"Four takeaways from AFCN crazy offseason"

[PikesPeakUC]

I'm not necessarily surprised, and I don't blame them for this line of thinking considering that you're breaking in an entirely new staff. There will be a learning curve for the players and an adjustment period. While I think there will be flashes of potential for the team, you have to believe that the first year will be a lot of ironing out the wrinkles and finding fits for a new scheme and personnel tendencies. Right now I believe we're on the bottom looking up, but after gaining some stability and hopefully finding some new pieces, we'll begin to see a climb back up the standings.

[TheBengalsMind]

When there is a complete regime change like we had, it's normally for a reason.

We had to have one.

The fact that we had the youngest team in football on the 53 man cutdown day and normally players going into their 2nd to 3rd years play better and better.

Would normally mean you think a team stands a chance of getting better, but since were the Bengals we ain't getting no benefits.

Fact is the Bengals on paper have quietly got better, not a lot of front page news names, but they have got better.

Despite the worst defense I'd ever seen the Bengals field and an offense that lost basically everybody but Andy and Green.

Then lost Andy and Green.

I mean basically if you suited up as a Bengal last year, you were probably hurt at some point.

Despite all of this, we were in it until the last couple of weeks when we lost Dalton.

If the Bengals went through half of what the Steelers did the last couple of years, they be calling us the Bungles.

The fact is both the Ravens and Steelers might be looking at complete and total overhauls and regime changes just like us if they have a really bad year.

The thing about the paper champions is that despite everything they haven't even had a winning season yet.

Wasn't Tim Couch the quarterback the last time they went to the playoffs?

The last time I've seen this many "personalities" on a single team. Was when the Bengals had Ocho and To.

They're asking an awful lot of Baker to control these personalities on that team, when he can't even seem to control his own.

Trust me there's only so many balls to go around and somebody isn't going to get the touches that they think they "deserve."

Not to mention the only reason the Browns defense wasn't worse then ours was because of Greg Williams and they got rid of him.

At this point, I think 8-8 will probably be enough to win the division.

Since only the Bengals and Steelers have NFL proven and solid QB's, I'd have to give them a slight edge in a close division.

However, we still have a lot of football and the draft left before the season begins.

A lot can happen and change.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(03-22-2019, 06:09 PM)XsandOs Wrote: Agreed.

All plans look good on paper. Yet at times they aren't even worth the paper they are written on.

Steelers haven't put a complete Team on the field for the most part of this decade. And they lost Brown, Bell and Foster(?).

Ravens D just lost a third of their starting lineup and their offense is offensive to the game.

Browns winning meaningless games has happened before, followed by reality the next year. Let's see how long Beckham takes to poison that locker room. Losing Zeitler and Peppers (out of spite to Hue), can't be good.

The same Bengal Team, when healthy, went 4-1 last year and beat 2 playoff Teams. We may start the season slow, but I feel that Taylor will make a difference.

The Bengals are on an 8 game losing streak against the Steelers. I don't think you can be talking about "complete team" as a method to argue against the Bengals being at the bottom of the division right now. Not to mention that they didn't have Bell last year either, and still swept the Bengals.

The Browns also swept the Bengals last year.

Who was it that got hurt that you considered the Bengals no longer "healthy"? Because the Bengals were 5-6 in games Dalton started last year. They were 5-3 in games that AJ Green started last year. No matter how you cut it, 4-1 as the "healthy" mark is randomly arbitrary. More like "Hey, this was a great start that was unsustainable, but lets pretend that is because they were healthy." You also mention them beating two playoff teams, but failed to mention that the first one (the Colts) was Andrew Luck having not thrown a football for almost two years and the second was the Ravens with Joe Flacco, who was 4-5 last year. So the playoff team wins statement comes with an enormous asterisk.

The Bengals are 19-28-1 over the last three years.

