(09-09-2019, 11:02 AM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Time to step up and say you were wrong. If you ignored his 7 TD's in 2018 and ignored he was hurt a rookie and jumped to the conclusion John Ross was a bust, then time to take your medicine and eat crow.

Bust in the NFL don;t go for 158 yards and 2 TD's in one game.

Seriously, I have said all along, don't be too quick to judge, root for his success and not his demise. He made our offense look potentially dangerous and it was fun to watch.

My hope is we can get a healthy Green, Boyd and Ross on the field sooner than later. We on't be Patriot good (man they look Bush and Steelers defense look bad (no AB yet) last night. Bush was getting beat all over the field, his tackles were 8 to 10 yards down field, tough night for the rookie LB on their defense.

But, I digressed.

Eat crow baby.

Typical. People point out a player's dismal stats and they must HATE him. Not true at all. His stats were his stats. The excuses people were putting forth were bogus, such as target distance and QB incompetence. Yesterday his target distance was even longer, yet he had success. Andy Dalton was still throwing the ball.

Ross made a lot of mistakes his first two years and his stats showed it.

Now he has one good game and anyone who pointed out that the guy didn't get it must have been wrong. No they weren't. He didn't get it. Now, for one game, and hopefully for many more, he's getting it.

 

(09-09-2019, 12:20 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: It will be interesting to see what happens when AJ comes back too...and when we run the ball more.

He likely won't get 12 targets in that scenario.

But still, atleast he had a big game. That's encouraging!

The best thing that happened is that he showed he's more than just a 9 route guy.  And he most certainly showed the league how scary he can be.  

(09-09-2019, 12:31 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Typical. People point out a player's dismal stats and they must HATE him. Not true at all. His stats were his stats. The excuses people were putting forth were bogus, such as target distance and QB incompetence. Yesterday his target distance was even longer, yet he had success. Andy Dalton was still throwing the ball.

Ross made a lot of mistakes his first two years and his stats showed it.

Now he has one good game and anyone who pointed out that the guy didn't get it must have been wrong. No they weren't. He didn't get it. Now, for one game, and hopefully for many more, he's getting it.

 

It's not really a mysterious phenomenon, is it, considering the utter vitriol that has been directed at him for so long?

You know what I love? Some of his quotes after the game:

“I had two critical drops, in my opinion, that I should have had. That’s something I’m going to work on, go back in practice, put more focus on that."

(On what he needs to clean up…) “A long list of things. Coming out of my breaks better. Focusing on catching the ball first. The blocking aspect. There’s just a whole lot of things. Given that this is my first game, my first week, really, still, no excuses. I’msupposed to come prepared. There are a lot of things I’ve got to work on.”

(On what a day like today does for him…) “It means nothing. You lose a game, it goes right out the window, because it feels like you’ve done all that, to me, that’s selfish. I play every down to win. We’ve got to come out with a win. I’m not going to go home and say, wow, what a job I did. That’s kind of selfish. I don’t like stuff like that. I definitely would rather win that do what I did.”

LOVE IT.

(09-09-2019, 12:31 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Typical. People point out a player's dismal stats and they must HATE him. Not true at all. His stats were his stats. The excuses people were putting forth were bogus, such as target distance and QB incompetence. Yesterday his target distance was even longer, yet he had success. Andy Dalton was still throwing the ball.

Ross made a lot of mistakes his first two years and his stats showed it.

Now he has one good game and anyone who pointed out that the guy didn't get it must have been wrong. No they weren't. He didn't get it. Now, for one game, and hopefully for many more, he's getting it.

 

Did I say that in the OP?

I said anyone calling for him to be cut, called him trash or labeled him a bust should eat crow. If you did that, the  yep you should eat crow. If you objectively criticized and hoped he would get better, thread was not targeted for you or others with those views.

Just the true haters, those who said cut him, those who personally attacked him and labeled him a bust.

It was obvious he was struggling with injury and tement years one and 2, that did make him a bust so early, but many felt the need to label him as such. They should fess up.

(09-09-2019, 12:40 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Did I say that in the OP?

I said anyone calling for him to be cut, called him trash or labeled him a bust should eat crow. If you did that, the  yep you should eat crow. If you objectively criticized and hoped he would get better, thread was not targeted for you or others with those views.

Just the true haters, those who said cut him, those who personally attacked him and labeled him a bust.

It was obvious he was struggling with injury and tement years one and 2, that did make him a bust so early, but many felt the need to label him as such. They should fess up.

Well, at least I never called him a bust or trash. I pointed out his stats and called out the bogus excuses people made for them.

(09-09-2019, 12:38 PM)McC Wrote: It's not really a mysterious phenomenon, is it, considering the utter vitriol that has been directed at him for so long?

Sadly, we live in a society we feel we have the right to personally attack on message boards without reprisal.

Everyone saw Ross needed to step it up, most wanted him to step it up. Others gave up and said cut him or trashed him. They quit ro for one of our own, which I have always said, pisses me off when we attack a player and hope for his demise. It makes no sense to me. We all want to win games and winning on a message board, yet losing games does not help me enjoy life.

(09-09-2019, 12:44 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Well, at least I never called him a bust or trash. I pointed out his stats and called out the bogus excuses people made for them.

Maybe it turns out at least some of those excuses were actually reasons.

(09-09-2019, 12:44 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Well, at least I never called him a bust or trash. I pointed out his stats and called out the bogus excuses people made for them.

That is a conversation, something that can be discussed rationally.

Question for those you said made excuses for him, what if he continues and plays well going forward?

