HoosierCat Posted September 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Now if only Kirkpatrick would figure out how to play football.Your first rounder should be more than a teams guy that draws penalties.Look at the bright side, at least he touched the field without breaking something. That's progress.@volcom, yeah, overall defense. I think we're getting penalized for a lack of Johnsons... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walrus Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Brutal story on the Rice affair./>http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=11551518Actually manages to make me feel sorry for Rice and Goodell. From this it was Biscotti and Ozzie the Great that totally effed this upA long read but worth it. Goodell doesn't CE out looking good.Wow. I just read this. The only good thing about it from the league's perspective is that it's so long, most fans won't bother reading it. The devil here is in the details. And there are plenty of devils in this story. The one guy in this whole thing who comes out best (relatively speaking) is the guy who KO'd his wife in an Atlantic City elevator. That was his one (big) mistake. But he seems to have immediately fessed up and done all the "right things" afterward (impassive post-KO foot-nudging aside).Everything about the response to that incident - from law enforcement (a "fan" of the team helping to keep it quiet/cover it up), to the team (which proceeded to bring all of its influence to bear in an attempt to protect their own interests in regards to Ray Rice's public connection to the team and its biggest sponsors; any loyalty to Rice was trumped pretty quickly by these other things when the 2nd video came out), to the league (Goodell dispensing favorable treatment in the means and outcome of adjudication) - reveals a pattern of corruption and repeated attempts to cover up something that could - and should - have been a very simple matter. There is simply so much money (and ego) involved, it distorts the physics of justice. Goodell and the small circle of moneyed interests that he serves demonstrate yet again the old saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely.Did anyone else pause to contemplate what exactly Goodell means at the end of the story where he is quoted as saying "Every day, I have to, to do a better job. And that's my responsibility to the game, to the NFL and to what I see as society." What exactly is Roger Goodell's "society"...?The NFL is built on open collusion among this very small club of very wealthy people. I wonder what may have been set in motion here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted September 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Everything about the response to that incident - from law enforcement (a "fan" of the team helping to keep it quiet/cover it up), to the team (which proceeded to bring all of its influence to bear in an attempt to protect their own interests in regards to Ray Rice's public connection to the team and its biggest sponsors; any loyalty to Rice was trumped pretty quickly by these other things when the 2nd video came out), to the league (Goodell dispensing favorable treatment in the means and outcome of adjudication) - reveals a pattern of corruption and repeated attempts to cover up something that could - and should - have been a very simple matter. There is simply so much money (and ego) involved, it distorts the physics of justice. Goodell and the small circle of moneyed interests that he serves demonstrate yet again the old saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely.For anyone in the "this story is too long to read" category, this is as good a summary as I've read. Thanks, walrus.In the league's, well, not defense, but explanation, I can understand their thinking. After all, this was what they had always done: use their influence and truckloads of cash to make these kind of problems go away. And it always worked before. 20 years ago, maybe even ten years ago, it probably works again. But today there are just too many cameras and cell phones. From Pacman getting caught smacking a woman outside a bar after she threw beer in his face, to Johnny Football rolling up a bill to...ummmm...to make an antenna for his money phone...uh, yeah that's it, to the elevator video, everything is now televised.What I don't see any evidence of is that the league or ownership gets this. I don't doubt that, eventually, they will be able to put the Ray Rice affair behind them. But they are doing nothing to prevent the next ugly video from exploding in their face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earendil Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Well, if you're looking for a Debbie Downer there's always PFF. I saw a tweet earlier today that, according to their grades, the Bengals have the 9th-worst defense in the league.We suck. May as well start up the draft talk...This just proves what we were all saying last week. PFF has its uses, but relying on it for more than general info is pointless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted September 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Ravens respond to the ESPN story:/>http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/22/statement-from-ravens-regarding-espn-report/tl;dr: Baltimore exercises the "not so much" defense, admitting to a lot of what the ESPN report said, just not so much. For example, they admit their head of security did get a verbal description of what was on the tape shortly after the incident, but it didn't sound so bad then. They also admit they heard from Ray's lawyer that the tape was horrible, but never asked to see it. Etc, etc. The post-cut texts between Rice and Biscotti appear to be taken out of context and IMO it's fair to say that part of the story was wrong. But overall, it seems less about the facts and more about how they're being spun. Judge for yourself.IMO they're just circling back around to the same argument, which boils down to, we knew he hit her, we just didn't know how hard. Which is as weak as it's always been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripes Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 To be fair, regarding the Bengals defense: I would like to see them improve against the run. The total yardage numbers are fine, but that's due in part to the Bengals building big leads and forcing opponents to throw. They've been a bit too generous in giving up high yards per carry, and against a better team that can run the ball (read: New England, Pittsburgh) that might become an issue.Burfict's absence is some of the problem, as is Atkins's gradual return to form. I am not willing to attribute the entire problem to them though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volcom69 Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 To be fair, regarding the Bengals defense: I would like to see them improve against the run. The total yardage numbers are fine, but that's due in part to the Bengals building big leads and forcing opponents to throw. They've been a bit too generous in giving up high yards per carry, and against a better team that can run the ball (read: New England, Pittsburgh) that might become an issue.Burfict's absence is some of the problem, as is Atkins's gradual return to form. I am not willing to attribute the entire problem to them though.Not to mention more pressure from other down linemen not named Dunlap. Dunlap is great getting pressure a lot, I'm just hoping to see more from others, that way they don't have to blitz as much. Yea I agree, I'm wondering how much Brandon Thompson being out is hurting as well, not really to many big bodies in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted September 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Thompson is out, Burfict is out, Peko is starting to show his age, first name Rey has shown some old, bad habits, it's a little bit of everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmyBengal Posted September 23, 2014 Report Share Posted September 23, 2014 FirstnameRey should be done after this season. Just move on and draft a new MLB for the defense.There simply has to be someone out there capable of giving the team more production.Overall, i'm sure the coaching staff sees something worthy of holding on to. I would just like to know what that is.There will always be things they can improve on, but I think they have done a good job considering the injuries they've had to cover to this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earendil Posted September 23, 2014 Report Share Posted September 23, 2014 FirstnameRey should be done after this season. Just move on and draft a new MLB for the defense.There simply has to be someone out there capable of giving the team more production.Overall, i'm sure the coaching staff sees something worthy of holding on to. I would just like to know what that is.There will always be things they can improve on, but I think they have done a good job considering the injuries they've had to cover to this point.We already have our next MLB, and he's a "perfect" fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmyBengal Posted September 23, 2014 Report Share Posted September 23, 2014 I know people talk about moving Burfict to the middle, but i'm not in a position to say that's what should or shouldn't happen.I suppose if they think it would be better to move him inside and draft a new OLB, that's what will happen.I just don't know if they are going to mess with something that is working so well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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