To me the #1 Hurdle are the Jets

[redsbengalsbucks]

So if the case is all the safeties are gone by #21, there's no WR worth the #21, and Iupati is off the board, which way would you go ??

I can envision both the DE from Michigan, Graham and the DE from S. Florida, Paul-Pierre being available.

Sorry, I just hate the thought of Gresham.

I think they go DE with the pick if the above happens.

BPA out of the DE, CB, OG positions. No order there, just get a playmaker on D or another young Guard to protect the QB.

[redsbengalsbucks]

Don't sleep on the Ravens, getting Boldin and Stallworth will really help their offense and if they have a healthy Ed Reed their D will still be formidable.

They have improved the WR corp, but the D is another year older, and can only get worse IMO.

[BengalByTheBay]

Don't sleep on the Ravens, getting Boldin and Stallworth will really help their offense and if they have a healthy Ed Reed their D will still be formidable.

They have improved the WR corp, but the D is another year older, and can only get worse IMO.

For the Ravens, I tend to think this is a lot like when they signed McNair. Then, all they needed was a QB and they'd be over the hump...last piece of the puzzle. The problem is that while that one position is currently a problem, there are other positions that are likely slipping. I think the defense will continue to slide and there were signs last year that -- although they apparently have to start him as long as he's there -- Rey Lewis looks like he's finally done to me. As always, however, it's only opinions and we shall see.

[redsbengalsbucks]

Don't sleep on the Ravens, getting Boldin and Stallworth will really help their offense and if they have a healthy Ed Reed their D will still be formidable.

They have improved the WR corp, but the D is another year older, and can only get worse IMO.

For the Ravens, I tend to think this is a lot like when they signed McNair. Then, all they needed was a QB and they'd be over the hump...last piece of the puzzle. The problem is that while that one position is currently a problem, there are other positions that are likely slipping. I think the defense will continue to slide and there were signs last year that -- although they apparently have to start him as long as he's there -- Rey Lewis looks like he's finally done to me. As always, however, it's only opinions and we shall see.

I dont think he is done, but he is no better than some other LB's in the AFCN now. His days of being a game changer are done.

[Sea Ray]

In that scenario, best DE or DT on the board.

I'd go with Brian Price or Jason Pierre-Paul

[BengalPimp]

No, I did not forget about the guy with the ruptured Achilles. Did you forget about his injury?

No. It's an injury, they didn't cut his foot off. He had surgery and will be back.

The defense we saw the last few games of the season was missing several guys. They'll be back. And we'll win the AFC North again, leaving you with nothing to do but to wait until March to start bashing the Bengals hoping no one remembers that they were actually good the previous season.

Get 'Em !!!!

[BengalPimp]

In that scenario, best DE or DT on the board.

I'd go with Brian Price or Jason Pierre-Paul

I see BUST written all over Pierre-Paul, and I don't much care for Price's size (6'2" 300lbs).

[gregstephens]

I still think the Bengals' biggest problems will be in the AFC North. Pittsburgh is likely to compete for the division, whether that means 9 wins or 12 (barring a Ben suspension, but maybe even despite one). Baltimore looks pretty strong across the board on offense, and I think their defensive woes last season were a bit overstated.

It's early but you can put me in the camp that thinks the Steelers are in a well deserved mess of their own making, the key to the Ravens playoff hopes has always rested upon finding CB's, not wideouts. And always constantly perpetually rebuilding Cleveland can now be best described as a person standing in a turd filled yard with an empty bag in hand. Choices, choices, choices.

And for whatever it might be worth...I see winning the AFC North again as the Bengals best chance for a playoff berth. Furthermore, I don't know why they shouldn't be considered heavy favorites to repeat as champs.

They probably won't be favored because by the end of the season, baltimore had overtaken the bengals as the best team in the division.

6-0

Like I said, by the end of the season, Baltimore had overtaken the bengals as the best team in the division. Are yo actually disputing that fact? 6-0 has nothing to do with who finished the year as the better team. i totally agree the bengals were the best team in the division throught the first 8, 10 games of the year. Then they slipped big-time and were not nearly as good by the end of the season as they were the first half. Baltimore started strong, then slipped, then recovered and was playing bery well at the end, surpassing the bengals.

By posting 6-0, you are just telling me you never took calculus in high school. Do you know what calculus is used to study? If you did, you would understand the difference between a team's "average" over the course of a season, and how good they are at any one "instantaneous" point in the season.

Ok, I know I'm late to this party, but...

"6-0 has nothing to do with who finished the year as the better team."

Yeah, actually it kinda does. That and the fact we beat them twice and they beat us zero, out of a total of eight quarters of football.

"Do you know what calculus is used to study? If you did, you would understand the difference between a team's "average" over the course of a season, and how good they are at any one "instantaneous" point in the season."

Ok, having taken calculus in both high school and college, and despite hating every friggin' minute of it, I thought statistics, which I also took in college, was used to measure questions like 'average', 'means', 'medians', both over the course of a time range and at a given instant in time. In fact, calculus has nothing to do with your analogy, as it is actually defined as, "Calculus (Latin, calculus, a small stone used for counting) is a branch in mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series." Hence, I have no clue where you are trying to come from with the calculus thing.

Bottom line is, you can't look at mathematical equations of any branch of mathematics and plug in any aspect of football to compare two teams except statistics. The only statistics that mattered in re the Ravens vs. Bengals: Bengals 2-0 against the Ravens; Bengals 6-0 in division and Ravens not. If you can find the derivative of the Bengals' performance curve that somehow objectively proves they were inferior to the Ravens at the end of the season, assuming a complete and total equal set of surrounding circumstances, I await with baited breath.

Otherwise, shut up for once.

[BengalPimp]

Back to the original topic.

To me the #1 hurdle is.....Themselves. I think we can all agree this is the most talented team we've had in a looong time (especially defensively). They will only add more talent in the upcoming draft. So, the only thing taht can stop them is, themselves.

[BengalByTheBay]

Back to the original topic.

To me the #1 hurdle is.....Themselves. I think we can all agree this is the most talented team we've had in a looong time (especially defensively). They will only add more talent in the upcoming draft. So, the only thing taht can stop them is, themselves.

Sooo, I guess they'll go 8-8? jk I agree that this is relatively uncharted territory. Who among us didn't have at least a nagging suspicion in 2006 that the offense-heavy model had to have its limitations when it came playoff time? This team definitely feels different. That's why, when I think about the primary hurdles to success next year, I don't think of any particular team. Rather, I think first about whether Carson Palmer is going to be the guy to get it done and I think about the difficulty that appears to be posed by the schedule. After last season (when I was primarily worried about 3 things, the Steelers, the Steelers, and the Steelers) I'm not worried about any one team.