Will The Bengals take a step back this Year???

[ackley1]

Yep...it's a love-hate relationship....I love the Bengals and they hate me!! Well, at least that's how it has been most of my life. Hopefully they'll show me some love this year!

[Phatness]

Its not Patience ackley....its reality.... I've been through the ringer with this team for the last 20 years.....its tremendously hard to say "playoffs" after all the previous high expectation seasons.....

Thats why 7-9 is my prediction....the ball bounces our direction in two games and we're in there....

[ackley1]

I hear ya! I'm just a bit disgruntled and I don't wanna face reality I guess. :player:

[denverbengal]

Try looking at it this way...after 13 years of putting up with losing seasons, one more will be a piece of cake. I don't think we'll be playoff bound this year, but we're no longer the laughing stock of the league either. On paper, we have a very tough schedule, but who knows? It's pretty hard at this point to predict how well we'll do since we don't really know how good our opponents are going to be. Right now I think 7-9 is realistic. Maybe 8-8. Neither of those records would necessarily be a step backwards provided our opponents prove to be as good as they were last year, and given that last year's schedule was a bit easier. Give ML one more draft and one more FA period to get all the pieces to come together.

[ackley1]

You're right. It is only his second season.

[skyline]

I still think the OL is a bit suspect, I can only hope that Levi and Steinbach have solid years....without a solid OL its just going to be that much tougher on Palmer....

I think our starting five is solid, but after that, it's very questionable. If one of the big guys gets hurt, we could be in OL trouble.

Thank goodness for Larry Moore.

[BengalPappaw]

OKAY!!! I'll give you me how I handle the frustrations and disappointments with the Bengals.

I became a "draft nut". That way, if the Bengals win --I'm happy. If they lose --- we get a higher draft choice. [i'm not quite as happy -- but it eases the pain!]

Now, I can be happy -- no matter what happens!

Enough of that!

I found that I enjoy getting excited about how good the Bengals COULD (or WILL) be. I prefer optimism, because when the Bengals win, I really enjoy the "high".

I have tried the under estimating their record, but I didn't enjoy that.

I am glad to see that others have had the same problem as I have in dealing with the big Bengal let downs over the years.

But, now we see HOPE --- which is so much better than depression!!!! lol

IN MARVIN WE TRUST!!! :player:

[Kirkendall]

As weak as our division is, which counts for six games, playing Miami, Denver, Dallas, Buffalo, and the Giant as home; I really think we have a chance to make the playoffs not to mention the wacky world of no NFL game being certain. Well except the Bengals beating the Browns like 9 weeks in a row, but that's another discussion for another day.

[denverbengal]

As weak as our division is, which counts for six games, playing Miami, Denver, Dallas, Buffalo, and the Giant as home; I really think we have a chance to make the playoffs not to mention the wacky world of no NFL game being certain.  Well except the Bengals beating the Browns like 9 weeks in a row, but that's another discussion for another day.

I think 4 of the 5 teams you mentioned have substantial question marks.

Miami - How much will they miss Ricky Williams?

Denver - Will they even have an offense? Jake Plummer currently is the proud owner of a 13.8 passer rating in 2 pre-season games (yes, I know it's only pre-season) and has NOBODY to throw to. Plus no Clinton Portis.

Dallas - Vinny Testeverde? You've gotta be kidding!! Is that some kind of twisted joke? Henson is green and unproven.

Giants - New coach, new system. And if their OL is as porous as it was last night, their offense may not be much of a threat, although Eli looked pretty good.

I'm sure some of you can come up with reasons why the Bills might stumble (maybe Bledsoe), but I think they'll be tough to beat.

Who knows? They're all home games, and like you said Josh, playing in such a weak division, and the uncertainty of the NFL world (I.E. win vs chiefs last year), anything can happen. We may very well make the playoffs. Regardless, I just hope we stick it to the donkeys. That would make my season.

[Chad Johnson]

it all depends on the players. We have players that want to win. So I say we will win half or more this year. Honestly to think anything less is a diss to the team.

[wookie]

As far as the Miami game goes, they are hurting and will probably struggle this year.

The Cowboys D still scares me, but the offense doesn't...getting them at home really helps.

The Giants game is still uncertain, they didn't look good in pass protection, but they also had the #2 ranked defense from last year coming at them, not our pass rush.

Denver, I've always thought that the acquisition of "The Snake" was a bad move for Denver and trading Portis hurts the running game. They are still a decent team, but I think the Bengals will be able to avenge last seasons loss.

[JPW]

10-6 and Play-Offs ....

[Chad Johnson]

Denver is always an iffy game...AND WHY DO WE ALWAYS PLAY THEM????? I remember a few years back when a MR. 28rushed all over Denver. WE were definatley underdogs then so that game is a toss up.

[semiotter]

Hey guys I think it is more than a one year process to get back to the way the BENGALS used to be. But MARVINS the man to do the job and I think we are on the right track. After all the let downs in the 90s we can expect better times. But I think with this years TUFF schedule the BENGALS might not get back to the playoffs. But I still think we can win are division. Because I think it is the weakest div. in the N.F.L....OH YEA if you live near LOUISVILLE, KY. CH 58 IS CARRYING THE GAME SAT. NIGHT AGAINST THE ...PATS.....GO BENGALS :player:

[Barbarian]

Absolutely we take a step backward man. Look how young this team is, we need a LOT of help for a 8-8 season. I think this is the year of the BAD DECISION:

Bad decision #1-Starting (albeit drafting) Carson Palmer

Bad decision #2-Bringing Deltha O'Neal onto this team

Bad decision #3-Not getting Rudi signed long term.