Were they excuses or were they reasons others had the were legit for his failure to play well early in his career?

What we have is a case of 2 different cultures
From Lewis to Taylor is Ross is the example.
I believe last year Ross felt any error he made
He was headed to the bench.
So thus he was putting immense pressure on himself
To be perfect.
He could never play relaxed last year.
Yet Cody Core would drop a pass and still get reps

Then yesterday Ross drops a,potential big gain after
2 players collide.
What does ZT do...instead of coming back him on a conservative
Route in order to say "hey I'm coming right back to you"
He sends him a home run ball all or nothing.
Talk about telling a player "hey I believe in you"

Ross still has a,ways to go but his play yesterday reminded
Me of a young Antonio Brown.
The way he was getting open. The cushion he created by scoring
On those long plays.

If Ross had a 2018 stat line his haters would have
Been in Salem Witch Trials mode today

(09-09-2019, 12:49 PM)impactplaya Wrote: What we have is a case of 2 different cultures
From Lewis to Taylor is Ross is the example.
I believe last year Ross felt any error he made
He was headed to the bench.
So thus he was putting immense pressure on himself
To be perfect.
He could never play relaxed last year.
Yet Cody Core would drop a pass and still get reps

Then yesterday Ross drops a,potential big gain after
2 players collide.
What does ZT do...instead of coming back  him on a conservative
Route in order to say "hey I'm coming right back to you"
He sends him a home run ball all or nothing.
Talk about telling a player "hey I believe in you"

Ross still has a,ways to go but his play yesterday reminded
Me of a young Antonio Brown.
The way he was getting open. The cushion he created by scoring
On those long plays.

If Ross had a 2018 stat line his haters would have
Been in Salem Witch Trials mode today

Especially after the drop early. He was not perfect yesterday, he admitted as much in his post game interview, but perfection does not h in anything in life. 

It started in the game thread, then went away as the game progressed.

(09-09-2019, 12:48 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: That is a conversation, something that can be discussed rationally.

Question for those you said made excuses for him, what if he continues and plays well going forward?

Were they excuses or were they reasons others had the were legit for his failure to play well early in his career?

I hope he continues to play well, doesn't change the fact that that he didn't before.

I must admit I was a doubter after he missed so much time during his rookie season and didn't do much his second season.  However, after yesterday, it almost feels like we have our first round pick back from 2017!  I was pretty damn excited yesterday and I'm sure Ross felt a huge surge in confidence.  I think if he continues to do well this season, some credit can go to Zac Taylor for believing in him and helping him bring out his true potential.  I see a bright future ahead for John Ross.   

I think it might just be a good season to be a Bengals fan.  

(09-09-2019, 12:47 PM)McC Wrote: Maybe it turns out at least some of those excuses were actually reasons.

Maybe, but Andy Dalton is a competent QB and the target distance he had last season was not the reason. There's two big excuses knocked off the board right there.

Another one was that Marvin hated him. Maybe that one was true.

(09-09-2019, 12:55 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Maybe, but Andy Dalton is a competent QB and the target distance he had last season was not the reason. There's two big excuses knocked off the board right there.

Another one was that Marvin hated him. Maybe that one was true.

Hate might be too strong of a word.   At the very least, Marvin did seem to at least resent him.

(09-09-2019, 12:55 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Maybe, but Andy Dalton is a competent QB and the target distance he had last season was not the reason. There's two big excuses knocked off the board right there.

Another one was that Marvin hated him. Maybe that one was true.

ML did not hate him, he did not trust him nor did AD nor did the OC. They all had valid reasons to not trust him.

But, then ZT comes in, AJ gets hurt and not available so my guess ZT goes to AD and says we are get to target John Ross 8 to 10 times and see how he does, that is my guess. ZT designed played for Ross, ML and past OC designed plays for Green and Boyd.

The good news is Ross stepped up and proved he can be a major threat, both yardage and TD's yesterday.

Will ZT and AD be able to find him as he gets tougher coverage now (especially with AJ out), time will tell.

(09-09-2019, 12:01 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Dude, relax. He had a good game, sure - but it wasn't perfect. He had dropped passes (one that would have went for a TD) all day. 

No one here is "rooting for his demise". They are simply going off of his NFL sample size and the REALITY of the situation. There's nothing wrong with that. 

Ross seems to be a Jeckly and Hyde type of player right now. I can live with his mistakes if he continues to produce. Im rooting for his success and hope he can overcome and improve upon some of the issues he still has. 

At the end of the day, it's one game.  We've seen a glimpse of what he can do in the new offense.  It's up to him to consistently produce.

Many of his haters didn't live in the reality of the situation at all. People on this board committed straight up character assasination on this kid.  People said he was lazy, stupid, untalented, and could only run in a straight line. People accussed him of faking his hamstring so he'd have an excuse to suck in the regular season.  People wanted him cut.  People wanted his snaps to go to whoever they thought this year's "Golden Binns" award winner should be.  People twisted innocent quotes like "He's thinking too much" into "He can't learn the offense" or "He looked terrible at OTA's."

As with most things, the amount of crow people should be eating is dependent on how much utter BS they dumped on the kid.

(On if he would have been on the bench after dropping a pass last year…) “Most definitely. I can honestly say that now. I would lose confidence in myself. It’s completely different now, in my opinion.”

Honestly, I don't think there is enough crows in the world for some of the terrible things that have been said about Ross. For some reason with him (and a few other players), all objectivity goes out the window when our fans evaluate them. Glad to see him out there playing like I have always believed he could.

He had a great game but let's cool our jets and see if he can continue to deliver.