AMPHAR

"just because" its not about the QB is the point you are missing, badly. Finley had Johnson, hart, hopkins, Filo, Spain blocking for him. The Bengals have dropped a ton on Brown, Volson, Karras, Kappa, and Williams. He was throwing to Higgins, Green, Boyd, Sample, Gio. Higgins will demand close to $30m a year as will Chase. The supporting cast Browning will have around him is far superior. The story is the same defensively. Pitt was eventual playoff/division winner. I'm sorry, Burrow sits this squad should win and cover over the Rams. No excuse not to.

The 2020 Bengals led by Brian Finley beat a division winning Steelers team at home on Monday Night. They got a handful of guys that will get top of market deals or already have gotten extensions. They are more than capable of winning vs. the Rams with whoever at QB on Monday night.

Nobody credible has any good information on Burrow's calf. I'm so sick of the "hot takes" about what to do. The bengals and Burrow are going to do right by him and the team. But they'll have to prepare a back up more than normal under these circumstances because Burrow could be out at any moment if he plays. It just seems that random. By the way. They should win a game if a back up QB has to play. A whole bunch of players not named Burrow are going to want and demand a top market deal soon. If that's the case you can't sit here and fold up like a cheap suit IF Burrow doesn't play. If your a $30m a year WR. Better get your ass open and make something happen.

I say get rid of the alcohol sales inside the stadium and you remove a large portion of the people that just want to drink every beer in America while watching the game from even going. Unfortunately that means the ticket prices will ramp up to back fill the missing revenue.

Unfortunately, abuse of tailgating is a cause. So many issues before and after the game. I doubt NFL ever ceases alcohol sales but that would cut out a lot of problematic fans, IMO. Anything NFL does is going burden the majority of fans that can go to the game and enjoy several drinks without incident. I think NFL should explore home/away policies. For the longest time I've though "Terrible Towels" should be banned, they just cause so many problems. Steeler fans love to wave them in your face and Bengal fans love to jerk them out of pockets and stomp.

Last year Cleveland Brown Fan passed out in his seat at Paycor. His condition made its way to social media. That then revealed other people had pictures of him sleeping on the streets that night. Then those pictures revealed he was a regular at Cleveland Brown Stadium and constant problem for that security group. Its not an age thing. Behavior has gotten worse. My theory is, if a fan similar to the one above goes to a bar. They can't survive. They'll get noticed faster and removed faster. Fans with substance abuse issues go to these stadiums because their behavior is less noticeable. The mix of these fans represent a greater percentage of attendance than in the past. Unfortunate for that poor soul his love of Browns was mixed with alcohol and he can't separate the two. Thus black out drinking is what happens. If you are a fan that loves to fight and get pissed off because you have emotional issues. You are not surviving in a bar. You'll piss somebody off faster and be removed. NFL stadium, those issues can carry on for a while and most the time aren't resolved until the line is crossed.

The run/pass ratio from the Baltimore game is not a good criticism, IMO. They had 7 drives. Thanks to a punt return TD, 0 TOs from a Defense, and the Defense failure to get off the field. They had 3 "3 and Outs". 1. Opening drive - holding call forced them to throw. Failure to get a foot down for a first robbed them of more snaps. Out of remainder; I think you can argue 2 plays in which maybe a run is better. 2nd drive - they opened up with Mixon 1 yard. Then maybe you can feed Mixon again, instead they try to get Chase involved and given that early in the game. I think that is being picky. Then the most legit criticism is the 6th drive and also "3 and out". They start off Mixon carry of 5. Then elect to pass, and get sacked. Most certainly could get Mixon the ball there. Every other drive (4) achieved multiple first downs and got into the redzone which led to 1 FG, 2 TD, 1 INT. I just don't get play calling criticism from the Ravens game. Defense simply could not get off the field and given that; the offense had to probably be perfect in redzone to win. I'm also not going to trade a Punt return TD so they can get more offensive snaps.

Stokely TD was rough.

Season isn't over at 0-3. Not by a long shot. 1. The percentage stats everyone quotes about 0-2 and 0-3 about making the playoffs are invalid. Those are born out of a time that saw "two a day" training camps, 4 preseason games in which starters played into 3rd quarters. Thus back then if you had all that practice and then opened up with that record. There's a good chance that you weren't that good. 2. Extra game and playoff spot. 3. The team has a ton of playoff and winning experience, but is actually young. Good chance this team catches fire and makes a run. I would say more than a good chance that happens even if they sit at 0-3.

