(10-07-2024, 12:20 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: people bring up the regular season stats, but nobody can deny that he steps it up and becomes brilliant in the postseason. AKA when it matters most

He definitely has, which I don't wish to downplay at all. But you've gotta get there first, and that's incredibly challenging if you're permanently 26th or worse in defensive rankings.

The two years we made it in, they were middle of the road and elevated in the postseason. Be interesting to see how much the 29th ranked defence etc would really be able to do the same.

(10-07-2024, 12:24 PM)TheCincinnatiKid Wrote: He definitely has, which I don't wish to downplay at all. But you've gotta get there first, and that's incredibly challenging if you're permanently 26th or worse in defensive rankings.

The two years we made it in, they were middle of the road and elevated in the postseason. Be interesting to see how much the 29th ranked defence etc would really be able to do the same.

the talent of this defense is far inferior to the 21 and 22 seasons, so of course it went from middle of the pack, to the bottom.

if by some miracle they make the playoffs, the defense should step it up, since that is Lou's M.O. But instead of going from average to great, they'll go from terrible to average.

Lou and the defense shut down Henry for 4 quarters. Now imagine if they had a second legit pass rusher to help Trey get to Lamar.

If we had Pitts D we would be unstoppable. All Lou has to do is be decent. We are not built to compete with the teams in our own division. You can give Zac props for the SB run but this team may not even win a division game this season. I’m so done with Zac and Lou but let’s face it, Zac’s not going anywhere. Lou on the other hand should be gone. We have to win our division. We need that defensive stud on D other than Hendrickson. Teams fear nobody on our D.

(10-07-2024, 12:20 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: people bring up the regular season stats, but nobody can deny that he steps it up and becomes brilliant in the postseason. AKA when it matters most

Fair point for sure .....and the talent is surely worse. If he's had a hand in drafting as people on here say, then some of that of personnel failure is on him. 

(10-07-2024, 12:36 PM)TKUHL Wrote: If we had Pitts D we would be unstoppable. All Lou has to do is be decent. We are not built to compete with the teams in our own division. You can give Zac props for the SB run but this team may not even win a division game this season. I’m so done with Zac and Lou but let’s face it, Zac’s not going anywhere. Lou on the other hand should be gone. We have to win our division. We need that defensive stud on D other than Hendrickson. Teams fear nobody on our D.

I get your sentiment....and agree somewhat. However, look at what the AFC North has done in the playoffs over the last five years, excluding Cincinnati. It ain't pretty. The rest of the division needs to get out of the 50s and into modern football, LMAO. It's a catch 22....if you build a quality defense, and a slow, methodical offense, you dominate this division. Then you get to the postseason and speed an innovation kills. I dunno the answer.....but I don't like losing a bunch of division games either.

(10-07-2024, 12:28 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: the talent of this defense is far inferior to the 21 and 22 seasons, so of course it went from middle of the pack, to the bottom.

if by some miracle they make the playoffs, the defense should step it up, since that is Lou's M.O. But instead of going from average to great, they'll go from terrible to average.

Lou and the defense shut down Henry for 4 quarters. Now imagine if they had a second legit pass rusher to help Trey get to Lamar.

It's definitely to his credit that he's gotten his guys to play their best stuff in the Postseason. He seems to be the only DC who has consistently had a handle of Mahomes.

They did a great job on Derrick Henry for 4 quarters, but John Harbaugh told us himself... because we were playing the run, they had big play opportunities there, and needed to start taking them. The 2nd half they did just that, and our defence was zero match for them. 

Hopefully they would elevate again in the postseason if we make it, but it's certainly going to be far easier to elevate and gameplan with a middle of the road defence than with a bottom of the barrel one. Personally think it's an exponential drop. But the regular season stats for Anarumo are far from great across his entire time here.

(10-07-2024, 12:12 PM)Timanky12 Wrote: Lou’s defense ranking over the years

2024 31st in points 29.0 - 30th in rushing 151.4. - 19th in passing 214.0 - 26th in total yards 365.4
2023 21st in points 22.6 - 26th in rushing 126.2. - 28th in passing 248.4 - 31st in total yards  374.6
2022 6th in points 20.1 -   7th in rushing 106.6 -   23rd in passing 229.1. - 16th in total yards 335.7
2021 18th in points 22.1 - 5th in rushing 102.5. - 26th in passing 248.4. - 18th in total yards 350.8
2020 22nd in points 26.5 - 29th in rushing 148.0 - 18th in passing 248.4 - 26th in total yards 389.2
2019 25th in points 26.3 - 32nd in rushing 148.9 - 21st in passing 244.4 - 29th in total yards 393.7

How is this acceptable results. Any defense at all and we probably would have won 2 Super-bowls by now.

We made a Superbowl run and an AFC  championship run in part because of the Defense.  Our offensive line is why we don't have a superbowl title. One year due to injury and one year to it being ass.

(10-07-2024, 12:57 PM)J24 Wrote: We made a Superbowl run and an AFC  championship run in part because of the Defense.  Our offensive line is why we don't have a superbowl title. One year due to injury and one year to it being ass.

Here's the rankings of offense and defense the past 4 seasons:
2021 - 7th in Points For, 17th in Points Allowed
2022 - 7th in Points For, 6th in Points Allowed
2023 - 16th in Points For, 21st in Points Allowed
2024 (5 games) - 5th in Points For, 31st in Points Allowed

Bengals have been steadily declining since good veterans on defense have departed and they've been putting more and more money into the offense instead.

Back in 2021, Bengals had the 3rd highest cap spent on defense. In 2022, 2nd highest cap spent on defense. It's declined since then.
Compare that to the offense, who went from 14th highest cap spent in 2021>11th highest in 2022>10th in 2023>5th in 2024.

We knew at some point this was going to happen.
Bengals needed to hit on their defensive draft picks as veterans left to make room for more $$ being spent on offense.

We're seeing some picks on defense turn out well. That is not the main issue. What is the main issue is the players do not seem capable of executing the system at present. Also tackling is terrible. BOTH of these go to coaching. A good coach tunes the system to what the players can do consistently. A good defensive coach hammers home tackling. For example, the DL played pretty well Sunday but tackling was absent and we're seeing the malady from last season where the secondary sits in their zones and don't react / roll to the play in progress. This is why opposing receivers always are wide open.

(10-07-2024, 12:20 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: people bring up the regular season stats, but nobody can deny that he steps it up and becomes brilliant in the postseason. AKA when it matters most

They relied on turnovers in playoffs to advance, if they don’t get them, they lose.
They can’t stop teams unless they get that turnover. That’s no way to build a defense, and let the teams march up and down the field.
 

(10-07-2024, 01:15 PM)Timanky12 Wrote: They relied on turnovers in playoffs to advance, if they don’t get them, they lose.
They can’t stop teams unless they get that turnover. That’s no way to build a defense, and let the teams march up and down the field.
 

It happened time and time again. Those turnovers weren’t flukes. Lou clearly knows how to confuse offenses in the playoffs

This is when people start reaching to prove their narratives. “Lou got lucky with turnovers!”

(10-07-2024, 01:20 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: It happened time and time again. Those turnovers weren’t flukes. Lou clearly knows how to confuse offenses in the playoffs

This is when people start reaching to prove their narratives. “Lou got lucky with turnovers!”

Lou definitely knows how to confuse people, especially his own defense, who’s constantly out of position of every play.

(10-07-2024, 12:20 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: people bring up the regular season stats, but nobody can deny that he steps it up and becomes brilliant in the postseason. AKA when it matters most

I agree, but he can't be brilliant in the postseason if we're not IN the postseason and with this defense, we may not make the postseason.