You say "gut feeling"?

Then, yeah, I think we will make the playoffs. Same thing that happened when we were coming off our last two losing seasons. And both of those times we were coming off 4 win seasons which looked worse than '16.

(03-12-2017, 11:09 PM)fredtoast Wrote: You say "gut feeling"?

Then, yeah, I think we will make the playoffs.  Same thing that happened when we were coming off our last two losing seasons.  And both of those times we were coming off 4 win seasons which looked worse than '16.

Can I have some of whatever you're smoking?  I REALLY need it.

No way it will be a down year the window has closed on this team. I cant figure out who is worse Brown or Lewis. As long as those two clowns are around this team will not win a playoff game. People complained about the O-line last year wait to see them this year, and good old genius Marvin said he's not worried about the O-line.

Depends...

If we have a good draft, sure.

I say no. Even if the young tackles eventually become adequate or even good, it's going to take time for a line with 3 new to relatively new starters to gel. I think they'll take their lumps in a major way early in the season. Hopefully time and experience will mold them into a solid unit by season's end, but I don't see it happening right out of the preseason. The youth and inexperience will cost several games IMO.

I see a 5-6 win season.

(03-12-2017, 09:20 PM)GodFather Wrote: So as of now, give me your gut feeling on this upcoming season, do the Bengals finish the season above .500?

No.  Can't see it happening.  Too many question marks.  Too many holes to fill.  Too many things have to happen right.

Just like that little welder girl, and the Bengals the year Palmer left, no one gave them any chance at all. That was the first year of a 5 year playoff run..... hell yes, I'm in..... let's take this disaster to the playoffs.....

(03-13-2017, 12:27 AM)cincyfan429 Wrote: No way it will be a down year the window has closed on this team. I cant figure out who is worse Brown or Lewis. As long as those two clowns are around this team will not win a playoff game. People complained about the O-line last year wait to see them this year, and good old genius Marvin said he's not worried about the O-line.

Brown is definitely worse.  He makes Lewis worse.  

Yea why not. I'm going to look at everything and choose to be positive.

Yes we lost 2 good lineman, but looking at the positive we now get to see if the 3 youngsters we've drafted can turn out to be decent lineman, who knows. Maybe having a full year under his belt and moving to LT along with the criticism will make Cedric play his butt off and improve, maybe having a chance to be a full time starter at RT will help Fisher improve which will most likely mean the best RT play we've had in 3 years. Westerman was highly regarded as one of the better guards coming out last year, now that Zeitler got paid(grossly over), Westerman will come in and play well, plus the coaches love Hopkins who would be added depth. Now let's say the team brings back Smith and drafts an upgrade at C we could then move Bodine to a reserve C role and try him out at G where I think he's better suited to play.

Without any issues during training camp and pre-season we are getting a lot of guys back healthy. Last year saw us start the season off without Eifert who missed the first half of the season, then followed it up with Green/Gio both missing the second half of the season, not too mention Boling playing the entire year with a bad shoulder. Throw this in with having a first year OC, a new #2 WR, 3 rookies at WR and it's easy to see why we struggled to score. If we draft a rb like Mixon and a guy like Zay Jones then that helps out big time.

Now that we've looked at the issues and injuries on offense, let's look at defense. Starting off we lost promising rookies, WJ3 and Billings before the start of the season to go along with Hardison missing the season as well. We had our pro-bowl LB miss the first 3 games and saw a massive decrease in ability from Adam Jones. MJ has been underwhelming since coming back and Rey M. has become useless. Our safeties played inconsistent last year after getting paid. With Vigil having a season under his belt and now from what's being said he will see an increase in snaps this could be a very good thing, throw in the fact that we still have the talented Dawson whom I still hopes decides to bust his ass this upcoming season we also have a lot of young depth at CB along with fan favorite DeShawn Williams at DT. If we can draft an athletic LB along with a serious pass rusher then we should see a big boost to our defense.

Last, but not least, the schedule. It was brutal last year, it should be a little easier this year.

Don't think this is a fair question until after the draft but whatever. I voted yes.

(03-13-2017, 09:33 AM)treee Wrote: Don't think this is a fair question until after the draft but whatever. I voted yes.

