(Yesterday, 03:52 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Nice post Ike. I sometimes forget about Burks, but he actually might be the starter next to Logan early this season. Really like Knight, Barrett
and what I saw from Shaka Heyward last year as well. Don't understand people talking up Pratt like he was a bright spot on the Defense last
year. I watched this guy get completely burnt last season I don't know how many times. It was ugly.
Pratt was decent back when Golden was the LB coach and the moment Golden was hired as DC Pratt asked to be traded. Tells me all I need to
know.
I'm certainly not talking him up, but it takes more than 2 rookies, and a STer who had a really good playoff run (for another team even) to make me think we're good at LB.
(Yesterday, 05:41 PM)jj22 Wrote: I don't want to be one of those great 1pm teams who can't get past the divisional/championshiop round.... We were the only AFC team that could and if you look back at our 2021 and 2022 defenses we didn't have all probowlers or hall of fame players. We had playmakers who knew how to win big games (we were what? 10-6 regular season in 2021).
I think you guys are significantly underestimating the need for big game players.
And how?
We were flush with probowlers, hall of famers, and talented players on offense and defense during the Palmer era. What did that get us?
Need I remind everyone of the Dalton era and the great players of those teams (at 1pm).
Having a Hall of Fame QB isn't enough. Ask the Bills, ask the Ravens, ask any team since the 2000's. NE didn't have the best talent in the league. They had players who could win big games. KC isn't the most talented team in the league.... They have players who can step up with the lights shine brightest.
In 2021 and 2022 we had these big game players at every level. We need that again if we want to get past the Divisional round or AFCC. We are down to 1 (maybe 2 if you want to count Burk who was only worth 2 years 5 million and less that 1 million guaranteed)...
We are dangerously close to being a perennial Divisional round out.... If that. The "stars" and HOF "talent" we have now couldn't even get us to the playoffs.... So we are in some trouble with experience on the roster.
...
The reason we were not in the playoffs the past two years were due to injuries to burrow and an jnordinate amount amount of injuries to players both offensively and defensively...Mr Pratt us a multimillionaire many times over..he will be signed quite soon by another team and will have a great life
The reason we were not in the playoffs the past two years were due to injuries to burrow and an jnordinate amount amount of injuries to players both offensively and defensively...Mr Pratt us a multimillionaire many times over..he will be signed quite soon by another team and will have a great life
Web don't have the excuses of injury for 2024. 2023 ok...
I don't care about what Pratt goes on to do. I care about having a team that has players that shine when the lights are brightest. Players you can count on in the clutch. It's as if we learned nothing around here from the Palmer/Dalton era.
Quote:"Success doesn’t mean every single move they make is good" ~ Anonymous "Let not the dumb have to educate" ~ jj22
(Yesterday, 06:16 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: I think Pratt is a prime example to think of the good times and wish him well. He was a part of some of the biggest moments in this era of Bengals football. Linebacker is a position that helps to be young and the writing was on the wall. Hope the best for him in football and after.
I'm like many of you, I am fine with this. Far too many games pratt was getting drug down the field allowing bonus yards while trying to strip the ball, or was slow to get to the play, and offenses were exploiting our soft middle. Now like many of you I hope with the recent restructures of ( Moss, Stone, Volson) with pratts release I would like 1 of two things to happen with that money. In order:
1) Extend Trey for 2 more years for @ 31 per year.
or
2) Sign Julian Blackmon (S) (Indy) - he would upgrade the back of the secondary and allow Battle to come in on certain packages like we did with Tre Flowers a few years back.
We'll all miss Germaine for his finer points, but the man was instrumental in a couple of deep playoff runs.
Quote:On a long and lonesome highway, east of Omaha
You can listen to the engine moanin' out his one note song
You can think about the woman or the girl you knew the night before
But your thoughts will soon be wanderin' the way they always do
When you're ridin' sixteen hours and there's nothin' there to do
And you don't feel much like ridin', you just wish the trip was through
Here I am
On the road again
There I am
On the stage
Here I go
Playin' star again
There I go
Turn the page
Here's to Germaine finding new life in a new place.
Volson is meh, but I like him, and he has far exceeded my expectations
The reason we were not in the playoffs the past two years were due to injuries to burrow and an jnordinate amount amount of injuries to players both offensively and defensively...Mr Pratt us a multimillionaire many times over..he will be signed quite soon by another team and will have a great life
Except, last year our defense got better as guys got injured and were replaced with younger guys.
