Week 10: Bye @ Bengals

[HoosierCat]

Bye opens as a 7 point favorite.

We start off the off week with a candid admission from Zac Taylor that he has no clue what to do.

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The Bengals' tackling issues are well documented. Taylor knows it. Defensive coordinator Al Golden knows it. The team knows it. Will they be able to fix it?

Even Taylor is unsure.

"We're going to do everything we can to find a way," Taylor said. "I think it's impossible for me to say 'yes or no.' We've been trying everything we can so we'll just keep working at it."

That's the first time we've heard him say he wasn't sure if the issues can be fixed. If this defense can turn it around.

I would say spoiler, they can't, but everyone, including Taylor, knows it.

As to who might replace Golden should they make a move, CJ points out there's only one guy on the roster with DC experience.

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The best option is senior defensive assistant Sean Desai. He at least has coordinator experience, but it is not exactly stellar. He was the Bears’ defensive coordinator in 2021. That year, Chicago ranked near the bottom of the league in rushing yards allowed, pressures, and points allowed.

Two years later, Desai was the Eagles’ defensive coordinator. After a strong start to the season, the defense began to struggle. Desai ended up being demoted midseason in favor of Matt Patricia. Oddly, it could be the reverse situation in Cincinnati.

Desai is not exactly a slam-dunk hire, but he is the best in-house option if they want to shake things up and jump-start this defense over the bye week.

I don't know that firing Golden would do any good but something needs to change, if only to try and keep the locker room from completely melting down.

Anyhow, on to more important matters: The Bengals now have the 9th overall pick, just behind Arizona, who play the Cowboys tonight. A Cards win moves us up to 8. Even a Dallas win isn't horrible since it pushes them to 4 wins, a number it appears impossible for Cincy to reach this year.

[COB]

A new DC is very unlikely for this shitbag of an organization.  But what about the dreaded mid-season “defensive consultant”?

{Somewhere in Arizona, Marvin Lewis startles awake in a cold sweat}

[HoosierCat]

Today's fun fact from Morrison: going back to 1920 -- year, 105 years ago -- the Bengals currently rank 13th all-time in points allowed (33.3/game). 

[COB]

3 minutes ago, HoosierCat said:

Today's fun fact from Morrison: going back to 1920 -- year, 105 years ago -- the Bengals currently rank 13th all-time in points allowed (33.3/game). 

This is very un-P.H.A.T.  This defense has forgotten to be PHAT, they’ve forgotten to run on their own gas.

[HoosierCat]

6 minutes ago, COB said:

This is very un-P.H.A.T.  This defense has forgotten to be PHAT, they’ve forgotten to run on their own gas.

The oxcart is firmly in the ditch and the team has stopped shoveling.

[volcom69]

The fact that they throw 2 rookie LB out there and expect good results, is their own dumb fault. They are struggling missing tackles take bad angles. They needed more, it was dumb to bench Logan, and only bring in a backup LB in Burks and think this will be ok. It’s the worst and one of the main reasons they are failing.

Notice how the beginning of the year the defense played better, and now they have gotten worse over the last few games. They mismanaged this roster so bad, on the defense side.

This is a playoff team with Flacco at QB, and they screw it up with this shit!! 

[HoosierCat]

It all starts up front. The defensive line is just absolute garbage. Hendrickson is the only good player and he's hurt. Guys like Hill and Slaton look old and washed up. All the ends are crap. Maybe Ced Johnson could prove a decent backup-caliber guy if he gets a chance. Murphy is hopeless. Shemar is lost. Ossai is what he's always been, which is not much. Collectively they can't stop the run or rush the passer. That's a death sentence for your linebackers and secondary, even if they are good, which our aren't (Turner excepted).

[volcom69]

Still think Dax is doing pretty good him and Turner are ok, still need one more good one was hoping CTB was it, but guess not. 
 

 

[HoosierCat]

8 minutes ago, volcom69 said:

Still think Dax is doing pretty good him and Turner are ok, still need one more good one was hoping CTB was it, but guess not. 
 

Corner is probably the least worst part of the defense.

[HoosierCat]

Projection for the second half of the season:

@Pitt L

Patriots L

@Ravens L

@Bills L

Ravens L

@Dolphins W

Cardinals W

Browns W

DCB means they go from a top 3-5 pick to outside the top 10.

