(09-23-2020, 06:42 PM)J24 Wrote: 1.) A Geno was literally the best Defensive player in the NFl in the beginning of the 2018 season. He also was the only guy to show up to start the season last year.
2.) Geno is a Hall of Famer why are you picking on that guy? He is only that has shown up year after year. Yet somehow he gets so much shit on this board it's odd.

Geno does not show up year after year. He also doesn't show up game after game. You have to look at his collateral stats or he'd zero himself off the board. "Oh he's getting double so, this guy should have had more sacks/tackles". Lebron gets doubled, Luka gets triple teamed. Those are superstars.

If by show up you mean not get injured, I understand that.

I would have traded AJ and Geno beofre they became these "problems" and their asset value is very low. Without an offensive line Burrow is doomed, we have no consistency on offense or defense, do they want to choose which one to start with first?

We sign Joseph Mixon to large contract behind a line he can't run on and we have a number 1 overall pick behind the same line. If we could have traded Geno/AJ and get stud offensive lineman back and let both Joes work. AJ is a risky proposition due to his age. Once he shows his devalue he's not worth a veritable trade asset anymore. Would have been cool to have predicted AJ would sit out the last 2 years lol and trade him before then.

Both Joes will fully fail behind this line and by the time it's fixed AJ will be done.

If you're a superstar you are consistently excellent, Geno absolutely disappears. He is just a star. That irritates the eff out of most here. Face reality, this team sucks lol. Yeah he's made a shit ton of probowls so that qualifies for superstar status, but for his and AJ's position it's not a precipice falloff, it's already happened, they're on the other side of the hill. Age catches us all. It's a what have you done for me lately league. Derrick rose is a bad example due to injury, but he was a superstar. He's barely a star now, but sometimes shows it. He is no longer either!

When its comes to playing the AFC North,too many many guys on
Defense simply are no where to be found.it's been a disturbing trend for years now.
Geno ,Carlos ,WJ3, Bates and those current players.
Where was Atkins and Dunlap when Big Ben put the winning drive together a couple years back
And Antonio Brown took it 58 yds?
How about when the Steelers put in a high school wildcat gameplan with Rudolph in?

I just remember when guys in the past like Nelson Jones Burfict Kaeshvaharn would show up
Vs the North.

This defense is really lacking a tenacious mindset.
We need guys that are hungry and can makes plays and rise to the occasion.
Where are the playmakers?

(09-24-2020, 03:19 PM)impactplaya Wrote: When its comes to playing the  AFC North,too many many guys on
Defense simply are no where to be found.it's been a disturbing trend for years now.
Geno ,Carlos ,WJ3, Bates and those current players.
Where was Atkins and Dunlap when Big Ben put the winning drive together a couple years back
And Antonio Brown took it 58 yds?
How about when the Steelers  put in a high school wildcat gameplan with Rudolph in?

I just remember when guys in the past like Nelson Jones Burfict Kaeshvaharn would show up
Vs the North.

This defense is really lacking a  tenacious mindset.
We need guys that are hungry and can makes plays and rise to the occasion.
Where are the playmakers?

 They have not drafted a top DL or LB in years in round 1 in years.15 years ago they got DE Pollack and 12-13 years ago they got LB Rivers.
 It's been years since any opponent has had to scheme their offense around any defensive player. Last one was Burfict and coincidence it's the last   time this D was worth a crap.

(09-23-2020, 05:46 PM)impactplaya Wrote: One thing that is painfully obvious is that this defense is really severely
Lacking a game changer on defense.
If Burrow is the face of the offense then who is it on defense.?
Successful franchises have a franchise QB and a real game changer on defense.

This defense hasnt had a real legit game changer since Vontaze.
In fact it's been years since the Bengals have drafted a defensive player
And out the gate he was already making plays.

Meanwhile over in Pittsburgh, they got guys like Devin Bush, TJ Watt boom
Making a statement on the field sooner than later in their rookie years.

