The sky is falling, after a dub and back to .500

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(10-17-2023, 09:19 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: Relax everyone.  

Did it look good? no.
Did the bengals get the win? yes.  
Are they 3-3 after an abysmal start?  Yea!

Look around the league this week
KC struggled against Den
Bills struggled against NYG
SF lost to a short handed browns
Eagles lost to the NYJ with Zach wilson

Winning in the NFL is never easy, and it’s better to win ugly than lose pretty.

This team has played the worst football we have seen in 3 years and they have found a way to be .500 and in the thick of things.  The parity/balance in the NFL this year about as open as I can recall.  Every team in the NFL is beatable.

Burrow is getting healthier, in fact the bengals may be the healthiest team in the NFL coming out of the bye.  

Let’s take a few deep breaths, and look forward.

I have a young daughter and Disney is pretty prominent:

Rafiki – then hits Simba with a stick on the head!!  When Simba asks him “What was that for?!!”, he replies “Doesn’t matter – it’s in the past”.

Simba then says – “Yes, but it still hurts.”

Rafiki then replies with his key message – “Ah yes, the past can hurt.  But the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it”

It’s now time to learn from the first 6 weeks and the bengals can position themselves to make a run.  The fact we are even having this conversation after the 1-3 start is a win, and it doesn’t really matter how we got here.

Yes sir, they have a lot to learn over this bye. Hopefully we see drastic adjustments on the Offensive side of the ball.

I think they can do it, we all saw last year and our slow start and how things turned around.

Not betting against this team. Zac and this staff are different. Early in the season they look terrible and somehow turn it all around 
and become about the best coached team by the end of the season. It isn't how you start, even if I wish we would start much better.

[TheCincinnatiKid]

I definitely agree, it's more about the W than how you look doing it. But I don't think it's unreasonable to have doubts about the team's path forward right now. Offence has really been shaky and will need to take some strides if we're to go the distance this year.

BUT, you can only rebound from where we were... 1-3 the season was on the precipice and we've won two games to correct course. Offence was good in one of them, defence was incredible in the other. Bye week and a chance to reset. I think the Niners/Bills will be a crucial juncture of our season. Lose both and it becomes desperation move in keeping the season alive again.

Very much in the chase and you don't want to be playing your best football right now. Hopefully the rest will have Burrow back to his best.

[chrisball96]

(10-17-2023, 09:34 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I’m usually a big defender of the staff. I certainly get that Burrow’s injury was a huge factor. But the OL didn’t pull their calf muscle. Irv Smith has not done squat. The offense just doesn’t look good. It’s not good that the offense starts so slow every stinking year. I’m sorry this team needed to be ready a hell of a lot more … especially with Joe’s injury. As always the defense was ready even with two new safeties. Nick Scott is not good. I just don’t think this team can duplicate last year. Too far to go. I do think they will make the playoffs. Our division is brutal.

After seeing the run we went on last year I am hesitant to doubt what this team can do, although I do see what you are saying. Given how bad Burrow was injured, 3-3 is not an optimal spot to be in, but it is the best spot we could be in all things considered. 

A couple of rays of hope: first, Joe is more mobile, and can move much better, hopefully helping our offensive line by allowing for more rollouts, moving the pocket, etc. Second, I really don't think Tee will continue to be this bad all year. He also gets a bye week to help his ribs heal. Third, Jordan Battle gets a week better, and perhaps beats out Scott for the job and elevates the level of play at that position. As for the TE, there's no easy fix there apart from one of the backups showing they can play consistently and actually catch the ball. Again, I'm kind of pinning my hopes of Tee having a resurgence to mitigate not having a threat at TE. 

I too have my doubts but I think that for sure after SF/Buffalo we will be in a much better spot to evaluate the team's potential for long-term success this year. 

[Soonerpeace]

(10-17-2023, 03:03 PM)chrisball96 Wrote: After seeing the run we went on last year I am hesitant to doubt what this team can do, although I do see what you are saying. Given how bad Burrow was injured, 3-3 is not an optimal spot to be in, but it is the best spot we could be in all things considered. 

A couple of rays of hope: first, Joe is more mobile, and can move much better, hopefully helping our offensive line by allowing for more rollouts, moving the pocket, etc. Second, I really don't think Tee will continue to be this bad all year. He also gets a bye week to help his ribs heal. Third, Jordan Battle gets a week better, and perhaps beats out Scott for the job and elevates the level of play at that position. As for the TE, there's no easy fix there apart from one of the backups showing they can play consistently and actually catch the ball. Again, I'm kind of pinning my hopes of Tee having a resurgence to mitigate not having a threat at TE. 

I too have my doubts but I think that for sure after SF/Buffalo we will be in a much better spot to evaluate the team's potential for long-term success this year. 

