Dont jump the gun on this D just yet.

[Spain]

Hey every year I remind you guys that The first three games the passing game isnt up to speed. The D and running game is what wins early. Weve played the Cheifs which had a swiss cheese line at the first game. Our O that returned 11 starters for 2 years looked rusty. Game 4 we will see what type of D we have. However KC couldnt stop the run. The running game has improved drastically. This D is going to benefit from a great O. Dont confuse yourself the Best D is coming next year!

[ArmyBengal]

This will be the first year I have been confident enough to say this with the defenses we have seen, but this years offense is actually going to benefit from our defense.

Carson and company won't be under the pressure of having to put 35 points on the board to win a game and will have more pound them out games after building a lead...

WHODEY !!!

[Casey]

This will be the first year I have been confident enough to say this with the defenses we have seen, but this years offense is actually going to benefit from our defense.

Carson and company won't be under the pressure of having to put 35 points on the board to win a game and will have more pound them out games after building a lead...

WHODEY !!!

I agree. That was exactly what happened last week. The defense really stepped up and took control of that game when the offense was sort of sputtering due to the weather conditions (or for whatever reason). For the Bengals to come out of Arrowhead with a win when Palmer throws for less than 150 yards and no TD's and Rudi getting almost 30 carries was a great thing to see. Plus the defense held Larry Johnson to less than 70 yards rushing.

To me it showed the Bengals will be able to win games in a lot of different ways this year, not just by putting up a huge amount of points every game.

[ArmyBengal]

Billy do you believe the sh*t coming out of my mouth ?? I've been waiting for the chance to say those very words for a long time !!!

WHODEY !!!

[derekshank]

Whether next year's defense will be better than this one remains to be seen. We won't know until the time comes. We don't know what another year of draft/free agency will cause our defensive personnel to look like. Hopefully we’ll continue getting better, but we are good right now too.

The point that I think can be made though is that this defense has made its living on big plays... and continues to do that. Now we're adding pressuring the QB to our repertoire of big plays... and that's never a bad thing. Our run defense wasn't that bad last year... and looks to be getting only better this year.

I have reason to be very excited about this years defense... and if as Spain says "the best is yet to come" than I have reason to be straight giddy.

[Spain]

I still want to see it at pittsburgh, big bens the devil!

[richmond_mat]

I intended to put 'the defense' as my surprise for the surprise of the year thread.

Also remember this is a sample of one and KC might just not be that good this year.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Billy do you believe the sh*t coming out of my mouth ?? I've been waiting for the chance to say those very words for a long time !!!

WHODEY !!!

Hell yeah, I believe it!! I've always wanted the Bengals defense to be the strength of this team instead of having to depend on the offense to have to put up 40+ points in order to get a win!

[UK Bengal]

hey there billy hows it going now u out of the showers

This year the D will be good but next year it will be great not that good wont win you a SB because I'm confident we can go all the way this year.

[BengalszoneBilly]

hey there billy hows it going now u out of the showers

It's all good, my brother from Wales! Just glad to be back here among friends, that's all.

This year the D will be good but next year it will be great not that good wont win you a SB because I'm confident we can go all the way this year.

The potential is definitely there. The better the defense plays, the higher the potential is. We know the offense has it going on. If the defense finally follows suit, and we stop drafting 1st round busts like Chris Perry, we'll have it going on for many years to come!

[ArmyBengal]

Billy, you and I have been bashing this sh*t out of this defense for so long now, I don't know how to react to all this !!!

Wait a minute, come to think of it, YES I DO !!!

WHODEY !!!

[HairOnFire]

"This is a defense that can win you a 6 to 3 game." --- Merrill Hodge, describing the Bengals

[Stripes]

"This is a defense that can win you a 6 to 3 game." --- Merrill Hodge, describing the Bengals

Eh... I like the support from the pundits, especially a former Steeler... but that just sounds like a generic analyst comment regarding any good defense.

[HairOnFire]

"This is a defense that can win you a 6 to 3 game." --- Merrill Hodge, describing the Bengals

Eh... I like the support from the pundits, especially a former Steeler... but that just sounds like a generic analyst comment regarding any good defense.

Fair enough. Now ask yourself the last time ANY analyst uttered the above words about a Bengal defense. The sad truth is that the Bengal defense will have to show dramatic improvement just to be considered good.

All Hodge's comment proves is the improvement IS being noted.

[Stripes]

True enough. The analysts did seem to give us some credit last year with all the turnovers we were getting. Going into this season, you're right though... They had little good to say. So yes, nice to see it.

[BengalszoneBilly]

"This is a defense that can win you a 6 to 3 game." --- Merrill Hodge, describing the Bengals

Now ask yourself the last time ANY analyst uttered the above words about a Bengal defense.

I did ask myself that very question, and the answer was "Never." Not even during the Cincinnati Super Bowl seasons during the '80's. It's always been all offensive power with the Bengals, or languishing in the cellar because they had neither.

Offense is nice, but defense is what wins you Super Bowls. I think even Peyton Manning will back me up on that one. It wasn't Trent Dilfer who took Baltimore's Lombardi trophy home for them in 2000. It was Ray Lewis and the defense. Same last year with the Steelers. It wasn't stinkin' Ben Rothlisberger and his 22.6 QB rating. It was the paid off referees... ...er, I mean Troy Polamalu and Pittsburg's defense. * Sorry. I'm still a tad bitter over some things from that game.*

[ohwhyknott]

Offense is nice, but defense is what wins you Super Bowls. I think even Peyton Manning will back me up on that one. It wasn't Trent Dilfer who took Baltimore's Lombardi trophy home for them in 2000. It was Ray Lewis and the defense. Same last year with the Steelers. It wasn't stinkin' Ben Rothlisberger and his 22.6 QB rating. It was the paid off referees... ...er, I mean Troy Polamalu and Pittsburg's defense. * Sorry. I'm still a tad bitter over some things from that game.*

Mike Holmgren went crazy! It was like they did'nt even care how obvious it was, they were helping them. Just like a troubled player getting his future earnings waved in his face, if he does'nt straighten up---The NFL should feel threatened, they might lose money, if they make the game into something like "Big Time Wrestling" I'm not saying let's all boycott the NFL, but they should at least be informed that fans actually know the game, & know when it's being tampered with. In short, The game needs to be played fair, & may the best team win! If not, they're just spinning their wheels, & that gets boring. The next step---Look out for flying folding chairs, thrown onto the field to hit the players over the back with. (like wrestling)

[HoTbOy]

I can't remember any analyst saying anything about a Bengal D except at how poor they were against the run, and they couldn't tackle...to see that in the 1st game should be exciting to any Bengals fan, improvement with the D can take only 1 year the Colts did it last year...