3 things that Must change next season

[*bengalfan74*]

(01-13-2025, 05:55 PM)pulses Wrote: With a good OL chase could run for 12-1500 and Burrow could still get 45-5000 yards.

Right, the two don't have to be mutually exclusive. The Lions for example were 2nd in the NFL in passing yards and 6th in rushing.

[ERIC1]

(01-13-2025, 01:46 PM)c766 Wrote: Well, you could argue that had Mike Brown just extended Chase to the same contract + 1M that Jefferson Signed back in July, then the Bengals would have made the playoffs, and would have saved probably 25M over the next 4 years. (Chase has all the bargaining power now and can get 5M+ per year more than any WR in the game).

That also contributed to the slow start - that and the awful route trees that they had Chase run in Week 1.

DLine and Lbs all need upgrade, and on offense the guards.

The real question is how they are going to sign Tee and Chase.  They will command 65-70 M Combined per year.

Chases contract or lack thereof had absolutely nothing to do with our slow start

[ERIC1]

(01-13-2025, 03:00 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: The "poor start" thing is such a lazy narrative.

Burrow has literally dealt with something ever year since his rookie year. Knee, wrist, apendectomy, strained calf, etc.

They start slow because he has started slow. And its not like this team has started 0-4 every year to start the year. They've been OK.

2021: 3-1
2022: 2-2
2023: 1-3
2024: 0-4

Like I get it, more urgency would be a great thing...but its been a couple years of slow starts...mainly due to our QB not being able to move from the pocket for half the year and him recovering from/having to learn how to deal with a rare significant wrist injury.

agreed...burrow was not 100 % for the first 6 games

[c766]

(01-13-2025, 06:25 PM)ERIC1 Wrote: Chases contract or lack thereof had absolutely nothing to do with our slow start

Chase did not practice with burrow for 4+ weeks leading up to the game vs NE

[ERIC1]

(01-13-2025, 06:27 PM)c766 Wrote: Chase did not practice with burrow for 4+ weeks leading up to the game vs NE

Chase could have not practiced with burrow the entire season and both would have been great..chase was not even a small part of the reason the team started out slow..and the bengals sliw start encompassed more than one game..

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(01-13-2025, 06:27 PM)c766 Wrote: Chase did not practice with burrow for 4+ weeks leading up to the game vs NE

And he caught those 6 passes on 6 targets. He can only catch as many passes as he gets targets. He also can only run the routes that are called, and 5 of those 6 said he gets the ball at 6 yards past the LoS or shorter and there's only so much you can do with that.

[ERIC1]

(01-13-2025, 07:25 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: And he caught those 6 passes on 6 targets. He can only catch as many passes as he gets targets. He also can only run the routes that are called, and 5 of those 6 said he gets the ball at 6 yards past the LoS or shorter and there's only so much you can do with that.

My friend..aside from some occasional magic bursts..all phases of the bengals were out of whack. The first one third of the season..they lacked energy ..did not execute and were not ready to play..to blame it on a lack of practuce and reps betwen chase and burrow is silly ...and as others have noted...B urrow most cetainly not 100 % the first third of the season..done..have a nice evening

[*Go Cards*]

(01-13-2025, 03:00 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: The "poor start" thing is such a lazy narrative.

Burrow has literally dealt with something ever year since his rookie year. Knee, wrist, apendectomy, strained calf, etc.

They start slow because he has started slow. And its not like this team has started 0-4 every year to start the year. They've been OK.

2021: 3-1
2022: 2-2
2023: 1-3
2024: 0-4

Like I get it, more urgency would be a great thing...but its been a couple years of slow starts...mainly due to our QB not being able to move from the pocket for half the year and him recovering from/having to learn how to deal with a rare significant wrist injury.

1-11 in first 2 games of season is more than a slow start if a team hs playoff aspirations. Several are teams that barely won but a few more games in the entire season. See Patriots for example. 

If Joe is too injured to give the Bengals a chance to win. Then rest him and get him more healthy than having him taking beatings in games that will be losses anyway because he has significant injury as you state. 

There are lots of issues, O-Line and Defense being the most glaring. 

Yet have to agree with Whitworth that the slow starts must end if the Bengals are going to reach their potential. 

This is 2 seasons in a row the Bengals squandered a chance to make a SB run with the boys, Joe, Tee, and Chase by not even making the playoffs. We have got to start making playoffs more frequently with Joe Freakin Burrow at the helm or it's a big time team and coaching failure.  

[*Go Cards*]

Now I am a big Zac supporter, although still wish he would relinquish OC duties and put entire focus on HC.

Yet would think what Hendrickson, Chase, Burrow, and even Tee did in limited time that the coach would have to explain himself as to why the team is outside the playoffs window looking in at the people feasting while they still hunger.  

Money Mac is one reason, but most teams have lost a game or two due to missed kicks.

Think Zac has to just fix the slow starts and all will be good. Heck many have said this before it cost the Bengals 2 playoff trips in a row, with stars in their prime even.

