I pretty much expect the new coaches to want to fix the OL and LBers as their top priorities, plus our best TEs are all free agents or injured or both. While AJ is getting older, Mixon is entering his prime, as is Boyd. If they can fix John Ross there will be enough weapons to win in the playoffs this year.

I believe they'll give Dalton this next year to make the jump to contending. If he does, then great. If he doesn't, then they'll have fixed some key issues which have been holding this team down and we can snag a QB in the 2020 draft.

Now, of course, that is assuming the front office doesn't drive some key guys away, but as Mike Brown is fading into the background the days of sloppy GMing could be coming to an end.

(01-12-2019, 02:06 AM)BengalChris Wrote: I pretty much expect the new coaches to want to fix the OL and LBers as their top priorities, plus our best TEs are all free agents or injured or both. While AJ is getting older, Mixon is entering his prime, as is Boyd. If they can fix John Ross there will be enough weapons to win in the playoffs this year.

I believe they'll give Dalton this next year to make the jump to contending. If he does, then great. If he doesn't, then they'll have fixed some key issues which have been holding this team down and we can snag a QB in the 2020 draft.

Now, of course, that is assuming the front office doesn't drive some key guys away, but as Mike Brown is fading into the background the days of sloppy GMing could be coming to an end.

Could be just what the doctor ordered for a lot of guys.

And coming from the Rams, Zac will be well schooled in the importance of a strong OLine and what it takes to assemble one.

(01-12-2019, 02:08 AM)McC Wrote: Could be just what the doctor ordered for a lot of guys.

Yep. I know Dalton was happy to have a new offense under Lazor, but that really went south without Green and Eifert.

Fixing the damn OL is such an obvious move that it's really been mind numbing to watch the team do very little about the problem. Remember when they signed Hart and we all thought he was just a camp body. Then we find out that's all they were going to do about the right side of the line and it was like, what?

Now Dalton gets his 3rd offense in 3 years. The nice part is that he coaches have the players for a couple of weeks extra this off season.

(01-12-2019, 02:13 AM)BengalChris Wrote: Yep. I know Dalton was happy to have a new offense under Lazor, but that really went south without Green and Eifert.

Fixing the damn OL is such an obvious move that it's really been mind numbing to watch the team do very little about the problem. Remember when they signed Hart and we all thought he was just a camp body. Then we find out that's all they were going to do about the right side of the line and it was like, what?

Now Dalton gets his 3rd offense in 3 years. The nice part is that he coaches have the players for a couple of weeks extra this off season.

And they get to start training camp early too.  This should be a helluva ride.

Andy might faint from shock if he actually has an OL that knows how to pass block and even better, an offense designed around the strengths of the players instead of a one size fits all vanilla shake like we usually get.

(01-12-2019, 02:15 AM)McC Wrote: And they get to start training camp early too.  This should be a helluva ride.

It'll be fun to watch actually. Something different from Merv ball will be a breath of fresh air.

It's ridiculous how the narrative around here is that Dalton doesn't have an offense around him. Yes the O line hasn't been good the last few years but in general Andy Dalton has had some very skilled players around him. Stop making excuses for the guy. No team is perfect, no team has pro bowlers everywhere. Andy Dalton has had the luxury of having the greatest WR in Bengals history. He's also had an above average o line for several years prior to losing Whitworth and Zeitler.

We are going on damn near year 10 with this guy and people still want to deflect blame and act as if it is everyone else's fault but his. Get with the program people; he's not the franchise QB some of you thought he was. I hope the coaches and front office draft a QB early this season and stop wasting time with this guy just as they dropped Marvin Lewis.

It depends on what the management does. They let Marv stick around well beyond his time and I don't blame Marvin for that. I blame the team ownership for allowing it to happen and for not being willing to make changes when they were needed. Marvin did what he could, but when management won't bring in the necessary pieces to succeed there's only so much a HC can do. Perhaps with the right management Marvin might have had much better success, but we'll never know. If the next HC or coaches run into the same conditions it'll never change and no HC will ever be able to bring championship ball to Cincinnati. Give em 10 years. If we still have the same problems we'll know absolutely for certain it wasn't Marvin, but management and ownership. I'm guessing it's the later.

