Annual Reviews Part 1: The Big Question

Ever write anything that isn’t negative? We all know the glaring holes the team has. We all know the we have the worst owner in sports. Do you just enjoy pouring alcohol into our wounds. Why can you not be optimistic about things? We get laughed at enough by non-Bengals fans ,why do we have to come on here and continually read more of it. The season is over, we all saw the press conference. MB sucks, we know! Brat is probably coming back, we have seen it all.
Can’t you write a story detailing the possible players in the upcoming draft or how about a story talking about some charity a players makes happen.
I am just sick of the constant negativity.

Seems obvious to me. Carson didn’t appear to be putting much effort into his throws until the last couple games and Benson only appears to put effort into his runs in rare 2-3 carry bursts, which the occasional monster game (generally 1 or 2 per year). In the end he gets fairly good totals in yards, but on a drive by drive basis he’s probably the biggest part of the offense’s failure. Carson lobbing out softballs, many of which got picked, is Ced’s only competition for the goat of the season.

The offensive line play wasn’t great, but it wasn’t much different from last year. Defensive line play was just decent for most of the season, then late they started to really look good. Lots of injuries, but that happens every year it seems.

I really think it’s almost entirely on Ced & Carson. If they’d put more effort in the offense wouldn’t have turned it over so often, wouldn’t have faced third and long so often, and wouldn’t have so often left the defense on the field trying to do their job knowing that the other team’s defense has already outscored the Bengals offense. That’s a hard place to be as a defensive player, I don’t care who you are or what scheme you run.

The fact that Shayne Graham was run out of town, despite him being by FAR the most accurate kicker the Bengals have ever had, also hurt. Yes he missed 2 or 3 crucial kicks in his career, but he made a lot of kicks that would have been crucial misses otherwise. People say they met him and he was a jerk, I don’t care. People say he choked on every important kick, and that’s a blatant lie. The fact is we had a solid kicker that wasn’t Adam Vinatieri in the playoffs but was still one of the best in the league and now we’ve got guys that couldn’t earn the starting job at Rutgers, much less in the NFL. Well done.

And while all of that remains true, it still doesn’t explain why this year crumbled like goat cheese before our very eyes.

Good one…lemme take a minute and clean the coffee off my screen now… :-)

1.) I agree with you on the “strength of schedule” thing. While it was a bad hand, you do, indeed, play the hand you’re dealt. If the Bengals had played to: A.) the abilities they showed last season; and B.) the potential that everybody saw in this team in the preseason — Pat Kirwan actually picked them to WIN the Super Bowl — the whole SoS thing would not have mattered in the slightest.

2.) I think BratWorst has done worse as Offensive Coordinator in the past three or four seasons, in particular, than Leslie Frazier and Chuck Breshnehan did collectively as Defensive Coordinator, and both of them were shown the door. If ownership and the Head Coach aren’t going to change, then perhaps…but of course, we’ve been saying that for HOW many seasons now?

3.) The kicking carousel thing: Yeah…I was no big fan of Shayne’s crunch-time-foolery, but I’m also not looking forward to seeing him come away with a ring after: A.) being booted out of Cincinnati; B.) losing the kicking competition in Baltimore to the eventual AFC Pro Bowler; and C.) wandering the league before winning the Plucked Off Your Couch Lottery with the Pats.

4.) When we do position reviews, please don’t forget to do a run-down of all players sent to IR so we can kick around opinions of whether or not that season-ending injury could have been prevented with better conditioning (and I’m looking at YOU, Andre Smith!) or a better medical staff. They need to take their licks, just like the coordinators and position coaches do.

Look I do like geathers and hope he finds a role with this team, BUT, geathers and odom didn’t perform like mid-money players this season. both players deserved to be paid veteran league minimum. odom needs to be gone. and geathers needs to earn his spot on this roster this season, and it will be a spot starter/situational role at that, not even a starter role for the whole 16 games.

past time to clear house on the d-line. the ends need to be corrected and updated.

I will say this,this team looked alot different the last 3 games,and Marvin not playing the Young Guns thats been on the roster for 3yrs,it is his fault,because now look,we only get to see them now with the team one or two more years,tradgic,what a waste,I seen fire in the Young Guns eyes that wasnt even heard or seen all year long,and to say its injuries is just a lame excuse,New England and Steelers get hit with injuries every year,but do you see them waiver,hardly,Ced and Palmer got their yards,but not consistantly,also goes for the defensive side,they would be good one week,and bad the next,their wasnt consistancy week to week on both sides of the ball,and sometimes the players had no clue on who was in and out and Carson taking the clock down every friggin play to read a defense,then throw a pick that went for a TD was just crazy,and not enough men at the line and illegal procedure calls,and not reporting in as a legal reciever, ect,should a been cleared up at Training Camp,but wasnt,and lagged all thru the season,and you just know when FB Chris Pressley was brought back,thats what Marvin Lewis meant when he didnt provide the proper tools explanation,and Special Teams was also not consistant,kicking,punting,returns,I mean they was just so much you didnt know what team was gonna show up week to week,but it was exciting at the end to watch hungry Young Guns and the energy they brought and others that fed off,but we may not get to see that much longer,like I said earlier,they had been here for years and never got a chance to start and dont have many years left to be excited to watch them,thats the Tradgic part to me and everyone else that was excited watching them,so now whos the blame for that…think about it.

announcement tomorrow lewis press confrance….????.

and this is based on what?

I have checked with some and they are saying your eyes are brown

However, I digress.

If this team had a good sports medicine crew, we’d be in better strength and with less injuries. I’d be interested to know how we stood in the NFL for players lost to injuries, inactive for x amount of games, etc. Probably at the bottom.