A Wildcard will be harder to get & the Steelers may be even better in 2017

[depthchart]

Simply getting healthier and improving may not be enough for the Bengals in 2017.
Competition for Wildcards in the AFC should get tougher with what I see as at least 10 teams seriously competing with the Bengals for 6 total AFC Playoff spots.

The Patriots, Steelers, Texans, Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos, Dolphins, Titans, Ravens and Colts make 10.
The Bengals make 11 competing for 6 spots.

The Steelers will get Cameron Heyward & Martavis Bryant back plus some injured secondary help should return. They made the AFC Championship game last season and are the Favorite to win the AFC North in 2017. The Bengals need to find a way to Elevate their play to an Elite level to win this division. If not, they will be Bunched up into a large group of Wildcard contenders many of whom are Ascending teams. A 2017 AFC Wildcard will likely be harder to get than in recent years. The Bengals need to use this Draft to bring an Elite quality to at least one unit or area of the team. Do something to distinguish themselves from the Wildcard contending pack. Seattle was known for an Elite secondary. We have some Elite players scattered on both sides of the ball but need Top notch Units to Gel to actually start earning what the Great teams earn. Otherwise, we are just another team in the crowd.

[THE PISTONS]

Our division is always tough. No doubt.

The thing about talent...is it doesn't always translate to wins. It's really hard to project which teams will be good year to year.

Look...the Panthers are dominant 2 years ago and have a huge win total...then tank last year. They basically had the same team.

[BenZoo2]

You forgot Jacksonville. If they get good qb play look out. Our o line decides if last year was a hiccup. If they don't step up we looking at a couple years to retool that unit. If we nail this draft and next we should still be in good shape. It would be nice to stop the free agent bleed.


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[THE PISTONS]

So basically every team in the AFC is good except Cleveland!

[THE PISTONS]

Our prospects for the future depend mainly on our offensive line. I have no idea how they will gel.

Ced and Bodine are 2 of the worst players at their position. Andre Smith will be changing positions. Fisher was below average last year but improving. Boling is an above average Guard.

Can a bunch of those players improve and play atleast above average to good?

[BenZoo2]

(04-12-2017, 01:27 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: So basically every team in the AFC is good except Cleveland!

Well getting better anyway. So will Cleveland if they nail their next 2 drafts and get a qb. It won't much matter because New England is locked for the next couple years imho


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[grampahol]

At the end of the day there's really no way to know who is going to have a great season or not until the season is actually played. Any team can have a great team on paper and still flop miserably or have a horrible team on paper and win it all.  If I had a fully functioning crystal ball with the optional equipment to see into the future I wouldn't be wasting my time on trying to figure out how the season for the Bengals would go. I'd be working on world peace and reading the minds of the hottest women on the planet instead. 

[leonardfan40]

(04-12-2017, 01:31 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Our prospects for the future depend mainly on our offensive line. I have no idea how they will gel.

Ced and Bodine are 2 of the worst players at their position. Andre Smith will be changing positions. Fisher was below average last year but improving. Boling is an above average Guard.

Can a bunch of those players improve and play atleast above average to good?

This^ 

If our o line can play solid than we are right back in the mix. The rest of the team isn't as bad as it may seem. 

And you can say that team X or Y will compete just about every year for just about every team.
Last year the jags were the hot pick to take a playoff spot and what did they do? It's easy to look improved on paper, but actually being significantly better in game is another story.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Don't see the Colts as competitors. The Colts were only ever good with Luck because the rest of the AFCS sucked so much. With the Texans and Titans looking like they might be decent teams for awhile, look for the Colts to go into the cellar.

They haven't had a winning season since 2014, when they went 6-0 in the AFCS, and 5-5 out of it.

Andrew Luck's QB Record: 43-27
Andrew Luck's AFCS Record: 22-5
Andrew Luck's non-AFCS Record: 21-22

The Colts have an 11 game winning streak against the Titans. They had back-to-back division sweeps in '13-'14. If they played in a different division, Andrew Luck and the Colts would be pretty crappy.

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EDIT: Also not sure I see the Ravens as competitors either. They are 31-33 over the last four years and I am not sure what they've done to change that. They haven't been good since they lost Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and their running game after their SB win in '12.

Not terribly worried about the Dolphins either. Need to see another year of Jay Ajayi to see if he's serious. Dolphins have 1 winning season in the last 8 years, and that was last year's 10-6. 6-0 when Ajayi ran for 70+ yards, 4-6 when he didn't.

Of course I am not sure the Bengals are gong to be competing for a wildcard spot in 2017 either....

[OrlandoBengal]

(04-12-2017, 01:19 PM)depthchart Wrote: Simply getting healthier and improving may not be enough for the Bengals in 2017.
Competition for Wildcards in the AFC should get tougher with what I see as at least 10 teams seriously competing with the Bengals for 6 total AFC Playoff spots.

The Patriots, Steelers, Texans, Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos, Dolphins, Titans, Ravens and Colts make 10.
The Bengals make 11 competing for 6 spots.

