Up and Comers or Fading Fast

[The Big Orange]

In the spirit of the (what most would consider the Bengals) Up and Coming...what other teams fit this mold. These are teams which have the building blocks for a bright future.

My top team of the future (besides ours) are the Jaguars. I think a team has to have a clear idea who their quarteback of the future is and then build their offense around them and has to put lots in place in their defense. If the vikings had a decent coach they would be another team. I think the Colts are one good offseason away with building their defense and this wasn't it. This was it for the Chiefs. They have done a good job this off season. Pittsburgh is a huge question mark at offense.

The Ravens are fading fast, as are the Chargers, Seattle, St. Louis, and Jets.

[CJBestInAFC]

I thinkt he Detroit Lions are an up and coming team. They have a similar makeup to the Bengals except for not having CP, but their WRs are comparable to the Bengals. I think the Steelers and the Ravens will be fading. The Steelers wont be as good as they were last year and same with the Ravens.

[Kazkal]

I think seattle is building up well but only for max of 2years.

Where bengals are getting alot of good players.

[BengalNation1281]

Up-and-Comers (other than the Bengals):

Detroit Lions: Will challenge for the playoffs in 2005 but will fall short. Good offeason moves, good draft, but the NFC North will be a two-horse race until Favre retires.

Jacskonville Jaguars: A great offseason bolstered what was already a very good defense, and the offense should be improved. A very solid contender for the AFC playoffs.

Arizona Cardinals: Put themselves in position to win a weak NFC West with good offseason moves and an excellent draft, though QB problems could undo their momentum.

Teams who are fading fast:

Denver Broncos: You don't have a horrible draft and sign the entire 2004 Browns defense and get better.

St. Louis Rams: Signing aging castoffs from other teams to bolster a defense that wasn't too sound to begin with never turns out well.

Green Bay Packers: I really dig Favre, but the secondary didn't get any short-term improvement and the defense is still suspect. Might still make the playoffs, but Favre should get out before the ship sinks.

New England Patriots: Lost a ton in the offseason, and the AFC is getting stronger every day. 2005 signals the end of the mini-dynasty.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Up-and-Comers (other than the Bengals):

Arizona Cardinals: Put themselves in position to win a weak NFC West with good offseason moves and an excellent draft, though QB problems could undo their momentum.

IMO the NFC West is the NFL's weakest division. It used to be due to Arizona and San Francisco. This year I'm thinking The Cardinals and the Rams change places as far as being in the top 2 teams/bottom 2 teams.

Teams who are fading fast:

Denver Broncos: You don't have a horrible draft and sign the entire 2004 Browns defense and get better.

Green Bay Packers: I really dig Favre, but the secondary didn't get any short-term improvement and the defense is still suspect. Might still make the playoffs, but Favre should get out before the ship sinks.

That whole Denver/Cleveland connection is just plain WEIRD!

And saying the Packers defense is still suspect is like saying Sandra Bernhardt is still ugly. Both are more than obvious!

New England Patriots: Lost a ton in the offseason, and the AFC is getting stronger every day. 2005 signals the end of the mini-dynasty.

I dunno BN. They might not win the big one again, but I do expect to see them playing come the post seasons games.

[The Big Orange]

Billy, of all the pictures I have put up, that one of Sandra is the scariest. My small children ran out of the room screaming and now I can't have sex this month.

[chrishcovga]

Good forum subject..

Of course I see Cincinnati going 10-6 or 11-5 ( really leaning towards 11-5 ) this season. Not so much that the defense will be really improved, i just see us having an offense that no infamous 3-4 can stop.

Jacksonville is a contender, but they still lack weapons on offense, and Jimmy Smith is so old he owes Moses a quarter. - Plus, news recently says that Fred Taylor might be out for the season, if thats' the case, Jacksonville might as well start looking to the '06 draft.

Arizona: I won't buy this yet. I'm a big Dennis Green fan, but they don't have a quarterback. Warner had the Giants at 5-2 last year, and still couldn't hold onto his job, and McCown just doesn't have NFL smarts.

Seattle : Another C grade team that won't be any better. Mike Holmgren has inherited the old " Sam Wyche " wishy-washy condition. The team is inconsistent, and so is his coaching and Quarterback.

Rams: They were doomed the minute Vermeil stepped down. Mike Martz was an above average offensive co-ordinator, and should have never been named head coach.

Buffalo : they're an 8-8 team as long as J.P.Losman is a legitimate starting quarterback. If he's worse than that, Buffalo will stink big time.

Ravens : Kyle Boller is a huge question mark. He was a system quarterback in college, and he's been real slow to develop. If not for the defense, he would have been considered Cade McNown by now.

