The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

[Sled21]

Unlike the wrist slitters, I don't see us being anywhere near done. The defense has been playing good enough up until last night when we were missing both starting DT's and one of the backups was playing with a clubbed hand. They laid an egg, it happens. The offense has been looking pretty good, and both Yoshi and Chase had good games last night. Washington has shown it's better than people thought, and not just against us, as they haven't punted in two straight games.
The AFCN is still up for grabs.
Stealers- they are 3-0, but they are doing it with defense. They've played the Falcons, Broncos and Chargers, and managed to put 18, 13, and 20 points on the board respectively. That's not going to get it done with their schedule as the season progresses.
Ravens 1-2. Tucker is struggling this year. They are 1 game ahead of us.
Browns 1-2 They lost Chubb, and now it looks like Garrett may be having nerve problems in his feet and legs and is out. Teller will be out for multiple weeks and it's unclear when Njoku will be back.
The Bengals need Hill and Rankins back, and for the new guy to get back in shape, but point is, the Bengals are still as much in it as the rest of the North. Win the north, you're in the playoffs. Get hot going into the playoffs, as Taylor's teams seem to do, and anything can happen.

[Sled21]

(09-24-2024, 10:08 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Yeah. So it's about roles right. Chide was a capable #1 until he got hurt.

Hilton was a good #3.

Then you had Apple and CTB.

Now 2 of those guys are gone and CTB is playing as the #1 CB and Dax Hill as the #2. While they aren't rookies, this is a massive role switch. With time they might be good.

Then, you have 2 different safeties from last year.

Chido was one of my favorites here, but from the little I watched he seemed to be getting abused.

[No-huddle Joe]

(09-24-2024, 09:44 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The Good: The offense was zinging. I think All has potential to be a really good TE. Chase looked good. Burrow looked sharp. We didn't put once. Probably Iovisas best game, but I don't know that he'll be good enough to replace Tee next year.

The Bad: Brown injured. He looked like a pretzel on the ground. Not expecting it to be good. He has an injury history.

The Ugly: The defense looks terrible. The defensive line is terrible. I think Hendrickson is the only lineman that would start on another team.

The run defense sucked before Reader. It sucks without him. (Although he's been hurt still and I don't think he plays yet for the Lions.)

I don't know that we have a #1 or #2 caliber CB on the Roster. Our safeties are mediocre. Bell needs a ballhawk like Bates by him. Stone is not that. Stone is essentially Nick Scott...which I think a lot of us knew.

Our recent high draft picks do not look like they were good picks.

Wilson and Pratt look slow out there, but I think some of the issue is that the defensive line is letting blockers get to them.

Brown out for the year.   Mims is going to get baptized under fire.

[Sled21]

(09-24-2024, 01:09 PM)No-huddle Joe Wrote: Brown out for the year.   Mims is going to get baptized under fire.

I hope Mims knocks the hell out of Twatt

[bengalsboy]

(09-24-2024, 09:45 AM)Bengalitis Wrote: that 240 million investment was a bad investment perhaps.. we lost so much talent because of that targeted investment.  I fear we may end up with the Carson syndrome in the end. 

Don't know where you are getting 240 million from.A simple google search,would have told you,it was 5 years 275 million.

[bengalsboy]

(09-24-2024, 01:05 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Unlike the wrist slitters, I don't see us being anywhere near done. The defense has been playing good enough up until last night when we were missing both starting DT's and one of the backups was playing with a clubbed hand. They laid an egg, it happens. The offense has been looking pretty good, and both Yoshi and Chase had good games last night. Washington has shown it's better than people thought, and not just against us, as they haven't punted in two straight games.
The AFCN is still up for grabs.
Stealers- they are 3-0, but they are doing it with defense. They've played the Falcons, Broncos and Chargers, and managed to put 18, 13, and 20 points on the board respectively. That's not going to get it done with their schedule as the season progresses.
Ravens 1-2. Tucker is struggling this year. They are 1 game ahead of us.
Browns 1-2 They lost Chubb, and now it looks like Garrett may be having nerve problems in his feet and legs and is out. Teller will be out for multiple weeks and it's unclear when Njoku will be back.
The Bengals need Hill and Rankins back, and for the new guy to get back in shape, but point is, the Bengals are still as much in it as the rest of the North. Win the north, you're in the playoffs. Get hot going into the playoffs, as Taylor's teams seem to do, and anything can happen.

