HoosierCat

Baltimore handed them a playoff spot. It’s that simple. They’ll be one and done.

Jackson Carman sighting!!!

Another one for Princeton

Punt game sucks but we knew that.

Jones too.

Preseason game so of course browning looks like preseason browning.

Is your son Mike Brown? “We would’ve made the playoffs if Boyd caught that ball.” OH MY GAWD ARMYBENGAL IS KATIE’S SOCKPUPPET!!!!!!

So Robbins looks to end the season as the worst punter in the NFL. https://www.cincyjungle.com/2024/1/5/24026965/brad-robbins-giant-strides-bengals-special-teams-coordinator-darrin-simmons

Higgins doubtful. DNP all week so it looks like he won't play. Crap ending to a crap year for him.

Yeah, Irv didn't work out as hoped. Orlando Brown Jr. took a step back too, from 75.8 in 2022 with KC to 63.9 here in 2023. Still better than Jonah was in 2022 at LT, but not by much. Certainly not the kind of improvement we were hoping for. Pratt got paid and promptly dropped 20 frickin' points, from 80 to 60. Makes Logan Wilson's fall from 72 to 62 look tame by comparison.

2022 vs. 2023 PFF scores for some of our key FAs. Reader and Higgins still pretty good, even in a down year. Boyd...ooof. At least Chido had the coming off injury excuse. Not much change for Jonah despite the position move. Player 2023 PFF Grade (Rank) 2022 PFF Grade (Rank) DI D.J. Reader 82.2 (13th/137) 85.2 (6th/142) WR Tee Higgins 72.1 (43rd/99) 78.4 (20th/122) WR Tyler Boyd 60.8 (79th/99) 70.2 (42nd/122) CB Chidobe Awuzie 62.6 (81st/134) 69.9 (T-37th/131) OT Jonah Williams 59.1 (59th/81) 61.0 (T-65th/89) QB Jake Browning 75.2 (20th/44) N/A TE Irv Smith Jr. 44.2 (49th/49) 56.4 (38th/42, with Vikings)

No, you pretty much got it. Just change little to massive.

Amphar is just doing us the service of previewing the line the Bengals will be rolling out in the offseason. That being, the only reason they didn’t make the playoffs/win the division/win the Super Bowl was that Burrow got hurt. Hobs will be detailed to explain in his usual exasperating manner how there is no need for coaching or personnel changes, no need to spend big in FA, no need to draft impact players, we can take luxury picks that will play 10 snaps a game, etc., because a healthy Burrow farts lightning and craps thunder and the Lombardi is a lock if they just Stay. The. Course.

Driskel starting for Cleveland Sunday. https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/news/jeff-driskel-start-for-browns-bengals-season-finale#google_vignette

Oh, and if you’re looking for something to do other than watch a preseason game in January, I cannot recommend The Boy and the Heron highly enough. Miyazaki saved the best for last, it’s a masterpiece.

Opponents set for next season: Home Opponents (8): Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Denver, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Washington and New England. Road Opponents (9); Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Kansas City, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Giants, Tennessee and Carolina. https://nbc24.com/sports/cincinnati-bengals-2024-25-opponents-set-after-loss-kansas-city-nfl-pro-football-home-road-browns-ravens-steelers-chiefs-titans-chargers-raiders-broncos-panthers-giants-patriots-commanders-eagles-chiefs Very friendly if they can manage to win a division game or two…

I don’t think the window is ever closed with Burrow. But yeah one freaking healthy year would be a nice change of pace.

I rooted for enough worthless December win in the Nineties to finally learn that the only thing they do is give them an excuse not to change anything. 0-6 in the north might actually light a fire under someone. 1-5 will be business as usual.

Draft pick guide for this week: First, obviously we want the Bengals to take a dive and finish 8-9. Second, we want New Orleans, Denver and Seattle to win. They would all be 9-8, bumping us from 16 to 13. Third, we want Chicago and Minnesota to win and finish 8-9. They would still be ahead of us in the first but we would rotate up to 11 in the second.

Hubbard said postgame he was getting surgery in the offseason. Didn’t say for what, but something to keep an eye on.

Game time announced, 1 pm Sunday https://www.bengals.com/news/game-time-browns-bengals-week-18-2023-season-schedule Game will be televised on ESPN en Espanol 37 as a Picture in Picture insert during coverage of the Mexican tequila worm bottle climbing championship.

Defensively I would go back to first principles: it all starts up front. A good line covers a multitude of sins behind it. That’s how Zim built his best defenses here. Right now the only starting caliber DT they have is Hill. They need to rebuild the DT room and that will take a minimum of a quality FA signing and a high draft pick. Reader is a wild card here. I love the guy but he’s getting older and coming off a serious injury, so I’m leery of counting on him. But in any event, they need better tackles.

Yeah cbs had it wrong, it was Denver not Pitt.

And that’s that. With the loss to KC, the Bengals were eliminated from playoff contention. Meanwhile, the Browns have nothing to play for; they can’t unseat Baltimore and they already have the highest WC spot locked up since they hold the conference tiebreaker over Buffalo. So this is basically 2024 preseason game number 1. Bring on the draft!

Bullshit