Ranking the SB contenders

[Hoofhearted]

(01-28-2016, 11:40 PM)Johnny Cupcakes Wrote: No problem with this. Not being able to win a playoff game doesn't make you a Super Bowl contender.

So the Washington Redskins are closer to a Super Bowl then we are? They have been one and done last three PO appearances.

[Savagehenry54]

(01-29-2016, 09:26 AM)Hoofhearted Wrote: So the Washington Redskins are closer to a Super Bowl then we are? They have been one and done last three PO appearances.

The more I think about it the more it irks me.  Redskins are a team that just aint very good who squeaked into the playoffs via winning an atrocious division.

We got fisted by the refs and had our playoff game won anyway before the Hill fumble.  Our core players are in their prime and hungry.  We've got young but experienced talent for days and depth and were quite clearly the best team in the AFC when Dalton was healthy.

So folks can say "well, ya know, until we win a playoff game, ppl are gonna think that", yea, I get it, but that doesn't make such analysis any less lazy or shortsighted.

[2MinutesHate]

We just lost our 5th (count 'em 1,2,3,4,5) straight playoff game. If we have to win 2 or 3 playoff games in a row, why would anyone think that we're close to a Super Bowl appearance? I know it sucks that the media has no faith in the Bengals, but do you really blame them?

Our yearly excuses are getting really old as well. Nobody cares what your excuse is for not winning. Either you do or you don't. The Patriots haven't been at the top for so long because they never suffered injuries. Heck, look at the Broncos with their injuries at QB. Neither QB played really well this season, but they found a way to win and they're in the SB (again).

What was our excuse again? Dalton? The refs? Hill? History?

I think we all know the reason deep down.

[tigerseye]

You can call them excuses but if Hill doesn't fumble we most likely win.
                                        ....if refs call an unbiased game we win.

They are not excuses ,it's what happened. What the NFL's refs did on some of those calls is out of the Bengals control. (Mike Brown needs to handle this problem- No one else can do it.)

The NFL got a fairy tale Super Bowl. Whatever.



On some of those loses in the playoffs ,we weren't the better team.

[fredtoast]

No matter how you guys try to spin it making the playoffs and losing is getting closer than not making the playoffs.

If everything was controlled by history then the Saints never win a Super Bowl and the Cards never make one.  Yet both of those things happened.

There is no logical reason to rank the Bengals that low.  

BTW I think each team is ranked according top the opinion of just one person i.e. the NFL Nation reporter that cover each team.  Who is the NFL Nation reporter that covers the Bengals?

Did any of you read the reason given why we will decline?  It was because of "personnel changes that are coming (and that already have come) to Cincinnati in the next few months".  What the hell does that even mean?

[Hoofhearted]

(01-29-2016, 03:38 PM)rob Wrote: I think ESPN is being generous.
I would personally put us somewhere around 14,15, or 16.

Lets be honest, the bengals are not winning a superbowl anytime soon. We have been nowhere close to winning one in 28+ years. It is not "coming soon". I know it is a tough pill to swallow, but it is reality.
"Those who forget history, are doomed to repeat it"

You realize that the scale is 1-10 with 10 being sure-fire SB contenders, right?

You are giving them credit while destroying your own. Congrats.

[2MinutesHate]

(01-29-2016, 02:29 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Did any of you read the reason given why we will decline?  It was because of "personnel changes that are coming (and that already have come) to Cincinnati in the next few months".  What the hell does that even mean?

I'm pretty sure Cole Harvey meant the loss of players to free agency as well as the departure of some of the coaching staff.

I'm not sure how you see it, but I'm not so sure if the Bengals improve their team next year.  We'll see what happens with the contracts.

Making the playoffs and losing rather than not making it is kind of like saying that going 6-10 is better than 3-13.  While technically true, I don't really think it makes any of us feel all that much better.  It'd be different if we never made it to the playoffs.  Because we're there so frequently, fans expect some positive results at least some of the time.  It just hasn't happened.  So the media turns on us, which they did 25 years ago anyway.  This isn't anything new.  It's up to the team to prove them wrong.  They have not.

Having said that, I did enjoy watching the Bengals regular season games because they won more often than they lost and I've been watching so long that I even enjoyed the 90's (I'm not sure how...could've been the booze).

[McC]

(01-29-2016, 04:49 PM)2MinutesHate Wrote: I'm pretty sure Cole Harvey meant the loss of players to free agency as well as the departure of some of the coaching staff.

I'm not sure how you see it, but I'm not so sure if the Bengals improve their team next year.  We'll see what happens with the contracts.

