Would be surprised if this was the year to rewrite a little 'big stage game' history, so since they have already won and tied big stage games, don't count on them to win anymore they have (Giants, Texans, Steelers) not a betting man, but if I were, I'd wager a few on this.

(11-01-2016, 03:43 PM)ItsOdellThurman Wrote: Not really.

Ravens beat Steelers.

Puts Pittsburgh and Baltimore at 4-4.  If we then sweep Baltimore, beat Pittsburgh and beat Cleveland, we're at 7 wins, which in the right scenario, could contend for the North.

If we win the RIGHT games, 8-7-1 could win the AFC North.  Probably will take 9-6-1 at the worst, but stranger things have happened.  Pittsburgh and Baltimore's schedules are NOT easy.

If this team suddenly starts to play well we aren't out of it. But since they've yet to do that this year it's a lot of hope factor involved in believing that they will suddenly beat teams with better records.

We don't play many teams with "better records." We play....

Giants 4-3
Ravens 3-4
Ravens 3-4
Steelers 4-3
Browns 0-8
Eagles 4-3
Texans 5-3
Bills 4-4

We play one team who is more than a game over .500...and they have maybe the worst starting QB in the NFL.

In 2012 the Bengals were sitting at 3-5 and then destroyed the Giants in Cincy and went on a roll. We almost ran the table except for a silly come from ahead loss to Dallas. I'm not sure that I see that happening this year, but it sure would be nice to put beat downs on the Giants and Bills and then get rolling from there. The way I see it, a turnaround is squarely on the shoulders (and behind the aviators) of Paulie G.

(11-02-2016, 12:42 PM)ItsOdellThurman Wrote: We don't play many teams with "better records."  We play....

Giants 4-3
Ravens 3-4
Ravens 3-4
Steelers 4-3
Browns 0-8
Eagles 4-3
Texans 5-3
Bills 4-4

We play one team who is more than a game over .500...and they have maybe the worst starting QB in the NFL.

Those games are definately all winnable...with that said, we could lose to any of those teams also.

Eli Manning is probably looking at some footage from the Redskins game and drooling right about now. And yes, in 2012 the Bengals put a beat-down on the Giants. It was such a one-sided game that the channel I was watching it on in California cut away to bring a more "competitive" game.

That game was at PBS and it was the week following Hurricane Sandy, so it's probably not a stretch to say that some of the Giant players were a little distracted. This year it will be at the Meadowlands and it will be much harder.

Of course if the Bengals can somehow win against the Giants it would infuse some new hope into the season.

(11-02-2016, 03:43 PM)TreasureCoastBenGal Wrote: Eli Manning is probably looking at some footage from the Redskins game and drooling right about now. 

Yeah, but with the same stupid expression.

(11-01-2016, 02:27 PM)Yojimbo Wrote: How many games in a row are going to be deemed "must win to save the season" before fans accept this season is done. We can't compete with the contenders and sneaking into the playoffs and losing in the first round will just keep Marv employed that much longer. I say use the rest of the season as practice, get some young guys like Fisher, Vigil and hopefully Jackson some experience.

THIS!!! A real heads-up coach would do it.

(11-02-2016, 01:00 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Those games are definately all winnable...with that said, we could lose to any of those teams also.

I can comfortably predict the Bengals will likely win only half of the games listed.

IMO the only game that is NOT a must win is the one after we clinch a playoff spot, unless we don't clinch until the last game of the season.

In my opinion, ALL games are "must win" in the NFL. You absolutely have to play with fire and have every intention of grabbing a high seed in the playoffs, rather than ending up in that wild card situation where you depend on other teams to win or lose to help you get in.

I don't have much confidence in this team this season. The defense is pitiful and the offensive line is destroying the rest of the offense's ability to get anything done. They've had bad defense before, but Palmer and Co. were high powered enough to score points and overcome the defensive woes.

Unless there's a miraculous change during the bye week, I don't know that they even back in to the playoffs this year.

(11-02-2016, 12:42 PM)ItsOdellThurman Wrote: We don't play many teams with "better records."  We play....

