Reasons to believe (WARNING-OPTIMISTIC)

[HoosierCat]

BTW, as long as we are being ridulously optimistic... Bill Polian would make a great replacement for retiring Jim Lippincot, Duke Tobin is currently with the Bengals and is a Polian disciple.

I have seen this idea bandied about and my gut reaction is no. Colts fans haven't been all that fond of the Polians for a while and were outright calling for their heads (and obviously got them) in 2011. It's hard to make an argument that they didn't fail miserably at building a team given the way the Colts collapsed after Manning couldn't play. Yes, the Colts were mostly winners while they were there, but it looks like they were just riding Peyton's coattails.

[Sea Ray]

Polian's failure in Indy was insisting on his son, Chris having an ever increasing role. We know full well around here how much son's of football greats know about football. Kudos to Irsay for realizing that and canning him

[Spor_tees]

Polian's failure in Indy was insisting on his son, Chris having an ever increasing role. We know full well around here how much son's of football greats know about football. Kudos to Irsay for realizing that and canning him

Yeah it's kind of bad trying to set chain of nepotism in an organization that you don't even own. lol

[COB]

Polian's failure in Indy was insisting on his son, Chris having an ever increasing role. We know full well around here how much son's of football greats know about football. Kudos to Irsay for realizing that and canning him

Yeah it's kind of bad trying to set chain of nepotism in an organization that you don't even own. lol

Marty Schottenheimer tried it in San Diego and AJ Smith used it as an excuse to fire him. As it turns out AJ should have just let Marty do it because now they get Norved every Sunday.

[membengal]

Shanahan is doing the nepotism thing in Washington too.

As for Polian...f**k no. Yet another example of knee-jerk Bengals fans assuming Brown is incompetent and everyone else must be competent. Why did the Colts fall off as far as they did without Peyton? Because their drafting for the last five or so years has been s**t. And they have been drafting late in drafts like the Bengals will be this year. I don't want Polian making those calls. He's shown, of late, no ability to identify and develop late first round talent.

[HoosierCat]

Shanahan is doing the nepotism thing in Washington too.

And apparently Ron Wolf is trying it in Oakland, seemingly earning the ire of Hue.

Raiders coach Hue Jackson has made it clear that he wants to be involved in the search for a new G.M. in Oakland. But Jackson doesn’t know whether he will be.

One man who will be involved in the process is former Packers G.M. Ron Wolf. And there are indications that Jackson may not be comfortable with that approach.

Wolf is strongly advocating Packers director of football operations Reggie McKenzie. Per a league source, Jackson believes that, if McKenzie lands in Oakland, he’ll bring along Packers assistant director of player personnel Eliot Wolf, with a promotion.

Eliot Wolf is the son of Ron Wolf.

Thus, Jackson’s desire to be involved in the G.M. search could be aimed at ensuring that the best person is hired for the job, not the person in the best position to Polianize the Raiders’ front office.

[Sea Ray]

What is it with nepotism and the NFL? Can't these guys get jobs without their daddys pulling strings for them?

[walzav29]

Back to the point of the thread. The Bengals do all things better than avergage. Run/Throw Stop the Run/Pressure Kicking game

Most of the teams in the playoffs have a few things they do GREAT, and then are poor at.

New England - Throw great, run below average , defense poor

Pittsburgh - Throw great (Ben's hurt) Run - Not really. Mendenhall is out Great D

Baltimore - Everything they do is a little better than us EXCEPT for passing. I give them the edge.

Houston - Do everything pretty good, but QB is ehh

Denver - Run , Tebow will die Sunday vs Pitt

What am I saying is. If the right guys step up. There isn't anyone we can't beat.

[Globetrotter]

I dont know if we run better then average. We don;t seem too but I might be just used to seeing more explosive guys and that taints my view.

[Globetrotter]

What am I saying is. If the right guys step up. There isn't anyone we can't beat.

I think we will have a very tough time beating the Saints, Pats, Ravens, Steelers and Packers. I have always had the feeling that these teams are just much more creative on offense and defense and we are always playing catchup. I will be happy with a win at Houston and a loss. I will be exctatic if we go further. I am not sure that we ever get past the above mentioned teams with how uncreative we seem to be on O and D. That will certainly need to improve for us to truly contend. I like what Gruden wants to do and think Zimmer does a great job putting players in position to have successs but think we will get outschemed until we change things up....Also need some playmakers.