[BengalChris]

(03-22-2019, 03:47 PM)Wyche Wrote: Welp, they say we're now the Browns.  Taylor is gonna fail, FA was doo doo, no one wanted to coach the defense, and Turner is an awful hire.....but the Stoolers are still in the thick of it, and the Brownies have already been crowned.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/four-takeaways-from-the-afc-norths-crazy-offseason-that-rearranged-the-power-structure-in-favor-of-the-browns/ar-BBV3mQN





Ouch.....

That article could have been written by any number of users of this site, only it wasn't.

Frankly, it's pretty accurate, although I don't think a QB high in this draft is the right move for the Bengals.

 

[Nicomo Cosca]

(03-22-2019, 11:40 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: The Bengals are on an 8 game losing streak against the Steelers. I don't think you can be talking about "complete team" as a method to argue against the Bengals being at the bottom of the division right now. Not to mention that they didn't have Bell last year either, and still swept the Bengals.

The Browns also swept the Bengals last year.

Who was it that got hurt that you considered the Bengals no longer "healthy"? Because the Bengals were 5-6 in games Dalton started last year. They were 5-3 in games that AJ Green started last year. No matter how you cut it, 4-1 as the "healthy" mark is randomly arbitrary. More like "Hey, this was a great start that was unsustainable, but lets pretend that is because they were healthy." You also mention them beating two playoff teams, but failed to mention that the first one (the Colts) was Andrew Luck having not thrown a football for almost two years and the second was the Ravens with Joe Flacco, who was 4-5 last year. So the playoff team wins statement comes with an enormous asterisk.

The Bengals are 19-28-1 over the last three years.

[XsandOs]

(03-22-2019, 11:40 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: The Bengals are on an 8 game losing streak against the Steelers. I don't think you can be talking about "complete team" as a method to argue against the Bengals being at the bottom of the division right now. Not to mention that they didn't have Bell last year either, and still swept the Bengals.

The Browns also swept the Bengals last year.

Who was it that got hurt that you considered the Bengals no longer "healthy"? Because the Bengals were 5-6 in games Dalton started last year. They were 5-3 in games that AJ Green started last year. No matter how you cut it, 4-1 as the "healthy" mark is randomly arbitrary. More like "Hey, this was a great start that was unsustainable, but lets pretend that is because they were healthy." You also mention them beating two playoff teams, but failed to mention that the first one (the Colts) was Andrew Luck having not thrown a football for almost two years and the second was the Ravens with Joe Flacco, who was 4-5 last year. So the playoff team wins statement comes with an enormous asterisk.

The Bengals are 19-28-1 over the last three years.

Thank you for your opinion.

[KillerGoose]

The reality is disappointing. Cincinnati is in a precarious situation. The team isn’t a total dumpster fire or anything, and there is a clear way to get better but I would’ve liked to see more action in FA (my main concern is the offensive line.) As it stands now, this offensive line isn’t going to be much better, if at all, than last season. Hopefully Price really improves over the off-season.

I would say that Cincinnati is surely the bottom of the division right now. Steelers are full of drama but they have a good coaching staff and still have talent. They also have Cincinnati’s number.

The Ravens are always tough. Run the ball, play great defense and again, good coaching staff.

For those of you who laugh at the Browns, they likely aren’t a laughing matter anymore. That offense is downright scary. Baker looked the part, Chubb was great as a rookie AND they added one of the best RBs in the league to their roster along with a top five WR in Beckham. They are poised to do big things.

[HarleyDog]

Browns are getting way to much credit. They will do what they historically do and implode. Steelers on the other hand are not getting the credit they deserve. Conner filled in nicely last year and AB, although extremely talented, was not the only reason they won games. They will be tough this year. As for the Ravens? Well, Jackson is hardly a good qb and although very athletic, it’s likely he throws more interceptions than TDS and might be the teams leading rusher, but expect he’ll be playing hurt if not riding the bench by mid season.

