We are being punished in the power rankings due to success

[*ochocincos*]

(06-03-2022, 12:13 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: No they didn’t. I personally fully expect to see them drop off a bit without Adams.

Sorry, you're right.
I thought he went toward end of Rd 1.
He went 34th overall. So just the 2nd pick of the 2nd round.
But still, if you're taking a WR that high, you should expect to use them as a heavy contributor as a rookie.

[*ochocincos*]

(06-03-2022, 09:14 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The Packers won’t be as good w/o Adams. KC won’t be as good w/o Hill. The Rams won’t be as good w/o Miller. The Bills are as good. The Chargers are better for sure. The Broncos are better. The Raiders are better. Tampa isn’t better for sure w/o Arians and revamped OL. The Ravens are a mystery. They had a great draft but some felt they drafted best available too much. I’m not sure that they won’t be the most improved in 2023 not 2022. I think they don’t have a deep thread. I also think they try to protect Lamar more. It’s going to take away his spontaneity. They are going to try to run the ball more. We are pretty good in rush defense.

Bottom line I don’t see where the top teams really improved except the Bengals. Vegas predicts a lot more 5-6-7 loss teams amongst the division winners. There’s going to be a ton of parity this year. I look for us to scheme well on both offense and defense out the gate. I look for some tough losses in the middle but finish strong. I’m still predicting 11-6. There won’t be but 3 teams with 12 or more wins

Well there were 6 teams last year who had 12+ wins, and all those teams still have their starting QB from the year(s) before.
I don't think the Bengals improved THAT much just by adding a few OL. The draft picks are all set to be backups/rotational players this year. No starters (unless Bates doesn't play). MAYBE CTB beats out Apple for outside CB duties, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him as a depth guy as a rookie to not rush him into such a big role.
I do think 11-6 is realistic, for sure.

The only teams I would consider putting ahead of the Bengals right now are teams who have gotten to the playoffs the past 2+ years in a row and have had at least one playoff win in that span:
- Bucs
- Packers
- Rams
- Chiefs
- Bills

I agree with you that losing Hill and Adams could impact those teams to some extent, but I don't think it will be night and day difference.
I'm not necessarily saying all the teams above are even better than the Bengals right now, but they're the safer picks because they've had longer success. Bengals are more risky because of how terrible they were for the previous 5 seasons where they didn't even have a winning season.
Are the Bengals true perennial contenders or are they going to be more like the 2020 Browns where they had a great one season but then floundered the next?
I think the Bengals will get to double-digit wins again and make the playoffs, but I can understand why some are even more "wait and see" to even say that.

[Soonerpeace]

(06-03-2022, 10:11 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Well there were 6 teams last year who had 12+ wins, and all those teams still have their starting QB from the year(s) before.
I don't think the Bengals improved THAT much just by adding a few OL. The draft picks are all set to be backups/rotational players this year. No starters (unless Bates doesn't play). MAYBE CTB beats out Apple for outside CB duties, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him as a depth guy as a rookie to not rush him into such a big role.
I do think 11-6 is realistic, for sure.

The only teams I would consider putting ahead of the Bengals right now are teams who have gotten to the playoffs the past 2+ years in a row and have had at least one playoff win in that span:
- Bucs
- Packers
- Rams
- Chiefs
- Bills

I agree with you that losing Hill and Adams could impact those teams to some extent, but I don't think it will be night and day difference.
I'm not necessarily saying all the teams above are even better than the Bengals right now, but they're the safer picks because they've had longer success. Bengals are more risky because of how terrible they were for the previous 5 seasons where they didn't even have a winning season.
Are the Bengals true perennial contenders or are they going to be more like the 2020 Browns where they had a great one season but then floundered the next?
I think the Bengals will get to double-digit wins again and make the playoffs, but I can understand why some are even more "wait and see" to even say that.

I agree KC and GB aren’t worse by much. But I’m a believer that Hill and Adams aren’t easily replaced. I think both teams didn’t improve.We should have beat GB and beat KC twice. I didn’t mean to imply they were much worse. My point in all this is of all the top teams I do think the Bengals improved the most.The OL was crap.Now it’s top 8. That’s huge. I just don’t see Tampa, GB, KC improving a horribly weak area to that extent. The Bills did improve slightly.

