The Bengals Played a Really Tough Schedule

[Soonerpeace]

(01-08-2024, 03:04 PM)WychesWarrior Wrote: Kinda on topic....I just saw where CTB called all of the DBs to a short meeting. Told them to get a little rest, and be ready to get together in a few weeks to start working on things together as a unit. I like that leadership, and you hope them starting to work in February will cure a few ills from this year.

That’s having the right guys in the building

[THE PISTONS]

(01-08-2024, 01:40 PM)TheCincinnatiKid Wrote: When you think of the following:

- The Bengals Franchise QB was healthy for roughly 4.5 of the team's 17 games this year.
- The Bengals defence ranked very poorly in a good few metrics.
- The Bengals couldn't rely on a good run game.
- The Bengals had one of the worst schedules in the NFL.

... and you realise that same team went 9-8 for the year. Tbh, I think you have to give the team a hell of a lot of credit to have achieved what they have this year. They didn't make it in, but really a team with a backup/hobbled QB, a bad defence and a not spectacular run game shouldn't really be in the conversation. Bodes well for next year in my opinion.

All of that says that they have a good culture and coaching.

I know people don't want to hear that. But, bad coaching wins 3-6 games under those conditions.

[THE PISTONS]

(01-08-2024, 02:17 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Going to play Debbie Downer here. I'm not happy with the way our season went. Yes, I get Burrow got hurt but we have to fix our defense. Such a huge letdown from prior years, I think Lou is solid, but this year he screwed the pooch and these guys were sloppy. We lost games we shouldn't have and most of that is on the defense and OL. I know all the talk is about Burrow Chase and Tee, but until the OL and Defense is fixed, we are going to continue to have bad seasons, bad injuries and aging players. I would really like this organization to get in the WIN NOW mindset.

There's definately some weak spots that need fixed.

DT. They might need 2 upgrades.
Secondary.
TE.
WR with Tee and Boyd as free agents.
More speed on offense.
T with Jonah a free agent.

So I agree. A lot of guys underperformed.

Kind of wondering if Burrow is just going to be injured a lot. His style takes a lot of hits. Injuries are freaky and random. But, more hits make it more likely.

[THE PISTONS]

(01-08-2024, 05:13 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Had lunch today with a former star safety at Oklahoma who watched every Bengal game and several in person and was impressed with Battle. He’s not as fast as a lot of safeties today he said but really makes up for it in other areas. As others have said both safeties young. They both should improve

Oh...Battle looked very good. Pleasant surprise.

[HarleyDog]

(01-08-2024, 02:28 PM)Clark W Griswold Wrote: What concerns me is that I don’t think they can/will have much change on the defensive side of the ball. DT can see some turnover but the ends are pretty set.
Hendrickson is gold, Hubbard will be back and as a first round pick, Murphy needs more playing time.
The LBs just re-signed but took a huge step back this season. Still I can’t see either of them not starting next year.
The DBs are Hilton and a bunch of young, high draft picks (assuming Chido is gone). They have to play them and see what they can do with some more experience.

They may add a guy or 2 to the DT and DB rooms but other than that this same group is going to have to figure it out.  They are going to have to coach them up and hope Murphy and the young DBs get better with experience. They also need to find out what happened to Wilson and Pratt this year.

Hopefully they will be much better in 2024 because I don’t see any big impact players coming in to help the Defense. Even a first round D tackle would probably take a year to have any significant impact. Lou’s gonna have to earn his pay next season.

Excellent reply. And yes, many eyes will be on Lou.

[HarleyDog]

(01-08-2024, 02:28 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Bengals get the benefit of playing against the worst teams in the AFC South and East next year, which will help.
That will be Patriots and Titans.

They also will play the worst team in either the NFC East, South, or West, which will be either Commanders, Panthers, or Cardinals.

Finally, they'll also get the entire AFC West and NFC East next year.
While there are some tough teams in there, they do get to go against a few teams that should be pretty favored against.

I am liking the schedule for 2024, although what happens in FA and the draft might change that opinion some.

These teams were bad this season. Next season they all should be better. We must be ready to beat the best team every Sunday or else none of this matters.

