Bengaldom Blood Pressure

[Bobcat Bengal]

i think the bengals will be fine, youll see. who ever is buying a TO jersey i hope your joking.

No Offense man,

but anyone with a opposing team's player as their screen name is gonna have a hard time convincing us that your a Bengals fan.

Especially since you basically showed up a few days before we played you.

That's JUST ME though....

[derekshank]

For me it has been good watching the Colts offense look really bad, and the Denver Broncos look like a vastly superior team. We all know this is an anomaly of course, because the Colts have one of the best offenses in history.

Peyton Manning has gotten sacked more times in these 3 pre-season games than he did in the entire season last year. (Not an exaggeration. Look at the stats). Reggie Wayne fumbled the ball out of the end-zone. Marvin Harrison didn’t get his feet down in bounds, and there have been at least two dropped passes for first downs. - not to mention the continued futility of their defense despite attempts at off-season improvements.

Sounds awfully familiar. But does anyone really think the Colts are going to suck? It would be easy to draw many of the same conclusions about the Colts that we decided to draw from last night's game with the Bengals (they’ve looked a bit better than us… they are still the Colts… but they still look bad), but cooler heads seem to prevail with Colts fans, and the commentators on the television.

This may be simply because the Colts had such an amazing season last year, and don't have a history of losing for 15 years... but I also seem to remember the last two years that Marvin Lewis has been doing a very good job of changing the atmosphere in Cincinnati making believers out of all of us... at least until last night apparently.

Maybe we are not as far along as we had hoped. A lot of people here were picking us to go 12-4 or 11-5. I always thought this was a bit homerish. But I also believe it is a bit pessimistic to make our predictions 8-8 because of a pre-season game. I'll stick with my projection of a 10-6 season, possibly 9-7... somewhere in that range. I’m not ready to change my predictions because of one bad game… especially a pre-season game.

It’s the only football we’ve seen in a long time, so it is easy to forget that these games have a long LONG history of bearing no similarity to the regular season. I agree that the Bengals were bad last night, but lets hold off the “Fire Marvin Lewis” chants for a couple more weeks.

[HairOnFire]

I voted...not at all. After all, it's preseason.

[redsbengalsbucks]

not at all still looking for a winning season, with a playoff spot a bonus if it happens.

[walshfan]

Oddsmakers had over/under wins at...

Ravens 10

Steelers9.5

Bengals 8

Browns4.5

I said if before...if you think the Bengals are better than that bet on them and win some cash......

[derekshank]

Oddsmakers had over/under wins at...

Ravens 10

Steelers9.5

Bengals 8

Browns4.5

I said if before...if you think the Bengals are better than that bet on them and win some cash......

Well, I don't have very much money to bet with... but odds makers are not NFL analysts... they are people who test the pulse of the nation. They set those numbers so they can get as close to an even number as possible of both over and under bets. If they guess the Pats at 8.5 because of the losses of the coaches and players, then 90% of the nation will bet over, and they haven't done their job.

On the other hand, if they think Romeo Crennel can make a quick turnaround of the Browns like Lewis did with the Bengals, and put the Browns number at 7 or 8, then nearly 100% of the nation would bet under... and then the oddsmakers are the ones gambling.

So the 8 is just the number that most of the nation feels that the Bengals have been at, and will continue to stay at. I wouldn't read too much into it. Oddsmakers are just money makers. They can't make their money if the whole nation picks on one side of their number, and they lose.

That said... the NFL is a tricky thing. I wouldn't bet on the Bengals if the over/under was 7, simply because there are too many variables and unknowns to consider it worthy of placing a substantial amount of money on. I guess that is why it is called "gambling".

So I guess I'm not willing to "put my money where my mouth is" so to speak, but at least one reason for that is that my money has to buy food to put in my mouth... so I guess I do put my money where my mouth is.

Even still, I see the Bengals as a 9-10 win team... but maybe it's harder to take the step from mediocrity to real contender than it was to take the step from laughing stock to medicrity. Time will tell.

[semiotter]

I voted...not at all. After all, it's preseason.

10-4 :player:

[BengalsFanForever]

If you win all your pre-season games what do you get??????????If you lose all your pre-season games what do ya get????? Nothing because it dont mean S**t. So I dont see why you are getting so worked up over nothing. In last nights game  SPAIN you were acting like it was the SUPER BOWL.  Good gosh I can wait to see how ya act when it really counts!!!

I agree with you that it doesn't matter if we win or lose. What I am upset about is how they are playing, and their attitude after the game. The problems that we are seeing are basic. Tackling, catching the ball, covering the receivers. The players should be doing those things whether it's regular season, pre-season, or practice. Their comments and attitudes are kind of disturbing, too. "I hope it's fixed by the Sept. 11th.".....wh-wh-what? I hope it's fixed?

I just watched the Colts-Broncos highlights from last night. It showed Peyton on the sideline yelling. He was really p****d. "And it's only pre-season." I don't look at the win-loss column in the pre-season. What I look for is 100% effort and attitude, and so far I am not too happy with what I am seeing.

[The Big Orange]

10-4 :player:

Strike-shortened season?!?!

[Spain]

This does seem to be history re`peating itself!

[BengalBax]

TO was laughing at our DB's man. You could hear the microphone on the camera pick up a little bit of his voice on the sideline after that bomb when he said "Man, tat was too easy..."

ISNT MARVIN A DEFENSIVE GURU??

[CBin2k7]

TO was laughing at our DB's man. You could hear the microphone on the camera pick up a little bit of his voice on the sideline after that bomb when he said "Man, tat was too easy..."

ISNT MARVIN A DEFENSIVE GURU??

I would laugh too, as I am running past Kim Herring.

[San Antonio Bengal]

I voted...not at all. After all, it's preseason.

Same here. The point of pre-season games isn't to win -- it's to find the weaknesses, things to work on, figure out who's starting and who's not, etc.

[buck3y3d]

To say your not concerned in my opinion is ridiculous. The preseason doesn't count, but the Bengals are making fundamental mistakes in all aspects of the game. Palmer doesn't underthrow guys because he's trying to hold back to fool the league. The penalties, the dropped ball, the blown coverage, these are a lot of mistakes that are fundamental football plays.

My aspirations have dropped a little, and why i still think the Bengals could start fast, they could also fall very hard at the end of the season.

[HairOnFire]

To say your not concerned in my opinion is ridiculous. The preseason doesn't count, but the Bengals are making fundamental mistakes in all aspects of the game.

Very true. But so what? The poll question asks if your hopes have changed because of what you've seen in preseason. Mine haven't. In fact, my hopes for the playoffs are exactly the same and if pressed I'd offer the same won/loss prediction as before.

Do I have concerns? You bet, but those concerns aren't great enough to make me change an opinion I formed over several months.

[Stripes]

My aspirations have dropped a little, and why i still think the Bengals could start fast, they could also fall very hard at the end of the season.

I disagree with this first off, I voted for "not at all." I can understand why your hopes have decreased a bit, but I would think this preseason has shown more of a danger of starting slow than finishing slow.