I'm basing it all on Oline, and it's a weak draft for O line, so we won't get much help there.

Here is the only way to have a shot at 500 next year

Sign Barwin

Draft foster

Trade McCarron for Richardson

Load up the defense and play an ultra conservative offense so Andy is not killed.

Could be what they are thinking.

Drafting a stud RB in first round is idiotic with our O line. Zeke and Bell are great because they have great run blocking O lines.  We wont have that next year for sure.

I voted yes but I'm not overly filled with optimism.

(03-13-2017, 01:33 AM)McC Wrote: No.  Can't see it happening.  Too many question marks.  Too many holes to fill.  Too many things have to happen right.

I forsee the same record as 2016.

(03-12-2017, 09:41 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Free agency is a tool for acquiring personnel you need. Too bad the Bengals suck at using that tool.

Free agency is a tool for the Bengals acquiring comp picks - and they always come out ahead.

(03-12-2017, 09:20 PM)GodFather Wrote: So as of now, give me your gut feeling on this upcoming season, do the Bengals finish the season above .500?

Yes they still have some offseason work to do but we haven't lost that much and already had drafted replacements for them...

So while the sky is falling for some for losing a 35 year old OT and an OG.


Our Defense which palyed very well down the stretch is back losing what most of us considered on of the weak links in peko.

Eiftert should be healthy to start the year and Green.     Gio and Hill will be back  baring some crazy draft scenario trade.

So while the OL seems to have taken a step back. we wont know till the season starts.

I say YES. Emphatically YES.

I will also go out on a limb and say that they do well in the playoffs.

Why?

- Veteran talent that is still young. The majority of the roster is in their prime or just now coming into it.
- An outstanding defense that hasn't lost anything but is poised to add youth at key spots.

Why else?

Because the Bengals were very very CLOSE to winning a lot of their games last season. Like, really close. They struggled horribly in the 2nd half and in the redzone consistently all year. Keep in mind, they had the LEAD in the 4th quarter of most of their loses and a kicker who cost them, frankly, the season. They were actually VERY close and I think that gets fixed with...

- Eifert and Green on the field at the same time
- Young talent being able to grow into bigger roles
- 2nd year OC becoming more comfortable

The Bengals roster isn't done yet. The Bengals have assets and a ton of draft picks to work with. I just don't believe that the Bengals are done with their roster, not by far. I think a splash or two gets made before the camps open. I also think the Bengals have had an excellent approach to their offseason so far and have been doing well for years. I'm at DEFCON 0 as of today.

(03-12-2017, 09:20 PM)GodFather Wrote: So as of now, give me your gut feeling on this upcoming season, do the Bengals finish the season above .500?

Way too early as our roster and our 2017 opponents roster is still TBD

(03-13-2017, 12:01 PM)PDub80 Wrote: I say YES. Emphatically YES.

I will also go out on a limb and say that they do well in the playoffs.

Why?

- Veteran talent that is still young. The majority of the roster is in their prime or just now coming into it.
- An outstanding defense that hasn't lost anything but is poised to add youth at key spots.

Why else?

Because the Bengals were very very CLOSE to winning a lot of their games last season. Like, really close. They struggled horribly in the 2nd half and in the redzone consistently all year. Keep in mind, they had the LEAD in the 4th quarter of most of their loses and a kicker who cost them, frankly, the season. They were actually VERY close and I think that gets fixed with...

- Eifert and Green on the field at the same time
- Young talent being able to grow into bigger roles
- 2nd year OC becoming more comfortable

The Bengals roster isn't done yet. The Bengals have assets and a ton of draft picks to work with. I just don't believe that the Bengals are done with their roster, not by far. I think a splash or two gets made before the camps open. I also think the Bengals have had an excellent approach to their offseason so far and have been doing well for years. I'm at DEFCON 0 as of today.

I like your optimism.  The fan in me wants to agree with you, but he realist in me says no.

A lot of our issues in the 2nd half were because of line play, we lost our 2 best.  How are we going to get better?

Schedule is easier, but the team got worse losing our best 2 olineman.

I don't think they will make it to .500