HoosierCat

Lions punch their ticket to the NFC championship game.

Turn out the lights, the party’s over for Houston.

Nice td teams!

Texans have no answer for Jackson’s legs

Wow great kick

Texans just killing themselves with flags

Lucky lucky lucky

Gotta catch that Schultz.

Well, this is the part where you tag and trade Higgins for a second (and hopefully more but at least that) and you cut Mixon to free up more cap space to sign King Henry and then I wake up from my dream because it’s Monday morning and I have to go to work…

Goodberry agrees and says they would have to trade up. He talks about using a third to move up but I think it would probably take at least their second rounder, or a first in 2025. I’m game but I doubt it happens.

So the Raiders game next season just got a little more interesting. https://myfox28columbus.com/sports/sports-news/former-bengals-head-coach-marvin-lewis-reportedly-back-nfl-job-antonio-pierce-raiders-hire-hired-cincinnati-arizona-state

I will die mad about those two super bowls.

Speaking of TE…

Meant to make a divisional weekend thread today but work got in the way, COB’s post seemed a good place to start!

Burrow buys a house. https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/bengals-quarterback-joe-burrow-purchases-cincinnati-ohio-mansion/

I’m sure that was part of it. But they have paid guys like Pratt and Hendrickson on the d, too. Bottom line imho is that they need to hit on some picks and get some cheap young talent involved on both sides of the ball.

If PFF is at all on the mark, this looks like a draft that will fall really well for the defense. Not that there won't be an offensive tackle or wide receiver you could easily justify at 18, but man the corners and edge guys who could be there look mighty tasty. And second/third rounds have a lot of interior DL prospects. I think that if I'm the Bengals and their draft board starts looking the same way, I'm thinking hard about two general strategies. 1. Can you trade down and put yourself in a better position to draft on the offensive side? Last two years have seen 2 firsts, 2 seconds and 2 thirds spent on defense, and well, we saw what we saw there this year. You can make the argument that you really need some vet (aka FA) help there, not more noobs. 2. If you can't/don't want to trade, fine, go D-heavy again in the draft and use your cap dollars to go after a vet RT, vet TE (schultz is a popular pick), vet RB if you don't like Mixon anymore, etc. Best defense is a good offense and all that, let's score 50 a game.

Callahan going back for interview #2 with the Titans. https://www.cincyjungle.com/2024/1/17/24042245/titans-coach-search-brian-callahan-interviews-bengals As the story notes, all interviews up to this point are by rule virtual. No in-person interviews until next week, which is what this will be. So he isn't necessarily a shoe-in, but obviously they like him.

Saints sniffing around Pitcher. https://www.cincyjungle.com/2024/1/17/24041748/dan-pitcher-saints-interview-bengals-quarterbacks-coach-qbs

My latest go over at pff: 18: HEY KOOL-AID!!! The 2024 draft starts off right with a TJ freak out as the Bengals can’t resist another first round corner. We all know how much they lust after first round corners, and there’s no way on god’s green earth they pass up McKinstry if he falls. 49: Chop Robinson, EDGE, Penn. What?!?! Another DE? Like Murphy last year, Bengals can’t resist when Chop slips to them in the second. And while it seems crazy, consider that Ossai is basically a bust at this point, Hubbard is injured and Hendrickson is only signed through 25 (and they could free up $16 million in cap space in 25 by letting him go). 80: Ruke Orhorhoro, NT, Clemson. Gotta start someplace on the inside. For the third straight year the first three pick go defense. Make or break year for Anarumo.

He didn’t. There was no fake slide.

Buzz this a.m. in Philly is that Sirianni won't survive last night, so we may have yet another coaching vacancy open up. Jerry Jones didn't seem too thrilled with the Dallas loss either, but you never know which way he will jump. Meanwhile, up in Cleveland the scribes are penning odes to the team's management about how they did the right thing dumping Mayfield for Watson, Baker's playoff wins be damned. El. Oh. El.

Well so much for the NFC East…

Still a quarter to go but if the Clowns have to watch Baker Mayfield advance in the playoffs I will laugh and laugh and laugh.

At the end of the day, Cleveland and Pittsburgh were who we thought they were, a couple pretenders who ultimately got into the playoffs because the only victory the Bengals could get in the division was the one where the Browns sat all their talent. Cleveland now faces having to manage a roster while weighted down by Watson’s massive number and still lacking high draft picks. Pittsburgh is like an echo of the Lewis/Dalton era. There’s talent on the roster but is anyone confident that Tomlin/Pickett (or Rudolph) can lead it to a Lombardi? I like the Bengals’ chances going forward but they have to get their shit together this offseason. Just have to see how that goes.