(06-03-2022, 12:13 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: No they didn’t. I personally fully expect to see them drop off a bit without Adams.

(06-03-2022, 09:14 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The Packers won’t be as good w/o Adams. KC won’t be as good w/o Hill. The Rams won’t be as good w/o Miller. The Bills are as good. The Chargers are better for sure. The Broncos are better. The Raiders are better. Tampa isn’t better for sure w/o Arians and revamped OL. The Ravens are a mystery. They had a great draft but some felt they drafted best available too much. I’m not sure that they won’t be the most improved in 2023 not 2022. I think they don’t have a deep thread. I also think they try to protect Lamar more. It’s going to take away his spontaneity. They are going to try to run the ball more. We are pretty good in rush defense.

Bottom line I don’t see where the top teams really improved except the Bengals. Vegas predicts a lot more 5-6-7 loss teams amongst the division winners. There’s going to be a ton of parity this year. I look for us to scheme well on both offense and defense out the gate. I look for some tough losses in the middle but finish strong. I’m still predicting 11-6. There won’t be but 3 teams with 12 or more wins

(06-03-2022, 10:11 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Well there were 6 teams last year who had 12+ wins, and all those teams still have their starting QB from the year(s) before.
I don't think the Bengals improved THAT much just by adding a few OL. The draft picks are all set to be backups/rotational players this year. No starters (unless Bates doesn't play). MAYBE CTB beats out Apple for outside CB duties, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him as a depth guy as a rookie to not rush him into such a big role.
I do think 11-6 is realistic, for sure.

The only teams I would consider putting ahead of the Bengals right now are teams who have gotten to the playoffs the past 2+ years in a row and have had at least one playoff win in that span:
- Bucs
- Packers
- Rams
- Chiefs
- Bills

I agree with you that losing Hill and Adams could impact those teams to some extent, but I don't think it will be night and day difference.
I'm not necessarily saying all the teams above are even better than the Bengals right now, but they're the safer picks because they've had longer success. Bengals are more risky because of how terrible they were for the previous 5 seasons where they didn't even have a winning season.
Are the Bengals true perennial contenders or are they going to be more like the 2020 Browns where they had a great one season but then floundered the next?
I think the Bengals will get to double-digit wins again and make the playoffs, but I can understand why some are even more "wait and see" to even say that.

(06-03-2022, 10:24 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I agree KC and GB aren’t worse by much. But I’m a believer that Hill and Adams aren’t easily replaced. I think both teams didn’t improve.We should have beat GB and beat KC twice. I didn’t mean to imply they were much worse. My point in all this is of all the top teams I do think the Bengals improved the most.The OL was crap.Now it’s top 8. That’s huge. I just don’t see Tampa, GB, KC improving a horribly weak area to that extent. The Bills did improve slightly.

(06-03-2022, 12:08 AM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I don't care

I've always been of the opinion that power rankings in the pros is pretty much useless.

(06-02-2022, 11:35 PM)Wyche Wrote: We had a lot of close games not go our way in 2020. That was used against the staff when some of us saw the potential. Now it's being used against the team for winning those games, lol. It's like they can't win with some fans and most of the heads.

(06-03-2022, 09:14 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The Packers won’t be as good w/o Adams. KC won’t be as good w/o Hill. The Rams won’t be as good w/o Miller. The Bills are as good. The Chargers are better for sure. The Broncos are better. The Raiders are better. Tampa isn’t better for sure w/o Arians and revamped OL. The Ravens are a mystery. They had a great draft but some felt they drafted best available too much. I’m not sure that they won’t be the most improved in 2023 not 2022. I think they don’t have a deep thread. I also think they try to protect Lamar more. It’s going to take away his spontaneity. They are going to try to run the ball more. We are pretty good in rush defense.

Bottom line I don’t see where the top teams really improved except the Bengals. Vegas predicts a lot more 5-6-7 loss teams amongst the division winners. There’s going to be a ton of parity this year. I look for us to scheme well on both offense and defense out the gate. I look for some tough losses in the middle but finish strong. I’m still predicting 11-6. There won’t be but 3 teams with 12 or more wins

(06-02-2022, 05:06 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote: Many power rankings sites have us lower in the power rankings than they should. The reason these sites give is not due to talent or having a glaring weakness. The reason they give is due to our fluke success last year. That should not be relevant to our success this season if anything it would be a positive and not a negative.

(06-03-2022, 04:54 PM)fredtoast Wrote: If we stay healthy we should have one of the best offenses in the league and our defense should top 10 or very close.  With that combination we would be able to beat any team we play.  But there are also teams with enough talent/coaching to beat us.  I have seen some amazing NFL teams over the last 40 years but none of them went undefeated.  So I believe we will lose at least one.  But we should be good enough to compete for home field advantage.

(06-03-2022, 05:06 PM)BengalsBong Wrote: Disrespect yes punished no. No matter if it is betting odds, power rankings, PFF grades or just national media saying it is a fluke. They cannot hurt us or take anything away from us, so we are not being punished. Our players know what they can do any real fan has a pretty good idea of what our future looks like with Burrow at QB. Do not let them bother you just enjoy the ride.

(06-03-2022, 05:20 PM)grampahol Wrote: Power ranking is almost as important as which brand of toilet paper they use in the locker room..  Luckily the toilet paper brand is head and shoulders more important than power rankings to both players and myself I'm fairly certain..   At the very least the right toilet paper can avoid hemorrhoids.. Power ranking? Not so much.. Nobody can pay their bills or even buy toilet paper with power rankings.. 

(06-03-2022, 05:20 PM)grampahol Wrote: Power ranking is almost as important as which brand of toilet paper they use in the locker room..  Luckily the toilet paper brand is head and shoulders more important than power rankings to both players and myself I'm fairly certain..   At the very least the right toilet paper can avoid hemorrhoids.. Power ranking? Not so much.. Nobody can pay their bills or even buy toilet paper with power rankings.. 

(06-05-2022, 02:01 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: Print it out, use it for TP. 
Gives reading material, so no waste.

(06-06-2022, 01:19 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote: Chargers have done absolutely nothing in Herbert's 2 Years completely healthy while we make SB yet they are so much better than us

(06-06-2022, 01:26 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: They beat us just last year...

I think the Chargers could be a damn tough team especially after the FA they just had for that Defense.

The Bills, Chargers, Raiders and Broncos should all be really tough this season.