06-18-2015, 10:44 AM
(06-18-2015, 10:18 AM)Brownshoe Wrote: We actually have a much different roster on offense, and our defense has a few guys that will help it out a lot. We have had very little weapons in the post season, but if we stay healthy this year we will have enough to go far into the playoffs. Our defense improved considerably from last year if Atkins is really 100%, and Burfict is healthy (even if he's only healthy for the back half of the season). Not to mention getting other key players on defense back. If you want to think that we haven't been getting better every year then that's on you.
I do agree that this roster is pretty damn talented. I'm excited about the upcoming year, but you have to realize that most Bengals' fans have good reason to not believe the hype since we hear the same thing year after year after year with similar results.
In the early 2000's I remember it being "this is the year we make the playoffs!" (I can imagine Jungle Noise would have been the same way if it were around at the time), and then the same old, same old. Once we finally started making the playoffs, it has been "this is the year we win a playoff game!", then we get bounced in the WC round 6 times in the past 10 years.
As solid as I think the roster is, there's part of me that can't get tooooo excited just because of the last 25 years. There are a lot of people that share the same feelings, and it's for good reason. This team has gotten more people's hopes up than every stripper in Las Vegas combined. Every year I hear "this is the year! we've just been unlucky in the past!" from a portion of Bengals' fans, and it just loses it's luster once you hear it so many times without seeing results.
We could hire Bill Belichick, trade for Aaron Rodgers, J.J. Watt, and Rob Gronkowski, build a time machine and sign prime Jerry Rice and Barry Sanders, and there would still be people questioning if we could win a playoff game. It has gotten to the point that a lot of people are sick and tired of hearing about it being our year without the elusive playoff victory. Is making the playoffs every year now better than praying to get to .500? Sure! It makes the regular season a hell of a lot more fun as a fan of the team. It just sucks to hear the same crap all offseason each year with nothing more than playoff appearances to show for it.
