Needless to say, like most of you, I'm really pumped for the 2020 season. I was trying to think of the last time I was this excited for a season. I think the honest answer to that question is that's been well over a decade.

Without going into too much detail, and completely rehashing old beaten down topics, I started losing a lot of excitement probably around '09. I know we had some decent teams since that time, but I never had much faith in Marvin beyond then. Brat was a hanger-on at that time, and the staff was littered with guys that managed to stay on well beyond. (Alexander, Zampese, Hayes Bros, etc.)

I really think what most bothered me is not enough ever seemed to change. It was basically the same regime and the same approach. And as much as I came to respect Andy, I never considered him someone worthy of having a "fund" for years in advance. The team and thier appraoch to me became stale and boring.

A lot of people said that myself and others wanted change simply for the sake of change. I never really thought that was at all fair. I simply wanted to try something different because what we we're doing never resulted in getting over the hump. I often said I'd rather try drastic change and fail then try the same old, same old and get blasted in the Wild Card round.

Well, now we're here. We've got an overhauled coaching staff, and one that is much younger. We've got a brand new QB, who might very well be the best prospect to come out in the last decade. And, to top it off, we've got the biggest Free Agent class in franchise history. We actually spent the 3rd most in the league in free agency, to the tune of well over 100 mil dollars.

Call me crazy, I don't see how anyone couldn't be excited with all of that. I actually think the not knowing exactly what we have yet is exciting in and of itself. I really just can't wait to see what this team looks like. I can't wait to see the approach with the new QB. I can't wait to see what the new QB looks like. I can't wait to see how a guy likes Higgins looks. I can't wait to see what difference the additions on defense makes.

Will this team be better than some of those Marvin teams? I don't know, and frankly right now I really don't care. For me, I knew exactly what we had in those teams. Average to good, but never great. The beauty with this team is I have no idea what we have just yet, and that's exciting. For the first time in forever I'm starting to look down the line and envision this roster and their potential to be a contender. With the FA haul, I'm starting to allow myself to imagine all sorts of possibilities moving forward.

I LOVE the new aggressive approach, and I LOVE all the new faces. September can't come soon enough!!!

Seems people get caught up in the hype before every season. Play the games and if we are in contention late in the season then I'll be excited.

I agree with the OP, the team has made a wholesale change of philosophy, and is now taking a different approach to building a winning football team. I'll never accuse the team of "tanking" or "playing opossum", but I really believe that last year Coach Taylor was just taking inventory, and calculating what he needed to have changed in order to put forth a winning team, going forward.

Obviously the team management bought into his strategy, as we've seen the most free agency activity in as long as I can remember, as well as a draft that looked to me to be very driven and calculated. I think that the prospects of the Bengals doing "great things" this year are fair to middling, but we will see a team that gets stronger and gains momentum as the season progresses, giving everyone watching the confidence to know that we will be a force to be reckoned with for years.

The drawback as I see it, is the virus situation. Getting the team together, as soon as possible is paramount to building that new collection of talent into a cohesive unit.

I'll be happy with 6-8 wins this year and then we'll go from there. Two decades with this franchise has taught me to keep expectations in June so there is better chance you'll be happy in December.

The general feel during the latter half of Marvins tenure was ‘playing it safe’. The franchise thought that we had the right pieces and that it was bad luck that we couldn’t get past the wildcard round... some of it was bad luck, but we stuck with it and ended with the same result time and time again.

I’m with you, win or lose at least the new staff has a different approach. Will it work? Not sure. I was excited about the prospect of a ‘new dey’ last year and we all know how that turned out. However, I’m still excited to see what this year will look like.

Hopefully it ends up putting us on the winning road but even if it doesn’t it’s just nice to have something that looks different than the 2010s.

I'm pumped

I mean unless you're just trying to stir up trouble and make everybody wallow in your misery you have to be encouraged by this offseason.

Ready for it to get started.

I’m definitely encouraged with the direction this team has gone this offseason.Now they just have to put it all together.This team could possibly surprise some people this year with a wildcard playoff spot,but that will depend largely on how Joe Burrow performs in his rookie season.

The future looks bright, but there will be growing pains with the Oline, LB's, and QB to name a few.

I haven’t played Madden in years. Feels like I made a Madden team. We are loaded.

