FanPost

My Rant

I'm writing this as the Browns and the Patriots just made a trade. That's right - the NFL's worst franchise & the NFL's best franchise are still making moves - mid-season. What are we doing? Hoping to get better through some sort of voodoo or black magic?

The drafts lately have been terrible. I'm tired of hearing about how great we are at drafting. That's BS & the only reason people say that is because we don't release ANYBODY, so our amount of players in the league is way over average. Almost any other NFL team would have released Hunt, Clarke, Flowers, Wright, etc. by now. I don't mind keeping the talent that you bring in through the draft, but a point comes when they just aren't very good & it's time for the experiment to end.

I also want to know what the deal is with our first round cornerbacks. Is it a matter of not being able to draft talent? Is it coaching? Does sitting them for 4 years ruin them? Consider me extremely unexcited about WJIII at this moment.
And I know WJIII & Billigns are injured, but I can't imagine redshirting *every* NFL player is a good idea...

I'm tired of bringing in old terrible free agents, too. I have no problems with Lafell, he's an average WR - and that's honestly what we needed. But, how many years are we going to bring in mid-30's castoff linebackers? I mean - I was cautiously optimistic about Dansby, but my God he's been terrible. We learned not to bring in injured players after Antonio Bryant, can we learn not to bring in father time after Dansby & Hawk, please?!

Honestly, my kids travel teams are more competitive than the Bengals starting lineup. How is it possible to continue trotting out Johnson & Peko to watch them bring absolutely NOTHING to the d-line? How long can we keep trotting Ced Ogbuehi out there before Andy gets killed? He's not up to snuff - bench him. If my 8 year old son's coach can bench people, SO CAN THE FREAKING BENGALS. Bringing him in every other drive is just stupid - he's either good enough to play, or he isn't.

Speaking of rotations, why can't we do that with the other rookies, if it's some new great idea we're having? Why not bring in Vigil every once in a while? Why not bring in Derron Smith every once in a while? At least they are defensive players, so rotation is kind of normal...and it's not like the starters at LB or S have been lighting it up.

Honestly, I expected some changes to this team to be problems. Sanu & MoJo, obviously are huge and I thought the offense would take a step back. Surprisingly, it hasn't been the loss of those two that's been the problem - it's been the o-line...who knew Andre Smith was so important to this team?

I did not see the defense taking the step back they have. I mean, I didn't expect much of Peko or Johnson, but wow - the rest of the team has taken a huge step backwards. We look unathletic and disinterested. Adam Jones went from being a great CB and returner last year to being...well...you've been watching, right?

I honestly thought Dennard would be an upgrade from Hall in the slot. Man, was I wrong. You think the Giants would trade Hall back for Dennard right now? At least Hall as a sack.

I thought Williams would be a step down from Reggie Nelson...but I didn't think it would be this bad. I figured Williams could at least look like a serviceable starter in the NFL.

And what is up with Burfict? Calling him "just another guy" out there is a disservice to players like Vinny Rey, who has been the definition of "just another guy" his entire NFL career, but who has managed to step up this season in a big way, and who is actually our best LB at the moment.

Ultimately, it comes down to accountability. Peko could probably go out on the field, lay down & take a nap & still be the starter - and he's a captain. There is absolutely nobody holding us accountable. It starts at the top, which right now is ML standing around looking confused & maybe constipated.

Where's the, "this is not acceptable for a team with this much talent, and we're going to right the ship" talk? Instead we get, "we should keep playing." NO KIDDING...it's what you're being paid to do.

And, just to pile on. Mike Nugent...nothing more to say. You can be a bottom of the league performer & your job is safe - we won't bring in competition in the offseason. We'll just keep rolling with what we have.

I guess it was fun while it lasted.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.