Confidence Now vs. This Time Last Year

[Wes Mantooth]

Simple question: Would you say you're more confident or less confident heading into 2016 than you were in 2015? Or perhaps equally confident?

Personally, I am less because of the loss of Hue and him being replaced by Ken Zampese. Not only do I think that Hue was special, and had a big, big hand in this team's performance last year, but I think Zampese is rather lazy hire. Now all that said, I still think this team is more than capable of winning the division, and that the talent level is more than adequate. I just think the downgrade (IMO) at OC hurts a little.

As far as postseason success, my confidence remains the same. I believe they have little to no chance of ever succeeding in the postseason under Marvin Lewis. I guess that's all I really need to say there.

What says you? Are you feeling now vs last year?

[THE Bigzoman]

Less.

We had pretty much a direct replica of the 2013 squad.

This squad? Not so much.

I think Zampese will be serviceable. I don't think Jackson is as hyped as he's cracked u to be.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-04-2016, 08:52 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Simple question:  Would you say you're more confident or less confident heading into 2016 than you were in 2015?  Or perhaps equally confident?

Personally, I am less because of the loss of Hue and him being replaced by Ken Zampese.  Not only do I think that Hue was special, and had a big, big hand in this team's performance last year, but I think Zampese is rather lazy hire.  Now all that said, I still think this team is more than capable of winning the division, and that the talent level is more than adequate.  I just think the downgrade (IMO) at OC hurts a little.

As far as postseason success, my confidence remains the same.  I believe they have little to no chance of ever succeeding in the postseason under Marvin Lewis.  I guess that's all I really need to say there.

What says you?  Are you feeling now vs last year?

More confident.

Andy already took the jump last year and he didn't get some new OC coming in. I think Zamp will let Dalton run the
Offense more and i also believe that Hue was predictably unpredictable last season at times with the Tackles out wide
and such. It will take a bit for the new WR's to get on the same page with Dalton i am sure but with Boyd's hands and
his ability to be a multi weapon i think we got an upgrade over Sanu already. Plus we already have glowing reviews of
this guy and many others.

Eifert is looking good as far as the injury already, has the boot off and it is still very early with the injuries to Dennard
and Kroft who should be ready opening day.

Our OL should be better this year with Ogbuehi starting at RT instead of Andre who i think played pretty bad last year.

We have yet to see both Gio and Hill play at their best either, at the same time. Look out when this happens.

That is just the Offense...

Our Defense is the real reason i think we will be the team to beat this year. Once the coaches start seeing Billings with
quality snaps it will only be a matter of time before they start pairing him with Atkins. This will be unstoppable up the
middle cause both are just too damn strong.

The LB core looks better than i have ever seen as a fan especially once Burfict is back week 4. Dansby was a huge
addition as a coverage backer that we have never seen here and if Flowers, Vigil and Dawson can learn from our two
main LB'ers in Burfict and Dansby we have a lot of talent that could be great on down the road.

The Secondary was pretty much kept together with the re-signing of Adam and George and this is one of the best
Secondary's in the league and we just brought back Coyle who i didn't want to lose in the first place.

The only questions i have are the Center and the Ends behinds Dunlap and MJ.

We will see how this pans out.

But as of right now i see us just improving on our record from last year as we have every year with Dalton and AJ...

13-3

[SunsetBengal]

I'll be brief, more confident. This team has one of the most talented rosters in the league. Our franchise QB is back in good health. The losses at WR in FA, should be easily recovered. Despite the loss of Reggie Nelson, the defense should not lose a beat.

[CageTheBengal]

I'm a bit more confident.

I've thought the Bengals had the potential for a few seasons now to have the best team in the AFC and they showed they were well on their way to compete for the #1 spot until Dalton injured his thumb. Every year there are reasons to be less confident that will be stressed to death during the off-season cause there is nothing else to talk about but despite that the Bengals pull through and at least are a perfect model of consistency to a fault. Guys like Sanu and Jones don't matter at the end of the day to me they're just role players and will be exposed this season.

I'd imagine since you thought Zampese was a lazy hire then Guenther must've been too? He came in on the same premise that having some consistency from Zimmer's run would help the transition period for the defense. I was questionable about it at first but it turned out okay for the D. I'm not crazy about Zampese but I don't see it as a reason to doubt the team. An OC switch isn't anything new for the offense neither is the hiring process for the FO.


If Marvin is around as long as some of you say he will get the win based off of sheer odds. Hell he almost did with a backup QB.