The Steelers will get Cameron Heyward & Martavis Bryant back plus some injured secondary help should return. They made the AFC Championship game last season and are the Favorite to win the AFC North in 2017. The Bengals need to find a way to Elevate their play to an Elite level to win this division. If not, they will be Bunched up into a large group of Wildcard contenders many of whom are Ascending teams. A 2017 AFC Wildcard will likely be harder to get than in recent years. The Bengals need to use this Draft to bring an Elite quality to at least one unit or area of the team. Do something to distinguish themselves from the Wildcard contending pack. Seattle was known for an Elite secondary. We have some Elite players scattered on both sides of the ball but need Top notch Units to Gel to actually start earning what the Great teams earn. Otherwise, we are just another team in the crowd.

In actuality, I think you have the Bengals as one of seven teams competing for the two Wild Card spots.  I would pick the Patriots, Steelers, Raiders, and Texans as your Division Champs.

I hope I am wrong, but don't see this team competing for the playoffs this year.  The line was a weak spot last year and lost it's only two truly good players.  Maybe they hover around .500 somewhere, but my gut tells me this is a 6-8 win team.  Of course history tells us they will win a couple meaningless games to draft outside the top five

[J24]

The other teams are very beatable the problem is we got worse. Can't believe how bad our front office was this off season.

[BFritz21]

(04-12-2017, 08:38 PM)J24 Wrote: The other teams are very beatable the problem is we got worse. Can't believe how bad our front office was this off season.

After five years of making the playoffs and being a contender, I thought we were over this kind of non-commitment to improving and done with the long streak of ineptitude.  

Not only have we let these guys go to weaken our team, but we haven't done much to improve ourselves.

We could still turn it around with a solid draft, maybe a solid FA move or two (maybe someone worthwhile will be available after the draft or last cuts, like a center or other o-linemen), and maybe guys like Hill turn-it-around, but I'm blown away at how bad our offseason has been (except for a few things like releasing Rey and signing Minter, Smith).

Team looks in shambles right now, but not unrepairable.  

[Derrick]

(04-12-2017, 01:36 PM)grampahol Wrote: At the end of the day there's really no way to know who is going to have a great season or not until the season is actually played. Any team can have a great team on paper and still flop miserably or have a horrible team on paper and win it all.  If I had a fully functioning crystal ball with the optional equipment to see into the future I wouldn't be wasting my time on trying to figure out how the season for the Bengals would go. I'd be working on world peace and reading the minds of the hottest women on the planet instead. 

The Stoolers are slated to run away with the AFC North by 4 games over Cincy. The Bengals may eke out a 9-7 record. Of course Mikey will love this. He want a "winning season" to keep the peasants at bay, but not too many wins...Mikey Goldilocks Brown, owner.

[spazz70]

It is an easy formula...

Go undefeated at home..CLE, BALT, PITT, HOU, BUFF, DET, CHI, IND

500 on the road at worst...PITT, GB, DET, MIN, CLE, BALT, JAX, TEN

This in my opinion is feasible....

[Murdock2420]

(04-12-2017, 01:27 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: So basically every team in the AFC is good except Cleveland!

And the Jets 

[*Nately120*]

(04-12-2017, 10:36 PM)Murdock2420 Wrote: And the Jets 

The 2016 Jets and Browns were amusing in the sense that they were both pretty much the loudmouthed NFL fan's dream.  Both teams knew they weren't winning the SB so they pulled the plug on their vet QBs and threw a bunch of unprepared rookies into hopeless situations.  The end result?  


many losses
many injuries
many laugably bad performances
1 win in total
0 Tom Brady's discovered

[eoxyod]

You all are high. The AFC is absolutely terrible except for the Patriots. There isn't a single team that doesn't have multiple glaring holes. The Bengals have 3 playoff spots up for grabs

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(04-12-2017, 11:45 PM)eoxyod Wrote: You all are high. The AFC is absolutely terrible except for the Patriots. There isn't a single team that doesn't have multiple glaring holes. The Bengals have 3 playoff spots up for grabs

I would add the Raiders and possibly the Chiefs to that list.

He's not even that good, but the Broncos are seriously a Jay Cutler signing away from being on that list too.

[Thundercloud]

I agree with the OP about building elite units. Normally I like the offensive line. An elite unit can run the ball, and control the clock, helping the defense. It can also protect the quarterback to produce a very threatening passing game.

But our O-line took such a shot from dumbass management in the off-season, that I don't think that's possible this year, especially with the draft looking pretty shallow on top guards and tackles.

So I think our defense is the best bet, and within that, we're pretty close in some areas. We've improved at linebacker, and maybe we should just go ahead and draft Foster, and have a lights out crew there and go for the best edge guy in the second. We're also close at d-line. We could go for the best edge guy in the first, and best linebacker in the second.

We've already got the makings of a good secondary, so with some good judgement and some good fortune, we could lay the foundation for a tough defense, and try to win games 17-10 or something.

[eoxyod]

(04-13-2017, 12:44 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I would add the Raiders and possibly the Chiefs to that list.

He's not even that good, but the Broncos are seriously a Jay Cutler signing away from being on that list too.

The Raiders have a defense that can't stop a runny nose, and the Chiefs are missing a QB which is essentially 2 glaring holes