AMPHAR

I think this just proves no matter what changes the Bengals make. IF they don't make the playoffs they've actually done nothing since 1991. Either way trying to fix a problem based on Zac's overall record vs. AFC North seems like a colossal waste of time. There's no magic pill. If you have AFC North teams in Weeks 1 or 2, hope your QB can get some snaps and you might want to practice a little more. Don't try to play the AFC North teams with your 2019 roster.

I don't know about expectations. I think the AFC North record overall is pointless in regards to offseason plans. The results are different when a healthy franchise QB plays. That's a fact. So if you are dead set on using the overall AFC North record and dead set on making it a problem. How do you determine the source of the problem and solutions without factoring the effect of Joe Burrow? Should they alter their draft board? Fire a coach or coaches? Change overall scheme of defense/offense? Seems kinda drastic considering everyone saw the reality of Joe's calf injury week 1. Then saddled with 4 AFC North games post bye week and got to play 2 quarters with Burrow in those 4 games. The fact Zac went 2-10 vs. the AFC north with Dalton or whoever means little to me. Might mean a bunch to somebody, I dunno.

Tag Higgins. At the very least you can control when and most importantly were he goes. Leave him unrestircted he's gone in the first few hours of FA and it could be to some AFC contender. Tagging Lamar Jackson drove down his demands and got a deal for the Ravens. But if they didn't, they at least would have been able to ship out of division/conference.

Overblown. Does Zac's 2-10 start vs. the AFC North from 2019/2020 really matter today? I'd say no considering he's won it twice since then. Does the 0-5 record today from this season matter knowing a healthy Burrow took snaps for less than 2 quarters? I'd say no. 50% of those 29 games doesn't include the reality we expect for 2024 and beyond. A healthy Joe Burrow. Its only a problem if you are thinking the Bengals will be stuck playing the AFC North without a healthy Burrow. Zac Taylor 7-5 AFC North games with a healthy Joe Burrow. He's 2-15 without. Then he's also 1-0 vs. AFC North in the playoffs.

You simply tag Higgins if you want to keep him for next year.

Division struggles are overblown, IMO. The Burrow situation effected every division game. Of course the division will be competitive once again, but the biggest need there is to have a healthy QB1.

Bengals are projected ($70m) under in cap which leads the north. They probably have the least signed but are still in the most advantageous cap situation. Of course they have several key positions to keep or fill via FA. J'mar Chase in the Summer like Burrow will be the biggest thing to watch this offseason, IMO. He's due to make $16.3m for the next 2 seasons but could easily top $50m with an extension. His agent should be in the ear of the Bengals and the Bengals should be receptive of an extension. It would be client neglect to let him play out these next two years under his rookie deal. An extension for Chase would not eat up much more Cap (pending structure) he counts $9.8 already for 2024. Baltimore projected ($11m) under - they have several key Free Agents like the Bengals to deal with. Pittsburgh $6m - over. Cleveland $12m - over. Obviously Pitt and Clev have some work to do.

Zac needs to get his team better prepared out of August into September. Especially in years with division games in the first two weeks. However, he isn't and shouldn't catch any heat. He had healthy Joe B. for less than 2 full quarters in division play. Ravens weren't winning the North with Lamar on the sidelines previous years. Ravens smartly resisted emotional fan out crys wanting Lamar or Harbaugh gone. There's been 3 coaches win the Central/North more than twice in a row. Knoll, Cowher, Marty. 2 HOFers and Marty is the only Head Coach with 200+ wins not in HOF. The AFC North has avoided cycles like the other divisions. It sucks, but the teams are good. All Zac did was take a bad situation and got everyone's hopes up. I think its an incredible job extending playoff hopes post Burrow injury. No way they are winless in the AFC North with Full Strength Burrow. Steelers can't fire Tomlin soon enough. I rather see them try to find a 4th straight 140+ game winner Head Coach. Odds are they hopefully won't find HOF QBs and Coaches as easily.

Burrow is going to want to throw the ball. Offensive staff is just going to have to make it a point not to allow an entire season go bye without some sort of balance. Burrow simply can't sustain the hits/pressure that come with the style we've seen. He was mic'd up at somepoint in 2022. Chatting with a ref. Those players when mic'd up are very aware of what they are saying, IMO. He let it be known during the Titans playoff game, the communications went out and he called the final drive, which he loved. I'm sure Burrow feels he can't beat any defense at anytime throwing the ball.

He had 2 for 18 yards vs. Vikes. Sorry, I was reading Irv Smith not Irwin.

The D-line has not been good against the run for most of the year. How much worse that gets without Reader is anybodies guess. The Bengals really need a top notch run blocking effort from their Offensive line this game to protect the Defense from Pittsburgh running the ball.

He had a couple catches.

