I’m excited for next season...

[MileHighGrowler]

(03-31-2021, 12:50 PM)bengaloo Wrote: Our defense lost us 2 or 3 games last year by allowing teams to march down the field after Burrow and the O put us in position to win. The worst one was against the Colts and Browns. Bullock lost us a game or 2 as well. He was anti-clutch. But he is gone and so is Sims. We will be much healthier on D with better depth, and hopefully it stays that way. Losing our 2 biggest FA's from last year hurt. Waynes didnt even play. Then Atkins and Hubbard and its no wonder the D sucked so bad. Especially with 3 rookie LB's. 

Ths is Zac's year. He seems to be building a team full of good players and leaders. If we lose a bunch of games this year, he will be gone. 

Time will tell.  Every team needs to expect injuries every year.  They must find a way to overcome.  Assuming that every player will be healthy this season because they weren't last year doesn't ring for me.  The coaching staff has shown their lack of flexibility in overcoming injuries and not having "their" guys the past two years, so I just don't carry confidence that somehow it's all going to go perfectly this year and the Bengals are finally a playoff team under Taylor.  

I'm hoping for the best, but I think it's important to be realistic, too.  We added one guy to the OL this year and I see a lot of praise that our OL issues are fixed now and I just don't buy that.  The team is one injury away from being right back where they were.  And how do we really have that much more depth on the defense?  We lost Dunlap, Lawson and Geno on the line since we started last season and added two guys in FA.  Yes, if we get guys back from injuries we'll have more, but that's not an offseason improvement where the team was proactive in building depth.  You mention Bullock lost us a couple of games and he's gone.  Yes, he is.  But we have an unknown at that spot now.  The new guy could lose the team more games or be a clutch kicker for years to come.  I can't hold up Bullock being gone as an improvement until we see the replacement.  

I'm excited for every new season, and I want and hope for the best.  I'm always amped through TC and going into the opener to see how the team performs.  But there's really nothing that's happened in the last 3 months that's gotten me particularly optimistic thinking this is the year the team turns the corner with this coaching staff and the personnel changes they've made or haven't made.