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Football and Bengals getting boring? It's not just me?


cincyhokie

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1 hour ago, AMPHAR said:

It wouldn't be justifiable.    If we are honest with ourselves about the changes we want to occur there is no guarantee that even IF we get those changes the next level is achieved.   The life of the fan is completely different than the life of a participant.     We can demand changes with no fear of being accountable for what transpires.

All of these players own the failure just as much as the Management and coaches.   Just because a disgruntled player may shoot an arrow in the back of target we are commonly frustrated with doesn't make their reasoning just.

Even in the case of AJ Green.   He would have little room to deflect blame over not being in a Superbowl by now.  He's had numerous key fumbles and bad plays that have harmed their playoff positioning and advancement.  

We fans can't talk about wanting more accountability and leadership and accept Dillon behavior.  No way.   

Nope, no guarantee that the next level is achieved.  Not at all and I don't hide from the chances of it falling apart.
However, I also won't bury my head in the sand hoping and praying that the way I've always done things will some how work some day when proven otherwise.
Being afraid to make a move is worse than not trying at all in my opinion.  I want to be a great doctor, but won't go to med school.  How's that going to end ??

Sure AJ shares in the blame.  I'm not suggesting that he or any other player doesn't.
My point is that he has an opinion and if the team doesn't share his opinion and continues to lose, resentment shouldn't come as a surprise.
I'm not suggesting I agree with any of it, just saying...

I didn't at the time and still don't accept what Dillon did, or Chad, or Palmer, much like I don't accept what Pac Man is doing now.
Much like I don't accept what we've gotten from this coaching staff.  However, they all remain and talk of extensions are in the air.
It's the front office that can't talk about wanting more of those things when they are the ones tolerating and at times enabling those behaviors.

 

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2 hours ago, ArmyBengal said:

Nope, no guarantee that the next level is achieved.  Not at all and I don't hide from the chances of it falling apart.
However, I also won't bury my head in the sand hoping and praying that the way I've always done things will some how work some day when proven otherwise.
Being afraid to make a move is worse than not trying at all in my opinion.  I want to be a great doctor, but won't go to med school.  How's that going to end ??

Sure AJ shares in the blame.  I'm not suggesting that he or any other player doesn't.
My point is that he has an opinion and if the team doesn't share his opinion and continues to lose, resentment shouldn't come as a surprise.
I'm not suggesting I agree with any of it, just saying...

I didn't at the time and still don't accept what Dillon did, or Chad, or Palmer, much like I don't accept what Pac Man is doing now.
Much like I don't accept what we've gotten from this coaching staff.  However, they all remain and talk of extensions are in the air.
It's the front office that can't talk about wanting more of those things when they are the ones tolerating and at times enabling those behaviors.

 

This^^^^

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  • 2 weeks later...

This past season I stopped watching the Bengals with 6-7games left in the season. Actually I stopped watching the NFL. I knew our season was over and I really didn't want to get a heart attack from being so damn mad at the team, coaches and results. Marvin got us out of the funk and turned the team around, but year after year we see the same results now. We see the same play calling, the same team that has no discipline, no sense of urgency. We get the hype and then get let down. When we lost most of our receivers last season, I knew we wouldn't have a good year and I said to the wife, we will not make the playoffs and we didn't. News conference after new conference we hear the same crap coming out of Marvin's mouth, "we have to play better". "we have to get better"...... Yet we never see it, we still miss blocks, drop passes, get sacked, commit penalty after penalty, miss tackles, blow coverages, and so on and so on.... Teams that we should dominate end up being really close games. Games that we should win we lose. Is it me or do we seem to always lose to Rookie QB's? Yea, I'm a bit sick of watching football, but will most likely get sucked back into it when the season starts, because I love my Bengals!

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I don't ignore Lewis p, just realize he's coaching as long as he wants to here. 

ESPN has been doing the 30 for 30 on XFL.  They took on the NFL at the height of growing popularity.   Another league might be able to make a small run at this point just by improving upon the things the NFL has gotten wrong recently.