[Bilbo Saggins]

More so than last year because:

1.  Dalton has gotten progressively better with each year that he's been in the league.
2.  Last season was yet another "same ole result" yes, but it was the same result with a backup QB.  Also, they didn't get blown out in the playoffs like usual.
3.  The playoff game last year was a total farce and should have been a W.  The refs mutilated any sense of fair competition on this one.  Here is a list of absurdity that they were allowed to get away with:  Grabbing Reggie Nelson's hair and twisting his arm, making a somersault catch that was not a legal catch for a TD, spearing Bernard in the head and generating a phantom turnover from an illegal play(how do you knock someone unconscious without "lining up" lol), and having a coach with a history of being a violent lunatic come onto the field to stir shit up.  
4.  The sky didn't fall when Gruden or Zimmer left, so why would it with the loss of Hue?  Guenther may wind up being even better than Zim when all is said and one.
5.  Sanu was never all that good and Jones was often injured.  They won't be missed all that much so long as Lafell and Boyd are competent.  

Maybe I should feel less confident after watching them get robbed on national television last season.  Am I a sucker for expecting a more fair game should they make the playoffs this year?  

[*jason*]

I feel about as confident as I did last year. I think the loss of Jones and Sanu has been blown outta proportion. The same we blew Jones's contribution to the team in 13 outta proportion. Hiring Zampese was as predictable as Paulie G's was. That one turned out alright.

Nate pretty much summed up my thoughts on D. If Dansby has anything left that signing is huge. He will really lessen the blow of Burfict's suspension.

I feel better about their post season chances should they get there this season. I fully expect them to, but you never know. What happened at the end of the Steelers game was amazing in its absurdity. Couldn't happen again. Could it?

[THE Bigzoman]

(08-04-2016, 09:47 PM)jason Wrote: I feel about as confident as I did last year. I think the loss of Jones and Sanu has been blown outta proportion. The same we blew Jones's contribution to the team in 13 outta proportion. Hiring Zampese was as predictable as Paulie G's was. That one turned out alright.

Nate pretty much summed up my thoughts on D. If Dansby has anything left that signing is huge. He will really lessen the blow of Burfict's suspension.

I feel better about their post season chances should they get there this season. I fully expect them to, but you never know. What happened at the end of the Steelers game was amazing in its absurdity. Couldn't happen again. Could it?

Brady's suspension has the AFC kind of blown wide open right now.

Factor in that we play the NFC East and we got a shot here.

I don't think anyone wants to play in the AFC wildcard this year. A ton of good teams.

[fredtoast]

This time last year I had no idea if Burfict or Atkins would ever be the same players they were before.

This time last year Andy Dalton had never been a top 10 QB in passer efficiency.

This time last year Eifert was a TE who had more major injuries (3) than tds (2) in his career.

You have to be a super negative thinker to be less confident this year than last year.

[Wes Mantooth]

(08-05-2016, 12:05 AM)fredtoast Wrote: This time last year I had no idea if Burfict or Atkins would ever be the same players they were before.

This time last year Andy Dalton had never been a top 10 QB in passer efficiency.

This time last year Eifert was a TE who had more major injuries (3) than tds (2) in his career.

You have to be a super negative thinker to be less confident this year than last year.

Can you ever answer a question without turning it into some sort of pissing contest or a dig against a differing opinion?  Good Lord.

Everyone has answered it with their opinion without turning into an argument. You don't have to be super negative or super positive to believe in either. You don't have to super anything. There's cases to be made for both.

[THE Bigzoman]

(08-05-2016, 12:53 AM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Can you ever answer a question without turning it into some sort of pissing contest or a dig against a differing opinion?  Good Lord.

Everyone has answered it with their opinion without turning into an argument. You don't have to be super negative or super positive to believe in either. You don't have to super anything. There's cases to be made for both.

Stop Trolling.

[Billy_Bengal]

Probably a little less confident due to the fact they lost some big pieces in Hue, Sanu and Jones. But more just because it's hard to do much better than 12-4. I mean that's a franchise high mark. I do think if they make the playoffs this year will be the year to break through. I think the division will be much tougher this year.

[EatonFan]

(08-04-2016, 09:34 PM)CageTheBengal Wrote: I'm a bit more confident.

I've thought the Bengals had the potential for a few seasons now to have the best team in the AFC and they showed they were well on their way to compete for the #1 spot until Dalton injured his thumb. Every year there are reasons to be less confident that will be stressed to death during the off-season cause there is nothing else to talk about but despite that the Bengals pull through and at least are a perfect model of consistency to a fault.  Guys like Sanu and Jones don't matter at the end of the day to me they're just role players and will be exposed this season.

I'd imagine since you thought Zampese was a lazy hire then Guenther must've been too? He came in on the same premise that having some consistency from Zimmer's run would help the transition period for the defense. I was questionable about it at first but it turned out okay for the D. I'm not crazy about Zampese but I don't see it as a reason to doubt the team. An OC switch isn't anything new for the offense neither is the hiring process for the FO.


If Marvin is around as long as some of you say he will get the win based off of sheer odds. Hell he almost did with a backup QB.

Actually I think this transition will be one of the more seamless.  Zampese isn't really changing the offense (terms and such), he is just the one that will call the plays.  Sure, he will tweak it here and there and put his personal stamp on things, but I think Marvin's line of thinking is if it ain't broke...

