The Ravens losing Mike Macdonald is huge.

The Texans had 17 straight games without a 100 rusher then ran over top of our defense. This happens a lot of teams struggle against the rest of the NFL teams and destroy our defense. The bend but do not break defense where we are only decent when they get to our 20-yard line and the field becomes so condensed that we can do decent with the turnovers included. Without the turnovers they would score much more, and we cannot count on turnovers the defense needs a facelift and Lou needs to earn his paycheck and fix this mess.

On offense we need to mix it up as well running the ball out of shotgun is a bad idea all the time. Someone needs to take control and reinvent this offense and get the run game going.

(01-31-2024, 05:54 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I completely agree but, like I said in my last sentence, I'd rather play in a tough division and be ready for January than have a cake walk and be killed in the playoffs.

Even if you think we wouldn't get killed in the playoffs, I still love playing the toughest football games.

Not sure about that afc north went 1-3 in playoffs as a stud division which means wins in playoffs,  I rather win like KC does knowing you are a good team but get home field advantage do to a bad division 

(01-31-2024, 09:53 PM)bengals67 Wrote: All loses to AFC north teams this year was because both of our lines got dominated. End of story.

I wish we could clone Munoz.

And our wrs got shut down and qbs played bad end of story

(01-31-2024, 10:29 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: And our wrs got shut down and qbs played bad end of story

Even if we take out the 2nd Steelers game where Tee had 140 yards and a TD because it was garbage time, he also had 89 yards and 2 TD’s against the Ravens in week 2.

And Chase had 81 yards in the 1st Steelers game that was actually close.

(01-30-2024, 05:16 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: We are a finese team. Those other teams are not.

Hence the trouble.

We lose the LOS to all three teams, on both sides of the ball, almost every time. Burrow bails us out sometimes, but gets killed doing it.

Mediocre trench play is not good enough.

Your first statement is horse shit. So Cleveland and Steelers got their asses handed to them in Rd1 by 2 teams that, we either beat or should have, if Boyd didn't have his head shoved up his ass.. And then Baltimore got beat by a team our back up QB kept us in that game....

(01-31-2024, 10:40 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Even if we take out the 2nd Steelers game where Tee had 140 yards and a TD because it was garbage time, he also had 89 yards and 2 TD’s against the Ravens in week 2.

And Chase had 81 yards in the 1st Steelers game that was actually close.

Chase + Higgins + Boyd in the 6 AFCN games...

53 catches on 95 targets (55.8%)
581 yards (11.0 yards per catch/6.1 yards per target)
4 TDs

(01-31-2024, 10:58 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Chase + Higgins + Boyd in the 5 AFCN games...

52 catches on 93 targets (55.9%)
577 yards (11.1 yards per catch/6.2 yards per target)
4 TDs

Never said they balled out, but 80 yard games are not “shut down.”

(01-31-2024, 10:58 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Chase + Higgins + Boyd in the 6 AFCN games...

53 catches on 95 targets (55.8%)
581 yards (11.0 yards per catch/6.1 yards per target)
4 TDs

Also, Tee and Chase missing a combined 4 division games definitely skews those totals some.

(01-31-2024, 10:40 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Even if we take out the 2nd Steelers game where Tee had 140 yards and a TD because it was garbage time, he also had 89 yards and 2 TD’s against the Ravens in week 2.

And Chase had 81 yards in the 1st Steelers game that was actually close.

A bit of sarcasm,  to just blame lines is weak normal excuse, if our oline was that bad then a qb and wrs would have gad no time to get yards etc.... in end we were out played as a team, we normally were below our avg on offense and struggled on defense.. 

(01-31-2024, 10:04 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: The Ravens losing Mike Macdonald is huge.

 Huge?? Dont think so, sadly ravens have lost multiple DCs and it does not seem to matter.. their defense still shines

(02-01-2024, 12:02 AM)Essex Johnson Wrote:  Huge?? Dont think so, sadly ravens have lost multiple DCs and it does not seem to matter.. their defense still shines

Sure, man. Losing one of the best DC’s in the league who produced a historic triple crown defense (points allowed, sacks, takeaways) isn’t huge. Whatever you say, Essex.

(01-31-2024, 06:55 PM)BengalYankee Wrote: The last few years the Chiefs were in a cake walk division and look what it got them two SB's.

Brady was in the aforementioned NFC South cake walk division and he got a SB there, before that he was in the cake walk AFC Least and he got 6 SB's from there and 9 SB appearances. 

