08-25-2017, 03:15 PM
Some good exchange of thoughts on Willis and Smith, 3 pages full in a few days. I'll add or rewrite some thoughts. I'm not saying either of them start against Baltimore but I am saying they look like they should be on the team. This team had a very bad year last year. This team has not won a play-off game since 1990 Season 27 years ago. It would be very sad if the Bengals do not win a play-off game between 2010 and 2020 considering 5 straight play-off trips. Now either we have so much talent that we can't keep Willis and Smith, which means we will win the Super Bowl going away because fans seem to think we have the worlds greatest talent ever at all positions on this team this year. Well, I hope we are that dominate. There are some on here that want to keep every single player from last years 6 win season, right down to 3rd and 4th string special teams players of a 6 win team. On that, I just can't agree. This team has not won in play-offs and last year went backwards.
I'll point to some reasons I think team went backwards. We stopped drafting LB for years and kept plugging in Harrison, Hawk, Dansby and hoping these old guys had some gas left in the tank. Harrison is a 3-4 LB, not a 4-3 and he is a down lineman and was lost in space and not used right in open field. He will be a Hall Of Famer but not used right in Cincy. Hawk and then Dansby didn't really fit either. They were band aids until we could draft and bring in young LB's that fit the system. These band aids never worked all that well at linebacker. They were all great players on other teams, but sometimes trying to milk one more year out of an old vet from another team doesn't pay off.....Then we lost talent such as Hall, Nelson, Sanu, Jones, Andre Smith going into 2016, and that set the team back.....AS for the close game losses some mentioned, There was a total collapse of Nugent on field goals and extra points. My word, he couldn't even make extra points. I was amazed by his total collapse as was Bengals owners and coaches. You are never suppose to blame the kicker which in this case is stupid. Nugent is a huge reason we only won 6 games, we should have won more close games but missed extra points and field goals just kill you in the NFL. .....We can add too many injuries. Besides the players we lost that I mentioned, we didn't have Eifert, often we didn't have AJ Green, we didn't have Bernard and Hill was injured all season. Now Hill suited up and played due to Bernard out but look at how many times he left the game. NFL teams knew he was injured and they laid on the hits. Hill played with broken ribs or something and many fans put him down, but I think he took one for the team last year with the team so short on running backs due to injuries. Hill played injured and of course he was not the same last year. ...The Offensive Line was not as good last year and I thought I saw a decline in aging Whitworth. WE no longer had both Whit and Smith at tackles last year. ....I'll add Zampese took over for Hue Jackson but it seemed Bengals tried to run the Hue Jackson offense. They tried to run the Sam Wyche offense after he was gone. As Trumpy and Collinsworth said on radio at the time, THAT NEVER WORKS.
So I'm hoping they throw out all Hue and let Zampese sink or swim on his playbook. Hue is long gone. I'm hoping The O Line comes together. I'm hoping Hill is healthy and makes some fans eat their words. I hope Bernard gets healthy and I hope Mixon is a beast. I hope we are loaded at RB. I hope AJ Green is healthy and Eifert is healthy and Lafell plays good again and Boyd, Core, Erickson, Ross, Malone make our pass weapons locked and loaded. I hope Dalton has a great year as Ken Anderson or Boomer Esiason in their MVP years of Super Bowls. Andy Dalton as AFC MVP would be huge. I hope whoever replaces Nugent can make extra points. Some Field Goals would be nice, but they really need to find and keep the kicker that can make extra points. Scoring a touchdown and thinking 7 and then coming away with 6 like 2 field goals just kills you in the NFL. WE need 100 % accuracy on extra points in 2017 or very close to 100 %.. On Defense yes, we have Atkins and Dunlap but after them there is room for improvement over 2016. I'm hoping Minter who is younger than Harrison, Hawk or Dansby is more than just a used band aid. This team went out and got defensive help and drafted defense over offensive line. A huge effort was made to bring in fresh new faces on defense. The 6 win Bengals need for some new players to work out better than Rivers, suspended Thurman or injured Pollack. WE should hope we have some good young talent in the door on Defense. We could use some good young talent at linebacker in a huge way after years of aged band aids. The D Line has needed a youth movement also. In the secondary it was hard losing Hall and Nelson who were stars for years. Kirkpatrick stepped up and that was a huge resigning. Pacman, Dennard and WG3 were at one time first round picks and you would hope either Dennard or WG3 or both were not bad picks. Hopefully we have a shut down secondary that allows few touchdowns in 2017. One thing the Defense did not give us in 2016 was turnovers. We could use more interceptions and fumbles because those win games giving offense chances for easy points on a short field. Lack of turnovers hurt us. Getting close to an interception is no good. You have to burn these NFL quarterbacks when they make rare mistakes.
So, on Smith and Willis, Anthony Munoz has just raved about them so far during games. He knows something about THE TRENCHES and I value Anthony Munoz high opinion of Willis and Smith so far. Good to get a Hall Of Famers opinion for a change. Munoz has not just raved about them never taking a play off and going all out every play. He has raved about them constantly in other teams backfield. Yes, sometimes speed. Munoz has been amazed that sometimes Willis or Smith just pancake offensive lineman with brute power into the other teams backfield. I would like to see these 2 on the final roster and I feel we have some 3rd or 4th string special teams players that are not above getting cut. This team won only 6 games last year, so I'm tired of hearing how nobody from that team can be replaced. The fact is this is not the Super Bowl Patriots and a 6 win team has to make a few changes. If Munoz likes Smith and Willis, then I like Smith and Willis. So far they look like the monsters Steelers and Ravens have on bench on defense and I always wish Bengals had. If they make the team tough enough to win a play-off game, I like it. Often the Bengals come up short in the TOUGH ENOUGH Department. I want to see us be able to man up with any team in the NFL and go Super Bowl....I hope everybody is right that we are so deep that cuts will be hard choices because that means we are locked and loaded in talent...I'm not sure we are as deep as fans think, but it would be great if we are. I noticed last year Cowboys and Raiders dared to make changes and tough cuts and it certainly paid off in more wins. ....GO BENGALS.....SUPER BOWL ....