[HoosierCat]

No staff changes on D, per Zac. Says they’re about to start playing at a high level, trust us!

https://www.cincyjungle.com/cincinnati-bengals-news/179573/zac-taylor-no-changes-defensive-staff-al-golden

fuk you, Zac.

[volcom69]

Whatever Zac whatever. Can’t blame the coaches, or the front office, not Duke Tobin, not the players, who exactly should we blame anymore for this mess? 
 

Sure you can play at a high level, but who exactly are you going to have rush the passer? Who at linebacker are you going to have to tackle? Should be Logan Wilson and Burks and sprinkle in the rookies to help! Who are you safeties they can’t tackle, so maybe try some new guys back there. So some kind of change, you can’t stay status quo 

[Prophecy]

Unfortunately, Al Golden isn't going anywhere, any time soon. While i dont know the exact salary of his contract, it was a 3-year deal. No way the cheap Brown family will fire him knowing they still have to pay out 2+ years AND THEN also pay another DC. 

 

[glasgowbengal]

Zac can see how hard the defensive staff works, blah, blah

Well they’re either working on the wrong shit or none of the players are listening.

Either way, the staff are to blame 

[ArmyBengal]

Sure glad they had that defensive players only meeting. However they must been saying, “Let’s go see how bad we can fuck up this next game” !!

Less than worthless.

[Stripes]

Nobody’s getting fired this week. I’m sure we’ll have a good time staying the course through that BAL-BUF-BAL stretch.

Let’s keep breaking records. Give me consecutive 50-burgers allowed. I doubt anyone’s ever done that.

[COB]

7 hours ago, HoosierCat said:

No staff changes on D, per Zac. Says they’re about to start playing at a high level, trust us!

https://www.cincyjungle.com/cincinnati-bengals-news/179573/zac-taylor-no-changes-defensive-staff-al-golden

fuk you, Zac.

Not serving Gary Reasons.

 

Fans: “What’s wrong?  Fix this shitty defense.”

Zac: “Gosh, everyone’s trying super hard!”

[volcom69]

At this point they would be stupid not to bring In Asante Samuel Jr and see how he looks coming back from injury. Why not maybe he is good enough to stick moving forward, or maybe he is trash and you don’t sign him, but at least see what he’s got

[glasgowbengal]

 Baltimore just went and got a DE with 4.5 sacks in his last 4 games, for a 5th round pick 

[COB]

3 hours ago, glasgowbengal said:

 Baltimore just went and got a DE with 4.5 sacks in his last 4 games, for a 5th round pick 

Yea, their pass rush has been lacking.  So they went out and did something about it.  I wonder if this is why teams spend so much more on scouts and personnel and capologists than we do.  So they can react and fit new salaries onto the roster when they need to.  This player they snagged is only making 10 million this year.
 

 But that all sounds like a lot of work.  Let’s keep running our precious chrysalis Myles Murphy out there, surely his metamorphosis is just around the corner.  

[ArmyBengal]

Keep running out Myles Murphy?
Why not?  I mean sooner or later we are going to see the results of no more Cap'n Crunch, right?

[HoosierCat]

Good news everybody! Thanks to Arizona's win yesterday, the Bengals move up to 8th overall.

Could move up to 7 if Vegas can upset Denver Thursday night.

[COB]

No trade for our 265 pound hostage, Trey Hendrickson.  
 

Mike loves those compensatory picks, and he’s undoubtedly thinking Trey will ball out the second half of the season as he auditions for his next team/contract.  

[ArmyBengal]

Here’s the thing though. They need so much help if they bring in more than what Trey may or may not sign for, it won’t even be a third. Not only that, but no help for the defense due to his departure until at least 2027.

I would say maybe a tag and trade but I’m not sure the Bengals know how to do that.

[volcom69]

I keep thinking back to the Jets game they came out on defense for the first couple series, and there rookie LB looked so good shooting the gap tackling like crazy, the whole defense did that. The d-line was winning its match ups, then bam just like that they sucked, they forgot how to tackle, took awful angles d-line couldn’t win for shit. So what gives why can they only do it for a short time before forgetting how to play again. Just boggles my mind