[skyline]

What am I saying is. If the right guys step up. There isn't anyone we can't beat.

I think we will have a very tough time beating the Saints, Pats, Ravens, Steelers and Packers. I have always had the feeling that these teams are just much more creative on offense and defense and in we are always playing catchup. I will be happy with a win at Houston and a loss. I am not sure that we ever get past he above mentioned teams with how uncreative we seem to be on O and D. I like what Gruden wants to do and think Zimmer does a great job putting players in position to have successs but think we will get outschemed this year.

Our defense is already better than the Saints, Pats, and Packers. I don't think scheme is the problem...we just need more depth and consistency.

As for our offense, there's only so much creativity you can introduce when you have an offense full of rookies that had very little offseason to prepare. It's unfair to compare those to the offenses you mentioned that are full of veterans (players and coordinators). No, they're not ready this year, but it's not because we lack the ability to be creative. It simply takes some time to get there.

[Globetrotter]

[derekshank]

He seems like a great motivator but pretty simple scheme wise. I know very little about football schemes so we could be running the most elaborate thing and I just don't notice but to me it seems like everything we do on D is really simplistic.

I don't say this to be combative... but why do you want a complex defense?

The two long runs from Ray Rice last week were because players (specifically Rey and Nelson) failed to maintain their gaps. I want each player to know his role and be able to do it quickly and effectively without having to think too much about a complicated scheme.

Fast and violent are better than complicated in my opinion.

[Globetrotter]

He seems like a great motivator but pretty simple scheme wise. I know very little about football schemes so we could be running the most elaborate thing and I just don't notice but to me it seems like everything we do on D is really simplistic.

I don't say this to be combative... but why do you want a complex defense?

The two long runs from Ray Rice last week were because players (specifically Rey and Nelson) failed to maintain their gaps. I want each player to know his role and be able to do it quickly and effectively without having to think too much about a complicated scheme.

Fast and violent are better than complicated in my opinion.

No worries about the combative stuff. I won't take it that way unless you are directly using names or slurs or whatever. I have seen none of that in this place.

I think with a complicated defense its harder for an offenses to prepare. I think with our scheme we seemingly ract instead of dictate. Thats how I view both sides of the football for us but I think Gruden is a step in the right direction on O. I want other teams on both sides of the ball saying "How are we going to stop them"

[volcom69]

He seems like a great motivator but pretty simple scheme wise. I know very little about football schemes so we could be running the most elaborate thing and I just don't notice but to me it seems like everything we do on D is really simplistic.

I don't say this to be combative... but why do you want a complex defense?

The two long runs from Ray Rice last week were because players (specifically Rey and Nelson) failed to maintain their gaps. I want each player to know his role and be able to do it quickly and effectively without having to think too much about a complicated scheme.

Fast and violent are better than complicated in my opinion.

No worries about the combative stuff. I won't take it that way unless you are directly using names or slurs or whatever. I have seen none of that in this place.

I think with a complicated defense its harder for an offenses to prepare. I think with our scheme we seemingly ract instead of dictate. Thats how I view both sides of the football for us but I think Gruden is a step in the right direction on O. I want other teams on both sides of the ball saying "How are we going to stop them"

They tried complicated last year and they sucked. Remember last year when Zim said they have to simplify the defense, because it was to complicated for the guys.

The problem i see with the defense is they need to tackle better, they need to stay in there gaps better, they need to get off blocks much better. It seems to me each year the defense starts out great but always falls back, i would love for them to back to playing that physical football that they played at the start of the season.

[Spor_tees]

The #1 reason to be optimistic, it can only be better than it used to be!

[Globetrotter]

He seems like a great motivator but pretty simple scheme wise. I know very little about football schemes so we could be running the most elaborate thing and I just don't notice but to me it seems like everything we do on D is really simplistic.

I don't say this to be combative... but why do you want a complex defense?

The two long runs from Ray Rice last week were because players (specifically Rey and Nelson) failed to maintain their gaps. I want each player to know his role and be able to do it quickly and effectively without having to think too much about a complicated scheme.

Fast and violent are better than complicated in my opinion.

No worries about the combative stuff. I won't take it that way unless you are directly using names or slurs or whatever. I have seen none of that in this place.