They are already 3 games behind the Steelers.That is a lot of ground to make up.

[Sled21]

(09-24-2024, 01:44 PM)bengalsboy Wrote: They are already 3 games behind the Steelers.That is a lot of ground to make up.

Again, the Stealers cannot score points. That defense cannot hold with them not scoring. Their schedule gets brutal as it goes along. I worry more about the Ravens.

[3wt]

(09-24-2024, 01:05 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Unlike the wrist slitters, I don't see us being anywhere near done. The defense has been playing good enough up until last night when we were missing both starting DT's and one of the backups was playing with a clubbed hand. They laid an egg, it happens. The offense has been looking pretty good, and both Yoshi and Chase had good games last night. Washington has shown it's better than people thought, and not just against us, as they haven't punted in two straight games.
The AFCN is still up for grabs.
Stealers- they are 3-0, but they are doing it with defense. They've played the Falcons, Broncos and Chargers, and managed to put 18, 13, and 20 points on the board respectively. That's not going to get it done with their schedule as the season progresses.
Ravens 1-2. Tucker is struggling this year. They are 1 game ahead of us.
Browns 1-2 They lost Chubb, and now it looks like Garrett may be having nerve problems in his feet and legs and is out. Teller will be out for multiple weeks and it's unclear when Njoku will be back.
The Bengals need Hill and Rankins back, and for the new guy to get back in shape, but point is, the Bengals are still as much in it as the rest of the North. Win the north, you're in the playoffs. Get hot going into the playoffs, as Taylor's teams seem to do, and anything can happen.

I was there.  The defense was hard to look at.  But I agree we're not done.

There are a lot of holes in the defense, but it really is all contingent on the defensive line.   Daniels had way too much time back there and we were unable to stop the run.  That is a recipe for catastrophe.

I would like to have seen more from Jenkins and Guy, but I understand the need to be judicious about the number of snaps
Losing first Reader, then all our starters was killer.  Then both our DT draft picks exited before the season starts.  And who knew there was even a potential to lose Rankins and Hill the same day to hamstring injuries.  That's five defensive tackles!

Then we lose our first round DE from last year.  And it appears Hubbard is just aging out.   Just a truly unfortunate situation.

If we can limp our way past the Panthers, maybe we have a chance against Baltimore.  But honestly till we get that position group hitting on all cylinders we are just going to struggle.  

But I'm encouraged by performance of the offensive line, Ioshi, Tee, Chase and the new and improved TE group.  

It's a long shot but I feel we still have a chance for the post season.   And if our new defensive linemen show up we could still make a mark. 

[chopperbobby]

Ravens are going to set rushing records agents us. Lamar could make MVP on the up coming game.

[Sled21]

(09-24-2024, 05:32 PM)chopperbobby Wrote: Ravens are going to set rushing records agents us.  Lamar could make MVP on the up coming game.

Like Mahomes did?

[Nicomo Cosca]

(09-24-2024, 05:40 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Like Mahomes did?

We’ve always played KC and Buffalo well. Lamar has been the opposite. He owns us.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(09-24-2024, 09:17 AM)Go Cards Wrote: The Good

It's only 3 games into a long season and we've been here before. Actually the Good may be coming by default per 10 of the 16 AFC teams have losing records. The Wildcard teams to beat presently are the Jets 2-1, Chargers 2-1, and probably the 1-2 Ravens.

