your top 10 favorite bengals ever

[*SHRacerX*]

(06-17-2022, 07:29 PM)Tiger Blood Wrote: mine no order

andrew whitworth
ken anderson
bob trumpy
eddie edwards
isaac curtic
anthony munoz
jim leclair
reggiec williams
jim breech
tim krumrie

Cool thread.  Here are mine, also not in order:

James Brooks-  Ahead of his time.  Had over 5 YPC for four different seasons.  An outstanding receiver.  Elusive, but tough as nails. He weighed WAY less than 200 lbs, but he would never run out of bounds without lowering his shoulder and running through the guy that was there to force him out.  He was my favorite Bengal for a long time. 

Andrew Whitworth-  A rock.  High talent/high character guy.  His quote about having two contracts in his life:  "one is with my wife, and the other is to protect Andy Dalton"...just fell in love with the guy.  A great lesson for those willing to give up on the likes of Carman...Whit struggled BIG TIME early on when moved to tackle, but sure became one of the best.  

Boomer Esiason-  A leader.  Confident and charismatic.  NFL MVP.  The fact that his organization has raised OVER 100 million dollars for research for Cystic Fibrosis (his son Gunner has CF) only makes him even more special.


Ken Anderson-  Accuracy, thy name is Kenny.  I will never forget his MVP season, either.  That offense was perfect for Ken Anderson.  He was a tough SOB, too.  Got a shit-ton of dirty shots over the years (thank you team to the east) and QBs weren't nearly as protected.  He was also an underrated runner.  Great athlete...should be in the HOF. 

Chad Johnson-  I know, act like you have been there.  Chad's antics go against everything I was about as an athlete.  I still love him.  I also understand him.  Never knew his father.  His mother left him with her mother when she moved to LA because she couldn't handle him.  Not trying to play psychologist, but he probably has a deep seeded need to be loved.  Well, I love him.  And if all the Bengals on those teams put themselves out there and held themselves to the standard that Chad did with his "list", you may have seen more success. 

Joe Burrow-  Call it recency bias, Joe has taken the top spot for me.  From Ohio.  Didn't listen to the talking heads put down the Bengals.  In two seasons he made it cool to be a Bengal.  Not a Bengals fan, but a Bengal.  I have zero doubts he will win multiple championships here.  He is like a QB I would make on a computer.  Has every trait and the heart of a lion.  Paul Daugherty calls him "St. Joe".  Pretty fitting.

Ja'Marr Chase-  I have never seen a rookie come in and have his kind of impact in Cincinnati.  He does everything in amazing fashion.  He's deceptively strong, too.  Love how badly he wants to win.  A perfect complement to Burrow.  Hope he never leaves and I hope they retire the same season (in about 15 years) and they then go to the HOF together.  I also admire that he had a little controversy and challenges with drops early on and he didn't hide from them, he offered honest opinions, worked his ass off, and put them behind them.  At just 21 years of age, played and behaved like a seasoned vet.  This, after a year away from the game.  Freaking amazing.

Jeff Blake-  A bright light in a dark era.  Prettiest (and deadly accurate) deep ball I have ever seen.  He was like a glass of water for a guy crawling through the desert.  

Tim Krumrie-  A 10th round pick that played with absolute nasty intensity.  I can't believe as a 3-4 NT (at all of 300 lbs) he led the team in tackles.  I doubt that happened before or since.  


Anthony Munoz-  People refer to him as the best human being they know, and not just the best LT of all time.  I have had the opportunity to meet him as a kid in 8th grade when he signed autographs at a local JC Penny when he was drafted and have been around him for several community volunteer events.  Great man, possibly the greatest Bengal of all time.

Although I think Lamar Parrish and Ken Riley are freaks and should be in the HOF, they played in what I call the newspaper era and I was at the age when I wouldn't have been reading a paper.  I did have them all over my scrapbooks and on posters on my wall.  But I didn't know a thing about them other than how they played.  Paul Brown is a legend.  Sam Wyche was an innovator.  There are so many others that I could add to the list, but this is just my favorites for reasons I tried to explain.  They each gave me moments I won't forget as a fan.