How can we fix the team to compete in AFC north?

[Bengalstripes9]

(12-31-2023, 10:48 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Please define “abysmal” as it pertains to the Ravens. The Bengals had won four of the previous five entering into this year. The Bengals also won the AFC North two years in a row. Browns and Ravens are going to start bleeding players next year.

Under Taylor the bengals are 9-20 vs the afc north overall.

I’m not sure how that breaks down against every team but I’m guessing our worst record is against the browns.

Bengals have been okay vs the ravens overall but this year the ravens really pulled away in my opinion. Lamar got healthy. They solidified their defense at the end of last year and were quite dominant this year. They have the right recipe to win in the nfl with great defense, great running game, and solid qb play. Lamar may win his second mvp this year. His defense and running game are a major reason why.

In my opinion Zac needs to learn from the ravens formula. Need to improve the dline. Improve the secondary. Improve the defense. Need to improve the run game.

The run game is very important in afc north games. The teams that win on the ground generally win these games and it’s clear that the browns, ravens, and Steelers know this.

The Bengals are built a bit like a college team or Peyton manning colts team. Very explosive, but struggle against good defenses. The colts finally got over the hump because of their defense and running game. This is what the bengals need to do.

The bengals best games were a result of a balanced offensive attack. Thats what the bengals need. Need to shore up the defense as well. I like the young secondary players and think they can definitely develop. Need to beef up up front though.

[BengalsLUFC]

Without reading the thread we need to draft the nastiest bastard interior pass rush we can and get a rb who doesn’t shit himself as soon as he sees an opposition shirt.

Also keeping Joe B healthy would help

[Woodstock]

Fix the O-line issue and find more cover ability for the defense…then call good plays! The line has been an issue for years

[Stonyhands]

(12-31-2023, 11:01 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: You can assume all you want  but facts speak for themselves,  ZT as the head coach has transformed this team to a contender with a top tier QB and totally flipping roster, hell we went 3-3 with as tough of a schedule of 6 straight games this season with backup qb and leaking defense. 

Bullshit….a whole lot of bullshit. Taylor hasn’t done shit without Burrow. These three games were absolutely nothing. Teams with zero film of what a Browning offense looked like. A lowly Steelers team embarrassed them followed by a struggling Chiefs team officially knocking them out of the playoffs. If Taylor was half the coach fans like you claim he was he wouldn’t have folded like a wet napkin with the playoffs on the line.

Burrow changed the culture here. Taylor was floundering without him. Lou came in and upset the vets on the team. Burrow came in and changed the entire culture of the team. Anybody who says differently has their head up their ass.

[Ell Prez]

Without doing much research, my plan would be:

-tag and trade Tee (net a 2nd)
-Sign and trade Browning (net a 4th?)

-cut Mixon, save $6M
-cut Hubbard, save $6M (not 100% sure I’d do this, but we need pressure)

That gives us over $70M in cap space. I’d target in FA:

-starting #1 cb ($20M/year). This allows CTB to be #2 and Turner the 3rd and not have to start
-Starting S ($12M/year) so Hill can come off the bench
-edge ($12M) to go along with Murphy
-starting DT ($15M)
-older vet WR or 2 ($6m)

Draft
Round 1 - RT
Round 2 - Guard, DL
Round 3 - RB
Round 4 -7 BPA



I used to be so hard on the must extend Tee train, but after this year, what’s the point. This team sucked with him and chase and burrow all on the field. Give Burrow a stellar D, a run game, and let him do the rest with Chase and a couple talented but speedy receivers.

[Soonerpeace]

(12-31-2023, 11:59 PM)Stonyhands Wrote: Bullshit….a whole lot of bullshit. Taylor hasn’t done shit without Burrow. These three games were absolutely nothing. Teams with zero film of what a Browning offense looked like. A lowly Steelers team embarrassed them followed by a struggling Chiefs team officially knocking them out of the playoffs. If Taylor was half the coach fans like you claim he was he wouldn’t have folded like a wet napkin with the playoffs on the line.

Burrow changed the culture here. Taylor was floundering without him. Lou came in and upset the vets on the team. Burrow came in and changed the entire culture of the team. Anybody who says differently has their head up their ass.

You’ve been watching too many science fiction movies

[jj22]

Bengals have been ok against Ravens backups…..

How long did it take for Marvin to sweep the North? I don’t feel like looking it up. 6 years?

What was his record after 5 years…..

[Soonerpeace]

(12-31-2023, 11:36 PM)Bengalstripes9 Wrote: Under Taylor the bengals are 9-20 vs the afc north overall.

I’m not sure how that breaks down against every team but I’m guessing our worst record is against the browns.

