HoosierCat

Hobs:

Worth keeping an eye on... https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35150209/ravens-lamar-jackson-leaves-practice-quadriceps-injury

Chase says he feels no pain, has no issues with movement; is expected to be limited in this week's practices, at least initially.

Mixon cleared to practice.

Chiefs looking to bolster their run d: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35141706/sources-dt-brandon-williams-sign-chiefs-practice-squad

The cheap option would have been to not sign Harris and Huber (both FAs after last season) and go with Adomitis and Chrisman (cheap rookies). Keeping Huber right now is actually costing MB $$$. Times they are a changin, etc. They can’t call Chrisman up anymore without sending him through waivers after this weekend. That’s why he will be signed got the 53 and all this agita will be over next week latest. Do they keep Huber? I doubt it but as has been pointed out its not like Carmen’s roster spot is any use at this point…

New taxi squad adds: The Bengals today signed DE Owen Carney and WR Tyron Johnson to the practice squad. Carney (6-2, 252), a rookie out of the University of Illinois, originally signed with Miami as a college free agent in May. He was waived by the Dolphins at final cuts this year. Johnson (6-1, 193), a third-year player out of Oklahoma State University, originally was a college free agent signee of Houston in 2019. He has played in 26 career NFL games — 12 with the L.A. Chargers in 2020, five with Jacksonville in '21 and five with Las Vegas in '21, plus two with Las Vegas and two with Houston earlier this season. He has 23 career catches for 422 yards (18.3 average) with three TDs. Johnson was waived by the Texans on Nov. 17.

Yes and the 1.5 days is Sunday postgame and Monday. It’s now (checks calendar) Tuesday night. Relax.

No they can’t. Teams can protect up to 4 players a week from being poached. I’m sure they’ve done that.

Players aren’t claimed off practices squads. Another team would have to sign him to their 53-man roster. And he doesn’t have to sign. I’m sure the Bengals have told him if any team calls they have a contract of their own for him.

100%. The old Bengals would have had Jim Lippencott hustling him out a side door in the dead of night three weeks ago.

They won’t. The slow-walking is annoying but I get why they might do things this way. You just stabilized your kicking position last year with McPherson, and clearly they felt that veteran team of Harris at LS and Huber holding was important enough to Money Mac’s success that they brought both of them back on one-year deals. Meanwhile you groom their replacements on the taxi squad. A solid strategy…that detonated on opening day when Harris got hurt and the team subsequently missed a FG and XP en route to a 3-point OT loss. So now in the space of 18 games you’ve got a new kicker and a new long snapper. Well, at least Huber’s a rock, right? Well, actually… So they’re completely cycling all three core teams positions in a season and a half, and two of those in like 9 games. Under those circumstance I might be tempted to hang onto Kevin as long as I could, too. (And hey, a shout-out to Darrin Simmons. It’s a credit to him that things have gone as smoothly as they have.)

Yeah, game planning and playcalling have definitely smoothed out since September. The oline gelling and the run game finding some life have helped there, too, but it’s nice that Zac no longer seems stumped by such concepts as “Tampa 2.” And you have to hand it to him for keeping the offense going without missing a beat after losing Chase. Taylor still does a few things that irritate me, but he hasn’t handed me anything to seriously bitch about for some time. Hopefully it stays that way!

Some bits from Hobs: Chase still a question mark. Mixon still in concussion protocol, but “making progress.” Team off yesterday & today so no practice until tomorrow.

Just for the record tonight: when it comes to time management, Marvin Lewis > Jeff Saturday.

This stuff is…I don’t know exactly what word to use. Interesting? Aggravating? Telling? I don’t know. The thing is, I’ve watched football for a long time. And dirty stuff is always there. And I get frustration by a losing team at the end of a game. But… Am I the only one who gets the feeling this has been happening a lot to the Bengals recently? Like, for instance, every time, and I mean EVERY TIME Burrow scrambles some defender takes a head shot? WRs seem to take a lot of borderline hits too. I get that it’s part of the game. But it’s like teams are pissed the Bengals are good. I dunno, maybe its just me, but they seem to get a lot of this shit, more than their fair share.

As TJ noted above they are limited in the amount of times they get to play this elevation trick, and the KC game would be the last one for Chrisman. If Huber isn’t issued his gold watch this week, he gets it next week.

Agree on all counts. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised at how well they’ve weathered the loss of Chido. Mahomes is a way bigger challenge than Tannehill or Pickett tho so hopefully CTB can keep pace with that hockey stick learning curve that is your rookie year in the NFL. And yeah they badly need to find a pass rush. Not sure what’s happened there, aside from the officials apparently exempting Hendrickson’s opponents from holding rules… Re KC’s oline, I believe Thuney was out with an ankle issue Sunday, no word yet on whether he will be back next weekend.

So…looking at the remaining games, I’d say they need 4. 10 wins might squeak in but it would probably mean they need help. I think 11 gets them there straight up. Must-wins are Baltimore, Cleveland, Bills and Pats. Have to win those first two to have any hope of snatching the AFCN crown again, and at least one if not both of the last two will be competing against them for a WC spot if they don’t. Bucs game is the most lose-able game left. NFC team, basically no playoff implications aside from overall record (yes, if you go deep enough into tiebreakers maybe it matters but if that’s the case they’re probably screwed anyhow). That leaves this week’s tilt against the Chiefs. Goes without saying a win would be ideal. But KC is 3 games up on SD, they’re almost certainly going to win the west, so they won’t figure into any AFC WC scrum. A loss would suck and turn the screws tighter on the remaining games, but isn’t fatal. Hope they get it done. Not gonna freak if they don’t.

3 point home dogs.

Graziano’s on board. https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/35124488/judging-nfl-week-12-overreactions-bengals-repeat-afc-north

So apparently after the Ravens lost this happened. Good to know Lamar has his priorities straight…

Cards suck.

I’d rather not repeat the championship game from last year. Let’s just beat them by like 20 points in regulation instead of 3 in OT.

Doesn’t get any easier this week. Hopefully there’s no hangover from the big win in Tenn.