Our offense was elite last year.
I'd blame no playoffs on:
1) Bad defense
2) No pass rush
3) Timely turnovers
4) Collapses in games we led
5) Timely bad kicking
wow 6 yrs! Thank you for your service Pratt! No drama, consistent play and part of the SB team.. you will be missed. It's gonna be another rebuild season for the D.
(Yesterday, 10:18 PM)Bengalitis Wrote: wow 6 yrs! Thank you for your service Pratt! No drama, consistent play and part of the SB team.. you will be missed. It's gonna be another rebuild season for the D.
(Yesterday, 03:15 PM)ERIC1 Wrote: I hope they trade hendrickson and get some high draft picks...aside from his sacks that usually occur over 4 or 5 games...he disappears..spends the entire game doing a hughschool wrestling match with the opposing teams offensive tackle
That's called trolling. You've already been shown it's not true, yet you keep posting it.
Bad, transparent trolling at that.
"Hope is not a strategy"
"The measure of a man's intelligence can be seen in the length of his argument."
(Yesterday, 01:53 PM)CJD Wrote: There was more than enough cap space. But you never know what this team has in terms of cash. Maybe this, along with the cuts to Moss' and Stone's salaries give the Bengals enough physical cash to hand to Hendrickson.
Because that's the only reason not to just give him what he's asking for at this point.
The FO does not have to give players what they want, and any signings now can impact other signings down the road, after the big two signings with Chase and Higgins, and age of Tre, i understand the cautious approach they are taking, and no one really know what Tre is asking for and if the Bengals have offered him a contract, all speculation
Hope Pratt finds a good home, he was a warrior type LB for us, last 5 years missed one game, no issues, hard worker from all accounts, wish him the best.
(Yesterday, 04:53 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Yea but if that's the case, it still hampers/hampered the Bengals to not have that freed up sooner and could have pursued other FAs earlier.
The only thing I can think of is the FO feels the roster is championship contender-worthy without Pratt today and the only things needed to improve the team were new coaches, a new true run-stuffing 1T, a new B/C tier starting RG, and some draft picks (which I would disagree with).
If we look at the new faces for the starters, the Bengals really are going to have just 3-5:
RG - Patrick
LG - Fairchild
NT - Slaton
SLB - Knight
Burks/Carter in 3-LB looks
Potentially just 2-3 if it ends up actually Volson and Ford winning the OG spots.
Will that be enough to confidently think the Bengals can get back to AFCCG/SB?
You are not wrong.
We also lost depth at CB (Hilton), S (Bell), OT (Brown), and TE (All injury). I know Holton & Bell clearly had lost a step, but they still graded out better than any other CB & S we have, respectively. Which is saying something.
Clearly, on D we feel that the change in scheme/coaches + continued development of our younger guys + a better health will make a significant improvement. We did get LB help (Burks, Knight, Carter, Giles-Harris), 1T help (Slaton) & Stewart. Plus bringing back BJ, Ossai, & Sample.
But we really need the DBs to play much better under Golden. And Hill & Turner being healthy should help. But CTB, D. Hill, Turner, Battle, Jenkins, Jackson, Murphy, and Ossai leveling up & Stone bouncing back is what we are counting on.
I think it is *mostly* too optimistic, but not crazy. And if we had paired the bounce back/level up strategy on D with a more agfressive upgrades to the IOL I'd be way more optimistic. But we, intentionally in my opinion, chose not no max cap space on the Chase/Tee deals ($11 mil), chose not to restructure Burow, even though he offered ($19 mil), and kept a couple guys around when cutting them instead of restructuring could have bought a frontline player ($7 mil for Moss/Volson).
Now, given the cash constraints the Brown family has, doing all 3 was always unlikely. But even 1 or 1.5 could have made a big difference.
Calais Campbell ($6 mil cap) and Teven Jenkins ($2.3 mil) were had for just over $8 mil combined. Throw in Risner/Hernandez for another $4-5 mil and we could have taken Watts or Winston Rd 3.
I am disappointed but not surprised. It is who the Brown family are. Ownership is an anchor to our title aspirations. It is just a fact. And even with the window for Trey/Burrow/Chase slipping away, they still cannot (or will not) do any better.
I guess there is still some time. And enough cap to get Trey done plus maybe one more vet move. But our $23 mil or so in cap is gonna get eaten up by a Trey deal.