[HarleyDog]

(01-08-2024, 02:28 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Bengals get the benefit of playing against the worst teams in the AFC South and East next year, which will help.
That will be Patriots and Titans.

They also will play the worst team in either the NFC East, South, or West, which will be either Commanders, Panthers, or Cardinals.

Finally, they'll also get the entire AFC West and NFC East next year.
While there are some tough teams in there, they do get to go against a few teams that should be pretty favored against.

I am liking the schedule for 2024, although what happens in FA and the draft might change that opinion some.

These teams were bad this season. Next season they all should be better. We must be ready to beat the best team every Sunday or else none of this matters.

[HarleyDog]

(01-08-2024, 05:33 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: There's definately some weak spots that need fixed.

DT. They might need 2 upgrades.
Secondary.
TE.
WR with Tee and Boyd as free agents.
More speed on offense.
T with Jonah a free agent.

So I agree. A lot of guys underperformed.

Kind of wondering if Burrow is just going to be injured a lot. His style takes a lot of hits. Injuries are freaky and random. But, more hits make it more likely.

Both Tee and Boyd had many drops this year. At one point, I feared Tee checked out. So, although I like both players and what they've done in the past. I 'm forced to now say what have you done for me lately?

As for Burrow, well, damn. If we don't get our shit together, he's going to be another Andrew Luck. He is possibly one of the greatest minds in the game at QB, but sometimes undisciplined when trying to extend the play. I hated the Andy Dalton chuck to the sideline with a passion. I hate Burrow holding on to the ball and getting killed worse. We have to protect this guy. He will eventually learn when to notice the risk is not worth the reward. 

[Millhouse]

(01-08-2024, 02:17 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Going to play Debbie Downer here. I'm not happy with the way our season went. Yes, I get Burrow got hurt but we have to fix our defense. Such a huge letdown from prior years, I think Lou is solid, but this year he screwed the pooch and these guys were sloppy. We lost games we shouldn't have and most of that is on the defense and OL. I know all the talk is about Burrow Chase and Tee, but until the OL and Defense is fixed, we are going to continue to have bad seasons, bad injuries and aging players. I would really like this organization to get in the WIN NOW mindset.

Ive said elsewhere if they had a better defense and run game, both average even, then they would have made the playoffs without Burrow. 

And I very much agree about the Win Now mindset. This Burrow window needs to be maximized to the fullest, as it's extremely rare to get a QB of his quality. Better defense, run game, and pass blocking with Burrow, they will will be Super Bowl contenders for years.

[Soonerpeace]

Cincinnati’s played one of the hardest schedules over the past 40 years, and ending strong will make more history for the AFC North…

Details⬇️⬇️#Bengalshttps://t.co/2HfPjlSfee

— All Bengals (@AllBengals) January 3, 2024

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(01-08-2024, 02:28 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Bengals get the benefit of playing against the worst teams in the AFC South and East next year, which will help.
That will be Patriots and Titans.

They also will play the worst team in either the NFC East, South, or West, which will be either Commanders, Panthers, or Cardinals.

Finally, they'll also get the entire AFC West and NFC East next year.
While there are some tough teams in there, they do get to go against a few teams that should be pretty favored against.

I am liking the schedule for 2024, although what happens in FA and the draft might change that opinion some.

Yyyyyeah, it's not their out of division opponents that are a problem as they went 8-3 this year and would've been 9-2 if Boyd catches that third down pass. They went 10-1 outside of the AFC North last season with their only loss was 20-17 in week two at Dallas when Burrow was still adjusting to no pre-season and lack of strength from the appendectomy.

[TheCincinnatiKid]

(01-08-2024, 05:29 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: All of that says that they have a good culture and coaching.

I know people don't want to hear that. But, bad coaching wins 3-6 games under those conditions.

Absolutely agree with that. There was no fold in the team despite Super Bowl aspirations largely being over with Burrow's injury.

[Soonerpeace]

(01-08-2024, 05:29 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: All of that says that they have a good culture and coaching.

I know people don't want to hear that. But, bad coaching wins 3-6 games under those conditions.

