Why the Bengals will win in 2017

[BengalChris]

(05-02-2017, 09:37 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: To project the success of the upcoming season, you don't have to look much further than last season:

The Bengals lost three games (one technically ended in a tie) because they couldn't hit chip shot FGs or extra points.  After watching the pro day of Jake Elliot, I feel a lot better about this phase of the game.  Some "pundits" have taken shots for taking him in the 5th round.  The Bengals get a starter that is likely an immediate upgrade at a key position and it was a bad pick?  They liked him enough to want to make sure they got him.  I'm glad he's a Bengal.

The Bengals couldn't run the ball last year.  At all.  Unless your name was Cleveland, you could stop the Bengal's rushing attack.  Why?  The easy answer is because the offensive line can't run block.  The more accurate answer is because opposing defenses didn't respect our passing game.  With our TEs dropping like flies, a rookie WR in the slot (who still played pretty well but disappeared at times), and one major weapon that we lost for the last six games of the season, opposing defenses didn't respect our passing game and dared the Bengals to beat them through the air.  They couldn't get enough separation to consistently accomplish this, but there was a little glimmer of light at the very end of the season when the bigger, faster Cody Core had some success against the Ravens.  Coincidentally, the rushing attack was better in that game.  Some folks will say "meaningless game" and that the Ravens weren't motivated.  I disagree.  I was at the game and didn't see a lack of effort by the Ravens, but better execution by the Bengals.  That was with Cody Core being on the field.  This year, we should have John Ross, AJ Green, Tyler Eifert, and Tyler Boyd on the field at the first snap of the first game.  Not to mention the backfield will have Joe Mixon over Jeremy Hill, who is both a receiving and rushing threat.  Depth provided by the likes of Uzomah, Kroft, Josh Malone, and Lafell.  The bottom line is the Bengals were a pathetic rushing team because defenses would double AJ (it was even worse when he was out) and crowd the LOS.  Good luck doing that against these weapons.

They couldn't rush the passer. Other than Carlos Dunlap, the Bengals had virtually no outside rush.  Dingleberry was solid as a rotational inside presence, but there wasn't much of a rotation on the outside of fresh bodies.  The Bengals will be adding Billings to the starting defensive line and he lives for occupying double-teams, Hardison rotating in for him and Geno, Glasgow rotating in for Billings, and the speed/strength mixture provided by Willis and Lawson on the outside.  I still can't believe they got Lawson in the 4th round without trading up. Coverage by the DBs should be improved as I think if Adam Jones shows up out of shape again, WJIII will have his spot and never look back.  Dre also showed improvement throughout last year after a slow start.   You want to dump it off in the middle of the field?  Well, the Bengals have one of the highest rated coverage LBs now in Minter, an in-shape Burfict (did you see those picks of the voluntary workouts?), and Vigil getting more and more snaps.  They are now younger, and faster at the LB position...something we have needed for some time.  All of this will contribute to more pressure on opposing QBs.

They couldn't protect Dalton.  He was sacked a record 41 times, and the offensive line got all the blame.  Ced was clearly a liability playing hurt and at RT.  But the bigger problem was there was no running game to respect.  They rarely were playing with a lead.  And they had weapons that had difficulty getting separation.  Just take the points I made about our defense and that was basically what every team was able to do to us.  Dalton had to hold on to the ball because no one was getting open and teams could tee off on the pass rush.  To his credit, he had a career low 7 INTs, but he took way too many hits.  It wasn't just the offensive line.  It was the combination of a lack of weapons, not having a rushing attack, and a defense that wasn't getting the ball back early in the season.  The defense showed improvements as the season wore on, but when the Bengals lost AJ, they had no other answer on the offense.  That will not be the case in 2017.

This year, they have weapons, a pass rush, a running attack, and will be the surprise team of the NFL.  Book it.

I agree with your assessment of the kicker pick. If the team wanted him and had a pick to use why not just be sure you get the guy you want? Better than taking seconds.

Regarding not respecting the passing game you very well could be right, but the O-line was bad, very bad in the running game, but to do nothing to improve the O-line in either free agency or the draft was inexplicable. It's not like Ogbuehi showed any promise last year, he just threw up all over the place and Bodine hasn't exactly been moving anyone off the ball. Fisher may very well be the better LT and starting at that position by the end of the season.

We passed on better players to take Ross, which means the team felt very strongly about the need for speed.

If our running game improved at all it's from Mixon's ability to make people miss in the backfield, but neither Bernard nor Hill were able to do that last year. Maybe the threat of Ross on the outside will be enough to keep defenses honest. If Hill has room to run he's a good RB, same for Bernard.