This "scenario" is only interesting because this may (hopefully) be the last year we can ask it, and it be a good question. Soon all other Bengals teams/era's of the future will be compared to the 2021 Bengals, and if they continue to be a top team in the league, this era will be the standard and nothing prior to it outside of the Superbowl teams (until/when/if Burrow leads this generation of fans to a Superbowl).
Quote:"Success doesn’t mean every single move they make is good" ~ Anonymous "Let not the dumb have to educate" ~ jj22
I'd only expect this board to have trouble picking the 2021 Bengals if they were facing off against the 81 or 88 squad.
Right now Burrow is the ultimate combination of "looks legimately good" and "new enough that we can imagine that the sky is the limit" so he's going to be the best QB this franchise has ever had until he proves that he isn't.
Here is a better question...this Sunday who would win....
The Bengals with [first name unknown] White at QB or the Jets with Burrow at QB?
Being the 15 team is now 6 years older and many of them are no longer playing in the league I have to pick the 21 team. Unfortunately our punter and long snapper are left in schizophrenia-land.
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.
(10-29-2021, 10:29 AM)Pat5775 Wrote: The correct answer is 2005
2005 was a good/great team but they had volatile personalities. They would have melted down as soon as the going got tough. Burrow would eat Chucky's defense alive (if they weren't able to turn him over).
Quote:"Success doesn’t mean every single move they make is good" ~ Anonymous "Let not the dumb have to educate" ~ jj22
Top five Bengals teams since 2000, not including this 2021 team...
2015 > 2013 > 2009* > 2005 > 2014
*This one might be a bit controversial, but it's the only one to sweep the AFC North. I'm giving that a ton of credit. 2013 went 8-0 at home (before the miserable playoff game, but they all had those).
(10-29-2021, 12:45 PM)JaggedJimmyJay Wrote: Top five Bengals teams since 2000, not including this 2021 team...
2015 > 2013 > 2009* > 2005 > 2014
*This one might be a bit controversial, but it's the only one to sweep the AFC North. I'm giving that a ton of credit. 2013 went 8-0 at home (before the miserable playoff game, but they all had those).
When Andy broke his thumb doing his Junior Seau impersonation, you just knew somehow the season would end up in the shitter. But, the 2013 team looked ready to finally break the playoff win drought. The blowout in Houston in the 2011 playoff, followed by the lost opportunity in Houston in the 2012 playoff, seemed to point to a maturing team ready to take care of business at home. Of the Marvin era, and outside of the two Stealer playoff losses, that game was the most disappointing to me.
I went with this years team. I take Burrow over Dalton any day. Zac has a terrible record over all but this year he and his staff have shown the ability to make in game adjustments which always seems to be a huge weakness for Marvin’s teams.
The way some of you all are talking you clearly don't remember how clutch Dalton was in 2015
v Ravens...Last two Bengal possession were 80-yard come-from-behind td drives. Dalton went 5-6 for 160 yds, 2 tds. Game winner to Green with 2:10 left.
v Seahawks...Trailed 24-7 in 4th quarter to team with #1 defense in the league. Dalton went 13-16 for 125 yds, ran for a td and threw for a td as he led 4 scoring drives to win 27-24 in overtime. With 2:10 left in 4th quarter he drove Bengals from their own 18 yard line to Seattle 13 for game tying FG with 0:03 left.
v Stealers....Trailed by 4 points with less than 6 minutes left in game. Dalton went 4-5 for 45 yards and finished drive with game winning td to Green with 3 minutes left.
v Cardinals.....Trailed by 10 points with 6:30 left in game to team with #5 defense in the league. On next two possessions Dalton completed 8 passes for 108 yds and a td. Tied game with 1 minute left.
(10-29-2021, 06:00 PM)fredtoast Wrote: The way some of you all are talking you clearly don't remember how clutch Dalton was in 2015
v Ravens...Last two Bengal possession were 80-yard come-from-behind td drives. Dalton went 5-6 for 160 yds, 2 tds. Game winner to Green with 2:10 left.
v Seahawks...Trailed 24-7 in 4th quarter to team with #1 defense in the league. Dalton went 13-16 for 125 yds, ran for a td and threw for a td as he led 4 scoring drives to win 27-24 in overtime. With 2:10 left in 4th quarter he drove Bengals from their own 18 yard line to Seattle 13 for game tying FG with 0:03 left.
v Stealers....Trailed by 4 points with less than 6 minutes left in game. Dalton went 4-5 for 45 yards and finished drive with game winning td to Green with 3 minutes left.
v Cardinals.....Trailed by 10 points with 6:30 left in game to team with #5 defense in the league. On next two possessions Dalton completed 8 passes for 108 yds and a td. Tied game with 1 minute left.
...and all year he was dropping dimes like this frozen rope:
If you can tolerate these guys, they do a good job of explaining some of the reasons why Dalton was so good that year:
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.