(Yesterday, 08:41 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Except, last year our defense got better as guys got injured and were replaced with younger guys.
Our offense was elite last year.
I'd blame no playoffs on:
1) Bad defense
2) No pass rush
3) Timely turnovers
4) Collapses in games we led
5) Timely bad kicking
I have been saying and will continue to: the offense is NOT elite. Good, but not great.
We pass more than anyone so Burrow & Chase put up big numbers, but our offensive production is not elite. We lose close games where the O has a chance to ice it.
We were one dimensional, we pass more on 3rd/4th & short than any team in the league and have one of the worst conversion rates.
Apologies, I cannot find that link at present. We were 21st on 4th down conversions overall.
Here is an article with us throwing 46% on 3rd/4th and 1, highest in the league. And showing that teams rinning convert 74% while teams passing convert 57%.
We were 6th in points, and I'd argue Philly was better because they scored almost as much on fewer possessions (running team vs passing team). Tied for 7th in points per drive with the Packers. 7th/8th of 32 is NOT elite in my book. Barely top 25%.
I believe we were around 15th in points per drive in the 4th quarter. And I know we were 9th in 4th quarter scoring, despite trailing a lot. 1st quarter: 4th. 2nd quarter: 13th. 3rd quarter: 5th. 4th: 9th.
Again, big yardage does not mean elite performance. If we were more balanced, less obvious, better on short yardage, and couid run it better, we would be elite..
(9 hours ago)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: I have been saying and will continue to: the offense is NOT elite. Good, but not great.
We pass more than anyone so Burrow & Chase put up big numbers, but our offensive production is not elite. We lose close games where the O has a chance to ice it.
We were one dimensional, we pass more on 3rd/4th & short than any team in the league and have one of the worst conversion rates.
Apologies, I cannot find that link at present. We were 21st on 4th down conversions overall.
Here is an article with us throwing 46% on 3rd/4th and 1, highest in the league. And showing that teams rinning convert 74% while teams passing convert 57%.
We were 6th in points, and I'd argue Philly was better because they scored almost as much on fewer possessions (running team vs passing team). Tied for 7th in points per drive with the Packers. 7th/8th of 32 is NOT elite in my book. Barely top 25%.
I believe we were around 15th in points per drive in the 4th quarter. And I know we were 9th in 4th quarter scoring, despite trailing a lot. 1st quarter: 4th. 2nd quarter: 13th. 3rd quarter: 5th. 4th: 9th.
Again, big yardage does not mean elite performance. If we were more balanced, less obvious, better on short yardage, and couid run it better, we would be elite..
Do you feel the OL will be better in 2025? Let's be real, OG in 2024 was horrid. Will the revamped OL take us to elite? Will 3rd year Yoshi help us be better? Can Higgins stay on the field, if not can Yoshi and Gesicki pick up the slack?
I think our offense has a shot at being elite in 2025 as the ceiling and very good as the floor.
Please use 2025 free agency to fix the trenches, not the draft!!!!!!!!
(8 hours ago)Luvnit2 Wrote: Do you feel the OL will be better in 2025? Let's be real, OG in 2024 was horrid. Will the revamped OL take us to elite? Will 3rd year Yoshi help us be better? Can Higgins stay on the field, if not can Yoshi and Gesicki pick up the slack?
I think our offense has a shot at being elite in 2025 as the ceiling and very good as the floor.
I think Peters will definitely make the OL better. I think the protection will be better as Fairchild & Patrick are excellent in pass protection. Gesicki and Burrow’s chemistry will take a leap. Isovias will take another leap. I’m afraid the defense is a worry.
Romo “ so impressed with Zac ...1 of the best in the NFL… they are just fundamentally sound. Taylor the best winning % in the Playoffs of current coaches. Joe Burrow” Zac is the best head coach in the NFL & that gives me a lot of confidence." Taylor led the Bengals to their first playoff win since 1990, ending the longest active drought in the four major North American sports, en and appeared in Super Bowl LVI, the first since 1988.
(Yesterday, 07:13 PM)jason Wrote: I'm certainly not talking him up, but it takes more than 2 rookies, and a STer who had a really good playoff run (for another team even) to make me think we're good at LB.
What if Logan Wilson is healthy?
Burks was the best LB in the Playoffs last year and watch the tape of those rookies and tell me they are not impressive.
Cutting Pratt doesn't hurt one bit IMO. If anything, it helps so the rookies don't pick up the bad habits that Pratt picked up.
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