Making the playoffs and losing rather than not making it is kind of like saying that going 6-10 is better than 3-13.  While technically true, I don't really think it makes any of us feel all that much better.  It'd be different if we never made it to the playoffs.  Because we're there so frequently, fans expect some positive results at least some of the time.  It just hasn't happened.  So the media turns on us, which they did 25 years ago anyway.  This isn't anything new.  It's up to the team to prove them wrong.  They have not.

Having said that, I did enjoy watching the Bengals regular season games because they won more often than they lost and I've been watching so long that I even enjoyed the 90's (I'm not sure how...could've been the booze).

The cap situation, of which Harvey should be aware, will allow the Bengals to sign pretty much everyone back that they want to.  And, for guys who are not re-signed, the replacements are already here. 

The Bengals have lost coaches before and it didn't send them spiraling downward.  His statement seems kinda uniformed and really flies in the face of reality.  It's a giant assumption oh his part.

Too many people buy into the if you haven't, that means you can't line of thinking.  Anyone who thinks the Bengals aren't a SB contender is a fool who hasn't been paying attention. 

Such is the surface world in which we live.  Can only paint in broad strokes, only hear what is drummed into their brains, can't see all the details and totally oblivious to subtle changes. 

The franchise took  a giant step forward in 2015.  

[OrlandoBengal]

(01-28-2016, 10:36 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: You don't think we would of beat the Steelers with Dalton at the helm instead of AJM?

Nothing against AJM who i think played very admirably but i have no doubt that we would have.

Call it speculation all you want.

I am sorry, but it is pure speculation.  None of us has any idea how Andy would have played in the game.  Personally I would like to think that he would have out played McCarron and the Bengals would have won easily.  That said, we are talking about a guy who has struggled mightily in the playoffs.  I like Dalton, but it's not like he has the success of of a Montana or Brady in the playoffs... all we know is that the Bengals were one and done for the fifth straight year.  The national media, and anyone unbiased, is not going to have much post season faith until this team actually does something in the playoffs.

[Savagehenry54]

(01-31-2016, 06:52 PM)OrlandoBengal Wrote: I am sorry, but it is pure speculation.  None of us has any idea how Andy would have played in the game.  Personally I would like to think that he would have out played McCarron and the Bengals would have won easily.  That said, we are talking about a guy who has struggled mightily in the playoffs.  I like Dalton, but it's not like he has the success of of a Montana or Brady in the playoffs... all we know is that the Bengals were one and done for the fifth straight year.  The national media, and anyone unbiased, is not going to have much post season faith until this team actually does something in the playoffs.

We did do something in the playoffs.  We beat our division rival in spite of the refs blatantly jobbing us.  We did that with our back up qb.  Then we choked it away.

Anyone lacking bias is going to see that if the refs call that game fairly, the Bengals win easy and the meltdown at the end wouldn't have happened cuz the game would have already been put away............That's just what happened.  Anyone sees it different absolutely does have bias and it's based on the Bengals past.  It's understandable but that don't make such analysis any less flawed.

[TSwigZ]

We always complain about the media hating on us and blah blah and I know it's annoying but untill we win a DAMN playoff game we deserve every bit of criticism. I mean seriously even as a die hard fan who would chop his own nuts off if it would guarantee a super bowl win I have no trust in the organization

[magikod]

(01-28-2016, 02:56 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Reading their analysis of the Bengals, I can already tell that next season will be yet another year where people are going to write us off before the season starts and then are surprised when we make the playoffs YET AGAIN.

happens every year 

[WiregrassBenGal]

As the Super Bowl kicks off: the Broncos are going to get their a$$es kicked and Peyton knows it.

The balance of the power in the AFC is changing since Peyton and Tom are pushing 40. Can the Bengals take advantage?

[BengalChris]

(02-07-2016, 08:36 PM)TreasureCoastBenGal Wrote: As the Super Bowl kicks off: the Broncos are going to get their a$$es kicked and Peyton knows it.

The balance of the power in the AFC is changing since Peyton and Tom are pushing 40.  Can the Bengals take advantage?

You were saying?

[*Awful Llama*]

(02-07-2016, 08:36 PM)TreasureCoastBenGal Wrote: As the Super Bowl kicks off: the Broncos are going to get their a$$es kicked and Peyton knows it.

The balance of the power in the AFC is changing since Peyton and Tom are pushing 40. Can the Bengals take advantage?

(02-08-2016, 11:14 AM)BengalChris Wrote: You were saying?

Meh, hopefully she was half right.