Worst To First In The Division!

[BFritz21]

Yahoo ranked the teams it thinks has the best chance to jump to the top of the division this season, and, not surprisingly, we were ranked first.

Quote:The case for: It doesn't require a lot of faith to buy into a group that won 22 games from 2021-22 and reached the Super Bowl and AFC championship game during that span. Despite Joe Burrow's injuries - a calf ailment contributed to a 1-3 start before the quarterback was lost for the season in November to a wrist issue - Cincinnati still forged ahead to a 9-8 mark, with their playoff hopes lingering until Week 17. Burrow's recovery bears watching in training camp, but his trajectory is thus far reassuring. Signing Trent Brown and drafting Amarius Mims to address the hole at right tackle could position Burrow to enjoy the best protection of his career - though that's not a very high bar. Meanwhile, a defense that was undone by its league-worst allowance of explosive plays should be in better shape at safety thanks to the arrival of Geno Stone and return of Vonn Bell. It's little wonder why the team didn't budge on trade requests from two key starters in wide receiver Tee Higgins and defensive end Trey Hendrickson: This is a legitimate contender.

If we can finally protect Burrow, I think he's going to have a monster year. Signing Trent Brown should fortify our line because I think Orlando Brown has a big year. Burrow could be scary good this year.

I've already talked about how I like our end rotation and how we should get good play from the interior with guys like Hill, Jackson, Jenkins, etc, and they left Dax out of the secondary talk, which I think he could be good at corner,

Quote:The case against: The AFC North was the only division to have four teams with winning records in 2023. It may be even more brutal this season. The Bengals' offense could experience a few bumps with running backs Zack Moss and Chase Brown stepping in for mainstay Joe Mixon and a new No. 3 receiver needing to emerge following the departure of dependable slot Tyler Boyd. The pieces are in place for progress along the defensive line and in the secondary, but some recent unproven early draft picks will be counted on to become reliable contributors.

The AFC North is always rough, but I think we're a team finally built to go through the gauntlet this season.

Brown and Moss are a massive upgrade from Mixon, IMCO, and Burrow can make any receiver look good, which Burton, Irwin, or Iosivas could easily step into the #3 from the slot, and not to mention that Chase will play some slot this season. They also didn't even mention our tight ends, who could be big for us and I think Burrow looks their way a lot.

Quote:The bottom line: Cincinnati completed the worst-to-first transition in 2021. The team won't have nearly as far to go to repeat the feat this year. As the only group on this list that finished above .500 last season, the Bengals are a far more proven product than any of the other candidates. They might be behind the Ravens for the title of AFC North favorite, but it shouldn't be by much.

The X factor is our line because Burrow will destroy defenses with time to throw and then I think the defense will just create lots of turnovers with teams having to throw to keep up with us and having a stable of defensive ends that can get to the quarterback with guys also coming from the defensive tackle spot.

What do you think?