Bengals have been okay vs the ravens overall but this year the ravens really pulled away in my opinion. Lamar got healthy. They solidified their defense at the end of last year and were quite dominant this year. They have the right recipe to win in the nfl with great defense, great running game, and solid qb play. Lamar may win his second mvp this year. His defense and running game are a major reason why.

In my opinion Zac needs to learn from the ravens formula. Need to improve the dline. Improve the secondary. Improve the defense. Need to improve the run game.

The run game is very important in afc north games. The teams that win on the ground generally win these games and it’s clear that the browns, ravens, and Steelers know this.

The Bengals are built a bit like a college team or Peyton manning colts team. Very explosive, but struggle against good defenses. The colts finally got over the hump because of their defense and running game. This is what the bengals need to do.

The bengals best games were a result of a balanced offensive attack. Thats what the bengals need. Need to shore up the defense as well. I like the young secondary players and think they can definitely develop. Need to beef up up front though.

They’ve won the division the last 2 years who gives a crap. And they didn’t struggle vs the #3 & #4 scoring defenses the 49ers & Bills.

[Bengalstripes9]

(01-01-2024, 12:08 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: They’ve won the division the last 2 years who gives a crap. And they didn’t struggle vs the #3 & #4 scoring defenses the 49ers & Bills.

My point is the afc north has caught up and surpassed us.

Last year the bengals were dominated by the ravens in the playoffs with a backup qb for most of the game. Last year the browns dominated the bengals. This year the bengals are close to being 0-6 vs the afc north.

Sugar coat it all you want. The bengals are 0-5 in afc north style matchups.

If you can’t admit this is an issue, are you capable of offering up a solution at least?

[Soonerpeace]

(01-01-2024, 12:46 AM)Bengalstripes9 Wrote: My point is the afc north has caught up and surpassed us.

Last year the bengals were dominated by the ravens in the playoffs with a backup qb for most of the game. Last year the browns dominated the bengals. This year the bengals are close to being 0-6 vs the afc north.

Sugar coat it all you want. The bengals are 0-5 in afc north style matchups.

If you can’t admit this is an issue, are you capable of offering up a solution at least?

Baltimore has done an excellent job of improving their team. They were weak at WR and Mark Andrews went down and they didn’t miss a beat. Todd Monken is a very good OC and really helped their offense. They are a Super Bowl team. Whether they finish it off who knows. Cleveland is 11-5 they’ve only played us once. They are strong in the trenches. Pittsburg should have played Mason last year. I’m very familiar with Mason. He’s a good QB. Tomlin screwed that up royally.

We are in a tough division. We regressed partially due to injury to Joe. But it’s my opinion the last 2 years of solid late season runs were taken for granted. It didn’t happen despite being led by Jake. The secondary missed Vonn Bell and Bates. The OL pass blocked better later in the year but the run blocking is just awful. I’d replace Pollack with someone that can really scheme a running game. It needs fixing awfully bad. The DL needs some help. I didn’t think the entire defense played as well this year minus Trey.

[*michaelsean*]

(01-01-2024, 12:46 AM)Bengalstripes9 Wrote: My point is the afc north has caught up and surpassed us.

Last year the bengals were dominated by the ravens in the playoffs with a backup qb for most of the game. Last year the browns dominated the bengals. This year the bengals are close to being 0-6 vs the afc north.

Sugar coat it all you want. The bengals are 0-5 in afc north style matchups.

If you can’t admit this is an issue, are you capable of offering up a solution at least?

1-1 against the Browns last year.

[Stonyhands]

(01-01-2024, 12:02 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: You’ve been watching too many science fiction movies

What did I say that was fiction? Are you claiming that Taylor changed the culture and that the Bengals would have been the team they were the last two years without Burrow?

[Soonerpeace]

(01-01-2024, 01:29 AM)Stonyhands Wrote: What did I say that was fiction? Are you claiming that Taylor changed the culture and that the Bengals would have been the team they were the last two years without Burrow?

Half the team has praised him for the change in culture publically. Bag on him for something else. Burrow contributed mightily to the change to winning but the locker room was Zac’s emphasis on drafting team captains and acquiring team leaders from winning teams in FA. Do your homework F-

[casear2727]

(12-31-2023, 05:24 PM)Rubekahn29 Wrote: Bulk up the trenches especially Interior D. We need to consider a change of guard at RB. Mixon needs to revert to a backup role.

(12-31-2023, 05:32 PM)Bengalion Wrote: This. We really miss Larry Ogunjobi. We need to draft the best DT avaliable with our 1st next year or sign a good one on FA.

(12-31-2023, 10:02 PM)kevinsea Wrote: JerZhan Newton

(12-31-2023, 11:38 PM)BengalsLUFC Wrote: Without reading the thread we need to draft the nastiest bastard interior pass rush we can and get a rb who doesn’t shit himself as soon as he sees an opposition shirt.

