Week 12: Patriots @ Bengals

[HoosierCat]

Roster notes:

We have cleared S Daijahn Anthony and TE Mike Gesicki to return to practice today.

[TJJackson]

5 hours ago, HoosierCat said:

Roster notes:

We have cleared S Daijahn Anthony and TE Mike Gesicki to return to practice today.

S U P E R B O W L

uhm wait.....can they tackle?

[HoosierCat]

Wed injury report highlights;

Jalen Rivers DNP (knee/ankle)

Gesicki full

Anthony full

Burrow full

[volcom69]

Burrow full, hmmm interesting. 

[Coltsguy451]

Dear me, the atmosphere here reminds me a lot of the old "Suck for Luck" days over on my end.

Completely understand though. Defense here is one the most atrocious I've ever seen and coming from a Colts fan that's saying something.

With Chase suspended, and barring some kind of trap game plan brilliance from the HC...

...

I'm stocking up on Kit Kat bars.... 

[COB]

1 hour ago, Coltsguy451 said:

Dear me, the atmosphere here reminds me a lot of the old "Suck for Luck" days over on my end.

Colts Guy, your happiness is an illusion.  As Bengals fans, we know this.  First round draft picks are a mirage, glimmering up ahead until you try to focus on them.  They disappear. Colts Guy, embrace amorality

[AMPHAR]

The suck for Luck is applicable.    They got Luck and promise.   Denver got a 2 AFC Champ and a Superbowl.  Manning skill wise was a shell of his prime but he knew how to get points without getting killed.    If you are fearful of playing Burrow because of injury in 6/7 remaining games.   Then how the hell would you be confident in a 17/18 game season plus playoffs?

Burrow has something to prove, IMO.   Produce points and play smart.   Flacco at 40 years old put up yards/points without taking a bunch of hits.     If Burrow can't do it then just start the wheels in motion to move on from him.   

 

 

 

[HoosierCat]

58 minutes ago, AMPHAR said:

  If you are fearful of playing Burrow because of injury in 6/7 remaining games.   Then how the hell would you be confident in a 17/18 game season plus playoffs?

I don't think the concerns about Burrow playing come from a fear of him getting hurt generally. They are about him rushing back (or being rushed back) early and potentially re-injuring the toe that caused all this in the first place. That would just be a stupid and pointless thing to do given the Bengals' record. If they had a realistic chance at the postseason, maybe it would be worth it. But they don't and imho it's not.

Quote

Burrow has something to prove, IMO.   Produce points and play smart.   Flacco at 40 years old put up yards/points without taking a bunch of hits.     If Burrow can't do it then just start the wheels in motion to move on from him.   

Yeah, I can't argue with that.

[AMPHAR]

Burrow comes in a starts and they revert back to the 3 sacks a game metric.  Then what's the point of continuing the charade that Burrow will ever make through a whole season for playoffs? 

If  Burrow didn't learn his lesson playing hero ball in the PRESEASON turning simple throw aways into QB twisting sacks, and didn't learn the lesson vs. Jacksonville then he never will. 

[ArmyBengal]

I have no concerns about Burrow getting hurt again. That’s not even a consideration for me. I just don’t think his return equates to wins. Even if it does I don’t think it will be enough.

They are 3 games back behind both the Steelers and Ravens and still have to play the Ravens twice. Is it impossible? No. Improbable? Yes…

Again, all my thoughts are meaningless. I fully expect Burrow to be starting THIS Sunday. Flacco is hurt and Burrow has been full go. Strap in…

[COB]

Watching the Texans play the Bills.  The Texans defense is amazing.  It honestly looks like their starter at every position is noticeably better than our starter at that position.  They get to the ball so fast, and they tackle so effectively.  Really fun to watch.

[ArmyBengal]

They are a really fun defense to watch.

You forget how enjoyable it is to see a dominant defense playing the game.
While they may not be THAT dominant every week, they have been playing that way more often than not.

Then there’s the Bengals defense that just sucks every ounce of joy right out of your body every week. 

[AMPHAR]

the telling stat about how the Bengals Defense doesn't get to the ball.... I think Pitt threw it 19 yards in the air and 250+ yac.    Zone defense is what it is and a lot of teams play more zone due to the offense favoring nature but zone defense requires a defense to be able to tackle and limit yac.

Which is shocking because that's 1 thing that was huge problem under Lou past two years and maybe Al could fix right away to get the defense up to average.  Nope.

 

[HoosierCat]

It seems to me that a big chunk, maybe most, of the tackling issues can be laid at the feet of three players: Knight, Carter and Stone.

Knight and Carter are rookies and look lost an awful lot of the time. I think there's hope that will improve as they get more experience, but that's little comfort at the moment. 

