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(05-01-2017, 03:39 AM)Murdock2420 Wrote: It is easy to see how they rank us that low. The O-line was a disaster last year and it lost the two best guys. If Smith doesn't work at RG and Fisher and Ced don't make major strides, this team will be a 3 or 4 win team. Dalton will be under pressure all the time and there will be no running game.
Now, if the o-line gets it together, this team has talent everywhere else.
^This^
We have two giant questions:
1. Can the O-line get it together ? I have my doubts
2. Can Zampese drop Hue's playbook and use the tools he has ?
If these two things happen we'll have a very competitive team. If they don't..........long season ahead.
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Just imagine the fortunes these "pundits" could make if they could actually accurately predict the future.
Fortune telling is risky business and the good thing for the fortune tellers is that they only have to be right every 5 years or so.
I'm considering starting my own fortune telling business..You pay upfront, no refunds and I only need to be right once. What a racket..
I think these guys are reading the bumps on their own heads..
So in essence the pundits only really need to be good at prose and well over 3/4th of them stink at that and still make a living.. I missed my calling. I could sit and make shit up and say bad things about other people all day long and the Bengals have always been an easy target for the punditry class.. It's easy..just predict that the Bengals will lose in the playoffs and suddenly you're a savant of predicting the Bengals end of season results.
In the immortal words of my old man, "Wait'll you get to be my age!"
Chicago sounds rough to the maker of verse, but the one comfort we have is Cincinnati sounds worse. ~Oliver Wendal Holmes Sr.
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(05-01-2017, 02:49 PM)Murdock2420 Wrote: Which makes it even more insane that this team let Whit and Z walk. Everyone knew it was a weak class, and still they let it happen.
I believe this point has been made on this board plenty of times already, but plenty of championship teams have had to scheme around a shaky O-Line in the past. It can and does happen.
The key to this season is actually not the O-Line. The key to this season is the same it has been this entire decade. When push comes to shove, can Andy Dalton and Marvin Lewis get this team over the hump? I don't believe Marvin Lewis will ever win a playoff game as a head coach in this league, that's just me.
Formerly w8ing 4 '08
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(05-01-2017, 11:02 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: NFL Draft grades: Browns, 49ers top class; Raiders, Bengals get schooled
from The Sporting News
Cincinnati Bengals D-
Draft picks: Washington WR John Ross, Oklahoma RB Joe Mixon, Kansas State DE Jordan Willis, Auburn DE Carl Lawson, Tennessee WR Josh Malone, Michigan DT Ryan Glasgow, Memphis K Jake Elliott, Utah C J.J. Dielman, Oklahoma LB Jordan Evans, Houston CB/RB Brandon Wilson, Buffalo TE Mason Schreck
The best thing to say about the rebuilding Bengals is that Glasgow is a good value ... out of 11 picks. Ross was a reach, and Lawson was a free-faller. Both come in with durability issues. Willis is better suited to be a 3-4 edge rusher. They didn’t need a second wideout in Malone, either, and Elliott was taken too early.
About Mixon: For a non-glaring need because of Jeremy Hill and a recovering Giovani Bernard, he’s not worth that kind of backfield risk in the second round. The backlash is bound to make that pick backfire. Between Mixon, Adam Jones and Vontaze Burfict, the Bengals are unrelenting in ignoring controversy.
http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/nfl-draft-2017-grades-results-winners-losers-best-worst-browns-49ers-raiders-bears/18hqayqs3zll51g21an59nw2g5
Ugh. A little truth, a lot of bullshit.
1. It's a bit much to say the Bengals are "rebuilding".
2. Glasgow was the best value? Over Willis, Lawson or Mixon?
3. The Mixon pick gets shredded, but the Vikings trading up for Cook was "smart", and they made no mention of the Cowboys taking the guy that dragged his GF by the throat...giving them a B+ (nevermind all the high character guys they've taken in the past). They also gave the Browns the top grade in the draft and the only mention of Conley was this:
Quote:That’s 24 picks in two years to overhaul a roster and go out with old. That also allows the Browns to take a late calculated character risk on a player such as Brantley.
So the Browns taking a guy that knocked a girl's tooth out is "a calculated risk". The hypocrisy is gag worthy.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
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Do not use Bleacher Reports for anything serious other than just to read and have a laugh.
