I'm not much for smack talk and love my football family but I'll try to get a bit cocky and stir up the board.

What's with these other AFC North teams enamored with WRs and pretty looking players? The icing tastes great but you got no cake bro.

Bengals- Stop patching up the Oline and address it year after year after year. Five decent lineman isn't good enough. One good pure RB isn't enough. Gio isn't getting younger and is just a change of pace. Your Dline is getting old too, build some depth so those guys can rotate. The defense lacks swag. (Serious aside: Hubbard is a player, love his game. Burrow won't be denied he's got the right mentality and skill).

Steelers- Won't commit to the running game despite having a good defense. Average, underwhelming RBs. Too sentimental and wishy washy with the QB. Stop wasting day two picks on at best backup QBs and have the guts to replace Ben. Better a year early than a year late. You're Oline has no depth and is regressing. And you've built a team to throw 600 times so they have to sit in pass pro and not attack. Icing offense. (Serious aside: Defense is one of the best so you'll be in every game)

Browns- The thread title says it all. You try so hard but continue to Browns it up. Front four are one dimentional pass rushers. LBs and Safeties are a giant yawn. One great CB but no one seems to want to tackle anywhere on defense. Mayfield, OBJ and Garrett are all water and fire with no Earth qualities. Team frontrunner. Better have success early or fragile minded players will fall apart. (Serious aside: Chubb and Landry could play on my team any day. Stefanski offense is exactly what you needed)

Ravens- For the sake of this exercise I'll pretend they're perfect :)

There you have it, it's almost football times guys. Be safe today and tell someone you love them!

AFC North predictions:
Ravens 12-4
Steelers- 10-6
Bengals- 7-9
Browns- 7-9
All of us feast on NFC East and AFC South and beat up on each other. One of the most balanced divisions in football. AFC West probably the only better division.

The icing is the best part of cake. To the point that many will eat icing, without any cake at all.

No one eats cake without icing.

Well, maybe that's a Baltimore thing

Pretty fair assessment, as far as the division goes. On the icing part? Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense will be making the divisional defenses look like glazed doughnuts..

(08-27-2020, 08:59 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: The icing is the best part of cake.  To the point that many will eat icing, without any cake at all.

No one eats cake without icing.

Well, maybe that's a Baltimore thing

This sounds like a should-be Pink Floyd song. “How can you have any icing if you don’t eat your cake?” Hey, it’s 6:20am. That’s just where the tail pointed this early.

Maaaan you guys are right, the icing is the best part. That's a serious hole in my argument. Wait a sec- pineapple upside down cake doesn't have icing and it rocks! Coffee cake is a reach I guess but it counts. So my point stands (wobbly).

Now I'm gonna ask my wife to make chocolate cake and fight my kids for the icing soaked mixers and not tell anyone here about it.

Gotta say, I like Ravens fans one hell of a lot better than Stooler and Stain fans.

I know... The rest of the division is also enamored with QBs who can make throws outside of the numbers... Weird.

(08-29-2020, 10:41 PM)jason Wrote: I know... The rest of the division is also enamored with QBs who can make throws outside of the numbers... Weird.

How much do you think arm strength can be improved through technique or training? Lamar has a strong arm but not one of those lasers that can throw to the sideline from the opposite hash. How much better can he get at that or do you think that's something the Ravens just have to live with.

(08-30-2020, 03:03 PM)Bmore Birds Wrote: How much do you think arm strength can be improved through technique or training? Lamar has a strong arm but not one of those lasers that can throw to the sideline from the opposite hash. How much better can he get at that or do you think that's something the Ravens just have to live with.

I think he can adjust... He's uber athletic, confident, and has a high football IQ. I just figured I'd kick him while he's down. I think Lamar is here to stay though, and his game will evolve. Eventually we'll see less running, and a more traditional approach.

Top notch organization will not hurt him either.

(08-30-2020, 09:13 PM)jason Wrote: I think he can adjust... He's uber athletic, confident, and has a high football IQ. I just figured I'd kick him while he's down. I think Lamar is here to stay though, and his game will evolve. Eventually we'll see less running, and a more traditional approach.

Top notch organization will not hurt him either.

Kick Lamar while he's down after winning the MVP...

LMAO 

He ain't down Jase.

(08-30-2020, 10:28 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Kick Lamar while he's down after winning the MVP...

LMAO 

He ain't down Jase.

He keeps getting demolished in the playoffs after ballin out in the regular season. We're Bengals fans... Remember? Regular season doesn't count. He's lost to 2 inferior teams in back to back postseasons. Having said that; I think Lamar Jackson will continue to grow his game, and get better. So yeah... This is his low point.

