03-10-2017, 05:22 PM
(03-10-2017, 04:31 PM)wildcats forever Wrote: To me, the word that best describes the Bengals' strategy is 'Arrogance'. As in Mike Brown's belief that his way is THE way. Everything we have witnessed for so many years is a direct result of this. While not meaning to overlook the deficiencies in coaching or player talent, the over-riding factor is that all involved are at the mercy of Mike Brown's philosophies on how to run the franchise. And without really knowing, I'll be damned if I believe it will be much different when Katie takes over. All one can do is hope it will.
Meanwhile, the best way I know how to remain a fan is take interest in watching how well the young players develop into good NFL-quality players, and any 'team-building' that occurs as a result. Here's hoping no one suffers any career-ending injuries as a result.
Maybe it's arrogance, maybe it's not. I just think it's an extremely skewed organizational philosophy that somehow found it's way into a business full of mostly hyper-competitive owners. What they view as success and what, say John Elway views as success are two different things. Some see a season and want to get better the next season, in a logical sequence of events. The Bengals see a bad season and want to get better, as long as it doesn't negatively impact them 4 years later or cost them dead money.
Basically, they don't give a shit about winning. If winning is a byproduct of their philosophy as it is applied, then that's a nice feather in the cap. If not, well, they've obviously been through worse and they're willing to deal with failure and all that comes with it if that's what the company model bears out. They're constantly trying to run a marathon against teams that are sprinting.
They are not alarmed about this o-line and unfortunately, I now truly believe, as mind-numbing as it may be, that they really are going to start the guys they say they are on opening day. it would be a giant booster to their wavering "draft and retain" then do whatever you want regardless of conventional wisdom philosophy if it worked out. It's obviously a huge risk, but after watching the Ogbuehi/Nugent scenarios last year, it's safe to say they'll take it without thinking twice. They'd rather trust their organizational philosophy than their own eyes when evalutating players.
Sorry for the rant reply, but those two failures really killed a lot of their credibility in my eyes. They seriously just did not give a **** about paying the price for two players being on the field that were clearly hurting the team in a major way. The stubbornness and refusal to change until it was too late was telling about urgency and desire to win here. they earned credibility over the years, but they squandered a lot of it last year with those two decisions/non-decisions. I don't trust them to evaluate talent or diagnose issues that are clearly injurious to the team's chances any longer.
