AMPHAR

Allan George released reported via tweet machine.

Hiring of Marvin Lewis the AFC North the most competitive division in football. You simply have not seen the North dominated by 1 franchise similar to what you see in the West. Chargers won West 4 years running. Then the Broncos 5 in a row. Then Chiefs 7 times. The Bills have won East 3 in a row, following a 11 year run by the Patriots. If you want to host an AFC Champ game you can puss through TC and start 0-2 like they did last year. Hopefully it won't repeat this year.

Nah, same people that made that trade found Brock in whatever bullshit round he was drafted. Also have been Superobwl Runner Up, and 2 time - Conference Champ runner up the past 4 seasons. That group isn't getting fired until the mojo of the current core goes south.

this point has also been confirmed by Manning himself when Peyton has done QB breakdown videos of Burrow. Given Callahan's connections through his dad and relationship with Peyton. Surprised he wasn't plucked from the Bengals already.

Writer did a good job. I have said this a number of times. You could literally see the approach change in that Sunday night game. He started taking check downs. At first it resulted in punts. Continued through halftime and the rest of the game and fought back to take a lead (I think) then tie. Only to lose on a Tucker FG. From that point the offense began a steady climb up the rankings. The O-line improved. 2nd half the year they were the best AFC team. Then unfortunately injuries to OL and not a great AFC Champ game by the secondary. The best way to slow Joe Burrow and the Bengals is deep coverage get pressure with 4. OBJ is not a Whitworth type protector, but paired with Jonah on the RT. You'll have upgraded edge protection from the previous two years. Assuming they continue to check it down and hopeful reduction in fast edge pressure. Teams are going to have to come out of those deep looks.

The game was hard to watch. Very sloppy penalty wise. So either the refs sucked or the players have alot to clean up. Probably a combo of both. Now on to preseason fools gold. Mobile QBs can and should feast in preseason. The Packers got a lot done with the stretch play action, roll out opposite. So did Atlanta. Then Ridder had some good scrambles. Then late in the game Browning feasted scrambling around. Defenses probably aren't game planning deep into rush lanes etc. I think Carman earned his back up role. I have not done a deep film study but I think he was decent early vs. Packers, horrible late vs. Packers and solid most of the time vs. Falcons. But overall they are putting him at LT to start the game then over to RT late in the game. Tells me he's the swing tackle role. We'll see. Out of the QBs we have Browning would be my choice to back up. Seems more mobile. But this offense is like pulling teeth to convert a 3rd or score a TD. As a result Money MAC looks awesome. Bijan Robinson should be high on your fantasy draft board, IMO. Looks to be the real deal.

In addition to the practice bubble. The bengals have made significant investing in training rooms. Stuff have no idea what it means but stuff like Float tanks, cryo therapy, and bunch of other exercising stuff. This cam out in an interview with ZT.

Pappa John's always feels like you need to drink a gallon of water afterward. Donatos is good. Its a great choice for pizza at a football game, IMO. Easy to handle on a 3rd down.

I think the official pizza has gone from LaRosa to Papa Johns to Donatos.

Its football injuries are going to happen. They make approx 38% of their revenue (according to COVID shutdown estimates) off preseason. So its not going away. If your forced into the games, its best to find away to use them so you can put best effort forward for 2 division games. IMO, if the league wants to have it both ways revenue stream + player protection. Then don't schedule division or big conference games the first two weeks of the season. Myles Garrett is going to be tough to block when you're in mid season form. You have to run the risk and get some sort of snaps for the guys that will be trying to block him. Otherwise its one "look out" block and your QB could be gone.

I really don't think it will be an issue. I'm curious just to know the numbers so we can play armchair GM. This is not an overstatement. Joe is a fucking idiot if he plays this season on his rookie deal and I will go as far as to say he's an idiot if he steps back on the practice field under rookie deal. My uninformed speculation is the murky timeline is somewhat related to the deal timeline. Then if the Bengals somehow blew up the Joe Burrow relationship they would have to move the team. The market is set. The best way forward is with Joe. Sure there is risk as always. But IF the Bengals somehow burn that bridge. Good luck trying to get any public support for a stadium renovation. Fans would and should jump off so fast. The only way they'd have a decent fan base would be to find a new city. Its just not going to happen. It will get done.

Radio talking about possible preseason game 2 featuring some more starters. I'm down for it. Don't really care to see skill guys with a back up QB. If Burrow was practicing then I would. But Brown and Volson live reps is needed. Jonah Williams/Cappa live reps is needed. On the road is a benefit too. Not talking about going back to the old days of playing for a half, but that line has been so bad the first two weeks something has to be done. Especially when you are staring at 2 division games to start the season.

Good question.

We'll see. I think Pollack is out of excuses. This line needs to be functional to allow for an increase in production. Given the skill guys they should be nearing top 5 Offensive rankings. Myles Garrett has feasted on Orlando Brown and Williams in the past so we'll know whats up the first week.