I think with a complicated defense its harder for an offenses to prepare. I think with our scheme we seemingly ract instead of dictate. Thats how I view both sides of the football for us but I think Gruden is a step in the right direction on O. I want other teams on both sides of the ball saying "How are we going to stop them"

They tried complicated last year and they sucked. Remember last year when Zim said they have to simplify the defense, because it was to complicated for the guys.

The problem i see with the defense is they need to tackle better, they need to stay in there gaps better, they need to get off blocks much better. It seems to me each year the defense starts out great but always falls back, i would love for them to back to playing that physical football that they played at the start of the season.

I agree with these and dont view our takes as exclusive from eachother. I think we need to get fundamentally sound for sure, but we also need to dictate things. I think your take is basically a bottom level ie we need atleast that to be succesful. Mine is a second level. We need yours to get to mine. The reality is that I don't expect this on both sides of the ball, as someone aptly put ot many teams have had this ever, but I think the majority of the teams who have contender level success dictate things on offense or defense. They either dominate the line of scrimmage or confuse you so you don't know where they are coming from on D ie Giants, Pitt, Dominate through the pssing game so you are basically unstoppable on O Pacs, NO, NE or Dominate through the running game and have ridiculous playmakers on D in the Ravens. I think the Lions and Texans are on the cusp of greatness.

[skyline]

He seems like a great motivator but pretty simple scheme wise. I know very little about football schemes so we could be running the most elaborate thing and I just don't notice but to me it seems like everything we do on D is really simplistic.

I don't say this to be combative... but why do you want a complex defense?

The two long runs from Ray Rice last week were because players (specifically Rey and Nelson) failed to maintain their gaps. I want each player to know his role and be able to do it quickly and effectively without having to think too much about a complicated scheme.

Fast and violent are better than complicated in my opinion.

No worries about the combative stuff. I won't take it that way unless you are directly using names or slurs or whatever. I have seen none of that in this place.

I think with a complicated defense its harder for an offenses to prepare. I think with our scheme we seemingly ract instead of dictate. Thats how I view both sides of the football for us but I think Gruden is a step in the right direction on O. I want other teams on both sides of the ball saying "How are we going to stop them"

They tried complicated last year and they sucked. Remember last year when Zim said they have to simplify the defense, because it was to complicated for the guys.

The problem i see with the defense is they need to tackle better, they need to stay in there gaps better, they need to get off blocks much better. It seems to me each year the defense starts out great but always falls back, i would love for them to back to playing that physical football that they played at the start of the season.

I agree with these and dont view our takes as exclusive from eachother. I think we need to get fundamentally sound for sure, but we also need to dictate things. I think your take is basically a bottom level ie we need atleast that to be succesful. Mine is a second level. We need yours to get to mine. The reality is that I don't expect this on both sides of the ball, as someone aptly put ot many teams have had this ever, but I think the majority of the teams who have contender level success dictate things on offense or defense. They either dominate the line of scrimmage or confuse you so you don't know where they are coming from on D ie Giants, Pitt, Dominate through the pssing game so you are basically unstoppable on O Pacs, NO, NE or Dominate through the running game and have ridiculous playmakers on D in the Ravens. I think the Lions and Texans are on the cusp of greatness.

I think we need more dominant players before we can do the types of things you're looking for, especially in the secondary. With the depth and talent that we have now, I think our best bet is to be as fundamentally sound as possible. Zimmer has done a great job of that, as seen in our #7 ranking this year. Give me Leon Hall back, one additional difference maker in the secondary, and a star linebacker, and I think Zimmer makes this a top 5 unit year in and year out. Assuming he's not a head coach somewhere else, that is...

[volcom69]

He seems like a great motivator but pretty simple scheme wise. I know very little about football schemes so we could be running the most elaborate thing and I just don't notice but to me it seems like everything we do on D is really simplistic.

I don't say this to be combative... but why do you want a complex defense?

The two long runs from Ray Rice last week were because players (specifically Rey and Nelson) failed to maintain their gaps. I want each player to know his role and be able to do it quickly and effectively without having to think too much about a complicated scheme.

Fast and violent are better than complicated in my opinion.

No worries about the combative stuff. I won't take it that way unless you are directly using names or slurs or whatever. I have seen none of that in this place.