I think we have the best WR group and the best DB group in the league. And this is a passing league. We moved on from a chicken shit QB to the #1 pick Heisman winning QB who has enormous balls.

I expect growing pains. But ZT is different than Marvin. I think his motivational optimistic style will allow the young team to progress quickly.

(06-14-2020, 10:52 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: I haven’t played Madden in years. Feels like I made a Madden team. We are loaded.

I think we have the best WR group and the best DB group in the league. And this is a passing league. We moved on from a chicken shit QB to the #1 pick Heisman winning QB who has enormous balls.

I expect growing pains. But ZT is different than Marvin. I think his motivational optimistic style will allow the young team to progress quickly.

Best db group? Child please!

(06-14-2020, 07:24 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Needless to say, like most of you, I'm really pumped for the 2020 season.  I was trying to think of the last time I was this excited for a season.  I think the honest answer to that question is that's been well over a decade.

Without going into too much detail, and completely rehashing old beaten down topics, I started losing a lot of excitement probably around '09.  I know we had some decent teams since that time, but I never had much faith in Marvin beyond then.  Brat was a hanger-on at that time, and the staff was littered with guys that managed to stay on well beyond. (Alexander, Zampese, Hayes Bros, etc.)

I really think what most bothered me is not enough ever seemed to change.  It was basically the same regime and the same approach.  And as much as I came to respect Andy, I never considered him someone worthy of having a "fund" for years in advance.  The team and thier appraoch to me became stale and boring.

A lot of people said that myself and others wanted change simply for the sake of change. I never really thought that was at all fair.  I simply wanted to try something different because what we we're doing never resulted in getting over the hump.  I often said I'd rather try drastic change and fail then try the same old, same old and get blasted in the Wild Card round.

Well, now we're here.  We've got an overhauled coaching staff, and one that is much younger.  We've got a brand new QB, who might very well be the best prospect to come out in the last decade.  And, to top it off, we've got the biggest Free Agent class in franchise history.  We actually spent the 3rd most in the league in free agency, to the tune of well over 100 mil dollars.

Call me crazy, I don't see how anyone couldn't be excited with all of that.  I actually think the not knowing exactly what we have yet is exciting in and of itself.  I really just can't wait to see what this team looks like.  I can't wait to see the approach with the new QB.  I can't wait to see what the new QB looks like. I can't wait to see how a guy likes Higgins looks.  I can't wait to see what difference the additions on defense makes.

Will this team be better than some of those Marvin teams?  I don't know, and frankly right now I really don't care.  For me, I knew exactly what we had in those teams. Average to good, but never great.  The beauty with this team is I have no idea what we have just yet, and that's exciting.  For the first time in forever I'm starting to look down the line and envision this roster and their potential to be a contender.  With the FA haul, I'm starting to allow myself to imagine all sorts of possibilities moving forward.

I LOVE the new aggressive approach, and I LOVE all the new faces.  September can't come soon enough!!!

 have to disagree with you premise that we had average only ever with Marvin... I would rank the 2015 the best team since Super Bowl Run and that team was not average..  As for excited yes.. but for me it is about what it was coming into Dalton and Greens 1st year.. the changing of athe guards.. moving on from Palmer and Chad was the correct time and bring in a stud WR and a solid College QB was very exciting and it put us on track for 5 straight winning seasons.. and that is really what we just did this offseason but adding FAs and  the difference now is Burrow.... really coming from nowhere into his Senior year to what he accomplished has to excite all of us... lets just hope that magic carries on into NFL...

(06-14-2020, 10:58 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: Best db group? Child please!

I wouldn’t say we have the best WR group either. Although they’re definitely up there. TB’s is pretty damn good for one, and now they have Brady throwing them the ball...

Now if John Ross finally puts it all together and stays healthy, and AJ returns to his pre-injuries form, and Higgins has a big rookie season, then yes, we could arguably be the very best. That’s a lot of if’s though.

(06-14-2020, 10:58 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: Best db group? Child please!