This team is much better than the last 2 seasons have shown, time to raise the bar.

[schroomytunes]

For me:

1) Safety Play- we need a game changer at this position back there! Someone the offense has to account for every play, I'm thinking they keep Stone at FS, so look for a massive upgrade at SS.

2) Guard play- our IOL play was horrible this year as we all know! I'm also in agreement with many of you, the best route is to sign a FA, and draft one in the first 3 rounds to man the other position. This is easily done with the release of Cappa saving @ 9 million.

3) DE/DL play- We had absolutely zero pass rush opposite Trey this year, that cant happen in todays game! I'm betting this is where we will be aggressive this offseason. I'm betting we sign a DE and a veteran run stuffer DT to address this issue as well as drafting a DT/DE to boot fairly early by rd 4! By releasing (Hubbard, Rankins, and BJ's 10 million off the books) thats 30 million to be reallocated on the front 4. for example ( Poona Ford- DT, Chase Young-DE) and still have funds to allocate other positional needs and get better results.

[bengalsboy]

(Yesterday, 08:02 AM)schroomytunes Wrote: For me:

1) Safety Play- we need a game changer at this position back there! Someone the offense has to account for every play, I'm thinking they keep Stone at FS, so look for a massive upgrade at SS.

2) Guard play- our IOL play was horrible this year as we all know!  I'm also in agreement with many of you, the best route is to sign a FA, and draft one in the first 3 rounds to man the other position. This is easily done with the release of Cappa saving @ 9 million.

3) DE/DL play- We had absolutely zero pass rush opposite Trey this year, that cant happen in todays game! I'm betting this is where we will be aggressive this offseason. I'm betting we sign a DE and a veteran run stuffer DT to address this issue as well as drafting a DT/DE to boot fairly early by rd 4!  By releasing (Hubbard, Rankins, and BJ's 10 million off the books) thats 30 million to be reallocated on the front 4. for example ( Poona Ford- DT, Chase Young-DE) and still have funds to allocate other positional needs and get better results.

[bengalsboy]

It's time for Myles Murphy to get on the field,as a starter.They spent a first round pick on him.He has been here 2 years.And hardly plays.

[Ell Prez]

(01-13-2025, 04:52 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: Chase is not worth 5 million per year more than Jefferson.  He doesnt have the bargaining power you think he does.  If he gets too greedy the Bengals can pay him his 22 million in 2025 for his 5th year option, tag him for ~27 million in 2026 and tag him for ~ 32.4 million in 2027.  That would be about 27 million per year average the next 3 years the Bengals could have him for with none of the money being guaranteed except for the current year he is playing in.  That is a good deal for the Bengals.  Im sure the Bengals dont want an unhappy WR doing this but if Chase gets too greedy with his demands, that could be the outcome.

Chase getting significantly more than JJ has more to do with the cap going up than the year Chase just has. Chase is a top WR in the nfl. As is JJ. We can argue who is better, we all it’s Chase lol. But it has more to do with the cap going up significantly every year. I think anywhere from 2-5M more is a realistic range. It’s why we all wanted the deal done last year.

[Ell Prez]

(Yesterday, 08:56 AM)bengalsboy Wrote: It's time for Myles Murphy to get on the field,as a starter.They spent a first round pick on him.He has been here 2 years.And hardly plays.

I feel the opposite. When he’s on the field he doesn’t do anything. He’s a bust. The best picks in that class were the 5th and 6th. How crazy is that. How sad is that. Rounds 1-3 were all bad picks. They should have taken a huge step this year as contributors, yet it got the entire D coaching staff fired and set our D back a couple years as we have to rebuild.

[Soonerpeace]

(Yesterday, 07:22 AM)Go Cards Wrote: Now I am a big Zac supporter, although still wish he would relinquish OC duties and put entire focus on HC.

Yet would think what Hendrickson, Chase, Burrow, and even Tee did in limited time that the coach would have to explain himself as to why the team is outside the playoffs window looking in at the people feasting while they still hunger.  

Money Mac is one reason, but most teams have lost a game or two due to missed kicks.

Think Zac has to just fix the slow starts and all will be good. Heck many have said this before it cost the Bengals 2 playoff trips in a row, with stars in their prime even.

This team is much better than the last 2 seasons have shown, time to raise the bar.

Last year they should have made the playoffs if they’d started better. I get the Joe B injury and they did well to get 9 wins. This year really no excuse. Yes they had some bad breaks losing close games. But the bottom line is that they had a good enough team to at least win one playoff game if they’d started better. Missed opportunity.

But the shape of the team is complicated. Not signing Chase before the season or even Tee will tie up a lot of money for the future. Missing on Dax Hill and Myles Murphy is an issue. First picks don’t sit. The OL is going to be fixed with Pollack gone. The recent safeties in FA are misses. I’m worried the roster improvement needed has to be achieved by all bullseyes in FA & the draft. We’ve not come close to being good recently.

