AMPHAR

The what if game is always complicated and often short sighted but its rarely so simple and clear as it is with the Bengals. 1. No flag in KC 2. Make FG vs Ravens Boom two huge wins. 3-2. Everyone would be talking about hammering the Giants and hopefully not looking past them. Buts and Ifs were candy and nuts you'd be my sister's uncle or something like that. It'd be nice for a big victory on prime time. Lou's defense bleeds yards and points and Giants play good D. Prime Time on the road, feels like this one will be close nail biter.

Edit make this more simple. Lou's defense sucked in 2019 and 2020 with Jessie Bates. He had average defenses by any objectionable measure in 2021,2022. It was awesome playoff games and results that saved Lou from getting run out of town. His 2023 defense sucked and he sold on blind faith to Bengal Nation that it was all Dax Hill's fault along with Nick Scott. He got his safeties. These moves were applauded by a lot of people. Now his defense sucks again.... "well he needs Jessie Bates" You can check the record his defense suck with Jessie Bates too. What do you really think the issue is? How many more FAs and draft picks do we have to throw under bus to make excuses for a guy that has never had a top defense? In the summertime practices when game planning is less of a focus. His defense performed very well against a group that is now among the top 10 of the NFL. Dominated the Colts in a joint practice. Played average defense weeks 1 and 2. Its not because of talent when his defense goes to shit weeks 3-5.

Yeah the offense sucked so bad people though Joe's wrist was damaged. I already pointed that out. They sucked because the defense performed very well in practices that typically don't involve game planning. Kinda odd. People can believe what they want. IMO, the gap is so big between what went on in TC, Weeks 1 and 2 vs. Weeks 3-5 that its stupid to conclude well these guys that have a bunch of starts in the NFL aren't NFL caliber. Its more plausible to believe that Lou's magic hat has run dry. I'm sure Joe could have met immediately with Zac after MNF, to complain about the lack of Jessie Bates, DJ Reader. Its more realistic he see the holes in the defensive game plan. How many more starting caliber free agents does Lou need? How many draft picks should he get? IMO, his ass is problem No. 1 and should be on the hot seat. Keep mind the level of defense needed. No one has ever held Lou to the standard of Zimmer. He just needs to get back to mediocre yardage/points defense.

What Higgins can't run? Burrow can't throw? Because Stone, Bell and just about every defender had them frustrated every day at camp. Was that made up? How many Free Agents and draft picks does Lou need to make his system reach mid pack of the NFL? The only one that is washed is Lou, period. Keep in mind we are not talking about needing NFL caliber safeties to recreate Trent Dilfer Baltimore Ravens or Monster of the Midway. Lou has plenty of NFL talent to achieve his Bengal high water mark of being a mid pack yardage allowed defense and points allowed defense. That level of defense has them 5-0, 4-1. Hell they are almost that with this shit defense. Just because he's being out coached doesn't mean players all of sudden are washed. In August, they played so well vs Burrow/Higgins etc people actually tried to create a narrative that Joe's wrist was damaged. Keep in mind a month later Joe is playing like an MVP vs. other NFL defenses. The blame is mostly Lou. You can watch him all game long in multiple games give the opposing offense easy yards on 2nd down. His bend don't break philosophy isn't working. In TC. They know the Bengals scheme on D and O. Its talent v. talent. Defense won many days down there. The D won a bunch vs. the Colts in controlled practice. Lou and the D had a decent week 1 and week 2 vs. his standard. You start interjecting game plan and scheme the distance between what was August reality vs. the past 3 weeks is too far off the mark to only be explained well this guy is washed. Doesn't make sense. How many more Free Agents that are NFL starters or top 150 draft picks does Lou need to get a 15th ranked yardage D? Hold an opponent under 30 points?

Probably the saddest part about the season and overall record is Joe Burrow is having MVP type season so far. Has played 1 bad half and after that has been great. Chase after two slow starts is on fire as well. Just a flip of a couple plays and Joe has wins over Pat and Lamar and tied for first. Crazy to think about it. Qbs with over 150 attempts. He leads the league in Passer rating 113. Completion percentage. TDs. Tied for lowest Int. 6th in yards. Through 5 games. Defense was looking so good in camp vs. Joe people thought his wrist was falling off, lol.

Bullshit. Geno Stone was a lot of people's best FA signing. Lou jumped out of his skin to get Vonn Bell. Who was a prized Carolina signing and a player most fans didn't want to lose to Carolina. Go look at the preseason training camp reports about how good this defense was doing. They were doing so fucking good, Joe's wrist was about to fall off apparently. Now you hit regular season AND nobody can play in the NFL? What a bunch of bullshit. Lou is shitting the bed 2 seasons in a row. The "talent" excuse or lack of talent excuse for Lou is about to get tested these two weeks. Giants and Browns are horrible on offense. It would not shock me they score and gain above their average.

Saleh was a horrible head coach. Might be a good DC but not good HC.

Is it really the safeties? I think the league has figured out Lou. 1 year with young newly starting safeties that excuse can fly. Same issue in year 2 with 2 bona fide NFL starting safeties? yeah not buying it. QBs know to go with the ball quickly vs. his calls. Lou's defenses have never been good vs. yardage rankings. He has made his calling on some wonderful playoff games. In 2020 this defense played almost to the extact same level and we are seeing today. I think they lost/tied a couple games in which Burrow led comebacks only to give it up in the last minutes. Next two weeks they have Giants and Browns. It shouldn't be hard to hold them at their current offensive averages.

