(03-30-2017, 02:20 PM)bengals67 Wrote: I love the Bengals and hope OP is right but I think 2-6 is more likely for first 8 games

 We have a very questionable pass rush and are average to below average defending the run. Maybe rush D seriously improves because of Minter.

we won't be as good at LT no matter what Og does. More likely that Og is one of the five worst LTs in the league putting him up there with Bodine.

Bodine remains one of the five worst centers in the league.

Dalton is seriously injured- see two points mentioned above re LT and center.

Maybe Andre Smith is all pro at RG- I seriously doubt this.

Maybe we draft Mixon who is the next coming of Adrian Peterson. I doubt it.

Plus, Marvin is still the coach so if a miracle happens and we make playoffs ( while losing twice to Steelers or at least losing to Steelers at home) we have no chance of winning  a play-off game.

All we need with our pass rush is one more pass rusher opposite Dunlap. All signs are pointing to an End early.

Billings should help stopping the run even more than Minter. Starts in the trenches dude.

Doesn't matter what Og does? If the guy plays well it changes everything, doesn't matter what he does?

True about Bodine, but we can still use an early pick on one of the top Centers and all should be good soon enough
especially if Ogbuehi improves. Doesn't matter what Og does? WTF? Still wondering about that post.

Of course i agree about Marv in the Playoffs but sure sounds like negativity has blinded you some.

Doesn't matter what Og does, WTF.

I think it all comes down to how the offensive line plays like mentioned above.

They extended the pre-season?

8-0? Only if the defense can come up with eight shutouts.

(03-30-2017, 11:01 AM)kevin Wrote: Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong in 2016.  I look for this team to bounce back and be more like 2015 than 2016, only we hit the play-offs healthy for a change and not only win that play-off game but with stars Dalton, Green, Eifert, Atkins, Dunlap healthy this team goes Super Bowl.

I have some optimism as we seem to play much better when the media and fans predict us to be below .500 as many are doing. I see Jackson and Billings as FA's we acquired even though only 2nd year players, they are 2 quality players we missed. Burfict missed 25% of our season. Green was injured as well as Bernard. I am not sure Hill was healthy either as seemed to multiple issues dealing with his shoulder.

I think Boyd will progress and LaFell will be more in tune with AD. Hopefully Eifert can stay healthy. We moved up 15 spots in every round of the draft and that is a huge. Our schedule will be more friendly. We will have 8 home games versus 7.

I agree Kevin, a lot more positives than most will talk about. But, I see the concern for the OL that was not great a year ago and lost 2 very good OL. I am hopeful, I am hopeful for once the Bengals don't keep all draft picks and use some to move up to get their guy in the draft.

(03-30-2017, 06:53 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: 8-0?  Only if the defense can come up with eight shutouts.

An 8-0 prediction is a bit lofty, but that 3rd place schedule has to account for something..

And, funny you mention the defense having to pitch shutouts, as the defense could possibly be among the best the Bengals have ever fielded.  That is, assuming that Billings in for Peko plays out, Minter in for Maualuga plays out, WJIII emerges as well as he was billed, and we get that missing link at RDE in the draft.  It truly could mean heatbreak city for opposing offenses.

(03-30-2017, 12:03 PM)kevin Wrote: I disagree 100 %......We go into 2017 with more positives......We went into 2016 with all negatives.....WE are not asking who Dalton will be throwing to with Jones and Sanu gone......We are not talking about Eifert injured from Pro Bowl,......We are not talking about Dalton injured from 2015......We are not talking about Burfict suspended first half of season.......I see many more upsides. .....Spring, Summer and PreSeason and I think we end up with an O Line that can be better than last years.  We were not strong at O Line in 2016, so maybe some changes were needed. I think we still add some O Linemen before Preseason.  If we can block, we have too many good pass catchers to cover, so if Dalton hits the open man like in basketball, we move up and down the field.  Green could see more one on one, which is bad news for defenses. 

But, Bovine is still the Center, right?

(03-30-2017, 11:18 AM)milksheikh Wrote: Depends how well the new o-line will hold up.

It's all a big whole question right now.

Agree with this 100%

If O-line surprises us all and gets the job done ? Then certainly Bengals have a chance. 

If not ?  

Dalton may not finish the year. Hoping they do surprise me !

Getting off to a 8-0 start wouldn't be so tough really, I don't get the reactions. All you need to do is put together a good opening drive and convert a 2 pt conversation. Depending on the opponent they could even win the game.

Let's be realistic and put this all out there on the table. The Bengals might go 16-0 to start the season, but we alllll know it's the 17th game where they will lose.

(03-30-2017, 09:50 PM)Derrick Wrote: But, Bovine is still the Center, right?

C'mon man, you know his name.  Besides, he could still kick your ass any day of the week..

(03-31-2017, 12:41 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: C'mon man, you know his name.  Besides, he could still kick your ass any day of the week..

This is true but if Derrick tried to beat up Dalton then Bodine wouldn't be able to stop him, that's the real issue.

(03-31-2017, 12:26 AM)PDub80 Wrote: Let's be realistic and put this all out there on the table. The Bengals might go 16-0 to start the season, but we alllll know it's the 17th game where they will lose.  

That's the salt....whooooo! Burns no doubt.  

(03-31-2017, 12:41 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: C'mon man, you know his name.  Besides, he could still kick your ass any day of the week..

Wanna ring the bell? 