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I watched 8 games this year and almost none of the playoffs.  The NFL is in trouble if this is affecting die-hards....I figured it was just me, clearly it isn't.  I get tired of the good 'ole boy system, I get tired of the politics, I get tired of the drama...there were several times this year (albeit later in the year when the Bengals were out of it) that I chose to stay home and play video games rather than head down the local watering hole and watch the game...says something.  I can't remember the last time I missed more than 3 Bengals games in a season and there have been many seasons worse than last year.

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5 minutes ago, HoosierCat said:

Nothing is worse than stagnation, and that's where the league and the Bengals are now.

Yep.

I remember as a kid in the 80's, the day of the SB ESPN would play all of the previous SB highlight shows back to back leading up to kickoff.  I was glued to the TV all day.  It was like another holiday.  I used to get so pumped for that game and that day.  The culmination of an entire season.

Now, the NFL is nothing like I remember, not even 5-10 years ago.  Stale is an appropriate word.

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Not just you, hokie. This is as bored as I have been with both in a long time. One of the reasons I thought the Bengals needed a new coach. There is literally no hope for anything new or different, and nothing to discuss, as we know what Marvin's tendencies are and how is team will play, for better or worse.

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On 2/7/2017 at 0:42 PM, COB said:

While Mike and Katie might find that the easiest route is just to retain Marvin year after year, and keep cashing those profit sharing checks from the NFL, it is killing fan interest in their team.   I agree with all of the above-listed reasons for the malaise.  

The playoff game we handed to Pittsburgh last year can't be underestimated, in my opinion.  It was in some ways the last straw.  I have no hope whatsoever that a Marvin led team will ever do anything significant.  We waited years, many years, for that moment.  To finally win a playoff game, and to do it against our hated rival - our patience was finally being rewarded.  And then to have it taken away by of all things lack of discipline in a couple hot-headed players, when for years one of Marvin's major weaknesses as a coach has been his proclivity to bring in hotheads and then fail to instill discipline.  Honestly, not to sound over dramatic about it, but something really died inside me with that loss.  I'm still into the Bengals, but in a much milder way than in the past.  They seriously need to revitalize the whole operation starting with the head coach.  

This is probably closest to how I feel. I am assuming some passion will return, but it won't be until Marvin is gone, for me, anyway. I just don't trust things on the field while he remains head coach. 

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On Sunday, February 19, 2017 at 8:11 PM, HoosierCat said:

Eh, not much choice. Marvin is here to stay as long as he wants. We all know it's bogus but nothing is to be done. If you're going to talk bengals, FA and the draft is where its at.

 

Well we need to make Cincinnati great again because this shit ain't working.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Howard Mudd is a legendary offensive line coach in the NFL.  I've been reading his book called The View from The O-Line.  I started looking at books on Amazon because I got tired of all the soap - opera , nonsense that has nothing to do with football the media throws at us.  I'd rather know what the players and coaches are really up to everyday.

Here's a great story from Evan Mathis. He was under Howard's tutelage and is quoted throughout:

"I got cut the week after the Denver game.... So I was in (playing) in Miami for only 7 weeks.  I got picked up in Cincinnati toward the end of that season.  Paul Alexander was the offensive line coach.  He's still there. He liked to think things through.  It was probably the first time I ever played for someone who was very logical.  He had a logical approach to the game.  He definitely was a technician.  He had a lot of different ways of doing things.  Most of his things I really believe in.  But a few things didn't make sense..... He very rarely got upset.  If he got upset, the guys felt bad for letting him down.  But he wasn't condescending.  He was a very respectful guy, a  very, very smart man.  He had a real passion for the game.  I really have a lot of respect for him as a coach."

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So far, (I haven't finished the book, yet) Evan hasn't said what things he thought didn't make sense but he clearly thinks Paul is a great coach.  Before he ended up with Cincy, he was coached by the same o-line coach((Mike Maser) twice in the NFL and he felt the guy was always condescending and often wasn't even paying attention to the players during technique practice sessions. 

