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Week 4: Bengals @ Panthers


HoosierCat

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Welp, it finally happened. After playing with fire year after year, the Bengals got burned and didn't win the "save the season" game in week 3.

For what it's worth, week 4 has been kind to the Burrow Bengals at 3-1. The only loss was last year to Tennessee. On the flip side, we face Bengal-killer Andy Dalton. Does the Red Rifle have another bullet with their name on it?

Anyhow, the silver lining is that the Bengals are now in a three-way tie with Jacksonville and Tennessee for the first overall pick in the 2025 draft.

 

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Curious what Burrow had to say to the coaches after last nights game. Instead of going to the locker room with everyone else he went with Zac, and Lou back to the coaches lounge to talk. Makes me wonder what was said there!

This team is missing team leaders, especially on defense, guys need to step up and take control of this squad. 

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Who had the over/under at 3 games before Trent was taking a cart ride resulting in his season being over?

That being said, I have no idea what this team is.  Odd thing is, this all seems vaguely familiar.  Hmmmmmm.

Honestly nothing would surprise me at this point.  Betting against Dalton would be a mistake.   Yes, I said that.
Next is this team cannot stop the run.  Like at all.  They also suck at tackling and taking poor angles.
Sounds like something the defensive coaches might want to address sooner rather than later.

Then again, it's only been three weeks.  There's time.

UGH

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17 minutes ago, volcom69 said:

Curious what Burrow had to say to the coaches after last nights game. Instead of going to the locker room with everyone else he went with Zac, and Lou back to the coaches lounge to talk. Makes me wonder what was said there!

This team is missing team leaders, especially on defense, guys need to step up and take control of this squad. 

Eh, I think it's more of a talent issue on defense. Simply put, the d-line is a smouldering crater. The cupboard isn't just bare, it's been dismantled and the pieces burned.

Rankins, Hill and Murphy are all out. So is McKinnley Jackson, though whether he's anything or just another wasted pick, who knows. Still, more potential talent on the sidelines.

Jenkins is out there playing with a cast.

Sample looks done on the edge and while he can still be valuable inside imho, word is he doesn't want to move there.

Ossai is a bust.

The rest of the group are just guys. Backups and PS types.

The only actual, talented, would-start-for-any-team blue chip dlineman we have out there right now is Hendrickson, and he can't do it all by himself. And he was looking gimpy last night too.

There are no answers in FA at this point in the year. Maybe -- maybe! -- there's a trade possibility out there, I dunno. Maybe there's a team willing to swap a good DT for, say, Higgins. But I have no idea who that might be offhand, and in any event it's not how the FO rolls. And even if they did make that kind of deal the guy would probably break his leg the first time out, that's just how this season is going.

Only real hope, thin as it is, is that some of the injured guys can get back on the field and contribute. Until then, it will probably stay ugly.

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Do not let Andy Dalton have his first read.    If he can fire quickly he is capable of putting up a big day.    If you force him into progressions he'll struggle.   So maybe shelve the soft zone coverage for a week?   I dunno really what a depressing start to the season.

Hopefully they can roll up some yards and points at least, but it just seems like this week will be a baffling offensive performance.

 

Pass rush win rate was low vs. Commandos.   So that points to talent.   However, they only blitzed 11 times so that points to bad decisions.  It seemed to me they played two deep quite a bit and zone a whole bunch.   Are the safeties not communicating, again? What's the excuse the chunk plays this year?

 

 

 

 

 

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Commanders were playing up tempo, lots of quick throws, with rollouts/moving pockets so I think they did a good job of minimizing pass rush opportunities. But yeah when Daniels did hang in there he had all the time in the world.

Fortunately Andy is nowhere near as mobile and slippery as Daniels. So hopefully they show a bit better this Sunday.

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13 minutes ago, ArmyBengal said:

An in season trade for one of the best defensive players in the entire league at a position I think desperately needs it?

Well fuck yes !!  Oh wait, we're still talking about the Bengals ??  Never mind.  That's lunacy.

I understand a call was placed but that Jerry turned down Mike’s offer of a six-pack of Lone Star beer (one bottle missing) and a couple expired Luby’s coupons.

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I still don't consider the season over. All the "6 teams have ever made the playoffs after 0-3" stuff is a fundamental misunderstanding of probability theory.

But they're in their biggest hole ever with two home losses to teams that we'd penciled in as "yay, easy schedule" teams. If there's any lane, it has to be the defense had its worst game of the season against Washington, and even if it's below-average it cannot be like that ever again. I think that's within the "reasonable" range of possible outcomes, as long as the offense doesn't decide to shit the bed whenever that turns around.

Tons of ifs and coping and hoping, but I won't count out any Joe Burrow team this early.

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Hey, we have to have "our" thing.

I'm not on Tic Toc or any social media and my buddy said there was a clip out there saying the Bengals are 0-3 because Joe Burrow is a lesbian.
Now, I must say on one hand Burrow is no lesbian.  However, that shit sounds hilarious.  People do tend to focus on his outfits an awful lot.
That and many times he looks like one of the high school kids I see walking around.

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Anyway, Panthers news:

Quote

The Carolina Panthers placed Adam Thielen on injured reserve Tuesday with a severe hamstring injury, meaning the 34-year-old wide receiver will miss at least the next four games.