I'll point to some reasons I think team went backwards. We stopped drafting LB for years and kept plugging in Harrison, Hawk, Dansby and hoping these old guys had some gas left in the tank. Harrison is a 3-4 LB, not a 4-3 and he is a down lineman and was lost in space and not used right in open field. He will be a Hall Of Famer but not used right in Cincy. Hawk and then Dansby didn't really fit either. They were band aids until we could draft and bring in young LB's that fit the system. These band aids never worked all that well at linebacker. They were all great players on other teams, but sometimes trying to milk one more year out of an old vet from another team doesn't pay off.....Then we lost talent such as Hall, Nelson, Sanu, Jones, Andre Smith going into 2016, and that set the team back.....AS for the close game losses some mentioned, There was a total collapse of Nugent on field goals and extra points. My word, he couldn't even make extra points. I was amazed by his total collapse as was Bengals owners and coaches. You are never suppose to blame the kicker which in this case is stupid. Nugent is a huge reason we only won 6 games, we should have won more close games but missed extra points and field goals just kill you in the NFL. .....We can add too many injuries. Besides the players we lost that I mentioned, we didn't have Eifert, often we didn't have AJ Green, we didn't have Bernard and Hill was injured all season. Now Hill suited up and played due to Bernard out but look at how many times he left the game. NFL teams knew he was injured and they laid on the hits. Hill played with broken ribs or something and many fans put him down, but I think he took one for the team last year with the team so short on running backs due to injuries. Hill played injured and of course he was not the same last year. ...The Offensive Line was not as good last year and I thought I saw a decline in aging Whitworth. WE no longer had both Whit and Smith at tackles last year. ....I'll add Zampese took over for Hue Jackson but it seemed Bengals tried to run the Hue Jackson offense. They tried to run the Sam Wyche offense after he was gone. As Trumpy and Collinsworth said on radio at the time, THAT NEVER WORKS.
So I'm hoping they throw out all Hue and let Zampese sink or swim on his playbook. Hue is long gone. I'm hoping The O Line comes together. I'm hoping Hill is healthy and makes some fans eat their words. I hope Bernard gets healthy and I hope Mixon is a beast. I hope we are loaded at RB. I hope AJ Green is healthy and Eifert is healthy and Lafell plays good again and Boyd, Core, Erickson, Ross, Malone make our pass weapons locked and loaded. I hope Dalton has a great year as Ken Anderson or Boomer Esiason in their MVP years of Super Bowls. Andy Dalton as AFC MVP would be huge. I hope whoever replaces Nugent can make extra points. Some Field Goals would be nice, but they really need to find and keep the kicker that can make extra points. Scoring a touchdown and thinking 7 and then coming away with 6 like 2 field goals just kills you in the NFL. WE need 100 % accuracy on extra points in 2017 or very close to 100 %.. On Defense yes, we have Atkins and Dunlap but after them there is room for improvement over 2016. I'm hoping Minter who is younger than Harrison, Hawk or Dansby is more than just a used band aid. This team went out and got defensive help and drafted defense over offensive line. A huge effort was made to bring in fresh new faces on defense. The 6 win Bengals need for some new players to work out better than Rivers, suspended Thurman or injured Pollack. WE should hope we have some good young talent in the door on Defense. We could use some good young talent at linebacker in a huge way after years of aged band aids. The D Line has needed a youth movement also. In the secondary it was hard losing Hall and Nelson who were stars for years. Kirkpatrick stepped up and that was a huge resigning. Pacman, Dennard and WG3 were at one time first round picks and you would hope either Dennard or WG3 or both were not bad picks. Hopefully we have a shut down secondary that allows few touchdowns in 2017. One thing the Defense did not give us in 2016 was turnovers. We could use more interceptions and fumbles because those win games giving offense chances for easy points on a short field. Lack of turnovers hurt us. Getting close to an interception is no good. You have to burn these NFL quarterbacks when they make rare mistakes.
So, on Smith and Willis, Anthony Munoz has just raved about them so far during games. He knows something about THE TRENCHES and I value Anthony Munoz high opinion of Willis and Smith so far. Good to get a Hall Of Famers opinion for a change. Munoz has not just raved about them never taking a play off and going all out every play. He has raved about them constantly in other teams backfield. Yes, sometimes speed. Munoz has been amazed that sometimes Willis or Smith just pancake offensive lineman with brute power into the other teams backfield. I would like to see these 2 on the final roster and I feel we have some 3rd or 4th string special teams players that are not above getting cut. This team won only 6 games last year, so I'm tired of hearing how nobody from that team can be replaced. The fact is this is not the Super Bowl Patriots and a 6 win team has to make a few changes. If Munoz likes Smith and Willis, then I like Smith and Willis. So far they look like the monsters Steelers and Ravens have on bench on defense and I always wish Bengals had. If they make the team tough enough to win a play-off game, I like it. Often the Bengals come up short in the TOUGH ENOUGH Department. I want to see us be able to man up with any team in the NFL and go Super Bowl....I hope everybody is right that we are so deep that cuts will be hard choices because that means we are locked and loaded in talent...I'm not sure we are as deep as fans think, but it would be great if we are. I noticed last year Cowboys and Raiders dared to make changes and tough cuts and it certainly paid off in more wins. ....GO BENGALS.....SUPER BOWL ....
1968 Bengal Fan