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Again, a great book by Howard Mudd.  I really recommend it for those of you who are fed up with the useless coverage many shows and other media provide of the NFL.  Here's Kyle Long (you know, (Howie Long's son):

"My first regular season game was against Cincinnati.  I remember we walked out, and I saw Geno Atkins.  I thought this guy is so short, it would be like blocking a fire hydrant.  And Carlos Dunlap is like 6'6 .  One is so short and the other is so tall, but they are two of the best at what they do.  So its Atkins, Dunlap, Taylor Mays, Rey Maualuga, and Vontaze Burfict.  This is like the baddest group of men I've ever seen on the field.  It occurred to me that I wasn't at Saddleback Junior college anymore.  I was looking across at Maualuga.  He had that look like , I'm gonna f- you up. And I'm thinking, yeah... you probably will.  I pulled on power into the A gap.  I was just dumb enough to speed up when I hit the wall.  I thought maybe I'll knock somebody around.  Rey and I hit.  To this day, it is the hardest hit I've ever been a part of.  We both looked at each other like Damn.... I only saw Geno eight or nine times during the game.  Matt Slauson dealt with him, thank God.  The times I saw him he tried to take my head off every play. '

-The View from the O-Line by Howard Mudd

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I agree with the staleness sentiment. Can't pinpoint of its the whole league or just Bengals fans. Our striped glasses do shade things a particular way. 

Last night I spent some time looking through our old mock drafts. So much debate and discussion. Often our ideas were spot on (HoosierCat predicting Geno, Gio, AJ) or way, way off (a prediction that Keuchly would bust). But there was epic discussion. Now, it's just a void. We've (some) have had life priorities change our level of participation and discourse. Some have moved on. Some still here, keeping this place alive and vibrant, with new names adding to the mix. 

I see this team as catharsis, and often it isn't pretty or positive. But that's life. 

I value all the ppl who stay engaged, and those who once were but now do as life dictates. It's all good. 

The NFL is just entertainment. 

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Thanks for the reference on the book.  I'll check it out.

On Paul, he's always gotten respect but no matter what happens he's an incompetent goof to a large portion of the fan base.  Not sure why, his unit for the most part have been among the best. 

He's got his work cut out for him this year but it will play out like it always does.   If they improve it won't be talked about much and when it is the credit will be spread to another part like "getting the ball out quick" and if it fails or continues to be an issue it will be time to burn his house down and rape his family.

That's the life of many offensive linemen.   Block a guy great 69 out of 70 snaps.  Give up a sack and you suck and the guy is doing some rehearsed sack dance.   

 

 

 

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12 hours ago, GapControl said:

Again, a great book by Howard Mudd.  I really recommend it for those of you who are fed up with the useless coverage many shows and other media provide of the NFL.  Here's Kyle Long (you know, (Howie Long's son):

"My first regular season game was against Cincinnati.  I remember we walked out, and I saw Geno Atkins.  I thought this guy is so short, it would be like blocking a fire hydrant.  And Carlos Dunlap is like 6'6 .  One is so short and the other is so tall, but they are two of the best at what they do.  So its Atkins, Dunlap, Taylor Mays, Rey Maualuga, and Vontaze Burfict.  This is like the baddest group of men I've ever seen on the field.  It occurred to me that I wasn't at Saddleback Junior college anymore.  I was looking across at Maualuga.  He had that look like , I'm gonna f- you up. And I'm thinking, yeah... you probably will.  I pulled on power into the A gap.  I was just dumb enough to speed up when I hit the wall.  I thought maybe I'll knock somebody around.  Rey and I hit.  To this day, it is the hardest hit I've ever been a part of.  We both looked at each other like Damn.... I only saw Geno eight or nine times during the game.  Matt Slauson dealt with him, thank God.  The times I saw him he tried to take my head off every play. '

-The View from the O-Line by Howard Mudd

 

Can all of the Bengal references in Mudd's book earn us a comp pick?  Mike's checking it out.

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