Then there's Stone, who in classic, time-honored "Lost Decade" fashion, is obviously playing not to get hurt. He's in the final year of his contract and his top priority is to get out of Dodge healthy. Frankly with Anthony coming back they should grant his wish and bench him. Put Anthony out there, put Anderson out there, put anyone not named Stone out there. 

[HoosierCat]

And so it begins: Bengals late afternoon game against Buffalo in week 14 flexed to 1 pm. The spot was given to the Bears-Packers game.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25300853-nfl-announces-week-14-schedule-changes-packers-vs-bears-bills-vs-bengals

 

[HoosierCat]

Just saw this from Schefter, tho it happened two days ago.

Quote

Approximately $200,000 in property was stolen from the home of Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders during a break-in Sunday, according to police and ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi. Three suspects entered Sanders' home at about 6:46 p.m. ET, according to a news release from the Medina County Sheriff's Office. Surveillance cameras in the home captured video footage of the suspects entering and exiting different portions of the home. The suspects were wearing masks and gloves and were seen exiting Sanders' home at around 6:58 p.m. ET with property belonging to Sanders.

That would explain why COB has been walking around wearing a giant money hat for the last couple days…

[HoosierCat]

Burrow questionable for Sunday. In other words, he’s playing.

[ArmyBengal]

1 hour ago, HoosierCat said:

It seems to me that a big chunk, maybe most, of the tackling issues can be laid at the feet of three players: Knight, Carter and Stone.

What's interesting to me is that Al Golden was the Bengals linebackers coach and certainly had a hand in drafting both Knight and Carter.
Why it strikes me odd is that Knight had a penchant for missed tackles in college and he is continuing that trend to this point.
Carter likewise, while making improvement his last college season was also known for missing tackles.

Not sure if he thought he could coach that out of them or if they would simply learn and improve along the way.
While I still think they can improve since they are rookies, they are costing the defense at this point in time.

Stone?  He's just not a good safety at this point.  Is it him?  Is it the scheme?  Whatever it is, safety should be high on the target list.

 

[COB]

1 hour ago, HoosierCat said:

Just saw this from Schefter, tho it happened two days ago.

That would explain why COB has been walking around wearing a giant money hat for the last couple days…

Legendary.

[COB]

At the start of a season, Burrow is a notoriously slow starter.  We’ll see if his injury was short enough that he’s still in game rhythm.  It is possible we get an early season version of Burrow for a couple weeks.  Unrelated, but I’m assuming Tinsley is going to go off in this game.

[ArmyBengal]

I wish Burrow the best if (as I expect) he starts Sunday.  Not like I'm rooting against the guy.
However, yes... an early season Burrow wouldn't surprise me either.

In the two games he played, he went 21-36 for 189 yards, 2 TD's and no INT's against the Browns and Jags.
Nothing stellar and walked away 2-0 to start the season, so it was enough.
Sunday they play the Patriots who have won more games this year than the Browns and Jags combined.

I guess we will see, but I will probably tune in since he's back.
I'll just close my eyes when the defense takes the field.

[COB]

I can’t remember where I read it, but there was a blurb about our defensive drafting.  How bad it sucked.  Basically our guys all played quarterback.  Mike Brown was a quarterback.   Zac Taylor was a quarterback.  Duke Tobin was a quarterback (go Orlando Predators!), our head of college scouting (also assistant Gm) Mike Potts, was a quarterback.  Anyway this thing said our eye for defensive talent walked out the door when Marvin left and these current guys don’t know defense well and can’t evaluate defensive players.  They sure can get guys for the offense though.  

[HoosierCat]

CTB to IR, Gesicki activated.

[COB]

Good to see Gesicki back, targets needed with Chase suspended.  

[HoosierCat]

8 minutes ago, COB said:

I can’t remember where I read it, but there was a blurb about our defensive drafting.  How bad it sucked.  Basically our guys all played quarterback.  Mike Brown was a quarterback.   Zac Taylor was a quarterback.  Duke Tobin was a quarterback (go Orlando Predators!), our head of college scouting (also assistant Gm) Mike Potts, was a quarterback.  Anyway this thing said our eye for defensive talent walked out the door when Marvin left and these current guys don’t know defense well and can’t evaluate defensive players.  They sure can get guys for the offense though.  

Even the offense has been rough lately. in 2023 you had Charlie Jones (meh), Chase Brown (stud) and Yoshi (meh). '24 brought Mims (good), Burton (bust), All (injury bust atm), McLachlan (cut), and Lee (meh). Then last time around it was Fairchild (good), Rivers (maybe good) and Brooks (meh).