AMPHAR

The light training camp led to 30 sacks in the first 8 games. They allowed 15 the back 8. Injuries clearly cloud the playoff performance the Williams, Volson, Karras, Cappa, Collins squad allowed 1 sack vs. Chiefs week 13. They have to find a younger durable solution to RT this year. Williams with his option year picked up will be back playing (hopefully better.) I think you try to insert Carman at the RT spot with insurance from Collins I guess,

They see a lot of Cover 2. The receiving skills are important in that regard. Hasn't been durable, but I think his rushing totals have been hampered by the o-line. They save $7m with a cut, but before I got on board with that I'd want to see the replacement plan. Not sure I want them kicking the salary cap hit down the road either.

Bengals are projected $44.5m under the cap with 41 signed. Other teams of interest: 1. Baltimore $28.8m with 49 signed but a looming QB contract situation 2. Kansas City $12m with only 35 signed - they will have a lot cap juggling to do 3. Pittsburgh - $4m OVER - 4. Cleveland - $14m OVER 5. Buffalo - $20.5m OVER So the direct competition to another Division title defense and path to another AFC Championship have interesting cap situations.

Bates, Bell, Apple, Flowers, Pratt - a lot of snaps they'll need to retain or replace.

Would love Witherspoon. I guess McShay already knows his stock has risen to round 1. Back in the fall he was 2nd/3rd round. He's a legit run defending corner.

The Chiefs won so they get the last laugh for now. But, I kinda chuckle about the Chiefs being offended or acting offended. I think both teams manufactured motivation prior to the game. Bengals have to travel to KC next year so that should be a fun week.

They should enter next year as one of the AFC favorites. I still think they give up too much pressure and the running game is hot and cold. Defensively they'll have to replace some key roles and still try to build depth.

lol, at the Cincinnati mayor getting roasted by Kelce. Aftab? What a dope.

Yeah, the refs swallowed their whistle on the holding. Not sure what the deal is. In the Wild Card win vs. Ravens on the last play Hendrickson was held so bad, no flag and thankfully that ball fell to the turf. Last night, critical play and blatant holding not called on the scramble. The officiating is getting national attention this morning so it clearly goes beyond bitter fan viewpoints. Sucks the Bengals didn't play very good all game, but this game just slips away from them.

Yep in the end the OL was tough to overcome.

Bengals could also front load. That was the path they took with Dalton. Although Dalton will never reach the stature of Burrow at the time his 6 year $115m extension was a major deal. I know there were some incentives involved, but he got like 20% of that contract in the first 6 months of signing. Dalton's cap hit was about 15% of their cap room at the time. I don't think it ever got over 20% mostly because of the front loading. That paved away for the Bengals do things like retain Atkins, Dunlap then catch MJ on the rebound from Tampa. Something people thought they'd never be able to do. As I have said many times the National Media or rival fan bases have failed to recognized the fact the Bengals front office built best in league rosters (2012-2015) prior to Burrow. They instead elect to view the Bengals as the 90s bengals using Marvin/Dalton's lack of post season success at an excuses. So here they are after a majority of the football world projected failure for Burrow/Bengals; Bengals have a top of league roster again and now are getting post season success.

L'Jarius Sneed now making his rounds on the bulletin board train. Chiefs secondary is going to "handle them". I think its time for the players/fans to agree the bulletin board train is full and its time to put up or shut up. Both teams are good. Both teams can find something to be pissed about. Vegas thinks its a close one. Great players are going to make plays and hopefully there isn't some bad injury or bad call the tints the final outcome.

Carman will have to prove over a series of games. The LT for the Rams that filled in for Whitworth during the playoffs performed awesome. Then he kinda sucked this year when having stack games week after week. Not sure how his season went but he was struggling. The plus side is both Carman and Adeniji played last year in Arrowhead. So this isn't brand new to them at least.

I don't really think there is anything as a "bulletin board" edge with these two teams. The Chiefs have had all the motivation in the world to beat the Bengals in the past 3. Since coming out of the bye; the Bengals have had a chip on their shoulder almost every week. If this game does get the point of the last week's game vs. Buffalo. I would love for the Bengals to pull out the "Merry Go Round" huddle. That's been my favorite thing so far Reading/Listening Chief fans claim how cocky the Bengals are but a couple weeks ago they are doing Merry Go Round huddle vs. the Raiders.

By the way KC fans on their message boards are great at the "ifs" and "buts" and some are legit. The last 3 have been close games. If anyone was honest they could have swung a different way if you change a couple plays. However, can they at least admit Boyd dropped an easy TD? There was a couple other not normal things happened that went against Bengals too. Honestly, I thought the last game was closer than it should have been. Like last year Tenn may have been the best team in the AFC up until they lost to Bengals. They did have wins over Buffalo and KC. The KC/Buffalo game was awesome (this year and last Division round). This year Buffalo may have been the best team but didn't have to play Bengals regular season and then got whooped.

Kelce is interesting. They completely stopped him first half. I can't remember but it was maybe 0 catches first half? Very few targets. Then second half I believe he started to shake loose and got a few balls. Then fumbled one. Is it something the Bengals don't sell out to stop him early and then adjust or do they sell to stop early and then let up later? I don't know.

Pratt will be price dependent. He played less than 70% of snaps. There's probably a team with cap room willing to overpay and the Bengals aren't or shouldn't match considering they only played him less than 70% of snaps. Logan Wilson that plays 92% of snaps will be their priority.

I hope they can get this done quickly so they know the cap implications of the next few years.

KC hasn't realized full cap cost of that contract, yet. 2022 was the first big year and it was only $35m. Which saw them have to trade off a top 5 WR etc. 2023 it moves up to $45m. They signed that deal in summer 2020, I think. So they've gone 3 seasons of cap hits 5.3m (2020), 7.4m (2021), 35.8 (2022). 2023 the new league year they are projected with $14m cap space but only 35 players signed. They will once again probably shed talent and attempt to replace. This type of structure is what I hope Burrow/Bengals can get done. Basically cement the lower cap hits for 23, 24, and 25 seasons.

Mahomes no Boot, walking with no limp, supposedly practicing. Good.

This week's bulletin board material..... win for Zac. Somehow he has been left off the coach of year finalist.

A few years back the Bengals were the franchise that would ruin Burrow. Now they are going to win so much other fans will hate Burrow. Whatever. This mindset has been around sports forever. TO had it right, "They love to hate me" Sure I'd love 3 titles or more.

Saw this on another board. 15 total pressures? Really did not seem like it. Given 36 attempts that would be 42%. What Burrow/Bengals were doing early in the game was moving the launch point (whether there was pressure or not). Burrow pressed the LOS a couple times early in the game. I wonder if they are counting these are "pressure".

JT loves him some Burrow.

Awesome. Bring back a winner!