Why the Bengals will win in 2017

[*bengalfan74*]

(05-05-2017, 09:05 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: Someone on the visitor's sideline hung a large sign near the upper deck last season that read:

Bengals 2016:  Watch, Wince, Repeat

I have to admit, it made me chuckle.

Despite what my disgruntled, disgusted, heart aching state with this team/owner/coach may seem to imply. Mostly owner and HC, and PA !

I do, very badly want to see success. Hell I'd be happy to just see a couple playoff wins !

And there's basicallyNO reason this team hasn't seen it. Except for the incompetence of the Coaching/ownership ! Please do something different and change the culture here and win a damn playoff game for the love of gawd.

[XenoMorph]

(05-05-2017, 09:35 AM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Despite what my disgruntled, disgusted, heart aching state with this team/owner/coach may seem to imply. Mostly owner and HC, and PA !

I do, very badly want to see success. Hell I'd be happy to just see a couple playoff wins !

And there's basicallyNO reason this team hasn't seen it. Except for the incompetence of the Coaching/ownership ! Please do something different and change the culture here and win a damn playoff game for the love of gawd.

gotta believe its a make or break for marvin...... 

Likely Zampese too if the offense doesn't improve after last season. (I understand we lost 2 WRs) but we declined hard on O and I gotta blame a lot of that on playcalling

[*SHRacerX*]

(05-05-2017, 04:59 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: gotta believe its a make or break for marvin...... 

Likely Zampese too if the offense doesn't improve after last season.   (I understand we lost 2 WRs) but we declined hard on O  and I gotta blame a lot of that on playcalling

I'm trying to give him a bit of a pass since he lost essentially all the TEs (or at least were ineffective due to injury, and that includes Hewitt) and AJ Green down the stretch.  Ross, a healthy TE squad, AJ, and a new RB should help things tremendously.  

[Millhouse]

(05-05-2017, 08:09 AM)McC Wrote: The Bengals have done so many un-Bengal-like things this off season that the status quo really seems to have changed.  I believe the shake up will continue and we will see a new approach this season.

First off I generally agree and like your posts. 

That said, what have they done that was so un-Bengal like this offseason? Same approach to free agency, check. The main coaches brought back, check. No new 'gm' brought in, check. Bringing in a player with a red flag past, check. Keeping Pacman, check. MB still has say on who they draft, check. 

Now they might have done something here or there that seems a bit out of character for them (which I am trying to figure out), but overall the status quo of the front office seems to be as strong as ever.

[Millhouse]

(05-05-2017, 09:01 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: For me it is simple:  One word... Attack!

Attack on offense.  I have heard Brady and Co. say how they simply try to score every time they have the ball.  That sounds incredibly simplistic, but that is so far from what the Bengals do...if they get a lead they take the foot off the gas and try to protect the lead with a lot of conservative three and outs.  Keep your foot on the opponent's neck and don't let them breathe (Atlanta Falcons).  

Attack on defense.  How about some more pressure schemes?  I liked when I saw the occasional safety blitz, but they were too few and far between.  I understand you get pressure with your front four in our 4-3 scheme, but you have to change it up every now and then to keep teams off balance.  

Attack on special teams.  I am not saying they need to become the Seahawks of the 80s with Jim Zorn and Effrin Herarra, but have some fakes designed and don't be afraid to call them.  

Bengals 2017 season:  Attack

I pretty much agree. I think the best chance they have is to just keep attacking on both sides of the ball, and let the chips fall where they may. Dont try to overthink it, just hit the other team quick and hard for the whole game, outside of obvious situations.

[McC]

(05-05-2017, 05:21 PM)Millhouse Wrote: First off I generally agree and like your posts. 

That said, what have they done that was so un-Bengal like this offseason? Same approach to free agency, check. The main coaches brought back, check. No new 'gm' brought in, check. Bringing in a player with a red flag past, check. Keeping Pacman, check. MB still has say on who they draft, check. 

Now they might have done something here or there that seems a bit out of character for them (which I am trying to figure out), but overall the status quo of the front office seems to be as strong as ever.

They signed a FA who is not on his last legs.  They cut Rey and Peko.  They drafted a wideout under 6'.  They drafted a DE who is 6'3".  They are changing their approach to at least a few relatively major things.  Their first two draft picks are seemingly guys who will play a lot as rookies.  And their third pick should see PT at least as a pass rusher. 

And this all might just be the beginning.  I'm not saying they turned into the Patriots overnight.  But they clearly made changes.

[BengalChris]

(05-04-2017, 11:30 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Ogbuehi was drafted knowing he had surgery and would be out maybe all year.. so really he only had one preseason and yes was limited after injury.  He did stay healthy during the season.. I am happy they have settled on putting him at the position he is best suited too and I hope he does finally gets a full preseason.. I actually believe he will be the most improved on the team.. when Willie and Munoz both have come out and said he does have the tools to play tackle, i feel with a set position , offseason work and a healthy preseason he will be the most improved on this team next year. 

Yes he was, then he misses the next season's training camp and ends the year on IR.

A quick fact is that he played more RT in college than left. The right side excuse he gave last year was just an excuse.