I think with a complicated defense its harder for an offenses to prepare. I think with our scheme we seemingly ract instead of dictate. Thats how I view both sides of the football for us but I think Gruden is a step in the right direction on O. I want other teams on both sides of the ball saying "How are we going to stop them"

They tried complicated last year and they sucked. Remember last year when Zim said they have to simplify the defense, because it was to complicated for the guys.

The problem i see with the defense is they need to tackle better, they need to stay in there gaps better, they need to get off blocks much better. It seems to me each year the defense starts out great but always falls back, i would love for them to back to playing that physical football that they played at the start of the season.

I agree with these and dont view our takes as exclusive from eachother. I think we need to get fundamentally sound for sure, but we also need to dictate things. I think your take is basically a bottom level ie we need atleast that to be succesful. Mine is a second level. We need yours to get to mine. The reality is that I don't expect this on both sides of the ball, as someone aptly put ot many teams have had this ever, but I think the majority of the teams who have contender level success dictate things on offense or defense. They either dominate the line of scrimmage or confuse you so you don't know where they are coming from on D ie Giants, Pitt, Dominate through the pssing game so you are basically unstoppable on O Pacs, NO, NE or Dominate through the running game and have ridiculous playmakers on D in the Ravens. I think the Lions and Texans are on the cusp of greatness.

I think we need more dominant players before we can do the types of things you're looking for, especially in the secondary. With the depth and talent that we have now, I think our best bet is to be as fundamentally sound as possible. Zimmer has done a great job of that, as seen in our #7 ranking this year. Give me Leon Hall back, one additional difference maker in the secondary, and a star linebacker, and I think Zimmer makes this a top 5 unit year in and year out. Assuming he's not a head coach somewhere else, that is...

Wasnt Rey supposed to be that star at LB for this team?? So far i have not seen it, he does have some good games, but i have seen him alot take himself out of plays, and cant get off blocks. I truly hope he becomes that guy that we all want him to be!

I really like Thomas Howard and think he was a great pick up. I thought last week he did a great job hanging with Rice in the passing game, so to me he is the best LB out there. Manny Lawson has not been that bad either, i wouldnt mind seeing him back!

If you go back and look at the begining and the middle of the year, the defense was doing a pretty good job getting off blocks, staying in gaps and tackling! It seems as of late they cant do any of that. This week they are going to need it big time if they want to win. Tackle, and get off blocks, and cant forget about pressure! Gibril Wilson said it best in an interview, if they cant get back to playing defense like they were in the middle of the year, the defense can take them places, and i do believe that can be true.

[Globetrotter]

[derekshank]

Wasnt Rey supposed to be that star at LB for this team??

I think a lot of us thought that when he was coming out of college... but that mindset cooled off after his first couple of seasons were solid, but not spectacular.

He's finally getting his shot in the middle... and he has been pretty damn good against the run, (those two Ray Rice runs aside) he's had a strong season and is a major part of why the Bengals are viewed a stout run defense.

That said, he is almost never on the field in passing situations, so he is certainly not a complete player yet. But he's young, so there's still time.

All that to say, I'm not sure how many people thought he'd be a star right out of the gate this year. Perhaps it's more accurate to say that some people think he might become a star. As for me... I think it's safe to say that since he's only turning 25 this year, that his best football is still ahead of him.

[volcom69]

Wasnt Rey supposed to be that star at LB for this team??

I think a lot of us thought that when he was coming out of college... but that mindset cooled off after his first couple of seasons were solid, but not spectacular.

He's finally getting his shot in the middle... and he has been pretty damn good against the run, (those two Ray Rice runs aside) he's had a strong season and is a major part of why the Bengals are viewed a stout run defense.

That said, he is almost never on the field in passing situations, so he is certainly not a complete player yet. But he's young, so there's still time.

All that to say, I'm not sure how many people thought he'd be a star right out of the gate this year. Perhaps it's more accurate to say that some people think he might become a star. As for me... I think it's safe to say that since he's only turning 25 this year, that his best football is still ahead of him.

Oh i still have hope for him, there have been games this year where he has been great. I just cant wait till he can do it everygame. One thing i do notice is he is a very soft spoken guy, i often wonder if he is going to be the leader of this defense, pumping guys up things like that. The sky is the limit for him, and i do think he will continue to grow.

