HoosierCat

Burton film breakdown. Need him out there more.

Every HC has their strengths and weaknesses. The one thing I will say re Zac v Marvin is that I never thought the job was too big for Lewis. Zac, by contrast, often strikes me as out of his depth.

"Some day, we'll get the right collection of players, and then we'll win." That, or very nearly that, was Mike's answer to Paul Daugherty's question about the team's strategy for building a winner in an interview a long time ago. To what extent the next generation (Katie, etc.) share this philosophy I don't know, but Mike clearly believed that success in the NFL was essentially random. You hit on a draft or two, get an easy schedule, don't lose key guys to injuries, fumbles bounce your way, weather is cooperative, etc, etc., and voila! Championship. If not, well, there's always next year. And of course there is truth to that. But as the old saying goes, the Lord helps those who help themselves. Good teams do things, like invest in scouting to make drafting less of a crapshoot, to nudge the odds in their favor. They use all the financial tools available to keep good players that they draft and develop. They attack areas of weakness in free agency. And on and on, all stuff we have talked about ad infinitum. But for The Family, it's, welp, we didn't get lucky this year. Maybe we'll get lucky next year. That's it. That's the strategy.

A 6th for Uche…sigh.

NERRRRRRRD!!!!!

The d is a rebuild candidate, including DC. Can’t get pressure, can’t cover, can’t scheme their way out of it. Again getting to the point where we need more Murphy, Jackson, Anderson, Anthony just to figure out if there’s anything there. We know Bell, Ossai, Hubbard etc aren’t the answer.

What they need is a run game. Right now they are 29th in rushing attempts, 28th in yards and 24th in yards per attempt. And this is against defenses keying on stopping the pass! They have talent at RB and if they don’t love the line’s blocking you have All to play hybrid TE/FB. Between him, Chase B and Moss they ought to be able to run the damn ball.

Burrow and Ja'Marr are the whole offense. And both of them appear to be getting aggravated by that. Burrow in particular does not sound happy about the state of the run game. I know everyone and their mother screams whenever they "take the ball out of their best player's hands" but he can't do it alone. Want to cut down those sacks, having a run game the opposing D was forced to respect would help, too. Trey's a stud but this D is the textbook example of the old saying about how it's hard to soar with the eagles when you're surrounded by turkeys.

Since we are 8 games in and could be looking at offseason talk starting a few months early, it's worth a glance at how offseason 2024 has been working out. Way to early to judge the draft but the most important pick, Mims, appears to be working out very well. All seems like a keeper and potential star. Everyone else...ehh, reply hazy, ask again later. How about tagging Tee? I can't argue with that call, I would have done it too, so ultimately I am in no position to complain about it. And Tee has been a force when on the field. As just one example he has more first down conversions than anyone but Ja'Marr despite having missed three games. But...he has missed those three games and at the moment we don't know if he will miss more with the new injury. Strictly from an ROI perspective that $21.8 million is looking like a shaky investment. Then there's FA. Moss: meh. After Sunday he has fallen behind Chase Brown in attempts (74 to 78) Chase also has 100+ more yards, 2 more TDs, is averaging 1.3 yards per carry more, etc. I realize he was supposed to be part of a 1-2 punch versus the Mixon bell cow approach, but I was under the impression he was supposed to be the 1. This year Moss has pocketed $4.5 million in return for 429 combined yards and 3 combined TDs. He is a good blocker and outlet receiver, so there's that at least. Like I said, meh. Trent Brown: exactly what we feared. Again I would still have signed him but yeah, might as well have flushed $4.75 million down the toilet. Gesicki: I'd say he's been fine. Mostly serving as a Boyd replacement. 25 catches and 253 yards so far. But he's only signed for 1 year, $3 million and with a 3-5 record you have to think about getting Burton and McLachlan some snaps. They (may) have a future here, Mike doesn't. Stone: Well, shit. Another entry for the "shoulda kept Bates" file. I dunno, maybe there's some hope there, we'll see if/when he gets back. But 2 years, $15 million is feeling pretty rich right now. Rankins: 5 games, 15 tackles, 1 sack. Just for the record he is pocketing $14 million this year (4th-largest cash outlay on the roster this year) and a $12 million cap hit (5th on the rosters). I know, I know, stats don't tell the whole story on the dline but still, this is easily looking like the worst signing on the offseason.

In the long term you are probably right. The NFL won’t last forever because nothing does, so eventually the big tv dollars will dwindle. But in the meantime it’s guaranteed no-effort money for The Family. They can cover all their expenses and pay themselves handsomely out of the checks the league office sends out every year. The only way to screw it up would be to, you know, actually spend like other teams. So they don’t. I can’t say I blame ‘em. If I were in Mike’s hover round, I’d probably do the same thing. “Lol suckers, I got mine, f**k you.”

Well, once again folks it’s not quite Halloween and it’s more or less over. A Raiders win will all but seal it and right now I have zero confidence that the Bengals could beat a squad of Girl Scouts. Even if they do manage a win, their reward is a Thursday game in Baltimore and then a trip to the west coast. I’m thinking 4-7 at the bye and that’s with a win Sunday. Draft-wise they now sit just outside the top 10.

Malik and Zim talk about that. One problem is that the Bengals say their strategy is to build through the draft, then balk at playing the young guys. Not to defend Murphy but Hubbard (who was ass today) is still getting more snaps. Why? Burton can’t get on the field and that other TE they drafted can’t get on the game day active list. Murphy is halfway through his second year and really, I don’t know what to think of him yet. Yet the Bengals will have to decide whether to pick up his option in the first half of 2026. So they got 9 games this season and then next season to see what they got.

It’s The Family. Ownership in Cincinnati is not going to hire a top-tier coach because said coach is going to cost a bunch (and so will his staff) and will want control. So like I said in the other thread, sure, fire Zac. I won’t complain. But just be aware the most likely replacement is another guy just like him. We aren’t getting a Billick/Belicheck/Cowher-caliber coach.

I pretty much agree with all the conversation here.

Heh. Sounds about right. Looks close to time to shift into hate-watching mode for the rest of the season.

When it rains it pours. Turning this off now.

That should about do it

Now the o goes to shit

Nice run by Chase nice blocking up front

Inactive today sadly

Fucked by the refs again

Baltimore playing their third stringers?

Well that rules me out

Again, whatever

Whatever