After two years in the NFL he has yet to improve, even a little. Maybe he will improve, but then again maybe he won't.

[Millhouse]

(05-05-2017, 08:27 PM)McC Wrote: They signed a FA who is not on his last legs.  They cut Rey and Peko.  They drafted a wideout under 6'.  They drafted a DE who is 6'3".  They are changing their approach to at least a few relatively major things.  Their first two draft picks are seemingly guys who will play a lot as rookies.  And their third pick should see PT at least as a pass rusher. 

And this all might just be the beginning.  I'm not saying they turned into the Patriots overnight.  But they clearly made changes.

Gotcha. They seemed to have drafted better this year overall, only time will tell as it does for all teams. So that approach may have changed. I just think we disagreed what are major and minor changes is all, cause all I saw were minor ones in terms of Minter, Peko & Rey,  and the draft picks. Major changes for me would be a new HC, new 'GM', more scouts, etc. 

[McC]

(05-05-2017, 09:31 PM)Millhouse Wrote: Gotcha. They seemed to have drafted better this year overall, only time will tell as it does for all teams. So that approach may have changed. I just think we disagreed what are major and minor changes is all, cause all I saw were minor ones in terms of Minter, Peko & Rey,  and the draft picks. Major changes for me would be a new HC, new 'GM', more scouts, etc. 

We are talking about the Bengals.  What might be minor for other teams are pretty major around here.  And, who knows?  It might be enough to make a difference.  

[samhain]

I kind of view this team like I did the Atlanta Falcons of 2013-2015. They had some great offensive pieces and a nice quarterback. Unfortunately they suffered from dogshit o-line personnel. I'll grant the Bengals one thing, and that's that they have all the weapons in place. The Falcons weren't quite there.

I think they'll have a couple of tough seasons behind this line before things come together, but I think they are set up to get there eventually..

it's a cliche, but the game truly is won in the trenches. Joe Mixon and John Ross don't help much with that. I think this team will be getting murdered in the trenches on the offensive side of the ball for the foreseeable future.

[*SHRacerX*]

(05-05-2017, 08:27 PM)McC Wrote: They signed a FA who is not on his last legs.  They cut Rey and Peko.  They drafted a wideout under 6'.  They drafted a DE who is 6'3".  They are changing their approach to at least a few relatively major things.  Their first two draft picks are seemingly guys who will play a lot as rookies.  And their third pick should see PT at least as a pass rusher. 

And this all might just be the beginning.  I'm not saying they turned into the Patriots overnight.  But they clearly made changes.

I'm glad I read your response first because you nailed it (not that you needed anyone to answer it for you   

I will add one other item:  They didn't re-sign a slightly above average player for ridiculous money when it seemed everyone and their brother wanted them to.  They also didn't overpay for Whit who, as much as I love him, will be 36 this seaon and you know what they say about Father Time.

Those weren't easy decisions to make, but if the Patriots had done that they would be heralded for sticking to their championship formula and never overpaying the wrong players.  The media dogged them, and so did the fans, but in the end they had a plan should they not be able to retain either one of them and they stuck with it.  

Heck, even when it was obvious to everyone that Maualuga was done, they extended him because he was one of their draft picks.  Not only were some of their former draft picks not resigned, but they released Rey Maualuga when he was still under contract.  That almost never happens, but they made the improvements and went younger and faster. 

[*SHRacerX*]

(05-06-2017, 01:45 AM)samhain Wrote: I kind of view this team like I did the Atlanta Falcons of 2013-2015.  They had some great offensive pieces and a nice quarterback.  Unfortunately they suffered from dogshit o-line personnel.  I'll grant the Bengals one thing, and that's that they have all the weapons in place.  The Falcons weren't quite there.  

I think they'll have a couple of tough seasons behind this line before things come together, but I think they are set up to get there eventually..

it's a cliche, but the game truly is won in the trenches.  Joe Mixon and John Ross don't help much with that.  I think this team will be getting murdered in the trenches on the offensive side of the ball for the foreseeable future.

It is a cliche, but Mixon and Ross absolutely can help with that.  Safeties can't stack the LOS with Ross and AJ on the field.  I hope they do, but they won't.  

Did Zeitler look like a top tier RG last year?  No way.  How much of that was due to the fact that when certain personnel were on the field, opposing defenses knew exactly what was coming.  When there was no Eifert and later no Green, safeties didn't worry about getting beat over the top.  Heck, even Cody Core in his second game getting some targets helped this facet against the Ravens.   They were afraid of him on the outside.  Gave him a huge cushion.  

This article highlights some of what I am talking about from the Ravens game.

http://www.cincyjungle.com/2017/1/6/14142730/film-room-bengals-offense-finishes-season-in-impressive-fashion-nfl-week-17

Ogbuehi hasn't earned anyone's trust yet, at least not from the fans.  However, having a healthy offseason program and staying in one position should help tremendously.  The Bengals were very vocal about feeling like they did him a disservice by having him play on the right side, and play injured.  FWIW, I think Fisher showed tremendous improvement at the right side and played solid the final few games.  It isn't a dream scenario, but if Ced did still struggle, they could move Fisher to LT and have Andre Smith play RT.