HoosierCat

Novel strategy of not rushing the passer there.

D is really not very good. Only thing keeping them out of the trash is their penchant for getting turnovers.

ADG vs Andrews is a matchup Balti will take all night long.

Always good to turn on a pregame show and immediately get hit in the face with Stabby. Reminds me that the Bengals have a statue of a hall of fame coach outside their stadium, and Baltimore has a statue of a murderer.

From the .com

Murphy was a textbook luxury pick. They irritate me for the same reasons. It will irritate me less if he blossoms into an above average DE. If he's the next Ogbuehi however...

Also a question about Burrow's throwing hand. Recall he hurt a finger Sunday. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10097583-video-leaks-of-joe-burrow-appearing-to-wear-hand-brace-after-bengals-delete-post

CBS:

Ravens win tonight and you can forget about the division. Even if Baltimore went a middling 3-3 over their final six games, the Bengals would have to win out to take the crown and they've given no reason to believe they can do that this year. A loss also puts them at 0-3 in the division and 1-5 in the conference. The only tiebreaker they are winning at this point is the head to head against Buffalo (and they are hosed in any tiebreaker with Houston now). They're up the proverbial shit creek without a paddle unless they get their act together tonight.

Baby: Bengals WR Tee Higgins (hamstring), WR Andrei Iosivas (knee) and DE Sam Hubbard (ankle) are all out for Thursday's game against Baltimore. https://www.threads.net/@bbaby41/post/CzrYDBcu4ym/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Looks like Hendrickson will play tho.

I think they have like $33 million in space this year they can roll over so that will help but yeah, your point stands. Things will be tight for a bit up there.

2024 peek from ESPN. https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/38895900/2024-nfl-free-agent-ranking-top-25-buzz-predictions-burns-cousins-higgins They have Higgins listed as the top FA WR and No. 6 overall. As we all expect he is almost certainly gone. Jonah shows up at 15. They seem to think teams will look at him as a RT and that he will get double digit numbers annually but not as high as McGlinchy got last March (17.5). So maybe there’s a chance if both sides are interested. Chido gets a nod in the post-top 25 honorable mentions.

Week 18 note: Watson out for the season in Cleveland. https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/news/afc-north-shakeup-browns-qb-deshaun-watson-out-for-season So…for their $230 million fully guaranteed deal, the Browns in 2 years have gotten 12 starts, 8 wins and a QB rating of 81.7. Ouch.

I also think the line looks worse than it is due to Burrow and the playcalling. Burrow loves to hold the ball forever, run around, try to make thing happen, and the playcalling supports that. And that’s fine, but you are going to take more hits and sacks that way. You want fewer sacks, go back to the Dalton style pre-snap read, three steps, fire the ball style offense.

I’m pretty sure no one would bet an eye if pollack were issued his walking papers. Alexander got such hate because not only was he bad he was also here for about 4,000 years.

Eh, it's one of those catch-22 things. Practice and preseason only go so far. The only way to get guys like Ossai or Murphy up to NFL speed (and see if they really have what it takes) is live reps. But giving them live reps means taking Hendrickson and Hubbard off the field. And the Bengals aren't going to do that unless forced. This week, they're been forced. Frankly I'm not expecting much. If they have any chance to win imo it will be by the offense scoring lots of points. But on that front Higgins is still out and Iosivas has a knee injury (not sure how severe), so they keep going in the wrong direction in terms of available weapons. Maybe Zac could run the ba...(busts out in uncontrollable laughter)

At the end of the day I have to give props to Houston. They came in focused and hungry and outplayed the Bengals on both sides of the ball. If I were the Bengals I would have been pretty somber afterwards too because they flat out got beat. And that goes for the coaches as well. Houston put the dagger in position. Ravens can sink it in Thursday.

I think Hobs noted that they haven’t won a prime time road game since 2012.

I have no hope. Season's end prep begun. Draft talk incoming.

True, but at least to me this really doesn’t feel like a team that can make a run. It feels more like a team whose window is closing. Burrow’s calf killed them out of the gate and now the usual injuries are taking their toll. And when this season ends Higgins is gone, Jonah is gone…nope, pretty down on them tonight.

Game.

Can the Texans just get a TD so I can shut this shit off?

Lap: I’d like to see the cincy running game get going Volcom: slams head repeatedly into wall

Texans have left at least 10 points on the field.

Pitt 17-16