[BoomerFan]

As the late Dr. Z used to say, here's 10 things I think I think:

1. The FO needs to do something uncharacteristic and trade Tee. They need picks and maybe players. Slot WR, Oline, Dline, CB...there are enough spots of need for us that we should be able to find a trade partner flush with something. 

2. I think you re-sign Gesicki and if Erick All is healthy you accept that Mike is basically one of your WRs. 

3. I think you need to continue making over the Dline. That may include cutting Shelton and Hubbard. This draft is deep at Dline so finding value at those positions throughout the draft should be possible.

4. I think that new coaches will bring in new energy, but also growing pains. We may indeed start slow in 2025. To me this isn't the end of the world. I was more concerned with how bad the team looked in some of the games we lost. One score or not, the defense looked bad in pre-season and was terrible in the regular season. 

5. We need to be better at developing players. This means giving them playtime. This game isn't about producing stat leaders. It is about winning a championship. 

6. If there is any team who will trade even a late round pick for Jermaine Burton, do it. I doubt there is and sadly, I doubt the Bengals will even go looking. Which may mean he languishes on our roster. I would cut him but I doubt the Bengals have the courage to do that. 

7. I think there were some points of light late in the season. Isaiah Williams, Devin Cochran, and Cedric Johnson should all at least help provide depth at positions of need. 

8. This isn't news but Dax Hill is a good starting Corner. I don't know about CTB and DJ Turner though Turner started having a better year before getting injured. Whomever ends up on the roster next year, we need more out of them. That isn't news either. 

9. Regarding the front 7, I became an ADG believer this year. I'm not sure how much it will be to re-sign him. Also I hope a new coach can help Germaine Pratt focus. We know Pratt can be a great player. This year he either wasn't focused or wasn't getting the help he needs to succeed. At nose tackle, McKinley Jackson turned out to be a better pick than I and some others thought. Kris Jenkins has some work to do. 

10. Teams I think of as physically tough where the games may result in our players being injured next year: Miami, Browns (x2), Baltimore (x2). In that order. Be well conditioned and ready for physical games those 5 weeks. 

[*bengalfan74*]

(Yesterday, 07:11 AM)Go Cards Wrote: 1-11 in first 2 games of season is more than a slow start if a team hs playoff aspirations. Several are teams that barely won but a few more games in the entire season. See Patriots for example. 

If Joe is too injured to give the Bengals a chance to win. Then rest him and get him more healthy than having him taking beatings in games that will be losses anyway because he has significant injury as you state. 

There are lots of issues, O-Line and Defense being the most glaring. 

Yet have to agree with Whitworth that the slow starts must end if the Bengals are going to reach their potential.

This is 2 seasons in a row the Bengals squandered a chance to make a SB run with the boys, Joe, Tee, and Chase by not even making the playoffs. We have got to start making playoffs more frequently with Joe Freakin Burrow at the helm or it's a big time team and coaching failure.  

Absolutely

ZT and Co. and team is 9-14-1 in the first four games of the ZT era. They are 1-3 to start the last two seasons. Like Ocho stated they're 1-11 in the first two games of every season under ZT. 

And I get it first two seasons rebuilding ML roster. Joe's been injured and so on. But none of that changes the bottom line. This TEAM has to stop coming into the season flat, out of shape, unprepared, and just not ready to start the season. 

If we're a real contender we can't lose to 3 win teams to start the season. If we're for real we can't start a season 0-4 at home! Give me all the excuses you want but the W-L column is still what it is. 

We have to get better in the first qtr. of seasons.

[*bengalfan74*]

(Yesterday, 08:56 AM)bengalsboy Wrote: It's time for Myles Murphy to get on the field,as a starter.They spent a first round pick on him.He has been here 2 years.And hardly plays.

Agree

If he doesn't come out kicking ass and taking names in pre-season next year cut him. Get somebody in here who can help.

The Rams Dline won that game last night. When was the last time our Dline won a game. It starts up front.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(Yesterday, 12:25 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Agree

If he doesn't come out kicking ass and taking names in pre-season next year cut him. Get somebody in here who can help.

The Rams Dline won that game last night. When was the last time our Dline won a game. It starts up front.

Week 18 against Pittsburgh.

Trey did pretty much win that game by himself.

[*bengalfan74*]

(Yesterday, 10:59 AM)BoomerFan Wrote: As the late Dr. Z used to say, here's 10 things I think I think:

1. The FO needs to do something uncharacteristic and trade Tee. They need picks and maybe players. Slot WR, Oline, Dline, CB...there are enough spots of need for us that we should be able to find a trade partner flush with something. 

2. I think you re-sign Gesicki and if Erick All is healthy you accept that Mike is basically one of your WRs. 

3. I think you need to continue making over the Dline. That may include cutting Shelton and Hubbard. This draft is deep at Dline so finding value at those positions throughout the draft should be possible.

I for sure believe if "they're serious" about going for it some tough decisions need made. Cutting Rankins, telling Hubbard if he wants to stay as a rotational piece fine, but you're going to have to take a pay cut. Cutting Murphy if he still is stinking. Cutting Moss at RB and so on.