Somehow in Cincy we draft guys on defense that it takes them a while to even be above average. I see many guys on defense while they are going all out, but still not impacting the game.

I dont know,if it comes down to coaching or scouting. But the lack of defensive
Playmakers is truly affecting the progress of this team.
The run d  still resembles a wet paper bag.
Nobody is causing fumbles.
Interceptions. Forget about it.

Well, Bates at times can be a ballhawk, he just needs to tackle better. WJ3 is just so inconsistent and just doesn't catch the ball
well as we have seen. Geno and Dunlap could still be playmakers for us, they were balling out in TC. Shawn is coming back this
week and he gets a lot more interceptions than Bell does.

Hubbard is a Playmaker and it is only 2 games into the season with Wilson and ADG who are also playmakers IMO.

I am not panicking yet.

Really our DL has been a letdown for a while now - they are experts at being close but never actually sealing the deal on pressures. And they are awful at closing the ends to stop rollouts and RBs getting to the edge.

(09-24-2020, 03:49 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Well, Bates at times can be a ballhawk, he just needs to tackle better. WJ3 is just so inconsistent and just doesn't catch the ball
well as we have seen. Geno and Dunlap could still be playmakers for us, they were balling out in TC. Shawn is coming back this
week and he gets a lot more interceptions than Bell does.

Hubbard is a Playmaker and it is only 2 games into the season with Wilson and ADG who are also playmakers IMO.

I am not panicking yet.

Im not panicing  But I saw this same story last year. QBs with clean jerseys and high QB ratings.
Burfict and Jones were really tone setters for this defense. Whos the tone setter for this defense?
I like Hubbard. Hes a lunch and pail kinda DE. But he lacks that seek and destroy attitude.
Dunlap...fine player but again too laid back at the position that demands a edgey attitude.

The Steelers and Ravens have playmakers at all 3 levels on defense.
We have zero. 
Maybe when Shawn Williams gets healthy he can start a trend.
See ball take ball. See ball carrier stop him.in his tracks. 

(09-24-2020, 04:03 PM)impactplaya Wrote: Im not panicing  But I saw this same story last year. QBs with clean jerseys and high QB ratings.
Burfict and Jones were really tone setters for this defense. Whos the tone setter for this defense?
I like Hubbard. Hes a lunch and pail kinda DE. But he lacks that seek and destroy attitude.
Dunlap...fine player but again too laid back at the position that demands a edgey attitude.

The Steelers and Ravens have playmakers at all 3 levels on defense.
We have zero. 
Maybe when Shawn Williams gets healthy he can start a trend.
See ball take ball. See ball carrier stop him.in his tracks. 

Was hoping Bates could be the next Reggie Nelson for us but he really needs to start tackling better and with more authority.

I still think that opening day BS call where he laid his shoulder into Mike Williams may have been on his mind.

I think all of the young Linebackers we have can be tone setters, Pratt, Wilson, ADG and even Bailey are playmakers that like
to hit hard and tackle well and can make plays on the ball. Reader can be a tone setter but he was just tired last game from
taking too many snaps. Still think we can have playmakers at all 3 phases, heck Bell hits with attitude himself.

Geno Atkins will still flash every once in a while and get a few sacks here and there, but he doesn't make an impact from down to down. And we had a ton of games the last two years where he was going against O-lines who were playing backups and third stingers, and he was a non- factor

Has the defense even created a batted pass in the air this year?

(09-24-2020, 04:35 PM)impactplaya Wrote: Has the defense even created a batted pass in the air this year?

Don't remember one, think we have been letting the QB out of the pocket too much for this to happen.

I don't think we have the correct personnel for what the scheme dictates. They say they want more 3-4 looks, yet we don't have the bigger 3-4 type DEs. I realize that we are in nickel most of the time, but stopping the run has been a major issue. I still don't think we have found any answers at LB for what this scheme needs.

This defense really needs the following:

A legit edge rusher - Lawson could (and should be this guy) but he is invisible this season.
Another run-stuffing DT.
Linebackers that can make plays. We still don't have them. I think we have some guys that will be good in sub-packages (AGD, Wilson) but we still don't have that guys that goes sideline to sideline and crushes ball carriers and fills hole.