[*ochocincos*]

(06-03-2022, 10:24 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I agree KC and GB aren’t worse by much. But I’m a believer that Hill and Adams aren’t easily replaced. I think both teams didn’t improve.We should have beat GB and beat KC twice. I didn’t mean to imply they were much worse. My point in all this is of all the top teams I do think the Bengals improved the most.The OL was crap.Now it’s top 8. That’s huge. I just don’t see Tampa, GB, KC improving a horribly weak area to that extent. The Bills did improve slightly.

I have a hard time saying something like that until we actually see them in action.
On paper, they could be, but Pollack hasn't shown in either his time with the Bengals nor his time with the Jets the past 4 years that he can put together a good pass-blocking OL.
I'd maybe put Bengals around middle for now until we can see them.

[MTBengalsFan]

I could not care less about these power rankings, with the exception of the last one. If we're #1 on that one, I'm good.

[Stewy]

(06-03-2022, 12:08 AM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I don't care

I've always been of the opinion that power rankings in the pros is pretty much useless.

Fair enough but I was kinda talking toward the OP.  hehe

[THE PISTONS]

Power rankings = useless

[Hammerstripes]

I fondly remember EVERY analyst saying this last year:

"Man, if only the Bengals had a solid offensive line, they'd be a dynasty"

Amazing how the narrative changes in the offseason.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(06-02-2022, 11:35 PM)Wyche Wrote: We had a lot of close games not go our way in 2020. That was used against the staff when some of us saw the potential. Now it's being used against the team for winning those games, lol. It's like they can't win with some fans and most of the heads.

So true Wyche. Great post right to the point.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(06-03-2022, 09:14 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The Packers won’t be as good w/o Adams. KC won’t be as good w/o Hill. The Rams won’t be as good w/o Miller. The Bills are as good. The Chargers are better for sure. The Broncos are better. The Raiders are better. Tampa isn’t better for sure w/o Arians and revamped OL. The Ravens are a mystery. They had a great draft but some felt they drafted best available too much. I’m not sure that they won’t be the most improved in 2023 not 2022. I think they don’t have a deep thread. I also think they try to protect Lamar more. It’s going to take away his spontaneity. They are going to try to run the ball more. We are pretty good in rush defense.

Bottom line I don’t see where the top teams really improved except the Bengals. Vegas predicts a lot more 5-6-7 loss teams amongst the division winners. There’s going to be a ton of parity this year. I look for us to scheme well on both offense and defense out the gate. I look for some tough losses in the middle but finish strong. I’m still predicting 11-6. There won’t be but 3 teams with 12 or more wins

That is the way I see the AFC going. Gonna be highly competitive and we have the clutch QB and Kicker to win those close 
games if we have to be in them and I think we are the most improved team besides those 3 AFC West teams you mentioned.

Chargers, Broncos and Raiders are better like you said and so are the Bengals. We are right there at the top with the Bills IMO.

But as everybody said, power rankings are useless. Less respect also just pushes this team so go right ahead and rank us out
of the top 10 for all I care.

[fredtoast]

(06-02-2022, 05:06 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote: Many power rankings sites have us lower in the power rankings than they should. The reason these sites give is not due to talent or having a glaring weakness. The reason they give is due to our fluke success last year. That should not be relevant to our success this season if anything it would be a positive and not a negative.

Here is the point, and even though you refuse to acknowledge it the same rule is applied to all teams.

Whenever a team starts out 6-1 people will be saying they are good, but if the team has been a loser for a while no one is going to be saying they are the favorites to win the Super Bowl.  They are going to say that 6 games is not enough to define a team.  Especially if 4 of the wins were on scores in the final 30 seconds including 3 on the last play of the game. Or if the defense blew a 4th quarter lead in 3 of the games and had to be saved by the offense scoring in the final seconds.

And if you are generous enough not to count the browns loss we finished last year 6-1.  13 games into the season we were 7-6 and 15 other teams had at least 7 wins also.  Our offense was 14th in yards and our defense was 17th.  We only had 3 wins against teams that would finish with a winning record and 18 other teams in the league had just as many.  After only 6 wins combined in the previous 2 seasons (and 5 straight losing seasons) Bengal fans were ecstatic with 7-6, but the rest of the league saw us as an average team struggling to even make the playoffs. And when they judge us now they look at the entire '21 season instead of just the last 7 games.

