Smooth sailing or bumpy ride?

[Catmandude123]

Well the offseason has come and gone as of this Sunday. Marvin is history, old coaches and players have gone, new coaches and players bring new found hope. The first few games may bring the fans down but with the return of AJ and the others that were injured last season I believe we have a legitimate chance at the playoffs. WHO DEY

[THE PISTONS]

(09-06-2019, 07:57 PM)Catmandude123 Wrote: Well the offseason has come and gone as of this Sunday. Marvin is history, old coaches and players have gone, new coaches and players  bring new found hope. The first few games may bring the fans down but with the return of AJ and the others that were injured last season I believe we have a legitimate chance at the playoffs. WHO DEY

Not sure many of the 'new players' bring much hope unless Kerry Wynn is a future HOFer.

[scorp1974]

This whole season will be bumpy but there is hope with a new staff. Give it a couple years.

[HarleyDog]

I'm pretty stoked as well.

[masonbengals fan]

Happy that somethings were changed. Looking forward to a fresh start.

[jj22]

Smooth sailing for the first few games. I think ZT's knowledge of West will help out the gate.

After that, buckle your seatbelts.

It is a new coach with a new staff. Year 1 of 16 (maybe 25 given how young he is). In all fairness all he has to do is beat the Steelers this year. Once.....

and we all should consider the season a success.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(09-06-2019, 07:57 PM)Catmandude123 Wrote: Well the offseason has come and gone as of this Sunday. Marvin is history, old coaches and players have gone, new coaches and players  bring new found hope. The first few games may bring the fans down but with the return of AJ and the others that were injured last season I believe we have a legitimate chance at the playoffs. WHO DEY

Should start out a bit bumpy with the new coaches, injuries to critical players and the gelling process but i expect it to smooth out and for us to have a shot at the Playoffs this season. Especially with how bad the coaching was, the mind set of the players appeared and the injuries were last season and ended with us still winning 6 games and could of won more.

Zac and his crew seem to have the team legitimately excited and these guys respect him and love playing for him.

This is not what our team looked like last year at all.

[*bengalfan74*]

(09-07-2019, 08:20 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Should start out a bit bumpy with the new coaches, injuries to critical players and the gelling process but i expect it to smooth out and for us to have a shot at the Playoffs this season. Especially with how bad the coaching was, the mind set of the players appeared and the injuries were last season and ended with us still winning 6 games and could of won more.

Zac and his crew seem to have the team legitimately excited and these guys respect him and love playing for him.

This is not what our team looked like last year at all.

Agree, and I'm anxious to see how it plays out in real football. I don't expect a well oiled machine right outta the gate, rather some insights and flashes into it. 

How long will it take for them to start putting it all together ?

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(09-07-2019, 08:39 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Agree, and I'm anxious to see how it plays out in real football. I don't expect a well oiled machine right outta the gate, rather some insights and flashes into it. 

How long will it take for them to start putting it all together ?

That is the question, anxious to say the least for tomorrow...

[grampahol]

If, and a big if we can stomp all over Seattle tomorrow with a huge overwhelming win Taylor will have instant love from Bengals fans even if the rest of the season after tomorrow is a dismal failure.  I don't really expect it to happen and we might even lose big time, but just a bit of respectability would go a long way. Even a close, error free loss would be respectable. What won't be too respectable would be a blowout full of mistakes and endless penalties. 

[THE PISTONS]

(09-07-2019, 10:24 PM)grampahol Wrote: If, and a big if we can stomp all over Seattle tomorrow with a huge overwhelming win Taylor will have instant love from Bengals fans even if the rest of the season after tomorrow is a dismal failure.  I don't really expect it to happen and we might even lose big time, but just a bit of respectability would go a long way. Even a close, error free loss would be respectable. What won't be too respectable would be a blowout full of mistakes and endless penalties. 

I feel like we have more of a chance tomorrow than many in the media give us. We have a new scheme that teams haven't seen. It's hard to prepare for that.

That said, Seattle hasn't lost a home opener in like 10 years.

[*Nately120*]

(09-07-2019, 08:39 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Agree, and I'm anxious to see how it plays out in real football. I don't expect a well oiled machine right outta the gate, rather some insights and flashes into it. 

How long will it take for them to start putting it all together ?

I'm not sure I follow your line of thinking, though.  So this year we look excited and the team loves the coaches but last year we looked nothing like that at all, but last year we were 4-1 out of the gate and had a top 5 offense and this year we might start off sloppy and taking some lumps.

For the 10927th time I'm glad Marvin is gone, but if we go from starting 4-1 to starting off with losses but the team looks "way more excited" it's going to be pretty interesting, I guess.  We will see how much love and excitement help this season along.  Maybe I'd be less confused by this if we didn't spend so much time laughing at Mike Tomlin's popularity with players leading them to underachieve.  Ida know.