Giants 4-3
Ravens 3-4
Ravens 3-4
Steelers 4-3
Browns 0-8
Eagles 4-3
Texans 5-3
Bills 4-4

We play one team who is more than a game over .500...and they have maybe the worst starting QB in the NFL.

You do know that from that list only the Browns have more losses than we do. With the tie being a half a loss, we have more losses than all those teams, except the Browns. Sad, I know.

Of course, that could change with us having a bye this week. The Steelers beat us pretty soundly earlier, we generally don't play well against the Texans (for reasons best known to the QB coach) and the Eagles and Giants and Bills are good enough to knock this team off the way it has been playing.

(11-02-2016, 01:00 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Those games are definately all winnable...with that said, we could lose to any of those teams also.

Yep, this team is quite capable of losing any of those games.

I was thinking last game was a must win, but I knew it would be doom and gloom if we lost, which we tied and it's still doom and gloom but yes this is definitely it, we are already in the playoffs now you can say. And I'd like to point out this is a match up I want to see for future reference, I want to see how dalton looks vs eli manning. To compare their throws, because yes we got issuesxbut dalton missed a lot of throws, I am not happy about that, when we lose, there's always something about dalton I didn't like. This game he couldn't hit aj in stride and there was more then just that, he locked on too green and could of threw 3 picks if Norman caught it. This is it dalton,season on the line, vs eli Manning who has two rings under bright lights, let's see how you play.

(11-03-2016, 01:16 AM)BengalChris Wrote: You do know that from that list only the Browns have more losses than we do. With the tie being a half a loss, we have more losses than all those teams, except the Browns. Sad, I know.

Of course, that could change with us having a bye this week. The Steelers beat us pretty soundly earlier, we generally don't play well against the Texans (for reasons best known to the QB coach) and the Eagles and Giants and Bills are good enough to knock this team off the way it has been playing.


Yep, this team is quite capable of losing any of those games.

What? They beat us by 1 score. With a TON of help from the refs.

(11-03-2016, 02:55 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: What? They beat us by 1 score. With a TON of help from the refs.

I forgot about the refs, not sure how cause I was upset about it at the time.

Still felt like a bigger loss, at least to me. Seemed like they answered everything we did with a little more.

Maybe the refs just wanted the Steelers to win to prove they deserved to win that playoff game.

(11-02-2016, 03:43 PM)TreasureCoastBenGal Wrote: Eli Manning is probably looking at some footage from the Redskins game and drooling right about now.

Eli Manning is not having a good year this year. In 7 games he has only thrown 8 touchdowns and has been intercepted 6 times. I think he's drooling, but it's probably from too many hits. That said, it is the game after the bye, on a Monday night.....so I expect the Bengals to be totally flat.

(11-02-2016, 12:55 PM)lostpoet2 Wrote: In 2012 the Bengals were sitting at 3-5 and then destroyed the Giants in Cincy and went on a roll.  We almost ran the table except for a silly come from ahead loss to Dallas.  I'm not sure that I see that happening this year, but it sure would be nice to put beat downs on the Giants and Bills and then get rolling from there.  The way I see it, a turnaround is squarely on the shoulders (and behind the aviators) of Paulie G.

100% absolutely.  When we went on that run in 2012 we gave up around 13 points a game for the final 8 games.  That being said, I'm just not seeing the talent come through on this defense that we had then.  In 2012 you had Michael Johnson and Geno Atkins put up 10+ sacks with Carlos Dunlap not far behind.  You also had significantly better linebacker play from Burfict and Maualuga that year.  I'm hoping for a turnaround but honestly not banking on it.  

I'm being selfish, but, I'm using all my favors and good karma on the Bengals beating the Giants. I'm not saving any for the other games.

I'm picking the Giants to beat the Bengals next week. We just have too many issues to win at their stadium. I'm throwing in the towel for this season already. We were due for a bad year.

(11-03-2016, 10:43 PM)guyofthetiger Wrote: I'm picking the Giants to beat the Bengals next week. We just have too many issues to win at their stadium. I'm throwing in the towel for this season already. We were due for a bad year.

Wait, we beat the Jets in their stadium on 9-11 and you don't think we can go there and beat the Giants???