The Bengals can get back in this if they can just get off the schneid and get rolling. The good news is that the Bengals remaining schedule are against teams that currently  own a combined losing record of 19-23.
If you removed the undefeated steelers (which I'm not scared of) then the teams combined records are 13-23. The AFC is waiting for the Bengals to catch up if they would only do their part.

The Bad

These lethargic starts Zac's Bengals keep coming out of the gate in are just bad. You can not keep spotting the entire NFL a head start and expect to make it up by playoff time yearly. Zac is 5-13 in his first 3 games of the season since becoming the Bengals HC losing to rookies and 2nd string QB's all along the way. He has only had a winning record once in first 3 games, and that was the year the Bengals went to the SB.
Still support Zac as HC but have never supported him as OC. Understand wanting to stay healthy but can not just throw away games early every year to do so. Figure something else out please.


The Fugly

The Defense is a porous sieve that can not slow the run at all and do not see any waving of a wand that can rectify this problem. Nor pass per Daniels completed all but 2 of his passes last night. The Bengals just lost two home games against the 2nd and 3rd worse teams in the entire NFL last season, and both were featuring rookie QB's, both at HOME. Washington never even had to punt. WASHINGTON, palm meet forehead.
I once trusted in Lou but that has been proven to be a mistake on my part. Although he has been hit the hardest with FA departures, yet still this is unacceptable not getting hardly any production out a slew of high draft picks.

...........................................................................................................
In closing I am merely venting to stay sane. The defense was not the problem against the Patriots, plus played well enough against KC before this Commodore debacle last night. Commodore was the wrong insult to hurl per the defense was anything but a Brick House on prime-time Monday Night Football for the whole world to see.
The team just needs to somehow find it's chemistry together and get the ball rolling. The Bengals play a manageable schedule and the AFC as a whole is stuck in the mud coming out of the gate cushioning the Bengals current ineptitude somewhat by giving them a better chance to catch up than an 0-3 start deserves. Got to find some traction and get back into the mix before the playoff picture tumbles out of control the opposite direction. Think the Bengals climb the ladder once again and are in the playoff picture by seasons end. Just hope the 0-3 ball & chain does not cause them to fall just short when they arrive.

Not throwing in the towel yet, but feel like my confidence has taken a sucker punch immediately following the handshake.

Pretty much nailed my thoughts. The only things I can say that makes me feel better about our run Defense is we haven't seen McKinnley 
Jackson yet and Kris Jenkins was clearly hampered by the club on his hand. We also have the waiver wire and could make a trade. I know 
we never make trades in the middle of the season but us being 0-3 could change this for all we know.

Long season and if we can fix our run Defense or at least get it under control we could sneak into the Playoffs no problem, especially with
the way the Offense has came around. We score enough points that will make teams go away from the run.

[kalibengal]

(09-25-2024, 12:34 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Pretty much nailed my thoughts. The only things I can say that makes me feel better about our run Defense is we haven't seen McKinnley 
Jackson yet and Kris Jenkins was clearly hampered by the club on his hand. We also have the waiver wire and could make a trade. I know 
we never make trades in the middle of the season but us being 0-3 could change this for all we know.

Long season and if we can fix our run Defense or at least get it under control we could sneak into the Playoffs no problem, especially with
the way the Offense has came around. We score enough points that will make teams go away from the run.

A trade for a proven run stopping DT would  be a nice move right about now. I heard the Denver DT  Jones maybe available??
Can we also now talk about our Lbs? Im sorry but Wilson and Pratt magic is gone...not making many noticeable plays. look slow and missing tackles
We need to look for fresh talent there. I say put in the preseason phenom Njongmeta guy in. It cant hurt to send a message and shake things up a bit

[Brownshoe]

(09-24-2024, 09:37 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: Well we cant keep starting super slow and expect magical runs to save us....  Likely missing the playoffs 2 years in a row with a 240mil qb

Likely only going to the playoffs 2 times out of 5 years with Joe Burrow. Maybe his 6th year is when the magic happens. We just need a new HC

[SunsetBengal]

(09-24-2024, 12:38 PM)masonbengals fan Wrote: And those AFCN teams are going to run it down our throat till this unit shows it can stop it. 

