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(09-01-2021, 07:17 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Every NFL team has injuries and the best teams usually have better #2 guys, but when you get down to third string no team has a lot of talent. And that is what really hurt the Bengals last year. The injuries were concentrated in specific spots.
Last year at this time I thought DT would be one of the strengths of the team. We had Reader, Atkins, and Tupou who had combined to play over 1800 snaps in 2019. But last year we only got 378 snaps form those top three DTs, and Geno was invisible in his 119 snaps with only one tackle for the entire year. Instead our top 4 DTs in snaps played last year included three guys who could not make an NFL roster this year (Mike Daniels, Xavier Williams, Margus Hunt) and another guy who signed for less than $1 million dollars to play for his 4th different team in 4 years (Christian Covington).
We also got killed at CB. Our top 4 CBs all missed at least two games and totaled 25 starts missed with injury. LeShaun Simms, Jalen Davis, and Tony Brown combined to play 773 snaps at CB last year. That was more than Mackensie Alexander (642) and Darius Phillips (593), and only about 100 fewer than Jackson (886). No defense is going to hold up with their #5-#7 CBs combining to play more snaps than all but one of their top 4.
O-line was a bloodbath. We did not have a single O-lineman start 16 games last year and only two started more than 10. We had 11 different players start on the O-line with 4 back ups getting at least 5 starts. We were so desperate that 3 different O-linemen started at more than one position. Bobby Hart, Alex Redmond, and Michael Jordan started 30 games for us last year and none of them have made an NFL roster in 2021.
Every team gets injuries, but any team who had as many injuries concentrated in specific groups like DT, O-line, and CB would have struggled.
Better luck with injuries could improve this team just as much as the big free agents and top draft picks.
Completely agree with the injuries (and lack of quality depth) that you laid out. You could have included WR in that discussion as well as their true #1 WR (AJ Green) all but fell off a cliff and John Ross disappeared again. Boyd was his solid self (although he missed time too) and Higgins was a pleasant surprise that fought hamstring issues all year.
People will say "well, they had Boyd and Higgins" but Higgins didn't even start the season and Boyd was injured late. Losing Mixon and Uzomah also hurt the passing game.
This year's team has substantial depth at the defensive line, CB, and WR. I am not making excuses for last year, but I will say that it was sort of a perfect storm for ZT losing Burrow as well. This year, they just need to have more balance on offense by not giving up on the run so quickly, protect Joe, and be aggressive. Can't wait for it to start.
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(09-01-2021, 07:34 PM)Gdale_Bengal Wrote: We already have 2 guys out for the season and 2 out for a long period of time, then there’s Wayne
Ossai was a big blow based on what we saw early on, but consider this: Last year's team lost Burrow, Mixon, Uzo, Waynes (all year), XSF, Jonah Williams, Dunlap (not to injury), Hubbard, and Reader for a significant amount of time. Couple that with the fact that your two supposed stars (AJ Green and Atkins) all but disappeared.
This season's start has been relatively healthy thus far (knocks on head) and there is substantially better quality depth.
Burrow was starting to come on strong last year and might have taken that M*A*S*H unit to a few more wins had he been healthy, but I liked his trajectory.
This is the year they return to relevance and threaten a playoff bid. I would lose my mind (in a good way) if they were able to sneak in to the playoffs because I think Joe only elevates on the bigger stage and that would mean our offense is likely rolling.
It's going to be fun. 10 wins. They need to start fast. It is going to happen.
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(09-02-2021, 11:12 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: Ossai was a big blow based on what we saw early on, but consider this: Last year's team lost Burrow, Mixon, Uzo, Waynes (all year), XSF, Jonah Williams, Dunlap (not to injury), Hubbard, and Reader for a significant amount of time. Couple that with the fact that your two supposed stars (AJ Green and Atkins) all but disappeared.
This season's start has been relatively healthy thus far (knocks on head) and there is substantially better quality depth.
Burrow was starting to come on strong last year and might have taken that M*A*S*H unit to a few more wins had he been healthy, but I liked his trajectory.
