(08-16-2015, 09:14 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I'm going to go Palmer and the Cards as well. However I believe Zim and the Vikes may well beat ML's Bengals as well.

I have little faith the Marvin lead Bengals have any chance. I mean sure this season we have a good chance on paper but nothings gonna change come post season.

This.

I went with Vikings. Zimmer has zero tolerance when it comes to nonsense and masterful at firing up his team.

I'd trust Arians and Zimmer in a playoff game more than Marvin (until I see otherwise), but the Bengals seem FAR more likely to win their division than the Cards/Vikings unseating the Seahogs/Packers so it could be the Bengals hosting a playoff game and those two teams going on the road so there are a lot of variables at work here. Again, the AFC North is no picnic but it lacks the genuine powerhouses those divisions have.

I voted Vikes but immediately regretted it. It'll be harder for Minnesota and AZ to even get to the playoffs. Both teams have top 3 teams in their divisions. While the AFCN is no slouch, I think that CIN, PIT, and BAL have evened out a little bit, with no team being a head and shoulders above the other like in the past.

(08-17-2015, 12:30 PM)CKwi88 Wrote: I voted Vikes but immediately regretted it. It'll be harder for Minnesota and AZ to even get to the playoffs. Both teams have top 3 teams in their divisions. While the AFCN is no slouch, I think that CIN, PIT, and BAL have evened out a little bit, with no team being a head and shoulders above the other like in the past.

Yep, that's what I pointed out.  The Cardinals and Vikings have possibly the 2 best teams in the NFL in their way to even make the playoffs at all.

(08-16-2015, 03:14 PM)Joe Pong Wrote: Should "OF"

???

What does that even mean?

We are a top ten team against a bottom 5 team.

Nothing to get excited about.

(08-16-2015, 08:21 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: As long as we get there with our key players being healthy, Marvin won't have to do any thinking or coaching.

We don't have Gruden to overthink it or Brat to be unoriginal because Hue will just need to give Hill the rock and throw to AJ, Eifert, etc..  

It's literally impossible for Hue or Marvin to come up with a gameplan that would fail as long as they stick to what got us there.

If the first preseason game was any indication, the reports of Geno better than ever are true and his play will make the rest of the defensive players a lot better, which will result in our defense being pretty damn good.

We were bitten by the injury bug last year or we win, which we won't be unlucky this year and we'll win a playoff game.

I hope you are right Brad...

(08-17-2015, 12:52 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Yep, that's what I pointed out.  The Cardinals and Vikings have possibly the 2 best teams in the NFL in their way to even make the playoffs at all.

And yet they'll have a better chance at winning a playoff game before we do.

(08-17-2015, 12:30 PM)CKwi88 Wrote: I voted Vikes but immediately regretted it. It'll be harder for Minnesota and AZ to even get to the playoffs. Both teams have top 3 teams in their divisions. While the AFCN is no slouch, I think that CIN, PIT, and BAL have evened out a little bit, with no team being a head and shoulders above the other like in the past.

(08-17-2015, 12:52 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Yep, that's what I pointed out.  The Cardinals and Vikings have possibly the 2 best teams in the NFL in their way to even make the playoffs at all.

Yeah, but the poll was who would WIN a playoff game first, not who makes it to a playoff game first.  lol  As long as Marvin is still our HC, I think one of those teams will win one before we do.

(08-17-2015, 09:51 PM)PApinhead Wrote: Yeah, but the poll was who would WIN a playoff game first, not who makes it to a playoff game first.  lol  As long as Marvin is still our HC, I think one of those teams will win one before we do.

The only way they could win a playoff game before us is if they win in the wildcard round this year. Our first playoff win will be in the divisional round this year.

(08-17-2015, 09:51 PM)PApinhead Wrote: Yeah, but the poll was who would WIN a playoff game first, not who makes it to a playoff game first.  lol  As long as Marvin is still our HC, I think one of those teams will win one before we do.

I'm just saying the Cardinals and Vikings almost have "win the division" taken off the table so they could both be very capable of winning a playoff game only to see an 8-8 team get the invite due to the fortune of being in a lousy division.  If the Cardinals, Vikings, and Bengals all had the same situation in the playoffs I'd vote Cardinals then Bengals then Vikings in likelihood of winning.

If either the Cardinals or Vikings win their divisions it can be argued they've already topped the best team in the league.

(08-17-2015, 10:22 PM)Nately120 Wrote: I'm just saying the Cardinals and Vikings almost have "win the division" taken off the table so they could both be very capable of winning a playoff game only to see an 8-8 team get the invite due to the fortune of being in a lousy division.  If the Cardinals, Vikings, and Bengals all had the same situation in the playoffs I'd vote Cardinals then Bengals then Vikings in likelihood of winning.

If either the Cardinals or Vikings win their divisions it can be argued they've already topped the best team in the league.

The Bengals are in a tougher division than either of them.

(08-17-2015, 10:15 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: The only way they could win a playoff game before us is if they win in the wildcard round this year. Our first playoff win will be in the divisional round this year.

I'm hoping you are right, but I just don't see us winning one before them.

(08-17-2015, 10:22 PM)Nately120 Wrote: I'm just saying the Cardinals and Vikings almost have "win the division" taken off the table so they could both be very capable of winning a playoff game only to see an 8-8 team get the invite due to the fortune of being in a lousy division.  If the Cardinals, Vikings, and Bengals all had the same situation in the playoffs I'd vote Cardinals then Bengals then Vikings in likelihood of winning.

If either the Cardinals or Vikings win their divisions it can be argued they've already topped the best team in the league.

Oh....I get ya.  I'm just saying I think either team has a HC that is more capable of winning a playoff game than Marvin.  I sure as heck hope I am wrong though.