The people there are just like us. Most of us on here know very little about other teams that they don't follow and get their information from what they see/hear on the internet. So its the equivalent to asking ourselves to make a list. We have our favorites and non-favorites as well.
For example, We probably all hate NE and would not want to rank them 1st, but like them or not they are the #1 team in the NFL.
1 team that always cracks me up is the NO Saints, they usually get lots of love from having Brees and Peyton (HC), but over the last 5 years, they've finished 7-9 4 times, and 11-5 4 years ago.
21 on Bleacher Reports and a C on Sporting News. I thought they helped themselves fairly well by getting DB Marshon Lattimore, OT Ryan Ramczyk, S Marcus Williams and RB Alvin Kamara.
They greatly improved their defensive backfield, and might have found their future RB. Most draft grades for them were B+. Ryan seems to be the biggest knock against them, even so, you still have to protect Brees.
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Off the field Jones very controversial and I also think he should be cut.
"The backlash is bound to make that pick backfire. Between Mixon, Adam Jones and Vontaze Burfict, the Bengals are unrelenting in ignoring controversy."
But, Jones and Burfict are recent pro bowl players so not sure how this writer can use them as bad picks when trying to attack Mixon pick.
I am so ready for 2024 season. I love pro football and hoping for a great Bengals year. Regardless, always remember it is a game and entertainment.
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(05-01-2017, 08:31 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Outside sources look at gains and losses and compare them to the previous year.
And, I'll admit, on paper our offensive line looks absolutely garbage.
Like...'Mike Brown wants Andy Dalton to die in a fire' levels of garbage.
But the Bengals planned ahead and drafted with the plan to replace Zeitler and Whitworth.
Let's see if those draft picks pan out.
Marvin has stated that he is not concerned about the O'line. From where I sit that's ridiculous. But, despite my shoot in the dark opinions, he is a well esteemed NFL coach who has proved his ability to build playoff quality teams - and overall his evaluation of talent is excellent.
So my hope is that he isn't just saying what he has to say, because what is he supposed to say if he's pretty sure he has hot garbage?
But there was no equivocation in what he said. I'm praying that he has reason for his expression of confidence. Because if he is we just upgraded the team on both sides of the ball - not to mention special teams.
I would have done anything to keep at least Whit. But I'm certainly willing - no praying - that I was wrong.
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(05-08-2017, 07:29 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Off the field Jones very controversial and I also think he should be cut.
"The backlash is bound to make that pick backfire. Between Mixon, Adam Jones and Vontaze Burfict, the Bengals are unrelenting in ignoring controversy."
But, Jones and Burfict are recent pro bowl players so not sure how this writer can use them as bad picks when trying to attack Mixon pick.
Uhm only one of those three guys was actually drafted by the Bengals. So unless he's referring to them as other players on the team, then he's just making himself look even worse.
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Most of you destroyed the statement about Ross being one-dimensional so I won't pile on. To call him a "reach" is laughable. Davis and Williams went before him and neither have the unique talents of Ross. If Ross was 1 inch taller, folks would have called him a potential #1 OVERALL pick. Some have even said that he couldn't get on the field until this past year, which is hilarious because he was dominating his first year as a WR (something like 15 catches, 300 yards, and 5 TDs and a suspension of a teammate had his coach move him to defense, which he did to help his team.
This statement is what I don't understand at all:
"They did get great value for Mixon and third-round front seven defender Jordan Willis, but that doesn't make up for all of the losing they've been doing on and off the field."
They like the picks, but rank their draft poorly because of the losses they had in Free Agency? And what is the comment about losing on the field? Is that a slam for having an injury-riddled season? How did the Browns or 49ers even register a score if the rankings somehow include their record from last year.
"The secondary lacks young talent". Someone should tell this pinhead that secondary implies CBs and Safeties. The Bengals have FOUR good, young safeties and just added another freak of an athlete. The CBs include WJIII (who had a ridiculous 28 PBUs his last year in college) Dre K (who is in his prime and was just a top tier FA who the steelers apparently wanted), Dennard (a first rounder who couldn't crack the starting lineup but would be starting at a lot of other teams) and Kevarie Russell (a former 3rd round pick who got a pick in his lone snap). Add in Josh Shaw and I would say this secondary is the very definition of full of young talent.
I have to hand it to the author. Making such blatantly stupid remarks about the Bengals is bound to get him tons of clicks and shares from steelers fans....and maybe even get picked up by ESPN.
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