2024 Offseason News Thread

[HoosierCat]

9 minutes ago, COB said:

Something has changed.

Yeah, they stopped giving a shit about the players.

Oh wait, my bad, they never gave a shit about the players.

Oh well, no one says you *have* to play the game, right? 

[AMPHAR]

The best way to stop football injuries is to stop playing football.   The issue to be concerned over is the NFL now owning the XFL/USFL spring league.

The manifestation of this new kick off rule was formed out of a league trying to gather eyeballs to TV.   Supposedly tested the rules at junior colleges and the 400 kickoffs they monitored produced 0 concussions.   Which "IF TRUE" is drastically lower than the old NFL kickoff format which was very concussion friendly.   I'd imagine that's why its only approved for a year, to really test data at the NFL level.

But with the lack of an independent spring league there goes motive for innovation.  

I would guess the Running Backs should be happy because this might revive their value a little.  Also it will be interesting how the kickers react.   Considering all defenders must line up at the 40 there is no 2nd line of defense in the formation so ball placement will be critical to allow for adjustments once the ball hits.

 

[ArmyBengal]

All the more reason to now target a return guy with speed in the draft. I remember when that use to be a thing teams would do and then with rule changes, it kind of went away. If this encourages that, I like that.

[HoosierCat]

Yeah the Steelers signed Patterson because of that.

[Stripes]

The new kickoff theoretically curtails injuries by restricting the momentum of collisions (with dramatically less space between teams). I like that change. The touchback festival was pointless.

[AMPHAR]

I think the new kick off rule will be a success like the moving of the PAT.     However,  it will be based on a minority of teams having success at returns and defense.

The PAT movement would not have been successful if everyone started missing or still making them 99% of the time.  Also the option of going for 2 has turned that into must see TV instead of an after thought.

I'm assuming injury will be a factor in determining the longevity of the rule change. I don't think fans want to see a high degree of success or failure with the new kick off rules.  They'll want the average starting spot to be 30-25 yard line with a rare chance of a game changing return or momentum swinging coverage play.

 

 

[ArmyBengal]

I like the 2 point conversion rule change.

I don't want to see a high degree of success with the new kickoff rules unless it's only the Bengals having success !!

[AMPHAR]

15 hours ago, Stripes said:

The new kickoff theoretically curtails injuries by restricting the momentum of collisions (with dramatically less space between teams). I like that change. The touchback festival was pointless.

Exactly.   I looked at some old kick offs.   Most of the time the return team and coverage team were contacting each other around the 30/25 yard line.    Then there was some sort of "wedge" set in side the 20 most of the time.   

This rule essentially removed the run up and the wedges.   They'll be contacting each other about the same part of the field without the run up.    I'd imagine the common strategy would be to have a coverage guy or two get as deep as possible to steer the runner into pursuit. 

 

[COB]

First in depth explanation I’ve read of why the rule was changed, and how it will decrease high velocity impact hits, was right in here written by you guys.  Makes sense.  And it’s good to see the league has a few people in its  employ whose brains are only, say, 65% clogged up with CTE.  They used that remaining 35% to figure out a solution to an obvious problem.  

[ArmyBengal]

Saw they started tearing up the turf at the stadium. Should be interesting to see what the new stuff looks like.

[COB]

Are they putting in grass or artificial turf?

[Stripes]

Turf. It’s a topic of minor controversy.

[ArmyBengal]

I couldn't care less what they put in the stadium.
I hope it looks nice and feels as good as possible for the players, but it's neither here nor there for me.
Grass...  Turf...  I'm in the living room or the stands.  Possibly a bar.  It doesn't affect me.

[TJJackson]

the turf they are putting in results in more player injuries than grass

[ArmyBengal]

I thought that’s what they just took out.
The slit film shit.

Probably still more than grass but I don’t know if that difference is staggering. 

[HoosierCat]

7 hours ago, ArmyBengal said:

I thought that’s what they just took out.
The slit film shit.

Probably still more than grass but I don’t know if that difference is staggering. 

Yes, they were the last using the slit stuff, which has been linked to injuries. The new stuff is FieldTurf.

I’m so old I remember grass at PBS. There’s a reason they moved to turf.

[COB]

I hope they put a cool logo in the middle - NOT the B.  

[ArmyBengal]

I remember the grass as well.

If I had to Imagine a football field looking like an abortion, the PBS grass field would be what I would think of. 

[AMPHAR]

I'm mostly concerned with the mid field logo.   Hope the "B" is gone.

 

[AMPHAR]

The grass on Joe Robbie Superbowl 23 was the worse.   I'm not sure it was factor in Krumrie's leg or not.     Then Cleveland was actually painting dirt "green" once it got past mid-October back in the muni days.

 

 

 

[Stripes]

I didn't even think of the possibility of replacing the B. I doubt it, but I'd love it. Bring back the pouncing tiger.

[ArmyBengal]

I wouldn't mind seeing something new on the field, but not banking on it either.

Maybe something like the patch on the new draft hats.

Personally, just the state of Ohio with the Bengal stripes, no wording, would be cool if I were choosing.
If they just had to have the B, make it white at the bottom left corner where Cincinnati is located.

[HoosierCat]

Volson gets fourth-highest performance-based pay check in the league this year…

https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2024/04/01/bengals-cordell-volson-performance-based-pay-raise/

[COB]

10 hours ago, HoosierCat said:

Volson gets fourth-highest performance-based pay check in the league this year…

https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2024/04/01/bengals-cordell-volson-performance-based-pay-raise/

Didn’t see that coming!

[COB]

Diggs out of Buffalo, headed to the Texans.  We should really appreciate Chase, Higgins, Boyd, etc.  Diggs is and will continue to be a monumental pain in the ass.  Our guys are football and team first guys.  Some of these dudes are locker room poison.  Now that the Bills don’t have to market him to other teams, I’m sure we’ll hear about his tantrums, demands, work ethic, etc.