Steelers: They won't go 15-1 again that's for sure, but the main reason is losing Chad Scott over Bryant McFadden. I thought the reason they got bounced in the playoffs, is because their great defense has really terrible cornerbacks.??

Chiefs : Too late, unless you replace every starter other than their Strong Safety, their defense will still stink. It may turn out to be " ghastly " other than " putrid " smelling though.

Colts : This is their last shot to win it all this year. The Salary Cap is against them, and they'll still have to make more cuts just to sign their draft picks. Game of the week will be Cincinnati taking the Colts apart in Cincinnati this year.

[jjakq27]

I think seattle is building up well but only for max of 2years.

Where bengals are getting alot of good players.

Speaking of Seattle, what is Shawn Alexander's status?

[HairOnFire]

Not much to add that hasn't been said already.

Up and coming? I can second guess the way they're addressing the QB position, but even then I still like ALMOST everything Arizona is doing.

Fading fast? Well I'm not sure how fast the wheels are going to come off, but Green Bay hasn't made a move that gets my blood pumping for a couple of years now.

Unconvinced they're the darlings everyone says they are? Jacksonville. I can't slam a team that has the defensive firepower the Jags boast of, but on the offensive side of the ball Leftwich still doesn't impress me very much, and the moves made to rebuild the WR corps leave me shaking my head. Maybe it'll work...maybe it won't. All I know is everyone else seems to like them alot more than I do.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

Is it possible for the Browns to be "fading fast"?

My fades: Green Bay, Tennessee, Denver

My risers: Cincinnati, Chicago, Buffalo.

Early Predictions on Cellar Dwellers:

AFC: Miami, Cleveland, Houston, Denver

NFC: NY Giants, Green Bay, New Orleans, San Fran

Early Predictions on Division Clinchers

AFC: New England, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, San Diego

NFC: Philly, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Man you guys are waaay too down on the Ravens - they should have a better offense and their defense hasn't lost "that" much, and will still be noticeably better than the Bengals on that side of the ball.

Same with Pitt - every time you count that team out Cowher has them back in playoff contention.

The saving grace is that Palmer seems to carve up teams like the Pats and Ravens for some reason like no one else can or has - not even Manning or McNabb.

I'm just not going to get over-confident in the Bengals yet, have learned my lesson there one too many times over the last 15 years. All it takes is one more knee sprain to Palmer or an injury to Rudi or CJ and this team could go downhill quick.

[vman1186]

Up and Comers

BENGALS

Vikings

Cowboys

Panthers

Jaguars

Ravens (rats)

Sinkers

Packers

Rams

Jets

My "Cinderella" Team:

Dolphins

[BengalszoneBilly]

Arizona: I won't buy this yet. I'm a big Dennis Green fan, but they don't have a quarterback. Warner had the Giants at 5-2 last year, and still couldn't hold onto his job

C'mon Chris. You can't convince me Kurt lost his job outright to Eli "Daddies Boy" Manning! They know he's obviously slotted to be their QB of the future in N.Y., and they were just trying to hurry up the process and took it from Warner and handing it to "The Boy Blunder!"

I'm just hoping Eli is the next David Klingler! That draft day B.S. he and his daddy pulled still pisses me off! Thank God Carson Palmer has some true class. He could as easily pulled some crap like that, but he didn't.

BTW, Arizona opens the regular season Sept. 11th in N.Y. with the Giants. Look for Warner to show no mercy by running up the score. The Giants will NOT be in this game! Cardinals win in a ROUT!

Ravens : Kyle Boller is a huge question mark.

Question marks like him simply don't come any bigger!

..................

[BengalNation1281]

Up-and-Comers (other than the Bengals):

Arizona Cardinals: Put themselves in position to win a weak NFC West with good offseason moves and an excellent draft, though QB problems could undo their momentum.

IMO the NFC West is the NFL's weakest division. It used to be due to Arizona and San Francisco. This year I'm thinking The Cardinals and the Rams change places as far as being in the top 2 teams/bottom 2 teams.

Teams who are fading fast:

Denver Broncos: You don't have a horrible draft and sign the entire 2004 Browns defense and get better.

Green Bay Packers: I really dig Favre, but the secondary didn't get any short-term improvement and the defense is still suspect. Might still make the playoffs, but Favre should get out before the ship sinks.

That whole Denver/Cleveland connection is just plain WEIRD!

And saying the Packers defense is still suspect is like saying Sandra Bernhardt is still ugly. Both are more than obvious!

New England Patriots: Lost a ton in the offseason, and the AFC is getting stronger every day. 2005 signals the end of the mini-dynasty.

I dunno BN. They might not win the big one again, but I do expect to see them playing come the post seasons games.

