2014 Prediction

[gregcook68]

Okay, let's get real! Based upon what we know and expect from Bengals history, here's a no non-sense realistic prediction:

Based upon history there will key injuries throughout the year, some will be season ending.

At Ravens - L (Ravens rarely lose at home, Bengals terrible in first game)

Falcons - W (Home game, Falcons struggling)

Titans - W (Home game, should beat the Titans)

At Patriots - L (Away game in prime time. Bengals always lose prime time games)

Panthers - L (Panthers much improved and injuries will hurt the Bengals here)

At Colts - W (Should be able to beat them even in their stadium)

Ravens - W (Should have just enough confidence to beat and split with the Ravens at home)

Jags - W (Should be a win, but could be an upset game)

Browns - L (Prime time game, always lose those)

At Saints - L (Away game and injuries will show up)

At Texans - W (Should beat them as they continue to struggle)

At Buccaneers - L (Upset game of the season. Tampa's defense will stymie Dalton)

Steelers - L (History says Lewis rarely has beaten them even at home)

At Browns - L (Dog pound and the defense will paralyze Dalton)

Broncos - L (Another prime time game)

At Steelers - L (Steelers rarely lose at home, and the Bengals will be so beaten up and the game won't matter as far as playoffs go anyway)

2014

6-10

[ArmyBengal]

11-5

[Stripes]

7-9

[HoosierCat]

19-0

[TJJackson]

I usually like to wait on W-L record prediction til after all 4 preseason games are played, but I'll go with 7-9 for my PRE-pre-season line

[kingwilly]

I'll hang a big 8-8 as my pre-pre-season prediction.

Hard to see them closing out with 5 straight losses, so factor 2 of those from above as wins.

If they lose 5 straight, dropping from 6-5 to 6-10, Dalton will be a corpse and this team will get blown up.

[gregcook68]

Who wins the division in 2014??

[kingwilly]

You list the Steelers and Browns sweeping the Bengals, so by the looks of your prediction it seems to indicate the Steelers or Browns.

Neither of those teams will win the division. If the Bengals do tank, I think the Ravens will slot into the Div title.

[BonnieBengal]

Okay, let's get real! Based upon what we know and expect from Bengals history, here's a no non-sense realistic prediction:

Based upon history there will key injuries throughout the year, some will be season ending.

At Ravens - L (Ravens rarely lose at home, Bengals terrible in first game)

Falcons - W (Home game, Falcons struggling)

Titans - W (Home game, should beat the Titans)

At Patriots - L (Away game in prime time. Bengals always lose prime time games)

Panthers - L (Panthers much improved and injuries will hurt the Bengals here)

At Colts - W (Should be able to beat them even in their stadium)

Ravens - W (Should have just enough confidence to beat and split with the Ravens at home)

Jags - W (Should be a win, but could be an upset game)

Browns - L (Prime time game, always lose those)

At Saints - L (Away game and injuries will show up)

At Texans - W (Should beat them as they continue to struggle)

At Buccaneers - L (Upset game of the season. Tampa's defense will stymie Dalton)

Steelers - L (History says Lewis rarely has beaten them even at home)

At Browns - L (Dog pound and the defense will paralyze Dalton)

Broncos - L (Another prime time game)

At Steelers - L (Steelers rarely lose at home, and the Bengals will be so beaten up and the game won't matter as far as playoffs go anyway)

2014

6-10

Hi. New to the board. I post under this same name on Bengals.com.

Here's my take.

At Ravens: Win. Our power running game of Hill and Gio open up our passing game. Without Kyle "the revolving door" Cook at center, Dalton has time to throw.

Falcons: Win in first home game of the year.

Titans: Easy win

At Patriots. First loss. We can never win in Foxboro.

Panthers: Win

Colts: Win

Ravens: Loss. The Ravens return the favor and beat us in a shocker at home.

Jags: Loss. Trap game.

Browns: Win. With Josh Gordon out and a little tiny QB, the Browns have a bad year again.

At Saints: Win

At Texans. Loss. Clowney and Watt prove too much for our O Line.