Burrow, Chase, Higgins are going to get a shit ton of money soon. The amount of line depth you need is directly related to the quality of skill talent you have. If OL players 6-10 have to be starting quality for 17 games or the season is lost. Then I think you should reevaluate the proposed extensions for your skill guys. Of course this great debate happened in Sewell vs. Chase draft year. There's just some people that think great QBing is only 5 first round All-PRO offensive linemen away. Not the case.

1. Carman - running with 2s at LT. This will be interesting to see preseason game two. 2. Smith - I'm not a believer in PFF grades unless they paint a positive picture of my favorite team. His pass blocking grade was very high from Friday 3. Sunday practice - Turner competes with Chase. Chase wins his battle but Turner wins sometimes too. 4. La'El - has gained attention for his work on the rehab field. Not sure if that's a sign he'll venture off the PUP list. La'el has a significant amount of money available to him for active game day bonus. I'm not sure if this would lead him to push for coming off the PUP list. It will be interesting to see if he's willing to come off that list or if the Bengals want him off that list to compete for the 3rd or 4th tackle spot.

Overstatement of the year. IF Dax can show that kinda of range in the regular season. IF he can convert some of the deflections into turnovers. You are looking at an Ed Reed type impact. A safety simply being somewhere he shouldn't be. Love made the right Read, good throw. An A+ play from Dax would have been simply to keep that player out of the endzone. Instead its incomplete. Consistently making that play will force QBs to over analyze the location of Hill, IF he can replicate that play frequently.

7th rounder on his 4th team in 4 years and not starting first preseason game says he's gone. Need better depth at QB.

Not super impressed with the Back Up QBs. Would love to see a vet addition. Matt Ryan? Whoever the Steelers cut Rudolph or Trubisky? Our QBs don't look real comfortable, IMO. Of course they are throwing to reserves behind a back up line. Myles Murphy - kinda blah pass rush. However Packers were doing a lot of play action roll outs. But the Back QB (from St. Xavier) had too much time to throw. Murphy did have a couple nice run stops on the evening. D-line - Would have liked to have noticed Zac Carter more in pass rush. But again the Packers seemed content to get the ball out and alot of play action misdirection roll outs. Safety play - was impressive all around. Dax showed tremendous range on the first drive. If he's getting it mentally he's an athletic upgrade. Of course Tycen. Battle came up and made some thumps. I'm guessing Defense overall had some break downs in the secondary once Love went out. There were a bunch of frustrating big plays and 3rd conversions. Back up 0-line - not great, but looked real bad in the 4th quarter. Carman looked odd in that 4th quarter. Not sure what his deal was. Thought he looked blah against better competition early in the game, but horrible in the 4th against weaker. Maybe he though his day was over or something? Bengals probably wanted to get back up QBs some throws early in the game. Not a whole lot of action for Brown/RBs first half. Showed some moves later on in the game. New Punter - up and down. The FG operation looked good.

I'm going to disagree with PFF. Despite the early thoughts that Joe was an out of box superstar. I think he was a superstar that needed to improve. I think he learned to get check downs more often. I think that light came in Baltimore. From that point the offense started getting back into gear while the line got reps with each other. I'd be shocked if Burrow went back to taking that many negative plays again. 49 sacks or more? That just bad O-line coaching or reckless QBing. Without a bunch of injuries along the line they should run Pollack out of town if he's the among the top 5 sacked.

True the Bengals don't have to. But it seems likely they will get one done soon. I'm just wondering IF the cloudly no information on a return is linked to finalizing the final details of his deal. Certainly there had to be some healing time from the injury. I would not have been shocked if every party had a collective "oh fuck" when Burrow pulled up lame not just in terms of playing, but all the work that has transpired on a deal. Would not be a shock to me if they (Bengals and Burrow) are slow walking a return to the field in part trying to get the deal finalized. If I was Burrow and/or his agent there's no way in hell I'm stepping on the field without that deal. Wouldn't have done it at the of start of TC and now that they've gotten the scare I would hope they learned a lesson.

No injuries, 1st Qtr TD, and win. These things happen and no matter what else happens everyone seems to have positive things to say afterward.

His jokes suck too, I guess.

I'm guessing Burrow returns shortly after whatever deal they are working on is signed. Tweaked his calf and reality hit his team and agent what buffoons they are running around a practice field playing touch football when a huge pay day in on the line.

Turner got some sort of 98 grade from the practice yesterday. Which is it always awesome to hear positives about players from your team. However, these grades aren't worth a shit. I've been to practices several times at those fields. The best view you can get is almost ground level sideline view. How the hell is anyone putting analysis on quality of play in the moment? NFL coaches go back an analyze film that's taken from the eye in the sky. Most of the time you have to look through people standing around the field etc. Also alot of the time jersey numbers are not visible. Ridiculous someone would put a grade out unless they sat down with that film.