Why is everyone so down about next season???

[DDOGG]

All i read on here is how bad next year is going to be...

I feel good about next year

Chris Henry did nothing last year... didnt lose anything there

99% of you wanted Justin Smith gone.... now he is

Now we have Odom

Now we have Utecht... he will make up for Henry

We are going to draft Ellis

We will have Odell back.... Now take a minute and think back to 05 and what he did as a rookie. i know he has had two years off but he has been working out at the stadium and with the team since January. i think he will probably be in the best shape of anybody on the team.

We could get pollack back... He can still help us

We will have Chris Perry back.... He can be a huge help to the team. When he is healthy he can be a big help. He is due

We still have 9 other draft picks.... I personally think Marvin has done an excellent job in the draft.

How can you not be excited about watching our secondary at the end of last season with three rookies back there. They played great with no pass rush. Think about if we throw Ellis in with our D-line, allow geathers to focus strickly as DE instead of working at LB sometimes like last year we could actually have a pass rush, i also really like odom

I was just as pissed as everyone else about not getting rogers but thinking back now i would rather have ellis... what has rogers done to make detroit better... NOTHING they are a bad team and they dont even want him, what does that say.

This is going to be our year...

Cleveland is going to suck again -- no secondary with a defense full of other teams rejects like rogers and s. smith... Anderson proved he is nothing at the end of last year. Brady is a cry baby

Baltimore still sucks.. enough said

Pittsburgh is on the decline... Look at them at the end of last year they had nothing and all they have done this offseason is lose players

It will be a good year!

[711chad]

i think you could very well be right!!!who dey

[Ickey44]

I think everyone's pessimistic about the season because they all saw what happened to the Eagles when TO went postal on them they way Chad's going postal on us.

[Thurmanation]

I think everyone's pessimistic about the season because they all saw what happened to the Eagles when TO went postal on them they way Chad's going postal on us.

TO went postal, but hes not the only one that messed up there team, they lost alot on there front 7, and were plagued by injuries. Ive been saying what Cinci Bengals Fan has been saying all year, Next year will be GREAT better then the past 2 for sure!

[Ickey44]

I dunno. We got a tough schedule, a porous defense, one proven WR, and injury uncertainty at RB and OL. That's a lot to overcome.

On the upside, we still got Palmer, and we picked up Utecht....

[Thurmanation]

I dunno. We got a tough schedule, a porous defense, one proven WR, and injury uncertainty at RB and OL. That's a lot to overcome.

On the upside, we still got Palmer, and we picked up Utecht....

Bro!

injuries don't last forever, if i can overcome a broken wrist i'm sure the pros can overcome a pulled ligament in 7 months, like i said in another forum if Brady could do it with Deion Branch and thta other no-name WR i cant think of right now, Carson can do it with Housh and ANYONE.

[BengalszoneBilly]

If the defense is improved with the addition of DC Zimmer, Odom, and quite possibly Ellis, as well as the likely return of Thurman, the approaching season will follow regardless of what happens to s**thead.

[ArmyBengal]

If the D-line doesn't get improvements through the draft AND have them make an impact, it will be another disappointing season...

WHODEY !!!

[kingwilly]

Let's rewrite this from another perspective.

I am pissed about next year

Despite being suspended half of last year, Chris Henry continued to show he is an amazing talent as shown in his career rec/TD ratio.

Justin Smith is gone....yippee, can't argue there, consiering keeping him would mean extreme overpayment for his production and value.

Now we have Odom a Titans DE who we gave a big chunk of change to and MIGHT blossom

Now we have Utecht... despite an offensive scheme that underutilizes the TE spot in the pass game.

We will probably draft Keith Rivers who is a massive reach at 9.

We MIGHT have Odell back, with no guarantees on that OR his ability to play at a high level after sitting out of the sport.

We MIGHT get pollack back but in what limited capacity can he contribute?

We MIGHT have Chris Perry back but given his penchant for ending up on IR there is no confidence in his role.

We still have 9 other draft picks.... I personally think Marvin has done a piss-poor job drafting since coming to Cincy, wastes of picks on Character issue guys (Henry, Odell, Nicholson, Rucker), bad luck guys who've ended up injured one way or another (Weathersby, Brooks, Pollack, Perry, Irons), only developed a single player into a top-flight performer (Geathers) who was not selected in r1 or 2 (Ghiuchuc, Adams, Askew, Moore, Perry, etc.) and let high-value players walk (such as Steinbach)

How can you not be pissed about watching our team at the end of last season with nothing to play for? They played great with no pressure to perform when it didn't matter. Think about if we throw a new defensive scheme on a bunch of guys who are either rookies, cast-offs or gliders who have a sense of entitlement despite underperforming (Oneal and Thornton)? I can't wait!!!

<can't disagree with the below, spot on>

This is going to be our year... to find mediocrity.