(08-17-2015, 10:24 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: The Bengals are in a tougher division than either of them.

We can agree to disagree on this one.  I don't see the Bengals wresting the division crown away from the Packers or Seahawks if they had to go that path.

(08-18-2015, 02:05 AM)Nately120 Wrote: We can agree to disagree on this one.  I don't see the Bengals wresting the division crown away from the Packers or Seahawks if they had to go that path.

Well we're already going to beat the Seahawks this season, and the last time Green bay beat us was in 1998.

(08-17-2015, 10:24 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: The Bengals are in a tougher division than either of them.

Of course you'd think that.

(08-18-2015, 08:52 AM)djs7685 Wrote: Of course you'd think that.

Well how are they not? The AFCN has the reputation of being one of the toughest divisions in the league. In recent years the AFCN has won multiple superbowls and they have had the most playoff teams than any other division.

the 49ers will probably be worse than the browns next season, and the cards might only have 8 or 9 wins. The
Seahawks are the only team in that division that has a good chance of going to the playoffs next season.

The NFCN will be tougher than the NFCW next year, but I don't think it will be as good as the AFCN. The bears are a joke and the only team that's even good enough to go to the playoffs consistently is the Packers.

(08-17-2015, 10:15 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: The only way they could win a playoff game before us is if they win in the wildcard round this year. Our first playoff win will be in the divisional round this year.

I like the cut of your gib. No, I'm not talking about your dong. Why is everyone in JN obsessed with guys' dongs?

(08-18-2015, 08:52 AM)djs7685 Wrote: Of course you'd think that.

Mid-way through the season last year, EVERY team in the AFCN had a winning record. At the end of the year, 3 teams had a winning record and made the playoffs and the 4th was 1 game under .500. It's not being homeristic to state our division is tougher or even the toughest.

Yeah, the Packers and Seahawks may be better than all 4 teams in the AFCN, but that doesn't ake their whole division tougher.

(08-18-2015, 09:05 AM)Brownshoe Wrote: Well how are they not? The AFCN has the reputation of being one of the toughest divisions in the league. In recent years the AFCN has won multiple superbowls and they have had the most playoff teams than any other division.

the 49ers will probably be worse than the browns next season, and the cards might only have 8 or 9 wins. The
Seahawks are the only team in that division that has a good chance of going to the playoffs next season.

The NFCN will be tougher than the NFCW next year, but I don't think it will be as good as the AFCN. The bears are a joke and the only team that's even good enough to go to the playoffs consistently is the Packers.

(08-18-2015, 09:33 AM)PhilHos Wrote: Mid-way through the season last year, EVERY team in the AFCN had a winning record. At the end of the year, 3 teams had a winning record and made the playoffs and the 4th was 1 game under .500. It's not being homeristic to state our division is tougher or even the toughest.

Yeah, the Packers and Seahawks may be better than all 4 teams in the AFCN, but that doesn't ake their whole division tougher.

There's a lot going on here. So let's start from Brownshoe's flawed logic. I couldn't care less about multiple Super Bowls since what the Steelers did 7 years ago has ZERO bearing on how good they are in 2015. Hell, even the Ravens have a vastly different team today than what they won the 2012 SB with. If anything, the multiple SBs hurts your argument because the Seahawks have been there twice in as many years with relatively the same exact team that they're taking into 2015. So, let's just throw out past Super Bowls in general becuase they have nothing to do with 2015, nor does the "more playoff teams than anyone else" over your cherry picked X amount of years that you didn't even mention. You just said "in recent years", uhh...okay? What does that have to do with right now? 2 years ago we only had 1 playoff team and the rest of the division didn't look so great. Last year we beat up the 2 weakest divisions in the entire NFL, if we didn't send 3 teams to the playoffs I'd be concerned. Isn't that more recent to talk about than SB wins 3 and 7 years ago?

So, let's just go with talking about 2014 and 2015, since we can use what happened in 2014 and then this offseason to project a bit.

If you're into DVOA and such, feel free to check out this chart... http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teameff

Strength of Schedule 2014 (not using 2013 stats, but the actual 2014 statistics)
SEA - 13
SF - 8
ARI - 2

STL - 9

PIT - 29
BAL - 30
CIN - 15
CLE - 25

Every single team in the NFCW had a tougher schedule than any AFCN team in 2014. No wonder we sent 3 teams to the playoffs, not everybody gets to beat up on the historically terrible NFCS and the garbage can AFCS. Saying we're automatically better because we sent more teams to the playoffs is absolutely flawed.

I feel like you guys (and most others here) follow closely to what the Bengals do and not many other teams. Sometimes people seem to follow our division, but not much else past that, IF that.

We could get into more in depth if you'd like, but I promise that the Rams and Cardinals lost less and gained more this past offseason than either of the Ravens or Steelers. Just have an open mind and actually look at the players and coaches lost/gained on those 4 teams and then we can talk some more.

I do think the AFCN is good, but we got to beat up some awfully shitty teams last year, and the year before that the Bengals were the only team that looked good and went to the playoffs. There's nothing in recent memory that makes me believe we're in a "tougher" division than the NFCW unless we want to go back 3-4 years which has very little to do with the present. The Rams have probably had the best offseason out of any team in either division, the Bengals and Cardinals both remained about the same while sprinkling in small moves, the 49ers had a BAD offseason, the Browns are still going to be the Browns (no QB, questionable and poor coaching), and the Steelers lost quite a haul on defense and the Ravens have some question marks in key places (though I believe they'll be fine). The Seahawks are easily the best team in either division right now. I don't know how anybody can say that the AFCN is absolutely better than the NFCW without question. It's definitely homeristic.