(08-31-2020, 10:31 PM)jason Wrote: He keeps getting demolished in the playoffs after ballin out in the regular season. We're Bengals fans... Remember? Regular season doesn't count. He's lost to 2 inferior teams in back to back postseasons. Having said that; I think Lamar Jackson will continue to grow his game, and get better. So yeah... This is his low point.

Nah. I think he's peaked. He is still willing to run too much and it's going to get him hurt. The more they can get him to become a pocket passer and run as a last option, the better for him and them. 

(08-31-2020, 10:43 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Nah. I think he's peaked. He is still willing to run too much and it's going to get him hurt. The more they can get him to become a pocket passer and run as a last option, the better for him and them. 

I mean shit... I hope you're right. He's in our division and all, but I never thought he'd do what he's done so far in the league. I wouldn't bet against him now. Like him or not, Harbaugh is a really good HC, and there's good organizational backing. Greg Roman maximized what he had to work with last year, and he also did it with Kaep. Lamar seems like a hard worker, and has heart. That'll go a long way with his athleticism.

I definitely don't think he's peaked. I mean sure, there's a good chance he or really no one in our lifetime has a season like Lamar in 2019. But just from a pure QBing standpoint he'll get better with age and the running will be there until further notice. He really does seem like a hard worker with a huge chip on his shoulder and I think his improvement already speaks to that.

I do worry about the playoffs. Really looks like he presses too much, like the anti Flacco. The best analogy I can think of is a pitcher who wants to throw 100mph every pitch and his stuff flattens out. I'll throw the Chargers playoff loss away because we were running the same 7-10 plays and were limited by changing systems halfway through the season. Also had played them twice in three weeks I think. But Tenn beat us down pretty bad and Lamar had a part in that. Again, it seemed like he was trying to do too much.

I'm a huge fan of Lamar, both as a player and as a person, but with each NFL hit his game is going to get a little weaker. DC's are figuring out how to contain him, and it's now on tape. I think we've seen his upside. He is going to have good seasons left, but I think we have seen his peak.

(08-28-2020, 09:08 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Gotta say, I like Ravens fans one hell of a lot better than Stooler and Stain fans.

(09-01-2020, 10:50 AM)Sled21 Wrote: I'm a huge fan of Lamar, both as a player and as a person, but with each NFL hit his game is going to get a little weaker. DC's are figuring out how to contain him, and it's now on tape. I think we've seen his upside. He is going to have good seasons left, but I think we have seen his peak.

Thanks Sled. Personally, I don't think DCs are figuring him out. Maybe it's my purple colored glasses but I believe it has less to do with scheme and more to do with no one can catch and tackle Lamar. They've been trying to take away our RPO game since midway through 2018 and nothing has worked. Lamar was off his game vs Tenn and they outplayed us. Turnovers, two 4th and 1 not converted, Derrick Henry etc. We didn't lose because of some masterful game plan imo.

I do agree he will eventually get less athletic with every hit once he gets to a certain age. My question for you and anyone else on the board is... At age (say 28-32) will Lamar be as good a runner as a Russell Wilson or maybe peak Rodgers or old school Flutie? And at that point will he be as good of a total QB as those guys? Or close to it? Or better?

This is why I've always liked this board and decided to join. It's the first message board I've stayed posting on and I'm in my mid 40's. I get so tired of the Flacco's elite, Flacco sucks arguments. You guys are ok in my book. Good luck Bengals except vs my Ravens. You guys deserve it

(09-02-2020, 07:59 AM)Bmore Birds Wrote: We didn't lose because of some masterful game plan imo.

That's not good. You'd rather lose that way than your MVP QB choking in playoff games.

That's very...Andy Dalton-ish. 

(09-02-2020, 07:59 AM)Bmore Birds Wrote: This is why I've always liked this board and decided to join. It's the first message board I've stayed posting on and I'm in my mid 40's. I get so tired of the Flacco's elite, Flacco sucks arguments. You guys are ok in my book. Good luck Bengals except vs my Ravens. You guys deserve it

Well, i hope you have thick skin and a good sense of humor because once the season starts, the tone will change around here. 

(09-02-2020, 11:51 AM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Well, i hope you have thick skin and a good sense of humor because once the season starts, the tone will change around here. 

I will be here to take my lumps for sure. And there's only a 1/32 chance I'll be celebrating after the season anyway. 

Btw I'm an O's fan too so I'm used to mental beat downs! You guys can't possibly do more damage than they've done. Crappy, cheap owner who cuts corners. Stacked division. Orange and Black colors. Haven't won anything meaningful since the 80's. Sound familiar?????