[Sea Ray]

I'm a great believer in competition and depth in the game of football. For that reason, I'm looking forward to the return of Muckleroy next year and see if he pushes Rey at MLB. Then we'll see what Rey's really made of as it'll be put up or shut up time

[ratt617]

Greetings from Houston! I want to start by saying I always enjoy listening and talking to Bengals fans. I feel some sort of a brotherhood with y'all dating back to the old division rivalries in the Oilers days. Your history is not much different than ours. We have had our share of heartbreakers and it is almost fitting that we are playing each other in this first round of the playoffs.

I just want to give some insight from a Texans perspective. We have lost 3 in a row. I somewhat think we cashed it in after we clinched the division. We have had a ton of player injured this year and a lot have been banged up lately. After our last meeting with y'all, which we played terrible, I think Kubiac simplified our playbook and a lot of the players lost their focus. In this last game with the Titans we plulled most of the starters and played second and third stringers after the first drive. I was surprised that we almost pulled it out in the end. This game coming up is the first game that we have had everybody back and HEALTHY since the first of the season. Yates (3rd string) is the only player that is not first string in the starting lineup this week. Johnson, Daniels, Joseph, Casey, Brissel, Cushing and Manning are all back to 100% this week after being hurt or injured for most of the season. Thank God it has worked out this way.

I just don't know what this team is going to do. The city is really pumped and a lot of inphasis has been put on making the stadium as loud as possible Saturday. I even heard that they are purposly leaving the roof closed in order to help with this cause. The defense has been VERY good all season. They just never seem to quit.

Yated did dislocate his left shoulder last week. He made a touchdown drive right after he dislocated it and then they pulled him to be cautious. Kubiak says he looked great in practice all week and is definitly good to go.

I'm excited to see FB James Casey back to full strength finally. Early in the season he was really causing major match up problems with other teams from the FB position. He is very athletic and has great hands. He had close to 100 yards receiving last week. He ripped his pec muscle a few months back and has not been able to contribute until last week.

Our two teams are very evenly matched and I just don't know how this game will turn out. I think the stadium will be crazy and will cause some problems for your offense, but you QB is very poised and talented and doesn't make mistakes often. If we can protect the football, hit Johnson for a couple of deep balls, get Casey and Daniels involved, get ahead early and pound the football on the ground in the second half I think we will pull this one out.

Good luck guys, it should be an exciting one.

[COB]

Greetings from Houston! I want to start by saying I always enjoy listening and talking to Bengals fans. I feel some sort of a brotherhood with y'all dating back to the old division rivalries in the Oilers days. Your history is not much different than ours. We have had our share of heartbreakers and it is almost fitting that we are playing each other in this first round of the playoffs.

I just want to give some insight from a Texans perspective. We have lost 3 in a row. I somewhat think we cashed it in after we clinched the division. We have had a ton of player injured this year and a lot have been banged up lately. After our last meeting with y'all, which we played terrible, I think Kubiac simplified our playbook and a lot of the players lost their focus. In this last game with the Titans we plulled most of the starters and played second and third stringers after the first drive. I was surprised that we almost pulled it out in the end. This game coming up is the first game that we have had everybody back and HEALTHY since the first of the season. Yates (3rd string) is the only player that is not first string in the starting lineup this week. Johnson, Daniels, Joseph, Casey, Brissel, Cushing and Manning are all back to 100% this week after being hurt or injured for most of the season. Thank God it has worked out this way.

I just don't know what this team is going to do. The city is really pumped and a lot of inphasis has been put on making the stadium as loud as possible Saturday. I even heard that they are purposly leaving the roof closed in order to help with this cause. The defense has been VERY good all season. They just never seem to quit.

Yated did dislocate his left shoulder last week. He made a touchdown drive right after he dislocated it and then they pulled him to be cautious. Kubiak says he looked great in practice all week and is definitly good to go.

I'm excited to see FB James Casey back to full strength finally. Early in the season he was really causing major match up problems with other teams from the FB position. He is very athletic and has great hands. He had close to 100 yards receiving last week. He ripped his pec muscle a few months back and has not been able to contribute until last week.

Our two teams are very evenly matched and I just don't know how this game will turn out. I think the stadium will be crazy and will cause some problems for your offense, but you QB is very poised and talented and doesn't make mistakes often. If we can protect the football, hit Johnson for a couple of deep balls, get Casey and Daniels involved, get ahead early and pound the football on the ground in the second half I think we will pull this one out.

Good luck guys, it should be an exciting one.

Would you please return our cornerback?