I think our secondary is "good enough" if we had some consistent pressure up front.

Depending on where they pick, taking a guy like Parsons from Penn St wouldn’t bother me but they better make sure they sign and draft a couple of good O linemen in that case.

This is a league where the rules heavily favored offense so you fix that first. They are good at QB, RB and WR (even without AJ IMO). Fixing the O line is the main thing they need to do. Even if they don’t make many defensive changes but drastically improve the O line then they will be a much better football team next year. The main focus has to be protecting the QB and opening running lanes for Mixon.

(09-25-2020, 01:28 PM)Clark W Griswold Wrote: Depending on where they pick, taking a guy like Parsons from Penn St wouldn’t bother me but they better make sure they sign and draft a couple of good O linemen in that case.

This is a league where the rules heavily favored offense so you fix that first. They are good at QB, RB and WR (even without AJ IMO). Fixing the O line is the main thing they need to do. Even if they don’t make many defensive changes but drastically improve the O line then they will be a much better football team next year.  The main focus has to be protecting the QB and opening running lanes for Mixon.

True that Clark.

We already have defensive playmakers - in the worst way. This season should be a mulligan. It's too late to do some serious moves now.

(09-25-2020, 02:08 PM)Interceptor Wrote: We already have defensive playmakers - in the worst way. This season should be a mulligan. It's too late to do some serious moves now.

  Maybe we'll get to see them in their "best way", this week?

Speaking of defensive playmakers, isn't it about time to move on from The Burfict Storm?? 

(09-24-2020, 09:39 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Since he's now going to have to play close to 100% of snaps, it's a good thing he trimmed down.

True but it is a shame he is in this situation.

(09-25-2020, 02:35 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote:   Maybe we'll get to see them in their "best way", this week?

Speaking of defensive playmakers, isn't it about time to move on from The Burfict Storm?? 

Oooo... I forgot that was still on. However, he played hard as the 11 other defensive players wearing piss & black, but Burfict got called on every little (even questionable 50/50) thing while the other side got away with murder.

(09-25-2020, 03:32 PM)Interceptor Wrote: Oooo... I forgot that was still on. However, he played hard as the 11 other defensive players wearing piss & black, but Burfict got called on every little (even questionable 50/50) thing while the other side got away with murder.

This defense lost its proverbial swagger when Tez and Pacman left. When.You play with a swagger it is a contagious thing.Tez was able to.into the heads of other offenses. Offenses had to know where Tez was at all times. And Pacman was a good lockdown CB. 
Those 2 rose the bar on defense.
I look at our defense now. I see nice guys who dont play with a attitude 

(09-25-2020, 06:01 PM)impactplaya Wrote: This defense lost its proverbial swagger when Tez and Pacman left. When.You play with a swagger it is a contagious thing.Tez was able to.into the heads of other offenses. Offenses had to know where Tez was at all times. And Pacman was a good lockdown CB. 
Those 2 rose the bar on defense.
I look at our defense now. I see nice guys who dont play with a attitude 

In my mind, letting Reggie Nelson out of the building was as big of a blunder as letting Whitworth go.  Sure, 'Taze and Jones were attitude guys with some football skills, but Whitworth and Nelson had that uncommon talent at their respective positions.

(09-25-2020, 06:22 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: In my mind, letting Reggie Nelson out of the building was as big of a blunder as letting Whitworth go.  Sure, 'Taze and Jones were attitude guys with some football skills, but Whitworth and Nelson had that uncommon talent at their respective positions.

Yep, Reggie I guess is getting no love around here despite being a Steeler killer. I loved the Predator and he was a "nice guy".

Off the field anyways. On the field, the Predator would whack the shit out of players and was a ballhawk. 

The definition of playmaker.

Whit would turn mean at times on the field as well like when him and Henderson went at it. But a very "nice guy" off the field.