Well I'm sorry that my analysis was too obvious for you, Billy...I guess that's what I get for letting John Madden type my posts.

My GB defense analysis was merely a continuation of my point that the secondary is freakin' abysmal. There was not a luckier team in the NFL last year...I've never seen a team consistently allow 300-400 passing yards a game and still go 10-6. And other than KGB, there really isn't a lot of talent on the D-line. Nick Barnett is a freakin' beast at MLB, though...he had a very good year last year that was overshadowed by the fact that the defense as a whole sucked, and is one of my picks to be a star in the next few years.

Kyle Boller is the worst starting QB in the NFL. The Ravens will go 9-7 at best.

And NE will probably still make the playoffs, but their reign as the top team in the AFC is coming to an end. I just meant that they will be slipping from where they are now, but they should still be strong. It just seems to me that the difference between the great teams and everyone else in the AFC is growing smaller, and soon NE will be one very good team in a sea of very good teams.

Here is my early prediction for division winners and wild-cards:

AFC:

East-NY Jets

South-Colts

North-Steelers

West-Chargers

Wild-cards: Patriots, Bengals

(this will probably be wrong, as this will be a freakin' dogfight and there are at least 6 teams that could be fighting for the wild-card spots at the end of the year)

NFC:

East-Eagles

North-Vikings

South-Falcons

West-Cardinals

Wild-cards: Panthers, Redskins

Cellar-Dwellers:

AFC: Browns, Titans, Dolphins*, Raiders**

NFC: NY Giants, Bears*, Buccaneers*, 49ers

*Teams that will show definite improvement, but find themselves in extremely tough divisions. Each could go .500 and still be in last place.

**If I hear one more person tell me that the Raiders are their dark horse to make the AFC playoffs, I'm gonna f**kin' throw up. Yeah, they got Randy Moss, so what? The defense still sucks, and they are in possibly the toughest divison in the NFL (along with the AFC North and East). F**k the Raiders.

Okay, that's all I've got to say about that...for now.

[HoosierCat]

Up & Coming in '05: Hate to say it, but the Cleveland Clowns. Not just that it would be hard to do worse than last year, but Crennel has the brownies moving in the right direction. He got rid of a load of underperforming crap, and I expect to see a good healping of young, hungry players in the mix in Cleveland this year. They've also picked up some decent FAs, and if Dilfer isn't going to run up big points, he's also going to be better than Garcia. In the end, I don't think they're going to win many games (6 or 7 tops) but they will be a lot more competitive than people give them credit for.

Fading Fast: The Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah, they'll probably still make the postseason since no other team in the NFC East has a QB, but am I the only one who thinks this team has been falling apart since they handed the Super Bowl to the Pats? Simon and Westbrook were still sitting out, last I checked, T.O. is acting like an ahole, Freddie Mitchell fragged McNabb, the organization, and probably several innocent bystanders on his way out, and the whole Donovan-was-sick-no-he-wasn't bit was just goofy. They have all the earmarks of a team whose collective psyche has been shattered and is now pulling apart into sullen little cliques. I think Andy Reid has his work cut out for him putting this Humpty-Dumpty back together again.

[LesterLyles]

Up and comers: Jags, Bengals and maybe the Raiders in the AFC. Dallas and Zona in the NFC. Fallers: Broncos, Pats ans Rams.

I see some folks picking my Jets in the "faller" category. I tend to disagree All in all, the Jets aren’t a team with any one unit that will catch the eye. Assuming J. Abraham is back - and that seems to be a safe assumption - their defensive line is probably their strength. They aren’t a team of superstars at the skill positions (although Curtis is the rushing champ and penninton is a very good Qb). Neither are they a team with any definable weaknesses. They’re simply solid, across the board. Expect them to continue to be a factor in the AFC.

[TecmoFever]

Up & Coming in '05: Hate to say it, but the Cleveland Clowns. Not just that it would be hard to do worse than last year, but Crennel has the brownies moving in the right direction. He got rid of a load of underperforming crap, and I expect to see a good healping of young, hungry players in the mix in Cleveland this year. They've also picked up some decent FAs, and if Dilfer isn't going to run up big points, he's also going to be better than Garcia. In the end, I don't think they're going to win many games (6 or 7 tops) but they will be a lot more competitive than people give them credit for.

I hate to say it, but I agree. The results in wins won't be immediate (I see a 5-11 or a 6-10), but they will be in most ballgames and will pull off an upset or two. I just hope that we beat them in both games this year. My brother-in-law is hugely obnoxious Browns fan. Every year is their year to him. "Now that Butch Davis is gone and we've signed Reuben Droughns, we're looking up."