didn't have to run that risky last play, where for many teams time would run out before the kicking unit was set, but everyone on the kicking unit and regular offense unit knew exactly what to do.

Didn't have a timeout to use anyway so not sure you can call it a genius move since they had no choice. What i'm curious about is when the offense substitutes a player(s) one of the refs stands over the ball to prevent a quick snap because the defense gets an equal opportunity to substitue. Is there an exception to that rule when you're rushing a FG unit on the field? I never saw a ref go stand over the ball both times the saints did this at the end of each half.

Let's keep it simple. Weird scenarios aside we either win Thursday or the season is lost. With that in mind they better go out there and play like this is their Super Bowl so to say. Leave it all out there on the field; no point in holding back. For the defense, they have to fix it by Thursday. No more letting receivers get into big holes, don't lose lane discipline and TACKLE. The offense is start aggressive, stay aggressive, max protect if needed and Burrow has to play error free. The offense also can't go to sleep after the first drive. Mixon MUST make the first defender miss. The offense also has to stay more vertical - complete longer throws to force the defense to back up a little so they are not keyed on the lateral stuff, which also hangs the OL out to dry.

AFC is more competitive this year.
11 out of 16 teams are .500 or better.

Compare that to just 7 teams in the NFC.

Bengals need to get a couple division wins to really get into a good spot again though.
We may have to start accepting a division win may not be in the cards and instead expect a WC spot.

But I'm not too worried about having to play on the road in the playoffs. Bengals have only had 2 home games the past two postseason runs and look how well they did.

(11-14-2023, 12:09 PM)Ell Prez Wrote: I honestly don’t understand how you think we should beat Cleveland. I like our chances against the Chiefs more than the Browns. The browns just man handle us every freaking game.

Agree.

Bengals O-line gave up an insane amount of pressures to the Texans.

Playing against Cleveland week 18 which could very well be a big game for both? Uhh,,,,,,
O-line better have their "big-boy" pants strapped on for that one. 

(11-13-2023, 09:12 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Squeaking in with the 7 seed is not good.

It was added because of money, not because there were so many good teams who were missing the playoffs. That's why those teams are 0-6 with uncompetitive games more often than not.

It's not like baseball playoffs where getting into the playoffs means anything can happen. Football playoffs generally the better team just wins. I believe something like only 1 of the last 24 teams to play in the Super Bowl didn't win their division that year.

If they get in as the 7th seed and are relatively healthy there would be absolutely no team that would want to play them and A LOT of people would pick the Bengals to win that game on the road. 

(11-14-2023, 12:18 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: They showed an interesting graphic, late in the first half last night.  Josh Allen responsible for 201 TDs, and 93 turnovers.

I've been telling people this for years. He is a loose cannon out there and isn't good. He turns the ball over WAY too much in order for anyone to take him seriously. 

You guys are kind of weird saying that if we lose Thursday the season is over.

They most likely are favored in 5 of the remaining 7 games. That gets you to 10 wins...which is most likely the 3rd wild card spot.

You have to remember that other teams in our division play each other as well. The Steelers are going to fade HARD when they lose to the Browns and us in back to back weeks. And then us and the Ravens in the last 3 weeks of the season. The Steelers will be the odd team out.

(11-14-2023, 02:04 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: If they get in as the 7th seed and are relatively healthy there would be absolutely no team that would want to play them and A LOT of people would pick the Bengals to win that game on the road. 

Ehhhhh....

Right now the 7th seed would play Baltimore in Baltimore. This year the Ravens have the 5th scoring offense and the 1st scoring defense.

The Bengals were better last year than this year and they barely squeaked out a last second miracle win against Tyler Huntley while in Cincinnati.

(11-14-2023, 03:15 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Ehhhhh....

Right now the 7th seed would play Baltimore in Baltimore. This year the Ravens have the 5th scoring offense and the 1st scoring defense.

The Bengals were better last year than this year and they barely squeaked out a last second miracle win against Tyler Huntley while in Cincinnati.

context. They had 2 back up tackles for the majority of that game. I think Jonah and OBJr are certainly upgrades over Carman and Adenji

(11-14-2023, 03:17 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: context. They had 2 back up tackles for the majority of that game. I think Jonah and OBJr are certainly upgrades over Carman and Adenji

Context. They had Tyler Huntley at QB, they were missing their leading rusher, and they had only 1 guy on their team with at least 500 receiving yards. It should have never been close.

The idea that if the Bengals sneak in at the 7 seed they'll be some unstoppable juggernaut that nobody will want to face and will be favored on the road against Baltimore by "a LOT" of people is just not based in reality.

(11-14-2023, 03:24 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Context. They had Tyler Huntley at QB, they were missing their leading rusher, and they had only 1 guy on their team with at least 500 receiving yards. It should have never been close.

The idea that if the Bengals sneak in at the 7 seed they'll be some unstoppable juggernaut that nobody will want to face and will be favored on the road against Baltimore by "a LOT" of people is just not based in reality.

the offense was overmatched once Jonah left. Their defense started to dominate cincy. Quick 3 and outs giving the bengals defense less time to rest, while giving more opportunities for the ravens offense

And Lamar hasnt proven anything as a playoff qb