At Buccaneers: Loss. Michael Johnson has a "you should have signed me" game.

Steelers: Big win. Kevin Huber's revenge game.

At Browns: Win

Broncos: Loss

At Steelers: Win. Steelers out of playoffs.

So, 10-6

[gregcook68]

Bleacher Report's Post Draft Prediction

AFC North

Steelers 10-6

Ravens 9-7

Browns 9-7

Bengals 7-9

[HoosierCat]

Welcome to the zone, Bonnie! Same handle on twitter? I'm @DaveWellmanB.

[WhoDey93285]

When I look at the schedule first glance, I see 9-7.

However, I'll going ahead and predict with a more "run-heavy" offense and a healthier secondary, 10-6.

[BonnieBengal]

Welcome to the zone, Bonnie! Same handle on twitter? I'm @DaveWellmanB.

Yes, I'm also @BonnieBengal on Twitter. This looks like a great board. Thanks for the welcome. Looks like we are already following each other on Twitter.

[BonnieBengal]

Bleacher Report's Post Draft Prediction

AFC North

Steelers 10-6

Ravens 9-7

Browns 9-7

Bengals 7-9

I think they are way, way off. I'm going with

Bengals 10-6

Ravens 9-7

Steelers 7-9

Browns 6-10. I thought earlier the Browns would have a good year, but if Josh Gordon is out all year, that is going to be a problem. Manziel will be a bust. And they passed on Sammy Watkins.

[Scottishbengal]

I'm going to go with a 9 or 10 win season for the Bengals. Heck we came up one game short of having the AFC 2nd seed last year and with Hall and Geno back I would hope we wouldn't fall too far from where we were 12 months ago.

I do believe we haven't strengthened as much as the Browns nor the Ravens and I don't think we've strengthened as much as we coulda/shoulda during free agency but that's the way the Bengals roll.

[BonnieBengal]

Bleacher Report's Post Draft Prediction

AFC North

Steelers 10-6

Ravens 9-7

Browns 9-7

Bengals 7-9

I was just looking at the Power Rankings article on Bleacher Report, and they have the Steelers at #29, Browns at #25, Ravens at #21, and the Bengals at ...... #7. So I guess there are differing opinions on Bleacher Report. Also, thanks for the invite to the board.

[redsbengalsbucks]

Bleacher Report's Post Draft Prediction

AFC North

Steelers 10-6

Ravens 9-7

Browns 9-7

Bengals 7-9

I don't see the Stealers going anywhere but down, they continue to get older at the important positions and still have limited O weapons.

[ArmyBengal]

I don't see how anyone can say the loss of Gruden is going to be such a negative for Dalton and we are the most likely playoff team from last season to not make the playoffs this season. Seriously, I think people put entirely too much in the fact the MJ and Collins aren't here any more and that somehow the team will be unable to overcome such HUGE losses.

Collins wasn't being handed the LT spot and moved on. Whit will kick back out and they have options at both LG and OC.

They drafted Will Clarke at DE and have a buttload of options outside of him.

While i'm not a huge fan of the draft overall, they were able to fill holes with players they apparently were very high on.

Dennard will be huge as will Hill in the running game. Everyone else provided one thing people always go on about: DEPTH.

They promoted Hue to OC, which d*mn near everyone is happy about and retained Guenther for the DC spot, which most thought well of.

Couple those moves with bringing in additional help in the secondary with Vance Joseph, who is well respected and some safety depth as well.

Where has this team fallen from 11-5 to 6-10 ?? Where ??

Fine, everyone hates Dalton and they don't think he can win a playoff game. That doesn't equate to 6-10 or whatever.

The schedule ?? Ok, little tougher with the Pats and Donks, but that's two games and the Donks come to Cincinnnati.

Sorry, I just don't see the massive dropoff others seem to be expecting for 2014.

[gregcook68]

I don't see how anyone can say the loss of Gruden is going to be such a negative for Dalton and we are the most likely playoff team from last season to not make the playoffs this season. Seriously, I think people put entirely too much in the fact the MJ and Collins aren't here any more and that somehow the team will be unable to overcome such HUGE losses.

