Proud of this team

[*SHRacerX*]

(12-25-2022, 01:37 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I just wanted to say, I'm proud of this team.

We started off 0-2 as you well know and looked pretty damn bad. Since then we're 11-2 including reeling off 7 in a row including 4 road wins. We're in a great position to challenge for the #1 or 2 seed and of course already a lock for the playoffs. It hasn't always been pretty, it hasn't always been flawless. But we've found ways to win. And if you look around it's pretty much that way with everybody.

If you would have told me after the Cleveland game we'd be here I would have said uh huh, with a large dose of sarcasm. But they've ironed out most of their problems (looking at you Oline) won through injured top players missing games, overcame bad plays, turnovers, mishaps, and gotten it done. The mark of winners.

No matter how this season ends I take my hat off to you guys and apologize for doubting early on. Big thanks to everybody from F.O. to the waterboy for a job well done. There's no doubt we're one of the top teams in the NFL.

   

No doubt, and very well said. I will add a couple things beyond the play on the field that also makes me very proud of this team:

Unity.  Did you see the fight break out on the Broncos sideline? Have you seen a team completely give up on it's starting QB (wearing Mike F'n White T-shirts?).  Every team loses guys to injury and every team will say the old "next man up", but look at how the team responds to Trenton Irwin getting his first TD pass and game ball.  Look how excited the team is when CTB makes a play.  I have no doubts they will be supporting Adeniji (if it ends up being him) at RT. 


Class.  I know.  Pretty odd thing to mention about a football team, but look at how many guys do things for their communities.  You also haven't heard of any Bengals getting DUIs at 2AM the night before a game.  Nor have any of them been in fights at local bars or strip clubs.  They play rough on the field, but you would never see a late hit on a pile trying to injure someone.  Nor would you see a cheap shot that could injure a guy away from a play.  There is a professionalism with this team.  A standard.  


Unselfishness.  Logan Wilson said that was the one unique characteristic of a championship club.  Guys have to just do their job 100% all the time and be ready at any time.  You don't hear guys saying they aren't getting enough targets, carries, etc.  That might not seem significant until you realize their next contracts will be largely based on their numbers, not wins.  I know Pratt made a tweet recently about wanting to be in on more third downs, and it is about his next contract.  Do I think it will escalate and become a problem?  No.  Because there is a standard of Unselfishness.  

Coachability.  As a coach of nearly 30 years experience (sure, it was youth amateur level), I can tell you that if an individual simply takes to coaching, and applies the effort requested and really works at their craft, they will almost always be successful.  Being the biggest and the strongest rarely factors in.  If they believe they are above accepting feedback and sometimes criticism, they will not be as successful as they could be if they responded to coaching.   If you all remember, there were a lot of people down on Lou Anarumo early on.  Players, too.  Many were vocal in their disagreements.  Many of us sided with the players.  They had, after all, shown ability on the field and who is this guy?  Well, those players are gone.  The ones that are coachable have taken the defense to the next level.  There are no real stars on this defense, aside from maybe Reader, but they are a top 10 defense in the league.  Why?  Their coach has a plan each week and his guys have bought in to the plan and they execute it.  


Leadership.  The article I just posted on Captain "Uncle" Michael Thomas.  So many former captains drafted.  The captains on the Bengals:  Burrow, Mixon, Karras, Reader, Bell, Hubbard, and the aforementioned Thomas.  Aside from Burrow, almost none of them get National attention for their play on the field.  Hubbard doesn't get double-digit sacks, but he is one of the best run-defensing DEs in the league and hardly ever came off the field.  Bell became a captain after Bates was removed as a captain.  That could have been a huge issue.  It wasn't, because every person on that team knows Bell is the first one in the building every day.  He is the epitome of a team player.  Reader.  Not a sack artist, and almost no National attention, but the heart and soul of the defense.  All effort, all the time, always doing the dirty work so someone else can make the play.  Mixon didn't piss and moan when everyone was falling in love with Perine.  He didn't go public and say he wanted to be traded to a team that appreciated him.  He got over his injury and had the biggest game of his career. I don't have that many stories about Karras (other than how he left the field in Nashville) but it is clear the team loves his energy and enthusiasm.  It's infectious.  And, of course, Joe F'n Burrow.  The man that has an organ rupture, need IV antibiotics for weeks, loses 20 lbs, etc.  The guy starts the year in awful fashion (but hey, as a team, they were all awful!  Unity!   ).  He wasn't good week 2, either.  Did he start calling out his line?  Did he start to piss and moan about how his team was costing him money in his next contract.  Nope, he stayed the coarse and went on to go 11-2 since that start, including the current seven straight wins.  Leadership is everywhere on this team.   

All those things might get dismissed as "they wouldn't mean crap if the team was losing".  Maybe so.  However, I think it is one reason they find ways to win and will continue to fight week in and week out until they win it all.