Stripes

3-2, losses to KC and CLE. I think 10-7 will be enough, barely. If it is two conference losses though it’ll get sticky.

Caleb. Miller.

Division is extremely winnable.

Bachie seemed to hang in there pretty well after Wilson went out. If that holds up it’d be a Christmas miracle.

The Bengals still control their own fate in the division.

I’ll see what the injury reports have to say, but if Burrow plays I am not calling anything over at 7-5. Losing Reiff and Hopkins today was brutal, especially with one of the flag-happiest ref crews in the league.

Really need Baltimore to lose tonight.

Gut punch of a game. They better search for those souls pronto, because SF isn’t going to be any easier next week.

That was truly horrendous clock management

One of these games, eh

Third level home side. On the bright side if I can find an empty seat nearby I will be able to beat the shit out of it all day for obnoxious noise.

PBS is looking empty. I hate it. The rain reports might have scared people off.

It’s unfortunate that we’ve [probably] lost the rain advantage. I was perfectly content to get drenched for the greater good.

https://www.olinestats.com/ I've discovered this site today, and it is full of some really interesting offensive line goodies. I cannot verify the process or the statistics as legitimate, but I tend to doubt anyone does all this work without there being some kind of basis for it. So I give the benefit of the doubt there. Through 12 weeks of 2021, the Bengals offensive line as a unit ranks: 8th in pressure rate allowed - 21.6% 14th (tie) in sacks allowed - 14 32nd in tackles for loss allowed - 21 8th in penalties - 18 24th (tie) in yards per carry before contact - 2.2 Here are some rankings for individual players, per their respective positions (generalized as tackles, guards, and centers): Riley Reiff 30th in pressure rate allowed - 5.03% Sacks allowed - 3 (about average) Tackles for loss allowed - 3 (slightly worse than average) Penalties - 2 (better than average) Jonah Williams 38th in pressure rate allowed - 5.39% Sacks allowed - 5 (slightly worse than average) Tackles for loss allowed - 5.5 (league worst) Penalties - 2 (better than average) Quinton Spain 12th in pressure rate allowed - 2.95% Sacks allowed - 3 (slightly worse than average) Tackles for loss allowed - 1.5 (slightly better than average) Penalties - 3 (average) Jackson Carman 39th in pressure rate allowed - 5.15% Sacks allowed - 0 (optimal) Tackles for loss allowed - 2.5 (slightly worse than average) Penalties - 3 (average) Trey Hopkins 12th in pressure rate allowed - 2.75% Sacks allowed - 3 (worse than average) Tackles for loss allowed - 6.5 (league worst) Penalties - 3 (average) They don't appear to have data for Sua-Filo or Adeniji yet. Obviously some of this is bad, but it does reflect the entire season. I think it is clear that we have seen the line improving, and the same site currently ranks the Bengals offensive line 15th best in the league (https://www.olinestats.com/articles/week-13-offensive-line-rankings). This at least gives an interesting glimpse into certain trends. The standout is definitely the rate at which the line has allowed tackles for loss in the running game. They lead the league in that category, and each of the five featured have struggled in that arena. Obviously Adeniji is a critical new piece, and his numbers could be very different in a limited sample. However bad its been, the trajectory is clearly positive right now.

The Herbert-obsessed media threw Burrow a bone this week. https://www.nfl.com/news/joe-burrow-s-steady-confidence-lifting-cincinnati-bengals