Collins wasn't being handed the LT spot and moved on. Whit will kick back out and they have options at both LG and OC.

They drafted Will Clarke at DE and have a buttload of options outside of him.

While i'm not a huge fan of the draft overall, they were able to fill holes with players they apparently were very high on.

Dennard will be huge as will Hill in the running game. Everyone else provided one thing people always go on about: DEPTH.

They promoted Hue to OC, which d*mn near everyone is happy about and retained Guenther for the DC spot, which most thought well of.

Couple those moves with bringing in additional help in the secondary with Vance Joseph, who is well respected and some safety depth as well.

Where has this team fallen from 11-5 to 6-10 ?? Where ??

Fine, everyone hates Dalton and they don't think he can win a playoff game. That doesn't equate to 6-10 or whatever.

The schedule ?? Ok, little tougher with the Pats and Donks, but that's two games and the Donks come to Cincinnnati.

Sorry, I just don't see the massive dropoff others seem to be expecting for 2014.

Army, I was taking the history of the Bengals coupled with the knock that Dalton can't play under pressure!

Many here believe that since history dictates they fold in prime time games, why expect anything contrary. Is this a little embellished on the negative side, absolutely! But it has brought about discussion. A little devil's advocate experiment.

[HoosierCat]

I don't see how anyone can say the loss of Gruden is going to be such a negative for Dalton and we are the most likely playoff team from last season to not make the playoffs this season.

It's because national media types don't pay a lot of attention to the Bengals. To be fair, if you're a generalist sports reporter you probably don't pay a lot of attention to any one team, but small-market teams without some sort of storied history (like Green Bay) get even less of your time than others.

You saw this back in 2011 when Palmer quit and guys like Golic and Green were predicting the Bengals would only win 1-2 games all year. But if you had actually watched the team in 2010 (which they didn't) you would have seen that Palmer was a huge part of the problem that year.

Same deal with Gruden. All the national media sees of Dalton is is poor playoff games: oh he looks like crap. What they miss is how his OC sabotaged him with decisions like, "let's ignore our best WR for half the game and instead game plan around Jermaine "drops a lot" Gresham" in the first playoff game, or the bizarre call to stop running the ball against SD because he was afraid the opposing DC would eventually figure out how to stop him!

That's not to absolve Andy of poor play, because he has had some ugly games. But he got a lot of help from Gruden.

[ArmyBengal]

That's part of my point Hoosier. It's like Bengals fans aren't taking the time to look at the big picture and are simply buying into what the ANALysts have to say on NFL Network or ESPN. It's not that I begrudge Gruden, because I do give him credit for what he was able to do with a rookie QB, rookie #1 WR and it was his first attempt at being an offensive coordinator. However, he made his fair share of mistakes along the way which you mentioned. You know what else though, so did most of the players in those playoff games. It's not to give Andy a pass, because I have yet to do that regardless of me liking him as the starter, but rather acknowledge the rest of the team didn't help the cause in those losses either. People like to forget how poorly the team played as a whole in the playoff games.

[skyline]

It's not to give Andy a pass, because I have yet to do that regardless of me liking him as the starter, but rather acknowledge the rest of the team didn't help the cause in those losses either. People like to forget how poorly the team played as a whole in the playoff games.

Yep.

Against SD, our D had no bite (although I credit this to injuries) and our offensive line was like a subway turnstile in NYC.

Even AJ joined in the fun by dropping a deep pass that was almost a sure TD.

[HoosierCat]

When I look at the team and 2014, I believe losing Gruden will turn out to be a case of addition by subtraction. And while I hate to lose Zimmer it seems like Guenther was at least as involved in the system and it doesn't look to me like there will be any big dropoff.

Unit by unit I mostly like what I see. Dennard ought to be an instant impact player in the secondary, Hall is (somewhat amazingly) on schedule and even Bustpatrick seemed to be putting it together in the later half of last year. The LB corps is solid with one outstanding player in Burfict. MJ's loss is a hit on the line but they have been planning for that; Geno's return is the one wild card.