Carolina signed Thielen to a three-year, $25 million deal before the 2023 season. He led the team with 103 receptions for 1,014 yards in his first season after leaving the Minnesota Vikings. He had eight catches for 109 yards and a touchdown in the first three games this season.

Thielen's absence means 2024 first-round pick Xavier Legette, who has eight catches for 77 yards, and 2023 second-round pick Jonathan Mingo, who has six receptions for 59 yards, will move up on the depth chart for Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals (0-3) at Bank of America Stadium

I suppose that can’t hurt. Also:

Quote

Safety Jordan Fuller, who has started all three games this season, was also placed on injured reserve with a groin injury suffered Sunday.

Okay. I wonder who they’ll get to repl…

Quote

Fuller, who has 15 tackles this season, came to Carolina from the Los Angeles Ramsduring the offseason. He is expected to be replaced by veteran Nick Scott.

Oh. Well. I suppose that can’t hurt either.

So, just for the record, the Bengals cut Bell, who then signed with the Panthers, and replaced him with Scott. Then the Bengals cut Scott and the Panthers cut Bell and each team replaced them with the other. Small league I guess.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41419959/sources-panthers-adam-thielen-go-ir-hamstring-injury

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13 hours ago, HoosierCat said:

Anyway, Panthers news:

I suppose that can’t hurt. Also:

Okay. I wonder who they’ll get to repl…

Oh. Well. I suppose that can’t hurt either.

So, just for the record, the Bengals cut Bell, who then signed with the Panthers, and replaced him with Scott. Then the Bengals cut Scott and the Panthers cut Bell and each team replaced them with the other. Small league I guess.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41419959/sources-panthers-adam-thielen-go-ir-hamstring-injury

Bengals should roll up 400+ this week.   The concern is what happened vs. Washington.    No one, INCLUDING the lockeroom saw that domination coming from JD and Washington.     So what unthinkable thing could happen this week to push them to 0-4?

 

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 Defense disaster performance against Washington.   Had a good day vs. KC.  Probably the biggest mystery of the season.   I think the offense has put in two winning performances together despite facing exclusively deep coverage.    If you want to be hopeful,  get back to 5-5 and then take a look at the playoff picture.

The offense is finding stuff underneath and getting YAC enough to produce scoring opportunities.  There are some red zone concerns.     Defense is going to give up yards, they'll have to revert back to the early days of Marvin and produce an insane amount of TOs,  forcing punts doesn't seem to be their thing.

 

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49 minutes ago, AMPHAR said:

Bengals should roll up 400+ this week.   The concern is what happened vs. Washington.    No one, INCLUDING the lockeroom saw that domination coming from JD and Washington.     So what unthinkable thing could happen this week to push them to 0-4?

 

The nightmare scenario is probably a team meltdown. We've seen growing signs of frustration on the sideline the last two weeks. So imagine they go into Carolina Sunday and the first quarter is a disaster. They give up a score on special teams, or Burrow throws a pick six, or Dalton knifes through the D like butter, etc. Conjure your own horror show if you like. But it's ugly and the pot bubbles over and guys start pointing fingers on the sideline, and not only do they lose but we get one of those "closed door, no media, screaming and shouting heard in the locker room" reports after the game.

Note I'm not predicting that will happen, even if things do start off ugly, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it did.

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57 minutes ago, AMPHAR said:

 Defense disaster performance against Washington.   Had a good day vs. KC.  Probably the biggest mystery of the season.   I think the offense has put in two winning performances together despite facing exclusively deep coverage.    If you want to be hopeful,  get back to 5-5 and then take a look at the playoff picture.

The offense is finding stuff underneath and getting YAC enough to produce scoring opportunities.  There are some red zone concerns.     Defense is going to give up yards, they'll have to revert back to the early days of Marvin and produce an insane amount of TOs,  forcing punts doesn't seem to be their thing.

 

I expect the defense to be better in Carolina. For one thing Dalton is a much more conventional QB than Daniels. Crazy Legs Andy has been known to make an appearance but they don't have to worry about his mobility on anywhere near the same level as Daniels. Hubbard is probably the bigger danger, but they actually did a decent job against Eckler aside from the one big run. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect the D to be very good, but it's basically impossible to be worse than they were Monday night.

Offensively, my $0.02 were the Bengals interested would be to adopt a more ball control-oriented approach. The best way to help the defense is to keep them off the field. Moss and Brown seemed to have found a groove Monday night, let's lean on that. Three or four or five 7-, 8-, 9-minute drives ending in TDs would be ideal. Won't happen of course, this team is built to throw the ball all over the yard and that's what they'll do, come hell or high water. But that's what I would do.

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Came across this dismal factoid:

There are 3 teams currently at 0-3.

Bengals - Zac Taylor is head coach.

Jaguars - Zac’s brother, Press Taylor, is the offensive coordinator.

Titans - Zac’s offensive coordinator from 2019 to 2023, Brian Callahan, is the head coach.  
 

Not looking great right now.  

The Titans owner is not too swift.  That part of the equation should be taken into account, in defense of Callahan.

Doug Pederson down in Jax, he said everything is on the table, everything is subject to change.  So Press could get fired down there.  If he does he’ll probably end up back here next year in some capacity.  
 

Zac Taylor - more and more he looks like an offensive coordinator in head coach’s clothing.

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