Some of our message board geniuses. How many games will we win with Jake? 1 or 2? Win 4 and now well we’d said 4 if we’d known Jake was that good. We should have played him the first couple of games. We just won 9 games and just missed the playoffs. I read yesterday that our schedule was the toughest not just this year but in 40 years. Why are teams interested Brian Callahan? He doesn’t call the plays? It’s the culture they’ve created and word gets around via players other coaches other staff in management. Former players you name it. The culture is big. It’s so important when players are millionaires and all about themselves

[Sled21]

(01-08-2024, 02:17 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Going to play Debbie Downer here. I'm not happy with the way our season went. Yes, I get Burrow got hurt but we have to fix our defense. Such a huge letdown from prior years, I think Lou is solid, but this year he screwed the pooch and these guys were sloppy. We lost games we shouldn't have and most of that is on the defense and OL. I know all the talk is about Burrow Chase and Tee, but until the OL and Defense is fixed, we are going to continue to have bad seasons, bad injuries and aging players. I would really like this organization to get in the WIN NOW mindset.

I just wish people would get off our Defense's back. Yes, they took a step back this year. They also were playing rookies and second year players (with Hill not even having a full year at his position because he was bounced all over last year). So taking a step backward was to be expected, but it sets us up to be very good for years down the road.
CTB, Turner, Battle, Hill, Ivey.. these guys will all be around for a long time. 

[*ochocincos*]

(01-08-2024, 08:53 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: These teams were bad this season. Next season they all should be better. We must be ready to beat the best team every Sunday or else none of this matters.

It's possible that any of the teams I mentioned have a drastic turnaround like the Texans did.
In which case, it could be a difficult win.
However, most bad teams don't make that big of a jump in one offseason, so I'm optimistic most of them will still be relatively bad next year.

[*ochocincos*]

(01-09-2024, 03:15 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Yyyyyeah, it's not their out of division opponents that are a problem as they went 8-3 this year and would've been 9-2 if Boyd catches that third down pass. They went 10-1 outside of the AFC North last season with their only loss was 20-17 in week two at Dallas when Burrow was still adjusting to no pre-season and lack of strength from the appendectomy.

Two things:
1) The Bengals morphed their team to try to beat the likes of the Bills and Chiefs moving forward, which are different than the AFC North teams. Whether we like it or not, it's not going to magically morph back in just one offseason. Winning in the division is still going to be difficult.
2) The divisional games are only 35% of the total games. So while those games are impactful, it's still possible to go winless in the division and make the playoffs (and possibly even win the division).

The bigger detriment this season, IMO, is Burrow really only being healthy for about 5 games, which was Arizona up through Houston, where the Bengals went 4-1.
Outside of that window, their record was 5-7, 4 of which had a recovering-but-limited Burrow.

Bottom line - I think people are making a bit too big of a deal of the 1-5 divisional record, as I think the Bengals were more affected by Burrow's injury/recovery. Had he been healthy for the whole season, I do think the division would have been 3-3 if not better.

[HarleyDog]

(01-08-2024, 10:13 PM)Millhouse Wrote: Ive said elsewhere if they had a better defense and run game, both average even, then they would have made the playoffs without Burrow. 

And I very much agree about the Win Now mindset. This Burrow window needs to be maximized to the fullest, as it's extremely rare to get a QB of his quality. Better defense, run game, and pass blocking with Burrow, they will will be Super Bowl contenders for years.

I agree. I'm not sure the sense of urgency is where I would like it to be.

[HarleyDog]

(01-09-2024, 10:51 AM)Sled21 Wrote: I just wish people would get off our Defense's back. 

Absolutely not. I can understand some regression but to be nearly the worst defense in the league is not acceptable.

[Sled21]

(01-08-2024, 03:39 PM)Wyche Wrote: Here's an article I just found about Cam's "DB boot camp".

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/news/cam-taylor-britt-planning-host-bengals-secondary-workout-sessions-offseason


He's harping on the communication issues.

I assume our DB coaches are not allowed by NFL rules to be there, but I hope they set up with someone really good to help them.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(01-09-2024, 12:26 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I assume our DB coaches are not allowed by NFL rules to be there, but I hope they set up with someone really good to help them.

Cam basically said he wants to see what Battle and Hill are seeing, and try to show them what he, and the other CBs, is seeing. The gist I got was they are going to start heavy on the communication issues, then get in work as a unit.