Cleveland is going to suck again -- no secondary with a defense full of other teams rejects like rogers and s. smith... Anderson proved he is nothing at the end of last year. Brady is a cry baby

Baltimore still sucks.. enough said

Pittsburgh is on the decline... Look at them at the end of last year they had nothing and all they have done this offseason is lose players

It will be a blah year!

[Thurmanation]

Let's rewrite this from another perspective.

I am pissed about next year

Despite being suspended half of last year, Chris Henry continued to show he is an amazing talent as shown in his career rec/TD ratio.

Justin Smith is gone....yippee, can't argue there, consiering keeping him would mean extreme overpayment for his production and value.

Now we have Odom a Titans DE who we gave a big chunk of change to and MIGHT blossom

Now we have Utecht... despite an offensive scheme that underutilizes the TE spot in the pass game.

We will probably draft Keith Rivers who is a massive reach at 9.

We MIGHT have Odell back, with no guarantees on that OR his ability to play at a high level after sitting out of the sport.

We MIGHT get pollack back but in what limited capacity can he contribute?

If i We MIGHT have Chris Perry back but given his penchant for ending up on IR there is no confidence in his role.

We still have 9 other draft picks.... I personally think Marvin has done a piss-poor job drafting since coming to Cincy, wastes of picks on Character issue guys (Henry, Odell, Nicholson, Rucker), bad luck guys who've ended up injured one way or another (Weathersby, Brooks, Pollack, Perry, Irons), only developed a single player into a top-flight performer (Geathers) who was not selected in r1 or 2 (Ghiuchuc, Adams, Askew, Moore, Perry, etc.) and let high-value players walk (such as Steinbach)

How can you not be pissed about watching our team at the end of last season with nothing to play for? They played great with no pressure to perform when it didn't matter. Think about if we throw a new defensive scheme on a bunch of guys who are either rookies, cast-offs or gliders who have a sense of entitlement despite underperforming (Oneal and Thornton)? I can't wait!!!

<can't disagree with the below, spot on>

This is going to be our year... to find mediocrity.

Cleveland is going to suck again -- no secondary with a defense full of other teams rejects like rogers and s. smith... Anderson proved he is nothing at the end of last year. Brady is a cry baby

Baltimore still sucks.. enough said

Pittsburgh is on the decline... Look at them at the end of last year they had nothing and all they have done this offseason is lose players

It will be a blah year!

If i wasn't optamistic, i wouldn't be a Bengal fan.

[BengalNation1281]

If you guys read my blog on the home page (SHAMELESS PLUG), I talk about this topic at length.

My name on there is ICTBengalNation.

So you should read it. Please.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

If cheerleading and empty optimism is your thing, don't let anyone rain on your parade, Bengalszone can be that way I realize.

Really everything is going to depend on how the draft goes and any other moves they can make with Chad etc...,

Too many ? marks on this team right now for me to feel good about them.

On paper they're worse than last year already, and they're probably losing their franchise WR - so I don't see how anyone can think they'll be better than 7-9.

They lose starters and role players every year all over the place and have replaced them with ? marks and downgrades, and have had some crappy drafts to boot.

I'm fairly convinced they won't get better until they make front office changes and additions, and until the fans put the pressure on again and stop giving them a pass and living on one winning season 3 years ago, Mike Brown will keep milking it for all it's worth, and leaning on Marvin and Carson to do everything.

[Horsemen]

What Shula said.

[derekshank]

I don't feel like I am overly optimistic or pessimistic. I think the Bengals are going to be a middle of the road team. And with the scheduling for the AFCN, they are going to have to win their division to make the playoffs... something I doubt they will do.

Baltimore will suck

Cleveland has a very strong offense... and their defense is no weaker than the Bengal's is

Pittsburgh may be on the decline, but we're still talking about a team that whipped us twice last year.

Henry may not have been reliable, but it is silly to say we didn't lose anything there.

I'm happy about the Utecht signing, but it doesn't replace the roll Henry played.

Odell might come back, but hasn't played a snap of football in 2 1/2 years.

If Pollack comes back, I very much doubt he contributes in '08.

All in all, the Bengals will be very similar to the team they were last year. A team that relies on rookies, journeymen and unproven players.

It didn't work out last year... it could work out better in '08 - but I'm not holding my breath.

I smell another 8-8 season without the playoffs. That's my take.

[Ickey44]

Well, maybe with Chad outta the way, the team might come together and play better, ala the Giants during the playoffs last year. Who knows? But I'm not getting my hopes up...

[Sandwedge]

I'm optimistic every year, because what are you gonna do?? I don't control what the Bengals do... I think we can win every week, if we don't no big deal.. I'll be pissed for about an hour and then realize that I will wake up on Monday morning and my life will be fine... The whole doom and gloom thing from people, crack me up... Why be negative?? I don't mean though that our defense didn't suck and had better get better or else we won't win vewry many again.. That's not negative that's being realistic..