HoosierCat

Balti and Pitt both up.

O dead as a doornail right now

Lol

Miles Murphy sighting

Ravens up 14-0 steelers GB tied at 7 each.

Good d

Irwin!

I think I finally found out where mem’s been. https://www.threads.net/@abc7newsbayarea/post/CzctBvjrlFD/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Baby: Bengals WR Charlie Jones (thumb) has been downgraded to out for Sunday’s game against Houston https://www.threads.net/@bbaby41/post/CzhHXbSuqx2/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Chase limited Higgins DNP

Baby: Bengals WRs Ja’Marr Chase (back) and Tee Higgins (hamstring) not present for the open portion of practice. https://www.threads.net/@bbaby41/post/Czb4hW1Omwy/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Update: Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase just walked out with a jersey and is going through stretch. Tee Higgins also walked out but doesn’t have a jersey. https://www.threads.net/@bbaby41/post/Czb59BfOMQI/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Looks like last week was a good week to break in the TE playbook. Might need more of the unstoppable Drew Sample Sunday!

Baby: Bengals with a pretty lengthy injury report compared to most weeks. Among those on the list: DE Sam Hubbard (ankle) didn't practice today WR Tee Higgins (hamstring) was limited. CB Cam Taylor-Britt (quad) was a full participant. https://www.threads.net/@bbaby41/post/CzZm-51v4cy/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Also chase was DNP

New deal means even more ways to get shitfaced at the game!

Baby: Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase is still sore today, coach Zac Taylor said. Will be limited if he practices today at all. https://www.threads.net/@bbaby41/post/CzZPMvKOMZo/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Baby: The Bengals have opened rookie WR Charlie Jones’ 21-day window to return from IR and cleared him for practice, the team announced. https://www.threads.net/@bbaby41/post/CzY5QcluoTQ/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

One good thing about the upcoming weekend is that everything important is a 1 p.m. start. That means I can get back on routine and start drinking as soon as the alarm clock goes off, instead of having to wait until afternoon so I don't fall asleep before the game starts. In further good news, barring a tie either the Clowns or Ratbirds will lose. I'm going to bet it will be Cleveland. Baltimore already beat them once and this rematch is on their turf. And I think I marginally prefer that outcome. It's not impossible for the Bengals to catch the Ravens, but the way Baltimore has been playing combined with their not-too-tough remaining schedule has me thinking that getting up on the Browns is more important. And then we have Green Bay at Pittsburgh. The Steelers aren't that good but keep finding ways to win and the Packers suck, so I have little hope here. As for the potential WC teams behind Cincy, the Bills host the Broncos on MNF. Bills should win that, pushing the Bengals back out of the postseason picture if they don't take care of business against Houston. Oh, and if Cincy loses they will end up behind the Texans, too. Then there's the Chargers (vs. Lions), Jets (Raiders), Colts (Pats) and Raiders at 4 wins. So one of the Raiders/Jets (probably Raiders) will keep up. I have no hope for a hand from the hapless Pats but maybe the Lions can do us a favor. Chargers didn't look like all that last weekend, but they're at home, so...

Good stuff from Joe. Sample had a hell of a game in pass pro.

While we’re on the subject of pff grades, here’s an encouraging note from their rookie report this week. https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-grading-all-first-round-picks-week-9-2023-nfl-season

I thought he would do fine as long as he got over the butthurt. He’s certainly on course to cash in bigly next March now.

Early word on Chase (back) is day to day.

Bengals open as 9.5-point favorites. https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/allbengals-insiders-plus/bengals-open-as-9-5-point-favorites-against-houston Already down to 8 apparently. I can easily see this game being trouble. Stroud is on fire at the moment and the Bengals have to play in Baltimore just four days after. And that's just the start of a chaotic schedule. TNF, then 1 pm Sunday vs. Pitt, MNF vs. Jax, 1 pm Sunday vs. Indy, then time TBD flex games in weeks 15 and 18, which booked two 4 pm starts against Pitt and KC. Sometimes it sucks being good.

Random thoughts about last night: Obviously it was fantastic to see the tight ends step up. It was clearly something they worked on during the week and it paid off handsomely. Watching Bills S Taylor Rapp get juked by Drew Sample was worth the price of admission alone. Irv wasn't perfect but easily had the best game of his time here and Hudson might have had the best game of his career. And now opposing DCs suddenly have three more guys to worry about. Very much a tale of two halves. The Bengals dominated the first half but sputtered in the second. I got the impression of confusion on the part of the offense in the second half. Not sure if it was something the Bills were doing in disguising their defense, or whether Joe was doing to much fiddling around on the line trying to call the perfect play or what, but when you burn your third TO with more than 10 minutes to go, there's a problem. Props to the defensive coaches for getting the tackling cleaned up quick. It was atrocious early on but ceased to be a problem (mostly) pretty quickly. I hope Chase's back is OK. I'm sure he's feeling that today. Had his guy beat by a mile, Burrow just didn't put enough on that ball. Imo Higgins looked the sharpest he's been all year last night. Pass rush really struggled to get home but I think a lot of that is just Allen. It's like trying to catch the Road Runner. Oh, defense, now that we seem to know what a TE is on offense, can you guys maybe start covering them on defense? OK, you did get the FF and recovery but still, let's work on that.

Technically the situation right now, so even if the Jets do win tonight we can savor it until then. https://www.nfl.com/standings/playoff-picture

Whew