Did you think, "Uh oh..." as in this season is going to be the way it has gone. A game? A moment? A half? Perhaps even a play, that you noticed, man, this is going to be a rough year.

I'm tempted to go with the NY Jets pass rush destroying Dalton, but I really think it was the Washington game in London. We had a solid lead, went conservative and folded. That really made a huge difference in the season.

It was early on, between the O-Line looking just over matched and then the Dallas blowout this season was just going to be one of those years. Best thing now is start the young guys and play for draft position. Each win hurts this team now, and if we can lay down and give the Ravens a win to keep shittsburgh out of the Playoffs, then you do it.

(12-19-2016, 04:45 AM)The Caped Crusader Wrote: Did you think, "Uh oh..." as in this season is going to be the way it has gone. A game? A moment? A half? Perhaps even a play, that you noticed, man, this is going to be a rough year.

I'm tempted to go with the NY Jets pass rush destroying Dalton, but I really think it was the Washington game in London. We had a solid lead, went conservative and folded. That really made a huge difference in the season.

For me, the game against the Bills was the last nail in the coffin. That was the first game I can recall seeing Geno not going balls out on every play.  At one point he was kind of kneeling on the ground in the middle of a play with the QB scampered off to his right. Alarm bells were going off for sure then.

Early in the season I had a feeling we would have a down year, we were honestly due for one

(12-19-2016, 05:04 AM)Murdock2420 Wrote: It was early on, between the O-Line looking just over matched and then the Dallas blowout this season was just going to be one of those years. Best thing now is start the young guys and play for draft position. Each win hurts this team now, and if we can lay down and give the Ravens a win to keep shittsburgh out of the Playoffs, then you do it.

Dallas was a tough game. I agree. I think mainly because they just ran all over us. Over. Over. Over. It was painful. This season has been almost entirely built on painful/hard to watch games.

(12-19-2016, 05:23 AM)Burma Wrote: For me, the game against the Bills was the last nail in the coffin. That was the first game I can recall seeing Geno not going balls out on every play.  At one point he was kind of kneeling on the ground in the middle of a play with the QB scampered off to his right. Alarm bells were going off for sure then.

I agree. I've seen that at multiple times this season. Just a lack of burst from the pass rush. No players wanting to make plays. Just bums me out. 

(12-19-2016, 05:04 AM)Murdock2420 Wrote: It was early on, between the O-Line looking just over matched and then the Dallas blowout this season was just going to be one of those years. Best thing now is start the young guys and play for draft position. Each win hurts this team now, and if we can lay down and give the Ravens a win to keep shittsburgh out of the Playoffs, then you do it.

"Each win hurts this team now if we can lay down and give the Ravens a win"
Wow.....just wow. That's the ole competitive spirit ! Lay down as if your job is not on the line.
I hear this more and more. Is this what our fan base is becoming?
Sigh*

When we were 1-2 and Nugent was already struggling.

Also, AJ Green had to have monster games for us to win.

Watching the oline the first couple games was a good indicator. ..

Zeke's long TD run.

I still had hope in the beginning, and even as the season went on. I'll always root for this team. But as that run happened, I had a gut feeling that this season wasn't going to go the way any of us had hoped.

The moment Hue Jackson left for Cleveland.....

(12-19-2016, 08:47 AM)wolfkaosaun Wrote: Zeke's long TD run.

I still had hope in the beginning, and even as the season went on. I'll always root for this team. But as that run happened, I had a gut feeling that this season wasn't going to go the way any of us had hoped.

That run was nothing like I've ever seen, it was more foreshadowing that Dallas was going to kick everyone's ass this year.

But yeah our defense and offensive line looked horrible from the first minute of the season.

(12-19-2016, 04:45 AM)The Caped Crusader Wrote: Did you think, "Uh oh..." as in this season is going to be the way it has gone. A game? A moment? A half? Perhaps even a play, that you noticed, man, this is going to be a rough year.

I'm tempted to go with the NY Jets pass rush destroying Dalton, but I really think it was the Washington game in London. We had a solid lead, went conservative and folded. That really made a huge difference in the season.

If I am honest with myself, it is probably when I first read the schedule.  The officiating in the first steeler game told me all I needed to know about their chances.  I had this stupid belief that the team would rise up and overcome it all, but instead they split the season with the defense playing horrible in the beginning and the offense playing horrible in the end.  

I have little to no faith in Zampeze as an OC, and Marv has HC, but I don't see either going anywhere.  

season was over when we went 1-2 with lucky win against the Jets.

Offensive line is awful starting with one of the worst centers in the NFL who has digressed in three years and a D line that cannot pressure the QB.

As soon as we lost last year in the playoffs I knew this was going to be a down year.  Not just losing, but the way we lost.  Losing our heads, letting emotions take over, to our arch-rival.  The media calling us the villains.  NFL bias.   Also, we were due to have a decline in play.  Losing our top two coordinators finally caught up to us.  There were a number of signs pointing to this season.  Losing two of our 3 top receivers, Jones and Sanu. 

(12-19-2016, 10:40 AM)BengalHawk62 Wrote: As soon as we lost last year in the playoffs I knew this was going to be a down year.  Not just losing, but the way we lost.  Losing our heads, letting emotions take over, to our arch-rival.  The media calling us the villains.  NFL bias.   Also, we were due to have a decline in play.  Losing our top two coordinators finally caught up to us.  There were a number of signs pointing to this season.  Losing two of our 3 top receivers, Jones and Sanu. 

Yeah, the playoff debacle was rather ominous.....then we didn't pay Nelson (who had another game clinching INT yesterday, BTW), I became even more uneasy.  The deal was sealed for me week 1.  Seven sacks and no run game, the o line was absolutely God awful.  Despite the effort Dalton put up that day, I knew he could not sustain those type of numbers with that level of pressure all year long.  You can't win in this league when you can't win the trenches.

Dallas Game,

When I seen how thoroughly we were outplayed, out coached, over matched in that game I knew in my heart it was gonna be a long season.

I knew we were going to have a struggle early on because of the new changes with the coaching staff and personal. I always thought that if we finished the first 8 games at 500 or above we would be fine but after the tie against the Redskins I knew it was draft time.

The Dallas game. One team was on the way up. For the Bengals, they were headed down. That was the beginning of the 1-5-1 stretch.

Once we had both Burfict and Eifert back and it still wasn't enough to overcome our terrible oline, terrible kicker, and nonexistent run game. Getting 2 Pro Bowl caliber players injected back into the lineup not helping much was pretty eye opening.

Funny to think how many games we were winning or had chances to win. Both Pittsburgh games, NY Giants game, Redskins game, Baltimore.