05-16-2017, 06:23 AM
A great deal of stress was present in previous seasons where there were changes to the offensive line and the Bengals responded with some of their best rushing attacks in their recent history.
Consider it position by position: Where are they not as good as last year? That's easy...LT. Whit, at 137 years old, would probably be better than Ced. However, the rest of the line is not the same story:
LG: Boling played with an injured shoulder for almost all of last season before shutting it down in week 17. He will be 100% healthy and much more effective than when he was playing through the injury.
C: Boding was not a Pro Bowl caliber player, but the needle continued to point up as he had his best season. There is no reason not to expect him to be even better this year in his contract season.
RG: Although everyone assumes this will be Andre Smith, I wouldn't be surprised to see Alex Redmond win the job. The club feels very good about him. Zeitler was not the Hall of Famer some would lead you to believe. He certainly wasn't worth the ridiculous $12 million per year that Cleveland paid him. This position could actually be better in the rushing attack.
RT: Fisher bounced around before landing at RT and settling in nicely. I like his attitude as well. Tough guy, wants to win. I think he will become a very valued piece of this line as time goes on...He certainly was better than an injured Ced was in the first part of the season. He will be even better next year, now that he can prepare for the RT spot.
So, LT is a concern. At some point, we have to sink or swim at LT with Ced. Maybe he, like many others before him, surprises and has a solid season. If he doesn't, we will see a lot of TE help on his side, or eventually Fisher moves to LT and Smith fills in at RT.
Either way, I don't see it as the five position disaster some would have us believe. It is also naive to not understand that the mere presence of Ross opposite AJ changes the way defenses will stack the box against the Bengals.
Consider it position by position: Where are they not as good as last year? That's easy...LT. Whit, at 137 years old, would probably be better than Ced. However, the rest of the line is not the same story:
LG: Boling played with an injured shoulder for almost all of last season before shutting it down in week 17. He will be 100% healthy and much more effective than when he was playing through the injury.
C: Boding was not a Pro Bowl caliber player, but the needle continued to point up as he had his best season. There is no reason not to expect him to be even better this year in his contract season.
RG: Although everyone assumes this will be Andre Smith, I wouldn't be surprised to see Alex Redmond win the job. The club feels very good about him. Zeitler was not the Hall of Famer some would lead you to believe. He certainly wasn't worth the ridiculous $12 million per year that Cleveland paid him. This position could actually be better in the rushing attack.
RT: Fisher bounced around before landing at RT and settling in nicely. I like his attitude as well. Tough guy, wants to win. I think he will become a very valued piece of this line as time goes on...He certainly was better than an injured Ced was in the first part of the season. He will be even better next year, now that he can prepare for the RT spot.
So, LT is a concern. At some point, we have to sink or swim at LT with Ced. Maybe he, like many others before him, surprises and has a solid season. If he doesn't, we will see a lot of TE help on his side, or eventually Fisher moves to LT and Smith fills in at RT.
Either way, I don't see it as the five position disaster some would have us believe. It is also naive to not understand that the mere presence of Ross opposite AJ changes the way defenses will stack the box against the Bengals.
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