It's swell fans and players are fired up about ZT, but I think we might be using a lot of hindsight about how we went into 2018.  It's almost like we are saying the team was bored and miserable before the season even started.  It sort of reminds me when a musician sinks his heart and soul into an album that flops and then he looks back at it and he's like "Oh, that album was never good it was stupid and I hate it and never liked it!"


Here is a video prior to the 2018 system where Dalton talks about the fun and excitement of Lazor's new system:
https://www.cincinnati.com/videos/sports/2018/05/21/cincinnati-bengals-andy-dalton-talks-offensive-coordinator-bill-lazor/627640002/

Here are glowing takes on the Dalton/Lazor system:

https://stripehype.com/2018/05/30/andy-dalton-will-thrive-bill-lazor/

https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2018/09/17/andy-dalton-numbers-full-16-games-bill-lazor-outstanding/

https://local12.com/sports/bengals/how-bill-lazors-offense-has-put-bengals-qb-andy-dalton-back-in-a-comfort-zone



Now I'm sure a lot of this is "Anyone but Zampese" but at the same time I'm just pointing out that us acting like the Bengals were dead in the water and bored and miserable going into 2018 is a bit much.

[THE PISTONS]

(09-08-2019, 12:08 AM)Nately120 Wrote: I'm not sure I follow your line of thinking, though.  So this year we look excited and the team loves the coaches but last year we looked nothing like that at all, but last year we were 4-1 out of the gate and had a top 5 offense and this year we might start off sloppy and taking some lumps.

For the 10927th time I'm glad Marvin is gone, but if we go from starting 4-1 to starting off with losses but the team looks "way more excited" it's going to be pretty interesting, I guess.  We will see how much love and excitement help this season along.  Maybe I'd be less confused by this if we didn't spend so much time laughing at Mike Tomlin's popularity with players leading them to underachieve.  Ida know.

It's swell fans and players are fired up about ZT, but I think we might be using a lot of hindsight about how we went into 2018.  It's almost like we are saying the team was bored and miserable before the season even started.  It sort of reminds me when a musician sinks his heart and soul into an album that flops and then he looks back at it and he's like "Oh, that album was never good it was stupid and I hate it and never liked it!"

Yeah...the whole...we may start slow and come on strong thing because we have new coaches is interesting. They've been installing these plays for quite sometime and practicing them.

[*Nately120*]

(09-08-2019, 12:20 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Yeah...the whole...we may start slow and come on strong thing because we have new coaches is interesting. They've been installing these plays for quite sometime and practicing them.

Hey, we are fans and it's a message board and the off-season is when the hope builds...I get it.  After 2015 I doubt anything will surprise me.

Going into 2015 - Jeremy Hill needs to be the center of our offense!  Don't pass the ball, don't use Dalton as much, don't use Gio, use Hill as much as possible!!!!!
After 2015 - Giving Jeremy Hill the ball was the stupidest thing we've ever done, but Dalton is like an MVP!!!!

[whodeyfan1]

I am irrationally optimistic as usual, but the rational side of me is calming my hopes. Lest we forget, this was a historically bad defense last year and they did virtually nothing to improve that. Other than hoping that players stay healthy and magically play better, I'm not sure how much more we can expect out of them. The LB crew is still awful. Every year, the D line is supposed to be the strength, but I feel like they rarely take over a game like you'd hope they would. The secondary is solid, but that group seems to get banged up more than any. I like Dre K, but he makes as many bone-headed plays as he does good plays.

Have no idea what to expect out of this offense. I have hopes ZT can get the most out of AD, ala 2015. I have a constant fear that Eifert will suffer yet another season ending injury.

I just hope that AJ comes back and Eifert stays healthy so we can get a real glimpse at what this offense is capable of.  

[Murdock2420]

I've got a good supply of cold longboard ready to go for the game, I anticipate a bumpy day but a growler full of happiness can smooth it out.

[BonnieBengal]

(09-06-2019, 07:57 PM)Catmandude123 Wrote: Well the offseason has come and gone as of this Sunday. Marvin is history, old coaches and players have gone, new coaches and players  bring new found hope. The first few games may bring the fans down but with the return of AJ and the others that were injured last season I believe we have a legitimate chance at the playoffs. WHO DEY

We need to give the new staff time.  I don't expect playoffs this year, but maybe next year.  I'm feeling positive about the new staff and direction so I think at least 8-8 this year.  Then with a few more pieces in place next year, maybe we can talk about playoffs.

[Socal Bengals fan]

The two new packers LBs had 16 total pressures against the Bears. I would be a lot more excited if the Bengals would actually try to improve the Team using free agency. Last 3 first round picks on the bench n no new big time free agents , how much can we really improve

[TKUHL]

(09-06-2019, 08:01 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Not sure many of the 'new players' bring much hope unless Kerry Wynn is a future HOFer.

Right! And who knows Wynn that will happen. I wish I knew now what I didn’t know Wynn.

[HuDey]

I feel pretty good about what Taylor brings to the table and I see better days ahead after he has had a couple of seasons to rebuild and deploy a much less Marvinized roster.