I like 'homer threads'...helps me cope with my own 'homerism' reading through how far this unsinkable ship of hope will sail! 

i think this could happen. U have gebo atkins and andrew billings absolutely tearing up the middle of that dline. U got wjiii and dre k patrolling the boundries and with 2 relentless passrushers in your face up the middle not to mention dunlap it will make the secondary look better. Williams will look better in second year at fs.offensively its all about if eifert can stay healthy. Lafell is apparently avetage or better as im told. Aj green will have 1400 yards thia season. Gio comes back with a fire. Boyd increases production to 800 yards. Denver isnt what it was with an aging defense. Pittsburg u dont know what they are, baltimore isnt anything right now. I see us winning 5 out of 6 division wise at least. I think it will be an 11-6/12-4 record.

(03-30-2017, 11:01 AM)kevin Wrote: Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong in 2016.  I look for this team to bounce back and be more like 2015 than 2016, only we hit the play-offs healthy for a change and not only win that play-off game but with stars Dalton, Green, Eifert, Atkins, Dunlap healthy this team goes Super Bowl.

I agree! As long as we can remain relatively healthy with key players, I don't think it's a stretch that we do well this season. Not sure why so many people think we all of a sudden are a bottom 10 team when 5 out of the last 6 years we constantly were top 10. Yea we lost 2 solid offensive lineman, but c'mon Zeitler is replaceable, Whit will be harder to replace at least for this year, but it seems so many want to give up on Ced after 10 ***** games, it's ridiculous. 

I look at it this way. We get several guys back from injuries. Hopefully we have Eifert, Green, and Gio for the whole season. We get to see Billings, Hardison, and WJ3 all come back to the defense which should boost the talent there. Lafell, Boyd, Core, and Erickson all have a season with Dalton and the playbook under their belt. We cut dead weight in Peko and Mauluaga, now hopefully we replace MJ and release Jones(doubtful, but hoping). We have to think that Boling will be a 100% this season and that the work that Ced is putting in will see him improve on the left side. Fisher will he improve the RT? Maybe, I think he will and bringing back Smith was a smart move, plus we have 11 picks so it's not like we can't upgrade the line a little with a new C and some depth at G/T. Last, but not least, we don't play a first place schedule.

(03-31-2017, 08:40 AM)Crowe Wrote: I agree! As long as we can remain relatively healthy with key players, I don't think it's a stretch that we do well this season. Not sure why so many people think we all of a sudden are a bottom 10 team when 5 out of the last 6 years we constantly were top 10. Yea we lost 2 solid offensive lineman, but c'mon Zeitler is replaceable, Whit will be harder to replace at least for this year, but it seems so many want to give up on Ced after 10 ***** games, it's ridiculous. 

I look at it this way. We get several guys back from injuries. Hopefully we have Eifert, Green, and Gio for the whole season. We get to see Billings, Hardison, and WJ3 all come back to the defense which should boost the talent there. Lafell, Boyd, Core, and Erickson all have a season with Dalton and the playbook under their belt. We cut dead weight in Peko and Mauluaga, now hopefully we replace MJ and release Jones(doubtful, but hoping). We have to think that Boling will be a 100% this season and that the work that Ced is putting in will see him improve on the left side. Fisher will he improve the RT? Maybe, I think he will and bringing back Smith was a smart move, plus we have 11 picks so it's not like we can't upgrade the line a little with a new C and some depth at G/T. Last, but not least, we don't play a first place schedule.

Nice post Crowe, to some of your points...

Whit was and still is my biggest problem with this Offseason but even then i could be wrong and he might start
to fall off this year with the Rams. If we paid him a similar deal to what they gave him and he did that here that
might of hurt us worse than where we are now.

Ogbuehi will improve and from what we are hearing he is working his ass off.

Andre i always thought would make a fine Guard, he is big, strong is a good run blocker and being that he has
always been a Tackle is a great pass blocking Guard. This could be a great move and an upgrade over Zeitler if
he can stay healthy. If not, i like Westerman a lot who was a great pass blocker in college. Pretty much the same
player as Zeitler but could get better in run blocking.

Adding a Center like Toth, Elflein, Orlovsky and we could be much better at OL. There will be growing pains tho.

(03-31-2017, 02:47 PM)Wyche Wrote:

Haha, i could always quote the main reason why we could go 0-8 Wyche...

(03-31-2017, 03:10 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote:

Haha, i could always quote the main reason why we could go 0-8 Wyche...

LOL.....honestly, if they improve the RB position, Boyd and Lafell continue an upward trajectory, and the o line plays at least NAIA level football next season, this team could possibly hit the 10 win mark. The defense looks improved on paper already. I don't see 8-0, and if the above improvements don't take place, I have a hard time seeing 8 wins total.

(03-31-2017, 03:24 PM)Wyche Wrote: LOL.....honestly, if they improve the RB position, Boyd and Lafell continue an upward trajectory, and the o line plays at least NAIA level football next season, this team could possibly hit the 10 win mark. The defense looks improved on paper already. I don't see 8-0, and if the above improvements don't take place, I have a hard time seeing 8 wins total.

Most definately. We WILL take a RB somewhat early i am sure whether it is Cook, Fournette, Mixon etc.

Urban is a good WR coach and don't forget about Core who i think could be really special.

Og will get better, he is working very hard at the MMA camp with Glazer. He needs to put on some muscle and learn
much better technique. I sure hope the team listens to Big Willie and let him work with Og, this could really help.

Fisher actually staying at one position should really help his game.

Hard to have any faith in PA coaching these guys up though, this is our problem as you well know.

This Defense could be great though man and make up for our O-line's woes some. But if they are on the field all the
time it won't matter. In the end, everything comes down to the O-line opening up holes and protecting Dalton.

Just sucks we didn't upgrade our OL coach this Offseason.