Also keeping Joe B healthy would help

The meaningless (my opinion) wins we had recently has likely pushed us back a couple spots too far to draft Newton, who is the #1 dline prospect.

[casear2727]

(01-01-2024, 12:46 AM)Bengalstripes9 Wrote: My point is the afc north has caught up and surpassed us.

Last year the browns dominated the bengals. This year the bengals are close to being 0-6 vs the afc north.

Why does everyone forget that we dusted the Browns just 4 weeks later without Tee, Boyd or Hurst?  Did we improve the team in that month?

I think this whole AFCN theory is kinda crap.  If a team can beat KC and the Bills regularly, then they should be able to beat the Ravens, Browns and Steelers, and they have the last 2 years.

Ravens Game 1 - Burrow played injured and lost by 3.
Ravens Game 2- Winning the game when Burrow went out.
Steelers Game 1 - Browning's 1st game
Steelers Game 2 - Browning at QB, 3 INTs
Browns Game 1 - Burrow played hurt in a hurricane

The only game Burrow played healthy we were winning and vs the best team in the NFL today.  I dont count games that Burrow played injured or missed, we are too dependent on him. That is a problem that should be addressed, maybe this time with Jake helps with this issue moving forward.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(01-01-2024, 02:27 AM)casear2727 Wrote: The meaningless (my opinion) wins we had recently has likely pushed us back a couple spots too far to draft Newton, who is the #1 dline prospect.

I’d love to see them actually be proactive and trade up a few spots if need be. But I know it won’t happen.

[Stonyhands]

(01-01-2024, 01:40 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Half the team has praised him for the change in culture publically. Bag on him for something else. Burrow contributed mightily to the change to winning but the locker room was Zac’s emphasis on drafting team captains and acquiring team leaders from winning teams in FA. Do your homework F-

Wtf do you expect his guys to say? LOL! What team leaders from winning teams in FA are you talking about? Where are all these team leaders now?

You are so full of shit.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(01-01-2024, 02:36 AM)casear2727 Wrote: Why does everyone forget that we dusted the Browns just 4 weeks later without Tee, Boyd or Hurst?  Did we improve the team in that month?

I think this whole AFCN theory is kinda crap.  If a team can beat KC and the Bills regularly, then they should be able to beat the Ravens, Browns and Steelers, and they have the last 2 years.

Ravens Game 1 - Burrow played injured and lost by 3.
Ravens Game 2- Winning the game when Burrow went out.
Steelers Game 1 - Browning's 1st game
Steelers Game 2 - Browning at QB, 3 INTs
Browns Game 1 - Burrow played hurt in a hurricane

The only game Burrow played healthy we were winning and vs the best team in the NFL today.  I dont count games that Burrow played injured or missed, we are too dependent on him. That is a problem that should be addressed, maybe this time with Jake helps with this issue moving forward.

Were we actually winning game 2 before Browning had to come in? The game log says that Joe Burrow threw a 4 yard TD to Mixon to go up 10-7, and then the very next drive the Ravens scored a TD to go up 10-14. Then the next drive Browning came in. Also ignoring the fact that the Ravens lost Andrews even earlier in the game and Lamar got his ankle twisted.

Also the Steelers games can just as easily be "Steelers Game 1: We played Kenny Pickett" and "Steelers Game 2: We played Mason Rudolph".

Browns Game 1: If Burrow played in a hurricane, that means the Browns QB also played in a hurricane, and their QB was Watson who has been terrible for them.

- - - - -

Just seems like trying to make way too many excuses and putting too many asterisks from purely an our side point of view.

[Ell Prez]

Without doing much research, my plan would be:

-tag and trade Tee (net a 2nd)
-Sign and trade Browning (net a 4th?)

-cut Mixon, save $6M
-cut Hubbard, save $6M (not 100% sure I’d do this, but we need pressure)

That gives us over $70M in cap space. I’d target in FA:

-starting #1 cb ($20M/year). This allows CTB to be #2 and Turner the 3rd and not have to start
-Starting S ($12M/year) so Hill can come off the bench
-edge ($12M) to go along with Murphy
-starting DT ($15M)
-older vet WR or 2 ($6m)

Draft
Round 1 - RT
Round 2 - Guard, DL
Round 3 - RB
Round 4 -7 BPA



I used to be so hard on the must extend Tee train, but after this year, what’s the point. This team sucked with him and chase and burrow all on the field. Give Burrow a stellar D, a run game, and let him do the rest with Chase and a couple talented but speedy receivers.

[Soonerpeace]

(01-01-2024, 03:06 AM)Stonyhands Wrote: Wtf do you expect his guys to say? LOL! What team leaders from winning teams in FA are you talking about? Where are all these team leaders now?

You are so full of shit.

You don’t follow the team obviously