^This, is the sad, ugly truth about the Bengals future this season. They are going to have to come together as a defensive unit and commit to simply doing better if this team is going to have any chance of real success this year.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(09-25-2024, 02:37 PM)kalibengal Wrote: A trade for a proven run stopping DT would  be a nice move right about now. I heard the Denver DT  Jones maybe available??
Can we also now talk about our Lbs? Im sorry but Wilson and Pratt magic is gone...not making many noticeable plays. look slow and missing tackles
We need to look for fresh talent there. I say put in the preseason phenom Njongmeta guy in. It cant hurt to send a message and shake things up a bit

Would like that trade for Jones from Denver. The Linebackers haven't been the problem. It has been the injuries to the DT's, poor play of 
the DT's and Ends against the run and lack of pass rush from everyone not named Hendrickson. Inconsistency with Dax and now CTB and
Vonn Bell playing slow on the backend has also been a problem. These things can actually be fixed if Lou is worth a damn as a DC.

[Timanky12]

(09-24-2024, 09:17 AM)Go Cards Wrote: The Good

It's only 3 games into a long season and we've been here before. Actually the Good may be coming by default per 10 of the 16 AFC teams have losing records. The Wildcard teams to beat presently are the Jets 2-1, Chargers 2-1, and probably the 1-2 Ravens.

The Bengals can get back in this if they can just get off the schneid and get rolling. The good news is that the Bengals remaining schedule are against teams that currently  own a combined losing record of 19-23.
If you removed the undefeated steelers (which I'm not scared of) then the teams combined records are 13-23. The AFC is waiting for the Bengals to catch up if they would only do their part.

The Bad

These lethargic starts Zac's Bengals keep coming out of the gate in are just bad. You can not keep spotting the entire NFL a head start and expect to make it up by playoff time yearly. Zac is 5-13 in his first 3 games of the season since becoming the Bengals HC losing to rookies and 2nd string QB's all along the way. He has only had a winning record once in first 3 games, and that was the year the Bengals went to the SB.
Still support Zac as HC but have never supported him as OC. Understand wanting to stay healthy but can not just throw away games early every year to do so. Figure something else out please.


The Fugly

The Defense is a porous sieve that can not slow the run at all and do not see any waving of a wand that can rectify this problem. Nor pass per Daniels completed all but 2 of his passes last night. The Bengals just lost two home games against the 2nd and 3rd worse teams in the entire NFL last season, and both were featuring rookie QB's, both at HOME. Washington never even had to punt. WASHINGTON, palm meet forehead.
I once trusted in Lou but that has been proven to be a mistake on my part. Although he has been hit the hardest with FA departures, yet still this is unacceptable not getting hardly any production out a slew of high draft picks.

...........................................................................................................
In closing I am merely venting to stay sane. The defense was not the problem against the Patriots, plus played well enough against KC before this Commodore debacle last night. Commodore was the wrong insult to hurl per the defense was anything but a Brick House on prime-time Monday Night Football for the whole world to see.
The team just needs to somehow find it's chemistry together and get the ball rolling. The Bengals play a manageable schedule and the AFC as a whole is stuck in the mud coming out of the gate cushioning the Bengals current ineptitude somewhat by giving them a better chance to catch up than an 0-3 start deserves. Got to find some traction and get back into the mix before the playoff picture tumbles out of control the opposite direction. Think the Bengals climb the ladder once again and are in the playoff picture by seasons end. Just hope the 0-3 ball & chain does not cause them to fall just short when they arrive.

Not throwing in the towel yet, but feel like my confidence has taken a sucker punch immediately following the handshake.

To take a line from another Clint Eastwood movie

DO YOU FEEL LUCKY PUNK, WELL Do You