Quote:As a franchise, the Bengals hate change. The team has been owned by the same family since its founding 51 years ago. Marvin Lewis has been the head coach for 15, going on 16 years. Andy Dalton has been the starting quarterback since 2011, despite sometimes lacking results. Many of the assistant coaches, front office personnel and team employees have been around for decades, too. But this offseason, the Bengals actually parted ways with a number of coaches — some by choice and some not by choice — and this could be an amazing thing for the club.

“No question. Change can be good,” Ken Anderson recently said, discussing the changes expected in Cincinnati this year. “He’s (Dalton) got a couple of new linemen that are going to help him and he’s got weapons at the line of scrimmage and in the backfield. We’ve got to get (wide receiver) John Ross healthy. It’s going to be fun for him.”

With an offensive coordinator who’s finally changing the playbook (Bill Lazor) and a new defensive coordinator with an impressive track record (Teryl Austin), plus a handful of new assistants (Frank Pollack, Daronte Jones, Matt Raich, Bob Bicknell), there’s reason to believe change is really coming for the Bengals and that could make a world of a difference.

“Everybody is responding to the coaches, getting ready to work, everybody is getting tired of the ‘can’t do this and can’t do that,’ I feel like everyone is buying into the new system and it’s really motivating guys,” cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick told Cincy Jungle.

Quote:Last year we saw Marvin Lewis actually play his young players. Carl Lawson and Jordan Willis both saw considerable playing time, William Jackson got to see the field. Even Josh Malone played 25 percent of the team’s offensive snaps and on defense Ryan Glasgow played 35.95 percent of the snaps. Bengals fans are reluctant to believe Lewis played and will continue to play rookies, but the proof is there. The young guys played in 2017 and I believe it’s because Lewis realizes he needs to win and do whatever it takes to win.

There’s more urgency coming from the head coach than in past years.

There’s no more time for guys to sit on the bench and learn. They need to get onto the field and learn. I think the proof from last year in this regard is one of the things to be most excited about this season, especially since the Bengals have had 22 draft picks in the last two years combined. Lewis is changing his ways at least in this one small regard and there’s reason to be hopeful about the young guys getting playing time this season. Lewis already said Sam Hubbard will be part of the rotation on defense immediately and that alone is something to be excited about.

Quote:This point goes along with the first and second. For starters, the Bengals made a change at center by letting Russell Bodine walk away in free agency — whether they wanted him to or not — and then selected Billy Price in the first round of the draft. Second, playing Price as a rookie will continue the trend of letting the young guys get onto the field immediately. And the plan is for Price to start at center in Week 1. It will be so refreshing for the Bengals to have a capable starting center and someone in the middle of the offensive line who isn’t getting pushed over onto his ass on a regular basis. The problem here is that we need to wait and see how Price does at the NFL level. But back to my optimistic train of thought, Price will be significantly better than Bodine ever was.

Quote:Minicamp didn’t offer much reason to be hopeful about Tyler Eifert’s health in 2018. First, he was limited as part of the alleged plan to bring him slowly into the mix and ensure he’d stay healthy. Then, he wasn’t practicing much at all and Lewis sounded incredibly pessimistic in speaking on Eifert’s health saying he didn’t know whether the star tight end would be cleared for training camp. Eifert missed nearly all of last season while recovering from multiple injuries and getting a few surgeries to fix those injuries. The expectation was he’d be fully ready to go by the spring. He even claimed he was fully-cleared to play prior to free agency, which was clearly not true. (See, here I go starting to get negative because how could you not when it comes to Eifert’s health...)

But with all that said, it’s June and I’m hopeful that Eifert will be healthy when the clock strikes 1:00 p.m. ET on September 9. If he is, the Bengals’ offense will receive a much-needed boost and a playmaker who can’t be stopped.

Similarly, the Bengals didn’t have first round pick John Ross for the majority of last year for a variety of reasons. He’s now been shining in spring workouts and offering a lot of hope for his future with the Bengals.