Its not worth the effort to try to figure out. When there is a multi team scrum there are tie breaker steps that involve division standing but the steps revert back to other sets of rules once a team is eliminated from the tie. So with 4 teams tied for 2 spots there must be some elimination order procedure that puts Cincy in over Houston. However, it is unlikely these same four 4 teams will be tied AND finish in the same order in their respective division at the end of the season as they are today. The Bengals will be in with 11 wins. Entering week 18 with 10 they could have a decision on resting starters. The NFL arranges schedules to make that tougher to do. Entering week 18 with 9 wins and you'll need help with a loss is my guess. Entering week 18 with 8 wins there might be some long shot playoff possibility with a loss, and some better chances with a win. Jay Morrison above is taking liberties with "needing help" these games have been played yet. That's all. Back in my day we didn't have no fancy computer to easily project scenarios, so we waited until the last week to figure out what was "must win" and who needed help. Probably the best way to do it.

This is what I think going into the last week: 7 wins - out. Sure there may be some scenario in which a 8-9 Bengals could make it at this point with 4 games to play. I don't know and don't care to fool with those scenarios at this point. Not worth considering unless they get to last week and that scenario still exists which is doubtful. By the time last week rolls out, just 7 wins and could be already eliminated. 8 wins - high probability they are out but would have some plausible long shots to get in with a 9th win and help. 9 wins - probably in with a win. Control own destiny. Maybe a scenario holds in which 10 wins and they lose a tie breaker. Not worth worrying about at this point as there a plenty of games to shake out. 10 wins - In. Maybe scenario to rest starters. Doubt very little they would be out with an 11th win. Doubt they would be out having already recorded a 10th win. Certainly not worth considering any scenario in which they don't make it in with 11 wins/10 wins at this point. If you see them only having 8/9 wins entering the last week then that's when you can start praying for help. All other scenarios aren't scenarios they are just stories that will end once a couple weeks get played.

11 wins? - Bengals in the playoffs, mark it down and save for later. Entering last week with 10 wins? I would say there could be a chance for resting starters. I would say in the playoffs for sure even if the 11th win doesn't occur. Its only if you believe they'll enter last week with 8 or 9 wins in which you should worry about needing help for playoffs, IMO. At this point people in the playoff predictors at letting emotions take control, confusing games yet to be played as "needing help". BEFORE the Baltimore game, a lot of people were chirping the season was over IF they lost and landed 5-5. Heck they even dropped to 5-6 and they are right in the thick of a playoff hunt after 2 wins. Now people may not believe they'll land on 11 or 10 wins, but that's different. A basic playoff predictor scenario has them as 5 seed with 11. I'm sure there's a combo of button pushing that could be done to show them out with 11 wins but not worth worrying about at this point. They go into last week with 10 wins and there could be talk of resting starters.

Bengals have been good against back up QBs. Someone ran stats going back to 2010 showing the QBs had a cumulative bad passer rating or something. Fans tend to remember the Mike Whites or TJ Yates because they are thinking "easy" victory prior to the game. Fans don't have a bad memory burned into their head when the Bengals win while making a back up look like a back up. I'm not sure what 2010 really has to do with this group. Dax, Battle, etc. were probably in grade school. I just hope Lou doesn't stay in zone if the back up QB shows a comfort vs. his zone defenses. I also hope the Bengals offense can put scoring pressure on the opposing offense so they can't just play for punts in a close game.

Bengals should just run the offense from the games they win, lol. The Bengals have 3 of the 4 top 10 yardage defenses coming up, the 4th being Pittsburgh. Jake looked like a deer in headlights vs. Pittsburgh. A great coaching job to get him playing the way he has the last 2 games. To produce enough offense to qualify for playoffs they'll probably need another adjustment or two from the past couple games. The screen success of the Bengals was produced with motion forcing the Colts to show they are in zone. Then deep routes paired with play action to get their LBs to run off into zone coverage once reading pass and throw the screen underneath with an aggressive pass rush. They attempted one late game and the D-line guy got the memo and didn't rush. What happens when the defense shows man and you have that screen called? Joe Burrow would have had multiple plays to check into. Will Jake? That's the next hurdle, I guess. Roll up nearly 400 yards/30 points the next 4 weeks. Bengals could be rolling into a QB controversy next year, lol. That would be impressive QBing. I think the Bengals will need a couple shut down defensive performances next 4 weeks to make playoffs.

The KC game was on replay last night. Mahomes runs a couple more plays after the offsides call and still just looses his freakin mind. Really, really makes him look like a baby.

Yeah. I knew that the second he caught it. The shame of that is the Burfict and Pac Man melt downs robbed him of what would have been a historic Cincinnati post season memory. He also false started on the play, lol. Not called. There was 1 playoff game they intentionally did not target AJ Green in the first half, In order to fool the other defense. Basically every playoff squad Marvin Lewis ever coached had some weird shit that contributed to a loss and most of its hard to believe. Across the board every position group on a Marvin led playoff squad drastically under performed.