This is the year they return to relevance and threaten a playoff bid. I would lose my mind (in a good way) if they were able to sneak in to the playoffs because I think Joe only elevates on the bigger stage and that would mean our offense is likely rolling.
It's going to be fun. 10 wins. They need to start fast. It is going to happen.
Not to mention losing Topou and Prince to opt outs before the season even began.
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(09-02-2021, 11:16 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Not to mention losing Topou and Prince to opt outs before the season even began.
Excellent point. It is amazing how much they lost, especially at DT. Should have included Wren as well.
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So far this year it seems DE is the position group getting hit - makes one wonder why the Bengals seem always to have their injuries concentrated in position groups instead of spread out more evenly.
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An injury excuse would make a lot more sense if were playing well before the injuries. We weren't; we stunk.
I'm too lazy to go and dig up the old post but there's one that breaks down our record with each combination of players who got hurt. (i.e. We were 0-2 with Burrow, Mixon, Reader, Wiliams, Daniels...We 1-4-1 with Burrow, Mixon, Williams... We were 2-7-1 with Burrow and Williams, etc.)
There's also the post about teams and total injuries. Look at a team like San Fran last year, who still managed to win 6 games.
I'm sorry, I don't want to hear about injuries unless the team was playing well prior and then dropped off the map, or you're losing a star QB1 and others for an entire season.
This team was bad last year. Period.
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Taylor Excuse #1
Came in late because he was an assistant on a SB team. This delayed him an extra two weeks compared to assistants from Conference Championship games. Two weeks during a off-season was just too much for Taylor to over come.
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Taylor Excuse #2
None of the experienced quality assistants would work under Taylor, many declining even to be interviewed, including some college assistants. This, of course, isn't his fault at all. Those experienced quality assistants were all just jealous he got the job with no legit resume. This saddled Taylor with the scrapings out of the bottom of a septic tank as his assistants.
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Taylor Excuse #3
Andy Dalton was just a horrible, horrible QB nobody can win with. Being left with Dalton as the starting QB made a two win season really a victory for the team.
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(09-02-2021, 12:30 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: An injury excuse would make a lot more sense if were playing well before the injuries. We weren't; we stunk.
I'm too lazy to go and dig up the old post but there's one that breaks down our record with each combination of players who got hurt. (i.e. We were 0-2 with Burrow, Mixon, Reader, Wiliams, Daniels...We 1-4-1 with Burrow, Mixon, Williams... We were 2-7-1 with Burrow and Williams, etc.)
There's also the post about teams and total injuries. Look at a team like San Fran last year, who still managed to win 6 games.
I'm sorry, I don't want to hear about injuries unless the team was playing well prior and then dropped off the map, or you're losing a star QB1 and others for an entire season.
This team was bad last year. Period.
Indeed
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Taylor Excuse #4
It's all Marvin's fault!
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Taylor Excuse #5
He had no choice but to pick Turner as the OL coach. They were old drinking buddies from Miami and that matters.
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Taylor Excuse #6
Mike Brown is just the worst sports franchise owner there is. No body can have a winning record under him!
Oh wait?!?!?
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Taylor Excuse #7
I sucked bad enough to get the top pick in 2020, that should count as a winning season. I'm the reason Burrow is here and since he's the best in generations, I should be given credit for that by all the fans everywhere!
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Taylor Excuse #8
Marvin's players all hate me and won't buy into my "we're really winners" speech.
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Taylor Excuse #9
Glenn quick on us at LT and how could I do anything about that.
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Taylor Excuse #10
AJ Green is always injured. In fact, he was never really any good anyways. I was told he was great. Not my fault.
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Taylor Excuse #11
Dunlap is just a sore loser. How dare he be upset about this team losing game after game.
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Taylor Excuse #12
Mike Brown is a horrible owner. This counts twice because he's doubly bad.
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Taylor Excuse #13
The AFC North is a hard division where they run the ball in bad weather and all that stuff. I don't know how to do that.
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