Stephen A re: Bengals in AFC championship game

[Tomkat]

(10-28-2021, 01:45 PM)LSUfaninTN Wrote: ...I don't think we can look at anybody in the AFC and say, Cincinnati CAN'T beat them."

While this may be true... let's not kid ourselves into thinking the Bengals are going undefeated the rest of the way.

[BobJones4980]

(10-28-2021, 01:55 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: We’ve gotten lucky in the sense that most AFC contenders are having a down period or lots of injuries. Most notable is decline of the Chiefs and injuries to Ravens, Steelers, Browns and Colts have swung the door wide open for us. We beat the Titans last year when we were a much worse team, which is also promising.

There really isn’t anyone standing out in the AFC right now. I would say Chargers but even they had their stinker against the Ravens. Bills can be scary too.

I'd say you can add the Chargers for sure, I mean we had a clunker that was much worse with the Bears, 1 bad week is just that, 1 bad week. Don't forget the Titans lost to the Jets. 

I'd say Chargers, Bills, Bengals, and Titans are the top teams atm. I don't love the Raiders or Ravens long-term but I could be wrong.

(10-28-2021, 03:14 PM)Tomkat Wrote: POTENTIALLY?  Sure.
LIKELY?  Probably not.

I'd say it's 50/50, either we do or we don't.

[Tomkat]

(10-28-2021, 03:49 PM)BobJones4980 Wrote: I'd say it's 50/50, either we do or we don't.

I'd say...
30% chance we do
70% chance we don't

[bengalguy71]

(10-28-2021, 03:41 PM)Tomkat Wrote: , , ,  but to the current group of players, it doesn't mean JACK-SQUAT!  so it's irrelevant.

You don't think it didn't mean Jack-Squat to the Dalton era guys who weren't here for the Bungles 1990s??

Coaches and players have come and gone in the last 30 years TK, the only constant is MB.

Again, I'm rooting for it, but I'm also not going to bet the farm on it either, regardless of what the THs and members here believe.

[LSUfaninTN]

(10-28-2021, 03:27 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: You DO know the history of this franchise don't you?  And don't tell me 'history' has nothing to do with it because I've been hearing that the last 15 years!

I'm a Saints fan... of course I know the history and how much you guys have been overlooked! Y'all are media darlings. Don't be like me and be in denial. Embrace that sh*t

[samhain]

(10-28-2021, 09:26 PM)LSUfaninTN Wrote: I'm a Saints fan... of course I know the history and how much you guys have been overlooked! Y'all are media darlings. Don't be like me and be in denial. Embrace that sh*t

It's odd how teams have reputations for being historically bad until they don't.  Well, I guess it's not that odd.  The Buccaneers were a laughable franchise, well known for having a season with zero wins.  They sucked pretty much every year until Dungy came along and built that defense.  Now they have 2 titles.  Your Saints were thought of as bottom feeders as well, with an owner almost as maligned as Mike Brown until they took a chance on Brees and won a title.  The Patriots weren't quite a laughingstock, but absolutely no one would have thought they would become the gold standard of winning over two full decades before 2000.  They were nowhere close to a blue blood franchise, now they're arguably the greatest ever and became so in a short time.

Teams climb out of the gutter every so often.  Call it luck or flat out a matter of time and percentage, but it happens.  Regardless of history, there's no reason it can't happen for the Bengals, too.

[*Go Cards*]

He is right, the AFC is wide open and a slew of teams could win it including the Bengals.

Bengals match up with anybody imo, especially with the defense playing so well.

[*Go Cards*]

(10-28-2021, 09:26 PM)LSUfaninTN Wrote: I'm a Saints fan... of course I know the history and how much you guys have been overlooked! Y'all are media darlings. Don't be like me and be in denial. Embrace that sh*t

Yep and it is crazy to witness too. 

Have never in my life see the media all aboard the Bengals bandwagon like they are this season. 