I meant to say: Refs were correct AND they could have called the Right Tackle for lining up in the backfield, again. Mahomes bitching about the refs is wrong. Correct call was made. Sucks for him. If Mahomes was directing some of his rant towards his teammates, IMO, that's absolutely justified because its inexcusable to be off sides at that point. Bad play and bad coaching, IMO. I

Is the media covering for him? I'm sure he wasn't happy with the call and said shit to the refs. But it sure looked like he was giving shit to anyone and everyone on that sideline. He lost his cool. The ref part is wrong: 1. Boundary WRs often ask refs when lining up. WRs lined up on the inside? I can't say I've noticed that very often simply because the Ref isn't there and its easier to see the ball. 2. Refs could have called the Right Tackle for being in the backfield on the same play. I think Mahomes was giving shit to anyone and everyone on that sideline. IMO, his coaches and teammates deserve all the shit he was serving. To have that play destroyed because of that penalty is inexcusable. Tony Romo stepped in and clearly tried to frame the narrative on the broadcast. Chiefs see that as the best path and are attempting to keep the locker room stuff inside, IMO. Chiefs are good but annoying because they give off a sense of entitlement. I hope the Bengals can go into KC and win. Just call it Browninghead afterward.

By rule the offense must gain 10 yards within 4 plays. They don't let you run more plays if they don't. So for all the crying about Mixon's carries or not using Brown or whatever. They have to gain 1st downs in order for it to happen. They snapped the ball 43 times which I think was 38 plays that counted. That's horrible. They would not have converted more 3rd downs by giving Mixon more carries. There are bad clips of offensive linemen running into each other on different running plays. Its just bad, very bad. Browning has to deliver a football without starring down his target. He could have thrown at least 3 picks. He simply was not good. They were lucky to carve out the 1 TD drive they got.

Punter is horrible. I'm a little surprised Simmons has rode with him this long. Just from last week before the end of the half he kicked one that landed on the goal line and didn't give the coverage time to even attempt a downing inside the 5. That turned around and gave Pitt momentum to attempt a end of half drive, came close to giving up points. Down inside the 5 they probably draw in the reigns and play field position. Very disappointing considering how much he was hyped up after the draft.

I personally would steal an O-line scout from the Ravens. Promote them as an assistant to Tobin or whatever. Just going off perception they have found several good solid starters and their guys are hunted during Free Agency. Then I would look at a new line coach. Although the talents of Lamar Jackson extremely helps any running game. Fans can't be happy sitting around happy with 2/3 sacks a game and less than 4 YPC. But ultimately if the local scribes have any credibility, I would expect the Bengals to be RT shopping or trying to extend Williams first. I think Callahan was asked this week about the lack of roll outs. The response was Pittsburgh ends just want to kill the QB they won't care about the fake. That's basically saying they have faith the front side of the defense is not going to get blocked so the damage Mixon could do is limited they don't have to worry about back side pursuit. Its the same issue for years. Opposing defenses get away with rushing 4 and have too much success at getting home. They play light boxes and still keep running game in check or non factor. If some team rushes 4, then Joe should read a book 95% of the time. Teams are never coming out of deep safety looks because the run game is 3 yards. Why would any defense stop playing that way?

Last year it was floated that the Bengals aren't going to use premium picks on Offensive tackles due to the increased difficulty in projecting College players at that position into the NFL. That's why they shocked everyone and signed Brown. If that theory wasn't complete Bullshit from the local scribes. I'd expect the Bengals to entertain resigning Jonah Williams and if not taking whatever cap dollars they offered to him and go after a guy with NFL tape. I don't think they want to risk a complete whiff with the first round pick. Let's say Myles Murphy is not better than what he is today. Yes, that's a bust. But you can still get him enough snaps (without injury) in a rotation to come up with a couple sacks a year. Unless there is injury, a bust at OT isn't helping them much at all. See Jackson Carmen he's only helping if a starter goes down. DE scenario holds true with CB, WR. Snaps counts (without injury) are playing more guys at those positions. Teams are routinely playing 3/4 DEs, 4/5 CBs or DBs. 4/5 WRs. If that theory from last year just wasn't some draft coverage bullshit, I do not expect Bengals to draft OT with No. 1 pick. Regardless of pre draft hype. There is a strong likely hood there will be some CB, WR, DE with equal draft hype to any OT expected to be there when they pick. For the record I would love the Alabama tackle. But the reality is Jonah Williams was an ALL-WORLD tackle in his age group from the time he played pee-wee ball. Most fans would call him a draft bust (I would disagree), but most fans would. Same with Andre Smith (I would disagree). Leatherwood was a bust but still a high pedigree lineman prior to his NFL days. I don't expect the Bengals to venture down this path.