We are not being punished for our success.  Instead we are doubted because of a combination of thins including our recent losing history, the small sample size of excellence (6 games), and the fact that so many of those 6 wins were by a razor thin margin.

[fredtoast]

If we stay healthy we should have one of the best offenses in the league and our defense should top 10 or very close. With that combination we would be able to beat any team we play. But there are also teams with enough talent/coaching to beat us. I have seen some amazing NFL teams over the last 40 years but none of them went undefeated. So I believe we will lose at least one. But we should be good enough to compete for home field advantage.

[BengalsBong]

Disrespect yes punished no. No matter if it is betting odds, power rankings, PFF grades or just national media saying it is a fluke. They cannot hurt us or take anything away from us, so we are not being punished. Our players know what they can do any real fan has a pretty good idea of what our future looks like with Burrow at QB. Do not let them bother you just enjoy the ride.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(06-03-2022, 04:54 PM)fredtoast Wrote: If we stay healthy we should have one of the best offenses in the league and our defense should top 10 or very close.  With that combination we would be able to beat any team we play.  But there are also teams with enough talent/coaching to beat us.  I have seen some amazing NFL teams over the last 40 years but none of them went undefeated.  So I believe we will lose at least one.  But we should be good enough to compete for home field advantage.

Agree, I am sure we have at least a couple off games and lose a couple close ones to some of the best.

I have us going 13-4 right now if we stay somewhat healthy. If we don't stay healthy who knows...

Could be like the Ravens were last year.

(06-03-2022, 05:06 PM)BengalsBong Wrote: Disrespect yes punished no. No matter if it is betting odds, power rankings, PFF grades or just national media saying it is a fluke. They cannot hurt us or take anything away from us, so we are not being punished. Our players know what they can do any real fan has a pretty good idea of what our future looks like with Burrow at QB. Do not let them bother you just enjoy the ride.

Well said BengalsBong, well said.

[grampahol]

Power ranking is almost as important as which brand of toilet paper they use in the locker room..  Luckily the toilet paper brand is head and shoulders more important than power rankings to both players and myself I'm fairly certain..   At the very least the right toilet paper can avoid hemorrhoids.. Power ranking? Not so much.. Nobody can pay their bills or even buy toilet paper with power rankings.. 

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(06-03-2022, 05:20 PM)grampahol Wrote: Power ranking is almost as important as which brand of toilet paper they use in the locker room..  Luckily the toilet paper brand is head and shoulders more important than power rankings to both players and myself I'm fairly certain..   At the very least the right toilet paper can avoid hemorrhoids.. Power ranking? Not so much.. Nobody can pay their bills or even buy toilet paper with power rankings.. 

We all found out how important that toilet paper was the last few years lol

[Mike M (the other one)]

(06-03-2022, 05:20 PM)grampahol Wrote: Power ranking is almost as important as which brand of toilet paper they use in the locker room..  Luckily the toilet paper brand is head and shoulders more important than power rankings to both players and myself I'm fairly certain..   At the very least the right toilet paper can avoid hemorrhoids.. Power ranking? Not so much.. Nobody can pay their bills or even buy toilet paper with power rankings.. 

Print it out, use it for TP. 
Gives reading material, so no waste.

[Bengalfan4life27c]

(06-05-2022, 02:01 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: Print it out, use it for TP. 
Gives reading material, so no waste.

Chargers have done absolutely nothing in Herbert's 2 Years completely healthy while we make SB yet they are so much better than us

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(06-06-2022, 01:19 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote: Chargers have done absolutely nothing in Herbert's 2 Years completely healthy while we make SB yet they are so much better than us

They beat us just last year...

I think the Chargers could be a damn tough team especially after the FA they just had for that Defense.

The Bills, Chargers, Raiders and Broncos should all be really tough this season.

[*bengalfan74*]

(06-06-2022, 01:26 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: They beat us just last year...

I think the Chargers could be a damn tough team especially after the FA they just had for that Defense.

The Bills, Chargers, Raiders and Broncos should all be really tough this season.

And I'm not counting the Chiefs out either. The Raiders ? umm maybe