Personally, I don't think he is "done", but he is nowhere near a true #1 and the lack of a #1 on the field is hurting this offense. Watch Davonte Adams at Green Bay. Hopkins at AZ. Those are guys that are true #1s and are at the top of their game. Although I had high hopes for Ross and I am willing to give him a LITTLE more rope since he had the COVID scare with his son and the boy's mother, but he has been largely invisible.

He's old and rusty, but moreso old IMO.

(09-22-2020, 08:31 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: Personally, I don't think he is "done", but he is nowhere near a true #1 and the lack of a #1 on the field is hurting this offense.  Watch Davonte Adams at Green Bay.  Hopkins at AZ.  Those are guys that are true #1s and are at the top of their game.  Although I had high hopes for Ross and I am willing to give him a LITTLE more rope since he had the COVID scare with his son and the boy's mother, but he has been largely invisible.

I'm willing to give everyone a pass thus far. AJ is a #2 at best and Boyd a #2B at this point. I won't say they don't have anyone that can't stretch the field as Burrow missed AJ badly in game 1 and Ross just looked so uncomfortable in the endzone on the deep pass play he should have caught for a TD but no opponent has to roll a S over to any of the Bengals WR's which means they can keep a S close to the box to defend the short pass and/or the run.

Hopefully Higgins continues to escalate his game even more from the Browns game.

When my car got rusty and I "knocked the rust off" it was piece of crap with a lot of holes.

I have always been a huge fan of AJ. As an SEC fan I watched him in college. Then he was the bets player on our offense for years. But I said we should have let him walk instead of giving him the FT. But at least that was better than a long term contract.

(09-22-2020, 09:37 AM)higgy100 Wrote: I'm willing to give everyone a pass thus far. AJ is a #2 at best and Boyd a #2B at this point. I won't say they don't have anyone that can't stretch the field as Burrow missed AJ badly in game 1 and Ross just looked so uncomfortable in the endzone on the deep pass play he should have caught for a TD but no opponent has to roll a S over to any of the Bengals WR's which means they can keep a S close to the box to defend the short pass and/or the run.

Hopefully Higgins continues to escalate his game even more from the Browns game.

It sure is nice of ZT to not run the ball anyways.

Actually, if you watch the Browns game, they played cover 2 deep most of the game.  

I think we will know by the trade deadline. If he's just rusty that's great, if he's not that's fine as well we can trade him or just let him walk.
I think this is what the franchise tag is for!

(09-22-2020, 10:21 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: It sure is nice of ZT to not run the ball anyways.

Actually, if you watch the Browns game, they played cover 2 deep most of the game.  

I actually watched very little of the game and haven't watched the recording. Interesting. Browns obviously very confident their DL could take on the Bengals OL with only their 4 guys. They probably felt better dropping more into coverage to try and confuse Burrow verses playing the receivers mano.

(09-18-2020, 02:26 PM)hoosierbengal Wrote: So I think we all agree he doesn’t look like the AJ of old. Is it age? Injuries? Not playing in so long? Combination of all is likely. Can he learn to be a different type receiver? Can his body hold up if he does? What is everyone’s opinion? I remember hearing in the off-season On the radio no WR over 31 or 32 (can’t remember exactly) has missed an entire season due to injury and then came back to have another 1000 season in his career. This surprised me. So he is trying to accomplish something that hasn’t been done before. Sucks for AJ because he seems like such a good dude.

You nailed it with that stat.  People were being unrealistic when they thought AJ would return to top form.  To quote Marcellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction...

"This business is filled with unrealistic muthafxckers that thought they xss would age like wine.  If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does.  If you mean it gets better with age, it don't."

I think it's too early to conclude much about AJ. For his first game in a couple years he was OK against the Chargers. He stunk against the Browns, but everybody has a bad game once in a while. Even in his prime Joe Haden used to shut him down when he was with the Browns. This time it was Ward (and some bad Burrow throws).

But IF he stays health all year and even looks Larry Fitzgerald-esque, I could see paying him solid #2 WR money in the offseason, and let him play the #3 WR spot behind Higgins (#1 next year) and Boyd (#2), while Higgins is still on a rookie contract. Basically I'm more excited about Higgins taking his role than any AJ Green fountain of youth. But that doesn't mean he's totally shot or can't contribute anything.

That of course is predicated on his health... so far so good after 2 games.

He has been open deep, so I don't think he's completely shot. Trying to run the passing game through him has held us back, but frankly I don't think Higgins is ready for that yet, and Boyd is a #2. All just reasons why I think our window really opens next year, not this year.

(09-18-2020, 02:44 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote: How many drops does AJ have? He was getting plenty of seperation and Browns were doubling him frequently.

Thought we saw a stat where he as not getting any separation at all. Like very low in the league or least on the team, something along those lines. Infrequent and/or not far enough to be called separation.

(09-22-2020, 08:03 PM)reuben.ahmed Wrote: Thought we saw a stat where he as not getting any separation at all. Like very low in the league or least on the team, something along those lines. Infrequent and/or not far enough to be called separation.

How far are ya gonna get in 2.6 seconds?

(09-22-2020, 08:07 PM)jason Wrote: How far are ya gonna get in 2.6 seconds?

484333.2 miles if I'm light. 

(09-22-2020, 08:51 PM)bfine32 Wrote: 484333.2 miles if I'm light. 

The problem is you are heavy.

(09-22-2020, 08:07 PM)jason Wrote: How far are ya gonna get in 2.6 seconds?

0.53 miles if I'm loud.