Offensively, the WR corps appears to finally have solidified with AJ, Jones and Sanu. For the first time Andy will have the same 1-2-3's in back-to-back seasons and that can only help. Eifert ought to be better with a year under his belt and the RB corps is deeper than it's been since we had Rudi backing up Corey. Even at QB, the trio of Dalton, Campbell and McCarron is the deepest bench in forever.

The one thing that worries me in the offensive line. I'm getting all kinds of ugly 2006 vibes off that unit. The right side is OK with Smith and Zeitler, but the rest is a mess. Center is an open competition with a rookie fourth-round pick in the mix and that's never good. LG appears to be the consolation prize for whoever loses at center; Boling last I heard will start the year on PUP and he was just a guy anyhow. As for Whit, I love the guy to death but he is clearly at that point when it isn't a question of, if he will get hurt, but of when will he get hurt? And the loss of AC has left us with nothing but 300 lb. question marks at backup tackle.

The collapse of the o-line in 2006-08 killed version 1.0 of the Marvin-era reboot. I pray we aren't watching the same thing happen again.

[skyline]

When I look at the team and 2014, I believe losing Gruden will turn out to be a case of addition by subtraction. And while I hate to lose Zimmer it seems like Guenther was at least as involved in the system and it doesn't look to me like there will be any big dropoff.

Unit by unit I mostly like what I see. Dennard ought to be an instant impact player in the secondary, Hall is (somewhat amazingly) on schedule and even Bustpatrick seemed to be putting it together in the later half of last year. The LB corps is solid with one outstanding player in Burfict. MJ's loss is a hit on the line but they have been planning for that; Geno's return is the one wild card.

Offensively, the WR corps appears to finally have solidified with AJ, Jones and Sanu. For the first time Andy will have the same 1-2-3's in back-to-back seasons and that can only help. Eifert ought to be better with a year under his belt and the RB corps is deeper than it's been since we had Rudi backing up Corey. Even at QB, the trio of Dalton, Campbell and McCarron is the deepest bench in forever.

The one thing that worries me in the offensive line. I'm getting all kinds of ugly 2006 vibes off that unit. The right side is OK with Smith and Zeitler, but the rest is a mess. Center is an open competition with a rookie fourth-round pick in the mix and that's never good. LG appears to be the consolation prize for whoever loses at center; Boling last I heard will start the year on PUP and he was just a guy anyhow. As for Whit, I love the guy to death but he is clearly at that point when it isn't a question of, if he will get hurt, but of when will he get hurt? And the loss of AC has left us with nothing but 300 lb. question marks at backup tackle.

The collapse of the o-line in 2006-08 killed version 1.0 of the Marvin-era reboot. I pray we aren't watching the same thing happen again.

Fair enough assessment.

I think you're underselling the C position a little, though. Cook was not good last season and I think any of the choices we have now will be an upgrade. I like Pollack and the team really seems to believe in Bodine. Time will tell.

The LT is my concern, though, so fingers crossed that Whit found a fountain of youth this offseason. Hopefully Hawkinson will be healthy and will be as versatile as the coaching staff seems to think he is. He didn't excite me when they drafted him, so I have a definite wait-and-see attitude with him.

[ArmyBengal]

Gio's redzone fumble also didn't help matters in the least either.

In regards to the team overall, I agree that the o-line is my concern at the moment and the reason why I wanted Collins to return.

I guess Newhouse is the backup if and when Whit gets dinged, but time will indeed tell how that works out.

I like the fact the team is high on Bodine and think Pollak is the new LG, but we will have to see what that looks like come preseason.

I am hopeful though and can't wait to see what Bodine can do. The dude sounds vicious on the field. Let's hope it translates.

Gio also likes him as well, so that counts for something since he ran behind him in the past.

The WR corps doesn't bother me all that much either. Maybe Cobi gets a chance to show this year. I like what he could do for us.

Eifert is the one I really want to see the big jump from. Last year he was cutting off routes and didn't look real sharp.

If he can clean that up a bit, i'm not worries at all about the receiving on this team.

I might be the high guess at this time, but yeah, 11-5.

As always that can sway, but I don't see a losing record from this team.