These 3 decisions will haunt us for many years to come.

Case closed.

Jesus--I think I just read 2 negative posts from this newbie. I think he may be more disgruntled than I am as a fan.

So Skyline, is this guy your "ANTAGONIST" as well???

Yeah. I had to look twice to make sure you weren't both the same person

Man, I have that wink emoticon...anyway.

I did want to highlight the 3rd point about not getting Rudi signed long-term. Recent reports from the Dayton papers (it was Dayton, right?) say that they offered him a very solid deal, but it was turned down in order to test the market.

Skyline,

I hope you're not taking this personal. It's a dig. Another fact is--is that I enjoy reading your posts. You are knowledgeable.

You give good perspectives on this webboard.

And yeah, I actually had to look 2 times at that guy's post too. I thought for a second that I might have logged in under a different name and that I may have a split personality.

Welp, it's time to go take my meds again.

[CTBengalsFan]

As far as the Miami game goes, they are hurting and will probably struggle this year.

The Cowboys D still scares me, but the offense doesn't...getting them at home really helps.

The Giants game is still uncertain, they didn't look good in pass protection, but they also had the #2 ranked defense from last year coming at them, not our pass rush.

Denver, I've always thought that the acquisition of "The Snake" was a bad move for Denver and trading Portis hurts the running game. They are still a decent team, but I think the Bengals will be able to avenge last seasons loss.

CJ was lighting up Champ Bailey during the Pro Bowl if that means anything

[skyline]

Absolutely we take a step backward man. Look how young this team is, we need a LOT of help for a 8-8 season. I think this is the year of the BAD DECISION:

Bad decision #1-Starting (albeit drafting) Carson Palmer

Bad decision #2-Bringing Deltha O'Neal onto this team

Bad decision #3-Not getting Rudi signed long term.

These 3 decisions will haunt us for many years to come.

Case closed.

Jesus--I think I just read 2 negative posts from this newbie. I think he may be more disgruntled than I am as a fan.

So Skyline, is this guy your "ANTAGONIST" as well???

Yeah. I had to look twice to make sure you weren't both the same person

Man, I have that wink emoticon...anyway.

I did want to highlight the 3rd point about not getting Rudi signed long-term. Recent reports from the Dayton papers (it was Dayton, right?) say that they offered him a very solid deal, but it was turned down in order to test the market.

Skyline,

I hope you're not taking this personal. It's a dig. Another fact is--is that I enjoy reading your posts. You are knowledgeable.

You give good perspectives on this webboard.

And yeah, I actually had to look 2 times at that guy's post too. I thought for a second that I might have logged in under a different name and that I may have a split personality.

Welp, it's time to go take my meds again.

No, nothing personal at all...I don't know if you remember, but when you first joined the boards and everyone was jumping down your throat, I was one of the folks defending you. I enjoy having you around.

In the other thread I just thought that you were assuming the worst case automatically without gathering all the info...

[BengalszoneBilly]

Man!! Did the win against the Pats slow down the traffic in this thread or what?

[denverbengal]

Denver, I've always thought that the acquisition of "The Snake" was a bad move for Denver and trading Portis hurts the running game. They are still a decent team, but I think the Bengals will be able to avenge last seasons loss.

I couldn't agree more. I thought Plummer was way over-rated when the donkeys acquired him. From the reaction of the media and fans in Denver, you would have thought he was the second coming of Elway. He did have a much better game over the weekend against the Seahawks, but they've failed to score a touchdown in their first 3 pre-season games.

As for Portis, I understand the philosophy that a shut-down corner is allot harder to come by than a quality running back. But Portis is no ordinary back. They're running game will suffer, and thinking that Griffin can survive an entire season is sketchy at best. Tatum Bell was a holdout, so he's off to a slow start. Their D will be among the league's best. I can't wait to see how our offense matches up.

[wookie]

I couldn't agree more. I thought Plummer was way over-rated when the donkeys acquired him. From the reaction of the media and fans in Denver, you would have thought he was the second coming of Elway. He did have a much better game over the weekend against the Seahawks, but they've failed to score a touchdown in their first 3 pre-season games.

As for Portis, I understand the philosophy that a shut-down corner is allot harder to come by than a quality running back. But Portis is no ordinary back. They're running game will suffer, and thinking that Griffin can survive an entire season is sketchy at best. Tatum Bell was a holdout, so he's off to a slow start. Their D will be among the league's best. I can't wait to see how our offense matches up.

Plummer has improved with Shanahan and a better supporting cast, but losing Portis is going to effect him. He'll be back to forcing things trying to make a play and secondaries will make him pay. Actually, he really couldn't have done much worse with Denver than he did with Arizona.

The Broncos D will be formidable, but a good strong running game will give the Bengals a chance to beat them...and Bailey is suspect when he has to come back on the short routes. Washington was moving the ball pretty well on him by not challanging his speed or leaping ability. Try to throw it down the field on him, or over his head and he'll burn you.

Its going to be a great game. :player: