Bengals have toughest strength of schedule in AFC North

by Josh Kirkendall on Feb 3, 2009 4:03 PM EST in Analysis

James Walker lists the strength of schedule for the upcoming 2009 season, which, ironically enough the Bengals will have the toughest schedule in the division even after the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl; their strength of schedule is 29th. There's a point to be made that the Browns and Bengals tend to lower the Steelers and Ravens strength, while the Steelers and Ravens raise ours.

We brought this topic up in late December (yes, we're that damned good) in which the Bengals finished their 2008 season playing against the opposition who had a combined .550 winning percentage; which was down from their .553 winning record before the season started based on 2007 records. The Benefit here is that we're playing the NFC North and the AFC West, thankfully weaker than the AFC South and the NFC East, rounding out with the Houston Texans and the New York Jets.

Combine that with.

Carson Palmer's return
An emphasis to rebuild the offensive play-calling and philosophy
A rebuilt offensive line
Cedric Benson, or like-wise effective running back joining the team
Return of Keith Rivers, Corey Lynch, a healthy Johnathan Joseph, Robert Geathers, Antwan Odom (who played most of the season hurt) on defense
Improving off their "12" total defensive ranking

Yes, we acknowledge that the Bengals are historically bad against good teams. Yes, we acknowledge that the Bengals still have to beat the man, whoa, to be the man. Yes, we acknowledge that change needs to place for sustained success.

My poll question to you, considering all of the above, is how do you feel about heading into the 2009 season?

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Comments

If they could beat the damn Steelers once, that would be the Superbowl for me.

by 5chw4r7z on Feb 3, 2009 4:23 PM EST reply actions

I'll have to reserve my opinion...

…until after free agency and the 2009 Draft.

by TheWalrus1971 on Feb 3, 2009 5:02 PM EST reply actions

Plus the strength of schedule rarely turns out to be a reliable way to predict how a season will turn out for a team.

by JohnnyK on Feb 3, 2009 5:47 PM EST reply actions

I am always optimistic this time of year..

by Mike Boyd on Feb 3, 2009 5:50 PM EST reply actions

The SOS difference is simply due to the fact that

the Ravens and Steelers are really really good. That being said, Cincinnati needs to outperform one of these teams to make the playoffs. The advantage is that Cincy should clearly get better where Pittsburgh and Baltimore could easily get worse due to a large crop of Free Agents.

Steelers have to worry about Max Starks, Marvel Smith, Chris Kemouatu, Bryant McFadden, Nate Washington.

Ravens could lose Ray Lewis, Jason Brown, Terrell Suggs, Bart Scott, Jim Leonhard.

Except for McFadden, none of the Steelers up for FA are very good, especially the offensive linemen, meaning that free agency changes should not be too difficult for them. The major problem is dealing with the offensive line, which is a major liability, but they overcame that problem this year.

The Ravens stand to lose a lot more, as there is no way they can keep all their guys, and four of those guys are really good. However, this is also going to be compensated by the fact that they had a rookie QB and young offensive line, which projects to be a much improved offense next year. Time will tell if this will compensate for the guys they will lose in Free Agency.

Both the Steelers and the Ravens were hit pretty well by injuries this year (though not as bad as the Bengals), this means that injury regression is unlikely to hurt either team.

I think for Cincy to contend they have to both get better and see Baltimore or Pittsburgh get worse. The first I’m sure will happen, but I don’t think the second will.

by math_geek on Feb 3, 2009 6:19 PM EST reply actions

Bullet Point # 5

“The return of Corey Lynch?” Dude. Really? The return of Corey Lynch? That’s supposed to be a good thing?

Why don’t you re-post that picture of him blocking the kick against Michigan. In college. Maybe that’ll get me excited about how his return is one of the bright spots to look forward to in ’09.

I really like your work…I do, or else I wouldn’t frequent the site. But that’s a giant, Adam Dunn like swing-and-a-miss.

by JohnCockToastin on Feb 3, 2009 6:21 PM EST reply actions

"The return of Corey Lynch?" Dude. Really?

Yea, why not? Good special teams player, adds to quality depth, had two less interceptions than Leon Hall who led the team. We talk about having problems with depth; he helps that problem.

Blogger at CincyJungle.com -- SB Nation Cincinnati Bengals blog.

by Josh Kirkendall on Feb 4, 2009 9:05 AM EST up reply actions

gotta agree on Lynch

Glad he’s back but he hasn’t done anything to look forward to yet. Still, Draftek’s seven round mock has us going:

Oher
Mack
Rashad Jennings- a 6-1", 235 , 4.4-4.5 back out of Liberty, who transferred to the small school from Pitt to be near his ill father.
UC corner DeAngelo Smith
Tennessee guard, Anthony Parker
Virginia ILB, Antonio Appleby
UC’s all-world punter, Kevin Huber.

While I remain sort of sold on the first round defense strategy, I could live with that- plus we’d have a couple compensatory picks. Free agent wise, I’d like to see us go after Bertrand Berry from Arizona, Chris Canty from Dallas or, since we’ve got the rap anyway, Tank Johnson.

by IgnatiusJReilly on Feb 3, 2009 8:21 PM EST reply actions

not bad

If we are the lucky team that has few injuries, we’ll make a run.

But if some key players are hurt, our backups are really cheap (and bad), so we would be toast.

by elricsi on Feb 3, 2009 11:32 PM EST reply actions

Lynch

I’m not saying he’s a weakness or doesn’t add some depth…but to emphasize him coming back as a reason to being optimistic in ’09 is a total stretch.

As a Bengals fan, being excited about a player of Lynch’s caliber is Exhibit-A of why the Bengals are so putrid and have been for almost 20 years now. How about we get excited about the offense bringing back Scott Kooista while we’re at it? I mean, this guy’s been a valuable back up for something like 7 years now.

Anyways…the defense hasn’t had an impact player since Takeo Spikes…and then before him we’re talking Fulcher and Krumrie. I mean, good god, 3 impact players in 20 years?

And don’t go listing “One Year Wonder” player such as Deltha O’Neal in ‘05 (who’s gonzo anyways) or Bobby Geathers in ‘06 who hasn’t made a play since…well…‘06. And for the love of God, I don’t want to hear about “potential” either. You know who had great potential? Khalid Abdullah, Mathias Askew, Caleb Miller, and Lamont-whatever-his-name-was.

And please don’t run a repeat of last summer either when you and I had this debate and it ended with some “anonymous” 3rd party posting pics of all the clowns the Bengals have on the defensive side of the ball masquerading as NFL players.

So they finished 12th in some statistical category in defense. Awesome. That means they’re in the top 35% of the NFL in whatever category that even is. I’m a statistic guy too…but I pride myself on not knowing or caring about that category because it’s obviously a useless stat in this case.

I am and want to be excited about the Bengals and yes, the defense under Zimmer showed some decent signs of improving last year…but don’t tell me about Corey Lynch man. That’s hilariously sad.

by JohnCockToastin on Feb 4, 2009 11:27 AM EST reply actions