As for the Bengals? Well, there’s no telling what your going to get from these guys. So any speculation on them being the bottom dwellers or even winning the AFCN this year (hoping for the latter) is pure hogwash. Until we see at least a yr (in reality 2yrs imo) of watching this staff and team play the season, we really don’t know. It’s gonna be fun tho.

[grampahol]

The Bengals are if anything unpredictable. The year CP walked and they drafted AJ and Andy everyone expected chaos a complete meltdown from top to bottom with absolutely zero chance of reaching the playoffs.. But something completely different happened and then it all went stale so now we're back to basically the same team as last year with a whole new coaching staff. Put all that in your prediction pipe and smoke it..  I predict that I have absolutely no idea what to predict this year. 
Something else that was predicted is that when Zimmer left for the Vikings he would lead them to the superbowl and repeated championships.. I guess predictions are worth the paper they're written on, no more, no less. My predictions have never been on paper so they're worth the price of the paper they're not written on..

[THE PISTONS]

(03-23-2019, 09:42 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: The reality is disappointing. Cincinnati is in a precarious situation. The team isn’t a total dumpster fire or anything, and there is a clear way to get better but I would’ve liked to see more action in FA (my main concern is the offensive line.) As it stands now, this offensive line isn’t going to be much better, if at all, than last season. Hopefully Price really improves over the off-season.

I would say that Cincinnati is surely the bottom of the division right now. Steelers are full of drama but they have a good coaching staff and still have talent. They also have Cincinnati’s number.

The Ravens are always tough. Run the ball, play great defense and again, good coaching staff.

For those of you who laugh at the Browns, they likely aren’t a laughing matter anymore. That offense is downright scary. Baker looked the part, Chubb was great as a rookie AND they added one of the best RBs in the league to their roster along with a top five WR in Beckham. They are poised to do big things.

The sucky thing about this all is that guys like Green, Atkins, and Dunlap may only have 2-3 more years being elite.

I could see Mixon becoming an elite player. I think Boyd will be a really good player, but maybe not elite. It's hard right now to see who replaces those guys.

We should be in win at all costs mode right now with my above statements.

[THE PISTONS]

(03-23-2019, 10:42 AM)HarleyDog Wrote: Browns are getting way to much credit. They will do what they historically do and implode. Steelers on the other hand are not getting the credit they deserve. Conner filled in nicely last year and AB, although extremely talented, was not the only reason they won games. They will be tough this year. As for the Ravens? Well, Jackson is hardly a good qb and although very athletic, it’s likely he throws more interceptions than TDS and might be the teams leading rusher, but expect he’ll be playing hurt if not riding the bench by mid season.

As for the Bengals? Well, there’s no telling what your going to get from these guys. So any speculation on them being the bottom dwellers or even winning the AFCN this year (hoping for the latter) is pure hogwash. Until we see at least a yr (in reality 2yrs imo) of watching this staff and team play the season, we really don’t know. It’s gonna be fun tho.

We have to really crush the draft to have a chance this year.

One thing that factors in that doesn't get talked about is our offense and defense will be vastly different than last year. That should give us an advantage early in the year as it won't be on tape for teams to gameplan against. As long as our guys can pick it up, that should help.

[2MinutesHate]

Reading that article was a very painful reminder that we are in a lot of trouble. I think it was well written and provided plenty of evidence why we are in the shape we are in.
We need a miracle draft this year just to keep the LBs from singlehandedly destroying the team.

The inexperienced coaching staff is yet another weakness. Who knows? Maybe we will have a Cinderella season, but it's going to take an act of God probably.

[Circleville Guy]

(03-22-2019, 04:22 PM)psychdoctor Wrote: So they're basically stating what I said in another thread.  I think at this moment the Bengals are at the bottom until they prove otherwise, at least on paper. 

I do not like the hiring of Turner nor did I like the way they handled the hiring of the defensive coordinator.

With that said that they have an outstanding draft I think they may surprise.

Other teams get to draft too!!!!!!!!!