Not sure Ive embraced just yet, but the praise is not hurting my feelings either. 

[*psychdoctor*]

(10-28-2021, 03:49 PM)BobJones4980 Wrote: I'd say you can add the Chargers for sure, I mean we had a clunker that was much worse with the Bears, 1 bad week is just that, 1 bad week. Don't forget the Titans lost to the Jets. 

I'd say Chargers, Bills, Bengals, and Titans are the top teams atm. I don't love the Raiders or Ravens long-term but I could be wrong.


I'd say it's 50/50, either we do or we don't.

I don't think the Ravens go away.  I think they're still in shock to the Bengals beat the crap out of them.

[BobJones4980]

(10-28-2021, 10:58 PM)psychdoctor Wrote: I don't think the Ravens go away.  I think they're still in shock to the Bengals beat the crap out of them.

Could be right but with that defense playing below average as of late and the offense being a one man show I don't see them being a real threat to go deep in the playoffs.

[CJD]

I really wish ESPN normalized having on actual analysts.

Not just random opinionated people who just follow the wave of who is popular or hot from week to week, but actually spend real time talking about the games and why teams do what they do...typically called analysis.

Mike Sans recently posted the answer to a question that I had when watching the the Ravens game.

The question was "Why the hell did 4 Ravens go directly for Boyd in the flat on Uzomah's second touchdown?

discount double check week 1 for comparisonhttps://t.co/gyynVVEwrR

— Mike (Sans) (@bengals_sans) October 26, 2021

Turns out Joe Burrow faked the defense out by using the same hand signal (the "Discount Double Check") as he did in week 1. In week 1, it meant a screen to the flat. But for this game, he used the signal as a bait because he knew that Baltimore would have studied the tape and known what that signal meant. So he used their knowledge of him against them.

That's ***** genius. And Mike Sans analyzed the situation and figured out what happened to create that play, and I would love to see content like this on ESPN instead of idiots like Stephen A just yelling not-so-hot takes that he has no intention of actually standing by if anything he says is wrong or inaccurate.

But I'm glad he likes the Bengals this week, I guess :)

[bengalguy71]

(10-28-2021, 09:26 PM)LSUfaninTN Wrote: I'm a Saints fan... of course I know the history and how much you guys have been overlooked! Y'all are media darlings. Don't be like me and be in denial. Embrace that sh*t

This isn't about how this franchise had been perceived by the media!

I couldn't care less about what the media thinks or believes.

Even if I was a yahoo that DID care about the talking heads media, when you have a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game longer than any team, and had the horrific run they had in the 90s, there's no way they can be overlooked!

I'm not embracing squat until this franchise finally does what the team you pull for did in 2010!

[Whatever]

The Bengals probably got some bonus points in the national media hype train. We went to OT with the Packers in a game we probably should have won and GB just rolled into AZ with a decimated WR corps and knocked off the Cardinals (with the zebras trying to screw them at the end).

On another note, AJ was a great player for us, but how many times have seen game sealing turnovers on passes thrown his way in big games?

Also loved Kyler Murray's Big Ben impression at the end.

"Oh, it got picked? Time to oversell this injury like I've been shot..."

[Tony]

(10-28-2021, 03:27 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: You DO know the history of this franchise don't you?  And don't tell me 'history' has nothing to do with it because I've been hearing that the last 15 years!

Even THOUGH Dalton broke his thumb in 2015, they still had that playoff game won and all they had to do was hold on to the football, eat the clock, and either score a TD or kick a FG, but they STILL found a way to shoot themselves in the foot with a fumble and then Burfict's antics on butthead Brown!!

I do know this much.  This franchise is in the best position to win a playoff game than they have since 2015!  Time will tell.

I still post fumble on everything Jeremy Hill tweets till this very day, and there is 50 more people at least that do it too.. I will never forgive him. It was 100% his fault the Bengals lost that playoff game.. I'd love to know right before that fumble what the percentage was the Bengals would win...