12-25-2023, 01:00 PM
(12-25-2023, 12:09 PM)samhain Wrote: My view is this and I don't think it's controversial:
The Bengals are built to go on deep AFC playoff runs if health is reasonably intact. Their best players are elite offensive skill guys that beat defenses by being just plain better athletes with a hyper-processing qb distributing the ball. The defense is (was) built to limit big plays while the offense scores fast. This plays beautifully vs the Buffalos ad KCs. It works against the teams you play in January, ie the ones you need to get past to make it to the big game.
Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't work against division rivals. Every team in this division that's not the Bengals is built to slow down games. They suffocate offenses with elite pass rushing DLs and in turn beat up defenses in the run game. It's hard to get big leads against teams that do those things well, and all 3 teams that rival us seem to execute that as well as any in the league. In short, they make other teams play their game.
This isn't to say that talent doesn't win out. The Bengals have imposed their will on Baltimore and Pittsburgh in seasons when health is more in our favor and those teams were going through similar identity issues to our current ones. The Browns are confounding. I can't explain that shit.
This division eats it's own. Whoever makes it out alive is going to be maimed in the process. Look at our o-line after playing the Ravens twice in a row last year. That was some shit luck. If that doesn't go down that way and we go into KC with Cappa and Jonah, we might have had a Lombardi in Cincinnati. It cuts both ways. I don't see the Browns getting far in the playoffs. The Ravens are better built for it, but the flaws are there. An intact Bengals roster going into the wild card round is scarier than either team to opponents outside of the division.
Well thought out. Baltimore/Lamar is healthy this year and weren’t the previous 2 years. Funny how that works. This team looked solid against SF & the Bills and took the lead on the Ravens when Joe went down. And about that time Volson in particular and the entire OL started playing better and we were more successful in the run game finally. The defense was playing better. The AFC is brutal and our division for sure. Thinking it was a repeat of 21 & 22 shouldn’t have been a foregone conclusion especially with our slow start. I realize a few on here are impatient with their Super Bowl obsession but as KC & Buffalo are finding out this year too winning is hard.
Romo “ so impressed with Zac ...1 of the best in the NFL… they are just fundamentally sound. Taylor the best winning % in the Playoffs of current coaches. Joe Burrow” Zac is the best head coach in the NFL & that gives me a lot of confidence." Taylor led the Bengals to their first playoff win since 1990, ending the longest active drought in the four major North American sports, en and appeared in Super Bowl LVI, the first since 1988.