(01-31-2024, 07:06 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: nah. Brady dealt with cake walks constantly, and they were always ready in january

(01-31-2024, 10:27 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Not sure about that afc north went 1-3 in playoffs as a stud division which means wins in playoffs,  I rather win like KC does knowing you are a good team but get home field advantage do to a bad division 

The Chiefs and the Patriots are well run organizations with two of the best QBS of all-time. It's apples to oranges to compare the two.

Aside from that, I like the competitiveness.

BREAKING: The #Titans are closing in on a deal to hire #Ravens DBs coach Dennard Wilson as their new DC, sources tell @BleacherReport.

Wilson has quickly risen up the coaching ladder after helping mold Baltimore’s secondary into one of the best units in football. pic.twitter.com/rAaP3sYjzP

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) February 1, 2024

He was a top option to replace Macdonald. Thanks to Callahan for stealing him away from them.

(02-01-2024, 12:02 AM)Essex Johnson Wrote:  Huge?? Dont think so, sadly ravens have lost multiple DCs and it does not seem to matter.. their defense still shines

They are going to have some serious personnel decisions to make, as well.  They have some key players that are eligible for free agency and their cap situation does not look good at this point.

(01-29-2024, 11:36 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: When a team goes 9-8 but underperforms in division play at 1-5 a problem definitely exists. Winning just two more division games — or maybe even one more — would have likely placed the Bengals in the AFC playoffs.

Also — and let’s be brutally honest — the Bengals should rightly have gone 0-6 in the division. In Week 18 Cleveland started their fifth string practice squad’s little brothers to save their starters for the playoffs.

In 2021 and 2022, the years the Bengals went to the AFC Championship, the team featured winning records against division opponents on the way to winning the AFC North and thereby securing at least one home playoff game. I am of the firm belief that Cincinnati needs to refocus effort on winning the AFC North and possibly securing a higher seed in the playoffs.

Success in the AFC North requires a shutdown defense, a robust running game, and a solid offensive line. That’s where to focus in the offseason.

Even with a healthy Joe, I don’t see us even being competitive in the AFC…let alone win the division.

(02-01-2024, 01:06 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Sure, man. Losing one of the best DC’s in the league who produced a historic triple crown defense (points allowed, sacks, takeaways) isn’t huge. Whatever you say, Essex.

Just stating facts, they have been very good on defense for a while, going though multiple DCs,, they had Wink for few years did a solid  job, now if you posted Harbaugh retires that would be huge...

(01-31-2024, 08:50 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Bengals gonna need to change up some of their scheme if they're gonna primarily focus on beating the heavy-run teams in the AFC North.
But they changed their approach to beating the likes BUF and KC.
And if the playoffs were any indication, the AFC North run-heavy teams didn't really do that well after all.

I prefer being able to beat the Chiefs and Bills, as long as the Bengals can find their way back into the postseason.
Heck, they almost made it with Burrow being either out or largely hobbled for all but 5 games of the season.

Agree,

But it's not just the AFCN they need to change their scheme for, it's for everybody. I get it we've had success playing the let Joe Burrow go whup em scheme.  But is that sustainable?

Or should we try and get more efficient at running the ball and take some pressure off JB? 

(02-01-2024, 07:02 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Agree,

But it's not just the AFCN they need to change their scheme for, it's for everybody. I get it we've had success playing the let Joe Burrow go whup em scheme.  But is that sustainable?

Or should we try and get more efficient at running the ball and take some pressure off JB? 

I'll pose the question....

What's better?
1) Winning the division every year by beating most of the conference but getting beat by the likes of the Chiefs and Bills every time (specifically in the playoffs)? or...
2) Being one of the very few teams equipped to challenge and realistically beat these guys who are repeatedly getting late into the postseason, even if it means maybe not always winning the divison?

(02-01-2024, 07:24 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I'll pose the question....

What's better?
1) Winning the division every year by beating most of the conference but getting beat by the likes of the Chiefs and Bills every time (specifically in the playoffs)? or...
2) Being one of the very few teams equipped to challenge and realistically beat these guys who are repeatedly getting late into the postseason, even if it means maybe not always winning the divison?

There’s nothing wrong with molding your roster with one eye on the matchup in your division. But this discussion is great but overanalyzed. The right answer is we need to run the ball better and I’m told the staff felt like they got pushed around too much on defense. The Steelers are looking to get back to running the ball better by hiring Arthur Smith as OC. Since we play 6 teams with strong emphasis on rushing the football it should be a concern