Definitely will know more by the first Sunday in November

[reuben.ahmed]

I think if we won the superbowl with a bad offensive performance it would somehow take 1% of the joy away. I would be celebrating for sure but it would still feel like this isn't right lol. Like we want to give it our best shot and win or lose. I hope the offense picks up the 2nd half of the season, but I don't expect it. Most of our losses under the Joe Burrow era are 3pts and under. I think I'm on my way to dying watching the Bengals.

[*Synric*]

Bengals have the hardest remaining strength of schedule. The next four teams the Bengals play are all top 10 in points allowed per game with 3 in the top 5. Bengals are 0-0 right now and need to go 7-4 to have a good shot at the playoffs so winning in the division will be key.

[Ell Prez]

Raise your hand if you want to go to Arrowhead for the AFC championship again? Yea, we still have a good shot to make the playoffs, but the opportunity to win a SB only goes down from this year, as we get deeper in to Burrows contract. KC is 5-1. We’re 2 games back. And we still have to play the Steelers twice, ravens, browns, 49ers, bills, and Chiefs. We can’t really afford to lose any more games, unless we’re okay with the 3 seed at best, hosting the likes of Cleveland/Miami and then playing at Buffalo and at KC. And then SB vs 49ers/Eagles.

This year wasn’t about making the playoffs and seeing what we can do. It was about winning a SB. The chances of that our extremely low bc of our celebrated 3-3 record.

[Ell Prez]

Raise your hand if you want to go to Arrowhead for the AFC championship again? Yea, we’re still have a good shot to make the playoffs, but the opportunity to win a SB only goes down from this year, as we get deeper in to Burrows contract. KC is 5-1. We’re 2 games back. And we still have to play the Steelers twice, ravens, browns, 49ers, bills, and Chiefs. We can’t really afford to lose any more games, unless we’re okay with the 3 seed at best, hosting the likes of Cleveland/Miami and then playing at Buffalo and at KC. And then SB vs 49ers/Eagles.

This year wasn’t about making the playoffs and seeing what we can do. It was about winning a SB. The chances of that our extremely low bc of our celebrated 3-3 record.

[Luvnit2]

We have 11 games to go, 4 against our division with 2 at home Steelers and Browns and 2 on road against Ravens and Steelers.

Then we have 7 other games. I think we need to go 7-4 to make the playoffs. The past 2 years we won some tough match ups on back end of the schedule. We will have to do it again, but having done it, the Joe Burrow led team knows they can.

Our first 6 games on offense has been very bad, lots of reasons why, but having a QB with zero mobility played a huge role. We need a healthy Joe Burrow the rest of the way, when healthy he seems to will this team to win close games. Our defense is playing better each week, SF and Bills will tell us a lot about our team. SF may be the best team in the NFL, playing them at SF gives them a huge advantage, but. the bigger game is Buffalo, we have to start beating AFC teams.

I have said it for years, try and enjoy the journey. It may be a fun and great journey or not, but wasting time worrying will not help the outcome. We are a very young team, we need these young guys to grow quickly, get Tee healthy and back to being Tee and we will be OK. But if not, look at the bright side, you could be living Gaza or Ukraine where football or in their case soccer is an outlet to a very tough life. I will never pretend to understand how tough it is to live in a country being bombed and attacked daily.

[*bfine32*]

I've been a member of these boards for a minute, and I don't think I've ever seen folks so mad about a win. Seattle is a good team and has handed DET their only loss of the year.

I see the warts on all the AFC contenders:

MIA: Can they play a physical game
KCC: Can anyone not dating Taylor Swift catch a ball
BUF: Josh Allen will beat himself
BAL: Cannot score TDs

The thing that gives me the most hope if we can pinpoint exactly why we've failed (QB has been immobile) .

[Bengalbug]

(10-19-2023, 01:25 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I've been a member of these boards for a minute, and I don't think I've ever seen folks so mad about a win. Seattle is a good team and has handed DET their only loss of the year.

I see the warts on all the AFC contenders:

MIA: Can they play a physical game
KCC: Can anyone not dating Taylor Swift catch a ball
BUF: Josh Allen will beat himself
BAL: Cannot score TDs

The thing that gives me the most hope if we can pinpoint exactly why we've failed (QB has been immobile) .

I’m with you. Seattle is/was a top 5 team in the NFC.

[sandwedge]

(10-17-2023, 09:19 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: Relax everyone.  

Did it look good? no.
Did the bengals get the win? yes.  
Are they 3-3 after an abysmal start?  Yea!

Look around the league this week
KC struggled against Den
Bills struggled against NYG
SF lost to a short handed browns
Eagles lost to the NYJ with Zach wilson

Winning in the NFL is never easy, and it’s better to win ugly than lose pretty.