Oh yes. This philosophy applies to every star player in Cincinnati: Andy Dalton, AJ Green, and especially Joe Mixon. On the defensive side, imagine what someone like Jack Del Rio or Gregg Williams could do with Geno Atkins or Vontaze Burfict.

(01-12-2019, 04:08 AM)CornerBlitz Wrote: It's ridiculous how the narrative around here is that Dalton doesn't have an offense around him. Yes the O line hasn't been good the last few years but in general Andy Dalton has had some very skilled players around him.  Stop making excuses for the guy. No team is perfect, no team has pro bowlers everywhere.  Andy Dalton has had the luxury of having the greatest WR in Bengals history. He's also had an above average o line for several years prior to losing Whitworth and Zeitler.  

We are going on damn near year 10 with this guy and people still want to deflect blame and act as if it is everyone else's fault but his. Get with the program people; he's not the franchise QB some of you thought he was. I hope the coaches and front office draft a QB early this season and stop wasting time with this guy just as they dropped Marvin Lewis.

Dalton has shown to be a good QB over his tenure, he also has had some rough patches but overall he is a proven QB, so if we believe as many do that Lewis held this team back over the last few years it makes total sense to see if a new coach will be the difference from Dalton moving up in performance over the next 2 years and that will leave zero questions on Dalton and where we go from there

(01-12-2019, 02:06 AM)BengalChris Wrote: I pretty much expect the new coaches to want to fix the OL and LBers as their top priorities, plus our best TEs are all free agents or injured or both. While AJ is getting older, Mixon is entering his prime, as is Boyd. If they can fix John Ross there will be enough weapons to win in the playoffs this year.

I believe they'll give Dalton this next year to make the jump to contending. If he does, then great. If he doesn't, then they'll have fixed some key issues which have been holding this team down and we can snag a QB in the 2020 draft.

Now, of course, that is assuming the front office doesn't drive some key guys away, but as Mike Brown is fading into the background the days of sloppy GMing could be coming to an end.

Totally agree and I don’t want to see them waste a high pick on a QB where we have an adequate QB. You win with defense and o-line with a QB who manages the game. I don’t see any QB worth the risk especially Haskins. He should had stayed in school because I am not convinced he knows how or has proven he can beat the blitz. He may have the physical tools but I am not convinced he had the mental makeup. The OSU homers need to take off their rose colored buckeye glasses and they should be able to see the same.


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(01-12-2019, 04:08 AM)CornerBlitz Wrote: It's ridiculous how the narrative around here is that Dalton doesn't have an offense around him. Yes the O line hasn't been good the last few years but in general Andy Dalton has had some very skilled players around him.  Stop making excuses for the guy. No team is perfect, no team has pro bowlers everywhere.  Andy Dalton has had the luxury of having the greatest WR in Bengals history. He's also had an above average o line for several years prior to losing Whitworth and Zeitler.  

We are going on damn near year 10 with this guy and people still want to deflect blame and act as if it is everyone else's fault but his. Get with the program people; he's not the franchise QB some of you thought he was. I hope the coaches and front office draft a QB early this season and stop wasting time with this guy just as they dropped Marvin Lewis.

All of that will end with the new coaches. He'll need to put up or he'll be replaced, which is basically what I was saying.

This will Dalton's fifth OC in 8 years I do believe. He's had Gruden, Jackson, Zampese, Lazor and now a new OC yet to be named.

Two years is all he gets from me. This first year will take time to get things down and the wrinkles ironed out but there should be improvement. It will be the 2020 season though that will tell the tale and if little improvement is shown this coming season, 2020 will see the draft of Dalton's replacement and then 2021 will see a new QB.

Two years is all Dalton gets from me.

(01-12-2019, 10:55 AM)Nebuchadnezzar Wrote: This will Dalton's fifth OC in 8 years I do believe. He's had Gruden, Jackson, Zampese, Lazor and now a new OC yet to be named.

Two years is all he gets from me. This first year will take time to get things down and the wrinkles ironed out but there should be improvement. It will be the 2020 season though that will tell the tale and if little improvement is shown this coming season, 2020 will see the draft of Dalton's replacement and then 2021 will see a new QB.

Two years is all Dalton gets from me.