[GreenCornBengal]

I'm less confident this year, but that's only because I thought last year was THE year before the season. We had tons of guys on the final year of their contracts here and for some reason in my head I felt that last years team was special. I felt that Marvin Mo and AJ had to win a ring together. I thought Reggie Nelson would get a ring before riding off in the sunset. Unfortunately things went how they did.

We will see what happens this year. I see a good team. A very good team. However, I'm not going to get my hopes up. Even when we get to the playoffs, I will be dreading the playoff game surely.

[Brownshoe]

I'm more confident.


I don't think that the offense will take that much of a hit changing OC. I think Zampese will have more of a passing offense, plus Dalton was in control of the offense a ton last year, so it wasn't just Hue. We seen what Eifert can do, and he's a beast. We just had speculation last year. The only offensive player that left that IMO will have any effect will be Marvin Jones. I never like Sanu that much, and I don't think this offense will miss him. I think that LaFell and Boyd will easily make up the difference.

I'm more confident in our defense too. I didn't know how Atkins and Burfict would come back, and we now know that they came back just as good as they were before. There were question marks about Guenther after the defense had a bad season in 2014, and in 2015 he had the defense playing great, so I have a lot more confidence in the coaching. I think we picked up some people that will help our defense a ton. I think that Dansby, and Billings will help this defense a lot more than some people think.

If we keep this team healthy then we can win it all. We just need to keep the key players on the field, but that seems to be our problem honestly. We have a lot of great talent on this team right now, but they are never on the field at the same time due to injuries.

[Wes Mantooth]

(08-04-2016, 09:34 PM)CageTheBengal Wrote: I'd imagine since you thought Zampese was a lazy hire then Guenther must've been too?

I thought I would take a quick sec to respond to your assumption.  No, I wouldn't say it would be fair to say that I considered Guenther a lazy hire.  At least not to the same degree as Zampese.  Did it raise an eyebrow?  Yeah, probably.  I'm not sure I can ever fully trust that they are doing their due diligence when an in-house promotion comes up.  And that's just from my perspective.  But to each their own.

The reason I didn't have as much issue with the Gunther hire is that his career path is a tad more typical.  He didn't come on here until Zimmer came in and he's slowly gained more and more responsibility.  Had he not been promoted here he probably would have gotten a look elsewhere.

But Zampese?  13 seasons as QB coach here.  T-H-I-R-T-E-E-N.  That's a long time to be a position coach.  Long, long time.  Why was he never hired away?  In 13 seasons not a single team gave him a job as an OC.  Why is that? 

Why wasn't a team, who pays top dollar for their staff, dropping off a truck full of cash to make him their QB coach at least?  You mean to tell me he was one of the highest paid position coaches here? Not only did he not get hired away as an OC, he didn't get hired away as a higher paid position coach.  That raises eyebrows.

And you know what bothers me most, why didn't we promote him when Brat was fired?  Why did we promote him when Jay left?  Two times we needed an OC, and he had more seniority than anyone, yet he didn't get the job.  Why is that?

And none of this even takes into account how I think of his QB's progress history.  Palmer had his best year in year 2, his first full season starting.  He, in my mind, got progressively worse.  And some may disagree with this, but Dalton didn't exactly make leaps and bounds progress until Hue took over.  (Coincidence?)  Year 1 to 2 improvement wasn't huge and was to be expected with added experience.  Year 2 to 3 wasn't a huge leap.  Year 3 to 4 was a huge decline.  And then finally last season.

I'm just saying, it's not like he has an unbelievable track record as a QB coach.  It's ok, but far, far from great.

It's for these reasons I question the hire, not just because or only that he was in house.  Why did he stay in one spot for so long, why was passed over multiple times?  Which leaves me with my current question: Was he really the best option of everyone out there or does this team value familiarity more than actual ability?

[Air Force 1]

More..Nuff said

[Roland]

Less. We're replacing starters in the offensive line, receiver corps, and secondary. I need to see that those pieces are falling into place before I can be confident about this season.

[Atomic Orange]

I'm going to go with less because vibes. The talent is all there i just don't have any evidence to support Marvin being the guy to take this team all the way. 7-9, 16-0 what difference does it make if you can't win a damn PO game? This talent is most likely gonna go to waste and it's sad. We will always look back at this group of guys as the ones that should have taken us to the top. One of the best Bengals teams ever assembled. (Marvin gets GM like props here)

The Steeler debacle messed me up bad regardless of the bad calls. Once that game was over i immediately thought this team was done unless big changes were made at the coaching level. Afterall how much more heartbreak can these guys take before its starts to take its toll mentally?

All we managed to do was lose guys that weren't the problem.

[masonbengals fan]

I'll go with equally confident.

I definitely thought last year was it but that debacle with Pittsburgh ended that. Hated to lose Reggie, Sanu & Jones but turnover is part of any team. Dansby signing was huge. The kids are another year older and better. Andy was on fire before the injury. We just need to get and remain healthy. It will boil down to that.