This team has played the worst football we have seen in 3 years and they have found a way to be .500 and in the thick of things.  The parity/balance in the NFL this year about as open as I can recall.  Every team in the NFL is beatable.

Burrow is getting healthier, in fact the bengals may be the healthiest team in the NFL coming out of the bye.  

Let’s take a few deep breaths, and look forward.

I have a young daughter and Disney is pretty prominent:

Rafiki – then hits Simba with a stick on the head!!  When Simba asks him “What was that for?!!”, he replies “Doesn’t matter – it’s in the past”.

Simba then says – “Yes, but it still hurts.”

Rafiki then replies with his key message – “Ah yes, the past can hurt.  But the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it”

It’s now time to learn from the first 6 weeks and the bengals can position themselves to make a run.  The fact we are even having this conversation after the 1-3 start is a win, and it doesn’t really matter how we got here.

Thank you BB!! It was starting to get pretty damn redundant in here, 25 threads telling us how we suck. We just won 2 games in a row, got back to 500 and people are getting healthy. The train is back on the tracks

[Bengalbug]

(10-20-2023, 08:28 PM)sandwedge Wrote: Thank you BB!! It was starting to get pretty damn redundant in here, 25 threads telling us how we suck. We just won 2 games in a row, got back to 500 and people are getting healthy. The train is back on the tracks

It’s as if this team hasnt been 4-2, 3-3 and now 3-3 after 6 weeks the last 3 years. The slow starts happen with this team. Joes injury hasn’t helped, but even if he was 100% healthy, at best we maybe take the ravens game and are 4-2. The titans and browns had our numbers those days and burrows injury isn’t a 20pt differentiator. Just my opinion anyway.

[Sled21]

(10-18-2023, 11:10 PM)Ell Prez Wrote: Raise your hand if you want to go to Arrowhead for the AFC championship again? Yea, we still have a good shot to make the playoffs, but the opportunity to win a SB only goes down from this year, as we get deeper in to Burrows contract. KC is 5-1. We’re 2 games back. And we still have to play the Steelers twice, ravens, browns, 49ers, bills, and Chiefs. We can’t really afford to lose any more games, unless we’re okay with the 3 seed at best, hosting the likes of Cleveland/Miami and  then playing at Buffalo and at KC. And then SB vs 49ers/Eagles.

This year wasn’t about making the playoffs and seeing what we can do. It was about winning a SB. The chances of that our extremely low bc of our celebrated 3-3 record.

The chances of that were extremely low from the beginning. The AFC is LOADED, and anyone that thought we'd just cakewalk our way to the Super Bowl was delusional. There's just too many variables involved. We had as good a chance as any, and better than most. Doesn't mean it was ever going to be easy. 

[Sled21]

(10-20-2023, 08:28 PM)sandwedge Wrote: Thank you BB!! It was starting to get pretty damn redundant in here, 25 threads telling us how we suck. We just won 2 games in a row, got back to 500 and people are getting healthy. The train is back on the tracks

It's the same old "Teams that start 0-2 or 0-3 can't make the playoffs" that we hear from the same old posters year after year. The reason most teams who start 0-2 or 0-3 don't make the playoffs is because they suck, and they don't get any better during the season. Our 0-2 starts have been due to QB injuries, and as he's gotten healthy each year things change. And, not just Burrow. The line is improving, the defense is improving. This team is getting better each and every week. Just like last year, we will peak at the right time. 

[sandwedge]

(10-21-2023, 08:25 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: It’s as if this team hasnt been 4-2, 3-3 and now 3-3 after 6 weeks the last 3 years. The slow starts happen with this team.  Joes injury hasn’t helped, but even if he was 100% healthy, at best we maybe take the ravens game and are 4-2.  The titans and browns had our numbers those days and burrows injury isn’t a 20pt differentiator.   Just my opinion anyway.

I totally agree. 

[sandwedge]

(10-21-2023, 09:11 AM)Sled21 Wrote: It's the same old "Teams that start 0-2 or 0-3 can't make the playoffs" that we hear from the same old posters year after year. The reason most teams who start 0-2 or 0-3 don't make the playoffs is because they suck, and they don't get any better during the season. Our 0-2 starts have been due to QB injuries, and as he's gotten healthy each year things change. And, not just Burrow. The line is improving, the defense is improving. This team is getting better each and every week. Just like last year, we will peak at the right time. 

I think this team is getting better also. Injuries are gonna happen and it's next man up. I think we have personnel to make that happen. I am not saying we are gonna roll out 10 straight wins either. AFC is tough this year. I think we just got to get into the playoffs and march our way to the SB.