 Dalton was playing lights out this year. Having Van Pelt really helped him. His only problem this year before he got injured was that when he hit his recievers in the hands or right between the numbers, they couldn't catch the damn ball.....

Dalton will be as good as our offensive line, we have several holes to fill in the draft and FA on this front.

Having Frank Pollack back will be good for the unit.

(01-12-2019, 02:06 AM)BengalChris Wrote: I pretty much expect the new coaches to want to fix the OL and LBers as their top priorities, plus our best TEs are all free agents or injured or both. While AJ is getting older, Mixon is entering his prime, as is Boyd. If they can fix John Ross there will be enough weapons to win in the playoffs this year.

I believe they'll give Dalton this next year to make the jump to contending. If he does, then great. If he doesn't, then they'll have fixed some key issues which have been holding this team down and we can snag a QB in the 2020 draft.

Now, of course, that is assuming the front office doesn't drive some key guys away, but as Mike Brown is fading into the background the days of sloppy GMing could be coming to an end.

At the very least, I would think a new offense that teams have not seen from us before would have to have some modicum of success.  That is my lowest expectation.  I believe what you said is very accurate.  Dalton will have a better line, he has great weapons when healthy, and our defense should be able to get off the field with a new LB corps.  I don't believe the team is miles away.  I believe the team's coaches were miles away.  

I don't want to overestimate the current coaching staff as it is being assembled, but I can't help but feel that it will be miles ahead of where we were with Marvin and Co.  

Look at what minor changes accomplished this year despite the injuries:  Pollack replaces Alexander.  Mixon leads the AFC in rushing.  The YPC is as good as I think we have had since the days of Rudi Johnson (and I loved Rudi, but he had a stellar line).  

Get rid of the panty-waste zone off-coverage and use your first round corners as they were intended to be.  We saw some of this toward the end of the season and the team was competitive despite having no AJ, no Boyd, no Dalton, and no Burfict.  

I am as optimistic as I have been in a long time as to how immediate the impact can be felt on this team.  I just hope whoever gets the nod as DC is a hard ass that won't put up with laziness and poor conditioning.  I know there is a lot of debate about how some of the best DCs, etc, aren't in that mold, but I don't think THESE players respond to being coddled.  Give me a Zimmer type that will eat their asses when they deserve it and will get the most out of them.  

Do that, and this team will not be punked by a douchey QB from Cleveland and they MIGHT just stop losing twice to pissburgh every year.  

If Zac Taylor is truly part of the McVay coaching tree we will see alot of Jon and Jay Gruden's west coast offense which Andy was actually drafted to play..... On the down side AJ Green wasn't thrilled with Jay's offense while he was here. (Probably cuz he had to do alot of blocking lol)

(01-12-2019, 02:06 AM)BengalChris Wrote: I pretty much expect the new coaches to want to fix the OL and LBers as their top priorities, plus our best TEs are all free agents or injured or both. While AJ is getting older, Mixon is entering his prime, as is Boyd. If they can fix John Ross there will be enough weapons to win in the playoffs this year.

I believe they'll give Dalton this next year to make the jump to contending. If he does, then great. If he doesn't, then they'll have fixed some key issues which have been holding this team down and we can snag a QB in the 2020 draft.

Now, of course, that is assuming the front office doesn't drive some key guys away, but as Mike Brown is fading into the background the days of sloppy GMing could be coming to an end.

Unless this team is more active in free agency than they have ever been and actually bring in players who can fill some gaping holes, and there's really no reason to believe they will do that, they will not only not win in the playoffs, they won't sniff them. 

(01-12-2019, 12:42 PM)Fullrock Wrote: Unless this team is more active in free agency than they have ever been and actually bring in players who can fill some gaping holes, and there's really no reason to believe they will do that, they will not only not win in the playoffs, they won't sniff them. 

A well run and preplanned draft could help as well.  It's no secret where Cincinnati needs help -- offensive line, linebackers, and secondary -- so the new coaches and Front Office can make a "decision tree" diagram and use it throughout the draft.

I expect them to give him a proving year then after that decide if they can do better. Which I hope they notice the 5 yard out of bound deep ball/over throws/ eye down one receiver then look for a place to fall if he's not open or throw it away.