Does Breech realize they are playing different teams this first two weeks vs. last year, right? I don't get the significance of the passing yards comparison between years. Joe threw 300+ in 5 quarters, sunny day, vs. an average secondary week 1. Threw for less than 200 the following week vs. Cowboys. A rain storm vs. a Defense playing very good and Joe playing less than 4 quarters is the major difference in that stat. Not sure the difference in average yards can be blamed on the calf. Everyone's a doctor, lol. Using bad comparisons just make it seem Breech has elected to take the most negative route and looking for ways to support it. In other words, logic won't get discussion going. When Joe hurdled a Raven's pass rusher, he looked pretty mobile to me. He certainly aggravated it at the end, but nobody knows the significance and they won't until Wed. Just wait and see.

When you go to the Jungle you must stay with your tour guide. If you don't, next thing you know you're in the T-Rex paddock with some Raptors running around.

Rams looked tough vs. SF, IMO. Eventually gave way but the 9ers are considered among the NFL top right now and they absolutely took over that stadium. But the Bengals need a win in the worse way.

The inability of the defense to stop the Ravens offense is the biggest let down for me. The offense started slow but a 81 yard punt return stunted their yards in combination of the Ravens being able to hold on to the ball. But there are 4 offensive drives when the D is failing like that they probably needed TDs on 2 of them. Its easy to say after the fact but I was thinking Lou's unit would eventually would get stops in the 2nd half they didn't. 1. 3 and out - after missed FG. 2. 7-10, settled for 3. Ball ripped out of Chase's hands stopping a TD. Tied 10-10. Defense can't hold 10-13. 3. Probably the killer - Int at the goal line. Defense then allows a quick TD. 10-20. 4. Late 2nd half punt - needed something on that drive. But the Bengals couldn't get off blocks, probably a fair amount of holding going on. The Ravens were called for some. Every time the D got a sack there seemed to be a penalty on them. Lamar found holes underneath in their zone coverage. Horrible day defensively, IMO. Reminded me of the Jets game a couple years ago. Offense, people love to talk about it and it was not statistically great but you if you get stops and feed them the ball back they would have run up more yards/points. Critical mistake was that goal line INT, followed by a Lamar Jackson bomb.

Joe Burrow is a Dalvin Cook OT fumble away from going 0-7 in opening two weeks. That's what probably scares me the most.

I think the Ravens TE will play. He sounded like he practiced limited on Thursday.

I think alot of it goes back to reps and prepared, IMO. I'm sure we've all seen the clip of Myles playing basketball rushing over the Center. Have no clue if Burrow could have checked into something different but if you are banking on Karras being good enough to protect both gaps against Garrett not knowing which one he'll choose. Good fucking luck. Check into a run play up the middle or hot route. That was a twist on Zimmer's Double A gap blitz, except Cleveland threatened both gaps with 1 player. The counter to that was always checking into something that it didn't matter which gap or gaps were blitzed into or backed out. Based on some all-22s. The Cleveland coverage techs were attempting to screw with Burrow's/WR comfort zone in throwing back shoulder throws. They would basically give a look that says throw "back shoulder" or "go" then change in the middle of the route. That's a risky scenario but it paid off.

Is it too much to ask to have the cast of offensive participants that have or are going to demand top market deals soon to put up 28 or more vs. the Ravens? Just wondering. Really dreading what I suspect the post game conversation of "What's wrong with the offense?". Getting into how to beat Cover 2, blah, blah,blah Right or wrong if the conversation post game is a bout Left Guard or play calling the issue probably lies in the lap of the Offensive skill spots or tackles. The Jane's and Joe's always matter more than the X's and O's.

1. Could be some off the field stuff. 2. Could be financial. Can they roll over some cap room? They have his dead money split between this year and next 3. He might be washed. Was horrible early last year. Competent late. I don't care how much you rehab its alot of miles on tires. However, they've missed Superbowls largely in part of OL injuries. So I hate to see any competent potential depth disappear.

Well stated. It just so happens this is the first time Lamar Jackson returns to Cincinnati since they ran up the score against a mod squad the last game of 2020. So hopefully the Bengals come out hot and don't let up.

Last night watching reminded me of Palmer going down on the second snap of the playoff game. Such a buzz kill. Jets have a decent set of RBs and defense. They probably can still stay in the hunt for a while.

Jets 80s unis were cool. Wish they would wear those all the time.

Who Cares? He can join Joe Thomas in never seeing the playoffs, I guess. Meanwhile the Bengals top players from the same era that actually played in the postseason will struggle in the HOF voting. i.e. Willie Anderson and probably Whitworth.

Not Browns game related: Anyone notice the Cincinnati skyline featured in the Sunday Night Football intro?

I don't see them letting Higgins walk into UFA. With the new Burrow deal accounted for they are $56m under with a projected cap of $245 for 2024. $147M under the 2025 cap with the new Burrow contract factored in. Sure somethings to manage but a great position with Burrow locked up.

Lou gave props to Cam Taylor Britt and Zac Carter as playing really well on Bengals line tonight. Don't remember exactly how he described Zac's play but it was something playing like a "grown man".