(06-28-2018, 11:42 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: CincyJungle had an article with four reasons as to why you should believe in the Bengals this year, and it's mostly things we talk about on here, but still nice to see.

1.  Change!

   This is what we're all excited about and Mike Brown is FINALLY making changes to improve the team, starting with the coaches:


I think all of that gets us the pieces we've been missing and also brings a new mentality with the team and coaches that EXPECT to win, and now the team will, too.

2.  Playing the young guys


Marvin's finally realizing that some rookies are ready to play and he's putting the best players on the field.  Being loyal to a fault, along with just overall refusal to play young guys, has been a major fault of his.

3.  Having a competent center


No description was necessary.

4.  Tyler Eifert and John Ross- BE HEALTHY!


I don't really understand how hoping they can stay healthy was a reason to believe in the team, but they'll play big roles in the offense if they can and the team will be tough to stop!

There's more details for those four in the article, but it has me PUMPED UP for this season!

This team could be special!

Rock on Brad

(06-29-2018, 09:11 AM)cooper Wrote: if the offensive line plays well..team should be fine..its really no more than that

offensively, until the last two games they could not do anything..defense was on the field much too long

I do agree.. Mike Browns spy on the field, Paul Alexander, not being here makes a difference

(06-29-2018, 03:38 PM)Wyche Wrote: Yep, agree 100%.  I'd also like to see the defense come up with some more turnovers.

(06-29-2018, 03:55 PM)Joelist Wrote: If Price lives up to expectations we may see Andy faint from shock at the sight of an actual pocket to step up into :)

(06-29-2018, 10:12 AM)fredtoast Wrote: The claim that Marvin doesn't play rookies and younger players is way overblown.  When you look at the numbers over the time he has been here he plays rookies and young guys as much as the average NFL team.  People just don't look at the numbers for other NFL teams.  Last year just a little over half of the first round picks (18) were starters.

Weak teams ususally play more rookies and that is what happened last year with the Bengals.

(06-29-2018, 11:44 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Well, I can see why people see it that way. Last year Willie Jackson was clearly our best corner and Kirkpatrick was clearly behind Adam Jones and Dennard. But it took until Jones got injured for Willie to start.

Another player, I forget who it was, had to go to Marvin Lewis to tell him to start Geno Atkins.

Westerman played the best two games we had last year at RG but it didn't come until the final two games.

Pushing Ogbuehi and Fisher into the lineup when clearly neither could do the job doesn't count in Marvin's favor cause that was a disastrous mistake.

(06-29-2018, 03:38 PM)Wyche Wrote: Yep, agree 100%.  I'd also like to see the defense come up with some more turnovers.

(06-29-2018, 03:55 PM)Joelist Wrote: If Price lives up to expectations we may see Andy faint from shock at the sight of an actual pocket to step up into :)

(06-29-2018, 01:41 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Great post Brad and a very nice read. Cannot disagree with any of it. Honestly it all starts in the trenches and with
the additions of Frank Pollack, Cordy Glenn and Billy Price we could be massively improved. I mean Pollack is a great
run blocking coach unlike PA, Cordy Glenn is one hell of a run blocker, Price WAS the best run blocking Center in the
Draft. Looking for a huge year from Mixon and Gio.

Will be neat to finally see us running on teams and these guys are extremely talented. Should be really fun to watch.

This will in turn open up the passing game and with Ross looking good we should finally have that speedy threat
opposite AJ we have pretty much always missed.

Adding Hubbard to our End rotation is awesome. Really love this guys versatility and when our D-line was at its best
we had a deep rotation. With Dunlap, Lawson, Willis, Hubbard and one of MJ, Brown, Rolland Jones we should be
getting back to that depth. Not to mention if Billings becomes the player i thought he would be.

Rock on Brad

(06-30-2018, 10:57 AM)BengalChris Wrote: All of those things really boil down to some key changes.

On paper the changes look great. We'll have to wait until the season to find out how they work out on the field.