(06-08-2018, 03:24 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: A more important part of this whole thing is getting the players to buy what your selling. They seem to be buying it big time. These guys are getting pumped up before the season and are starting to act like a team. Enthusiasm is higher than it has been in a long, long time. And honestly, a team that believes in itself is far more lethal than anything you try to do.

(06-08-2018, 03:33 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: True that Harley. I can see something different this year with Lazor and Pollack on Offense, plus according to Van Pelt,
Dalton has already picked up the new verbage and is looking very good. With an improved running game and the way
our WR's are running so fast, namely Ross and Green i cannot help getting excited.

We all know it will take time but honestly it is coming around faster than i thought it would on Offense. Using Hewitt at
times in the running game should only help as has been said has already been effective for us. Nothing new to hype up
about Hewitt, he is a damn good FB when healthy.

(06-08-2018, 08:10 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: You know, one player that really impressed me when they brought him here was Brian Leonard. I think Hewitt has a drive and work ethic like Brian Leonard. If I'm right, man this shit is going to be good. The dude don't speak a lot and tell you what he can do, he puts it all out on the field. I love this guy.

(06-08-2018, 08:31 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: After his rookie season, at 400K, the team signed him to a 3 year deal with an average of 2M.  That should tell you how much of an impact they felt he made in 2016.  

He was dinged up last year, and never made it back to full production.  If Bill Lazor is talking about getting him involved, it's for good reason.  The guy is just plain effective, weather it's as a lead blocker, man in motion, in the wing, or inline as a traditional TE.  Dude can ball it out.

(06-08-2018, 08:10 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: You know, one player that really impressed me when they brought him here was Brian Leonard. I think Hewitt has a drive and work ethic like Brian Leonard. If I'm right, man this shit is going to be good. The dude don't speak a lot and tell you what he can do, he puts it all out on the field. I love this guy.

(06-08-2018, 08:31 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: After his rookie season, at 400K, the team signed him to a 3 year deal with an average of 2M.  That should tell you how much of an impact they felt he made in 2016.  

He was dinged up last year, and never made it back to full production.  If Bill Lazor is talking about getting him involved, it's for good reason.  The guy is just plain effective, weather it's as a lead blocker, man in motion, in the wing, or inline as a traditional TE.  Dude can ball it out.

(06-08-2018, 09:54 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Damn right he can. I cant think of many issues with him last year in game action. When his number was called, he was pretty solid.

(06-08-2018, 02:37 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Lazor inherited Zamp's shitty ass frankenstein playbook during a season where he had the worst O-line in football.

Kind of hard for me to judge the man being put into that situation.

(06-08-2018, 03:24 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: A more important part of this whole thing is getting the players to buy what your selling. They seem to be buying it big time. These guys are getting pumped up before the season and are starting to act like a team. Enthusiasm is higher than it has been in a long, long time. And honestly, a team that believes in itself is far more lethal than anything you try to do.

(06-10-2018, 12:32 PM)cooper Wrote: oh please..every player on every team in the league say the same things prior to the season beginning

(06-10-2018, 11:01 AM)Nately120 Wrote: I hear ya, it's just interesting how sometimes the things we are optimistic about this off-season become next off-season's excuses.  There was optimism that Ken Zampese, while not a sexy pick for OC, was going to cut out Hue's infuriating "cuteness" and focus on a simplified and effective form of coaching that also gave Dalton more freedom to make decisions.  Now having Zampese is the reason we stunk for 2 years.

Our o-line is also a reason we can't judge our offense effectively, but there was a point where we were elated to see the Bengals rebuild the o-line through the draft rather than overpay some ancient linemen who didn't want to be here.  I won't even get into how Jeremy Hill went from the man who was going to save our franchise to being the guy who ruined everything.

I get it, fan optimism and it makes sense.  Lazor could be pretty good, but it wouldn't shock me if he finds himself in the blame pile eventually, either.

(06-11-2018, 10:15 AM)Wyche Wrote: I CERTAINLY am not in that camp, Zampese was one of the coaches that drew my ire on the level of my disdain for Piano Man.  I never cared for Zampese, not even as QB coach.  I HATED the promotion, absolutely hated it.  Zampese, coupled with Piano Man's draft choices and passive scheme/practices are a big reason this team has sucked so bad the last couple of years.

I don't recall much optimism regarding Zampese's promotion, to be honest.

(06-11-2018, 10:15 AM)Wyche Wrote: I CERTAINLY am not in that camp, Zampese was one of the coaches that drew my ire on the level of my disdain for Piano Man.  I never cared for Zampese, not even as QB coach.  I HATED the promotion, absolutely hated it.  Zampese, coupled with Piano Man's draft choices and passive scheme/practices are a big reason this team has sucked so bad the last couple of years.

I don't recall much optimism regarding Zampese's promotion, to be honest.

(06-11-2018, 10:53 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Agreed, I can't remember being happy/excited about Zampese being promoted.  In fact, what I recall is the majority of opinions on here were that it was a lazy hire.  With hindsight being 20/20, we can look back and clearly see that the pitchfork and torch crowd was correct on that occasion.

(06-11-2018, 11:01 AM)Nately120 Wrote: It was more "we're stuck with him so let's convince ourselves he's gonna be ok" than anything else, I realize.  I think it came down to people wanting to blame Hue for our offense being too convoluted or cute or whatever.  So yeah, it was less optimism and more people trying to find possible positives.

(06-10-2018, 12:32 PM)cooper Wrote: oh please..every player on every team in the league say the same things prior to the season beginning

(06-11-2018, 11:08 AM)Tiger Teeth Wrote: So then we shouldn't be optimistic?  

(06-11-2018, 11:14 AM)cooper Wrote: we are optimistic every year before the season starts..as are most NFL fans nothing wrong with that..aside from what we read..we know nothing... and we know nothing about the feelings of players in general..if the offensive line does a good job this year..team should be better..its not rocket science

running game will improve
passing game will improve
defense wont be on the field as much

(06-11-2018, 11:18 AM)Tiger Teeth Wrote: We're Bengal fans.  I think we all feel a little better about what the front office has done this year.  Your post just came across negative.  Sorry if I misunderstood you.

(06-11-2018, 09:38 PM)Nately120 Wrote: I feel better too, but then again it's a bit of a yearly narrative to claim that:

-the changes we made will make us better
-the things we didn't change will make us better
-the changes the Browns made won't make them better
-the Steelers/Ravens are going to get old and get worse