Perhaps they are not the best in the NFL but to suggest someone stating the following could be the best in the NFL deserves a "child Please?" is silly:

WJ!!!
Trae Waynes
McKensie Alexander
Darrius Phillips
Jesse Bates
ShawnWilliams 
Vonn Bell
Brandon Wilson

(06-14-2020, 11:17 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Perhaps they are not the best in the NFL but to suggest someone stating the following could be the best in the NFL deserves a "child Please?" is silly:

WJ!!!
Trae Waynes
McKensie Alexander
Darrius Phillips
Jesse Bates
ShawnWilliams 
Vonn Bell
Brandon Wilson

I don’t see a lockdown corner on that list. You have to have one of those to even make the consideration of best DB group in the league. I don’t think the additions we made move us to even the top 10.

(06-14-2020, 11:08 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote:  have to disagree with you premise that we had average only ever with Marvin... I would rank the 2015 the best team since Super Bowl Run and that team was not average.

Fwiw, this is exactly what I said:

(06-14-2020, 07:24 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Will this team be better than some of those Marvin teams?  I don't know, and frankly right now I really don't care.  For me, I knew exactly what we had in those teams. Average to good, but never great. 

I never said all we had was average.  The 2015 team was good, but not great.  We can disagree, but just wanted to clarify my opinion.

I don't know how you couldn't be excited. If we weren't dealing with what we have going on, I'd be counting down the days to camp by now.

I'm excited to see Burrow throwing passes to Green in a practice or wearing a Bengal uniform.

During the lockout year the team and players did not have any contact. This year they are on video calls in video classrooms interacting with coaches asking questions they all have the playbook. With the change in the culture ZT is bringing to the team the rookies being coaches sons or team captains from their college teams they should all be up to par in their heads. They will make rookie mistakes and need to get their muscle memory down once they hit the field but they should be well ahead of the lockout year guys. Which went to the playoffs.

A few things that I have wanted for some time that I feel the Bengals have not had for a long time:

A mobile QB (Check)

An offense that involves the RBs in the passing game (Check, hypothetically)

Speed and depth at the LB positing (Check)

Innovative coaching (TBD)

A defense that plays to the individual's strengths (zone with a bunch of man corners....TBD)

A great deal of these things have been addressed this season, with the greatest potential impact coming at QB. I don't mean to slight Dalton, but Burrow's mobility, accuracy, and vision are elite. I know it was college but the way he shredded the best college defense in the Championship game...Well, it had a lot of NFL talent on it.

To Wes: I always find a way to be optimistic heading in to a season, but this one is different. There is better depth in critical situations. We have Jonah Williams coming in to stabilize the left side of the offensive line. We have options at RT (Hart or Johnson). We have competition at key positions: RG- XSF, Price, Adeniji. We have a ton of proven FA talent that joined the team. This team is going to have its work cut out for it with the talent in the division, but with Burrow and the improvements on defense, I don't think they will be out of any game.

It is going to be a really, really fun season.

(06-15-2020, 08:48 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: A few things that I have wanted for some time that I feel the Bengals have not had for a long time:

A mobile QB (Check)

An offense that involves the RBs in the passing game (Check, hypothetically)

Speed and depth at the LB positing (Check)

Innovative coaching (TBD)

A defense that plays to the individual's strengths (zone with a bunch of man corners....TBD)

A great deal of these things have been addressed this season, with the greatest potential impact coming at QB. I don't mean to slight Dalton, but Burrow's mobility, accuracy, and vision are elite. I know it was college but the way he shredded the best college defense in the Championship game...Well, it had a lot of NFL talent on it.

To Wes: I always find a way to be optimistic heading in to a season, but this one is different. There is better depth in critical situations. We have Jonah Williams coming in to stabilize the left side of the offensive line. We have options at RT (Hart or Johnson). We have competition at key positions: RG- XSF, Price, Adeniji. We have a ton of proven FA talent that joined the team. This team is going to have its work cut out for it with the talent in the division, but with Burrow and the improvements on defense, I don't think they will be out of any game.

It is going to be a really, really fun season.

Great post.

I know we had the expectation of ZT coming in here knowing how to fix the team immediately and having the same knowledge of the roster as we do. I think he needed a year to get his hands on the players and see what was true and what wasn’t. He is now addressing many of the issues we knew about has highly invested fans and is doing it in creative ways that I myself wouldn’t have forseen a year ago.

I guess what I’m saying is it seems he has figured the roster out and is doing his best to improve it. Let’s hope he is the real deal!