It felt like there were a million 3rd and less than 3 for Baltimore in this game. Baltimore is a tough offense to stop and that's been consistent when Lamar plays. They are consistently top 10 in his era. I feel the first half defense effort was about the best you could expect from that unit. In the 2nd half, unfortunately you had to play perfect football on offense. A bad TO and a bad hold doom you to 1-4. Not fair for what is now a top 10 yardage offense and top 5 scoring offense. They have two bad offenses coming up and if they can't slow them down to get wins. Then its time to fire some staff mid-season.

Great googly moogly Chad.

Is Chad Ochocinco fighting Harrison or are they fighting different people? I hope its the latter.

There's no savior coming off the bench or off IR. The D has always been bend don't break under Lou. That's all you can hope for in a return of the D. To be truthful that's exactly what they were in 3 of the 4 weeks. Its the Washington game that has everyone freaked out. They are going to bleed yards in a bunch of games including this week. You got to hold on to that INT when it comes your way or make Lamar unreliable when he throws it. You got to make them snap the ball 10/12 times to score and eliminate your best CB getting beat in seconds (no D-line is going help when that BS is going on). You have to put scoring pressure on the other team, period. If Baltimore feels like it can just pound into the line of scrimmage and worse case punt, win the game in low/mid 20s. They'll lose. Baltimore has to feel like they must throw and score 30+ in order to win. They aren't going to be what they never were under Lou with anyone drafted/coached under him. Its a bend but don't break mentality.

Certainly better injury update.

Punters are players too or played soccer goalie. Either way punters are players too!

How lucky are we? The solution to fix this entire defense that's always given up yards is just sitting on the bench! Kinda odd how that happens. Battle ends up on a PFF list one time and he's the savior and the player playing in front of him just happens to be the most critical failure point. Awesome. Make the switch today! I hope he's that good. Much like just switching O-line coaches from Turner to Pollack wasn't going to instantly solve the fact they had 1 starting caliber linemen that in time proved to be average as average in Jonah Williams. How long has it taken to get a singular game with no sacks? The defense is soft. They constantly take bad angles probably because they don't lust for that first contact and would rather strip at the ball. Chunk plays happening again. Probably time for a coordinator switch and time to move on from some players in the offseason IF it can't at least rebound and get up into the top half of the league. They don't have a Burfict roaming waiting to cheap shot somebody. Willing to give up his mental health, wealth and career just to prove a point he can light you up anytime he wants. They have a bunch of coverage guys and potential ball hawks, I guess. Hopefully Battle is that good. Make the off season a whole lot easier IF we have David Fulcher on the bench and don't know it.

Good luck to Robbins but Simmons don't mess around. Maybe Robbins can make rebound similar to Elliot? Simmons is not afraid to push out a kicker even a drafted one. Travis Dorcsh, Elliot, and Robbins. Hopefully new guy can stick for 10 years.

Bates was great at doing stuff that never ended up in stat sheet. Zac alluded to that as well with Vonn Bell. But chunk passing plays are a problem again, SO what's the deal Lou? You got your vet safeties to make the magic work. This defense was all praise in training camp and preseason. Time to put up or shut up for Lou, IMO.

Supposedly Trey was in a sling following the game. It could be precautionary but I think he'll be out this week.

Given the defenses struggles. I'd to see them a little more aggressive on kick off coverage. I don't like just handing them the 30 with the way this defense bleeds yards. D-line issues are real, but it still doesn't explain pass catchers coming open so quickly, and the poor yards after contact, AND once again horrible angles to the ball.

Bengals win by a slim margin. Bengals have played 3 close games that could have gone either way. Unfortunately they all went in the L column. Solid road victory in Carolina. They may need to out score the Ravens because they looked great on Sunday Night. But its the same hard to follow rules. Don't rush pass Lamar, try to keep lane integrity and keep him in the pocket. Tackling is very worrisome.

I thought it was solid win. 10 point win on the road. Panthers got a positive switch at QB and coming home off a big road win was an overlooked task. 1. Defense - horrible. bad tacklers. Not sure how it gets better. Hopefully they force more TOs because they bleed yards. 2. Offense - O-line getting it done. Joe Burrow is excellent in patience and the underneath targets are getting YAC and converting firsts. Bengals probably played a B game, left points on the board.

I'm not sure how a vocal leader will prevent KC getting lucky with a fortunate call or your defense almost giving up a TD on every drive. Team just needs to knock a few wins down.

The JTO QB school for Dalton from the past week is a good watch. Dalton had a good/great day. However, JTO keeps repeating "He had a great day, but this is some luck". Dalton got a way with some iffy reads/throws. There a couple missed should be INTs. Dalton took advantage of some extraordinary bad secondary play from the Raiders. However, I would guess the Bengals secondary could play equally as bad. The Panthers protection was very good vs. Raiders. So? Does the secondary/defense bounce back or do they allow the Red Rifle to ride again! You allow Dalton to get the ball out quick and then don't tackle behind it. It will be a long day again for the Bengal defenders.

I hope Mims does very good. I was hoping not to get to the Mims era until later. Alt - top pick out of the class. They started polishing his nuts a little too early. TJ Watt took him to school. Was getting high praise prior. I think he's out for a while with an injury. Latham - up and down; gives up pressures, sacks Fashanu - Probably the best right now. Although Alt was doing great until TJ Watt. Fautanu - not doing well pass pro Guyton - struggling Suamataia - Hendrickson got him benched. Wasn't good week 1 either.

I would prefer crazy legs Andy to get out of the pocket. He was a horrible play extender. When his first read isn't there consistently he would constantly event pressure, break pocket and run himself into a situation with no solution. I'd say don't mess with the offense at all. Let them try to score as fast and as often as they can. If the D can't stop Andy Dalton in a shoot out so be it.