[Circleville Guy]

(03-22-2019, 05:26 PM)Earendil Wrote: Wait.... I just want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly. A national media writer took a giant crap on the Bengals?? Wow, that doesn't happen often.

Every freaking year people on here put down the media for undervaluing the Bengals and yet they’re right every year! Why do fans continue to defend incompetence?

[Joelist]

I think this article overrates the Browns and Rats and yes underrates the Stealers.

The Stealers already have adjusted to no LeVeon Bell and they will find an adequate replacement for Brown. The Rats lost multiple starters on defense and now are banking on Terrell Pryor II to be their franchise QB. As to the Stains, they had a VERY easy schedule last season including playing the worst defenses in football in at least three of Mayfields games. Also stat wise he REALLY fattened up on us and Atlanta - the rest of the time he was average at best.

As to us, the jury is out. We badly needed the changeover in coaching as we definitely lost games by coming out flat and listless and also were constantly outcoached on the sidelines. If we hit on our draft picks things could be good - if not it's likely 7-9 or so again.

[bengaloo]

Who is Sean Wagner-McGough anyway? I've never heard of him but does what he thinks matter enough to make your feelings change about your team? If so maybe he should tell us who to like best lol... I bet a lot of people on here can write a better and more informative article about the Bengals and the AFCN for that matter. He lost a lot of cred with me with his little call out of the Jim Turner hire right off the bat. Not just because the dead horse has been beaten too much already and what he said was completely unoriginal and lame,...besides real life says, since when does making a joke or remark, as offensive as it may have been, have a damn thing to do with how well he can coach a football position? I cant prescribe to this line of thinking, in fact I think its immature to think that way.... When I read how he writes, I feel like I could show Sean Wagner-McGough a thing or two, not the other way around.

[*jason*]

(03-24-2019, 11:59 PM)Circleville Guy Wrote: Every freaking year people on here put down the media for undervaluing the Bengals and yet they’re right every year! Why do fans continue to defend incompetence?

They were wrong 5 years in a row. They may have nailed the last few, but that's just broken clock syndrome.

[Earendil]

(03-24-2019, 11:59 PM)Circleville Guy Wrote: Every freaking year people on here put down the media for undervaluing the Bengals and yet they’re right every year! Why do fans continue to defend incompetence?

No, they aren't right every year.  If they were right every year, the Bengals wouldn't have had a single winning season during Marvin's tenure.  In 2011, many of the talking heads predicted the Bengals wouldn't win a single game, yet they went to the playoffs.

(03-25-2019, 09:08 AM)jason Wrote: They were wrong 5 years in a row. They may have nailed the last few, but that's just broken clock syndrome.

Exactly, thank you.

[grampahol]

It's hardly a foregone conclusion that the Clowns will win big. Even OBJ doesn't have too many championships under his belt in NY.. The famous last words are ..... on paper..
The little secret nobody seems to want to bring up is their big FA signees almost all come from teams with less than stellar records of winning and last year they won just 7 games after getting off to a rocky start again.
Their coaching staff is similar in some ways to ours in that few have experience at their top jobs.. Kitchens has never been a HC either ..Monken has been an OC, but in TB, not exactly known as a powerhouse. 
I'm far from crowning them as the preiminent power of  the AFCN much less the league.. 

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

I don't really see how the Ravens are going to be a threat, unless Lamar takes a HUGE step forward in the passing game. We have our faults, but I don't think we're necessarily a bottom feeder with competent coaching either. Will the new staff push the team to greater heights? That is the million dollar question.

The way I see, it, the Browns are the Browns until we see some sustained success. Yes, they are improved, no, they're not automatic AFCN champions because they "won" FA as this article suggests. The Stoolers are in for a fall, I feel like. The Ravens lost key producers and Jackson hasn't shown me much that says perennial passing leader yet. The Bengals are the Bengals. Health and the draft will be a HUGE factor for this team. They're not as bad as this nut says they are, but they're not exactly world beaters either.

As someone else noted, it almost looks as though 9-7 could win the division.