Game Thread: Bengals vs Panthers

[DanBengalfan]

Who Dey?

 

[DanBengalfan]

saying this will be like the Falcons game. we suck now, but not that much. defense is softer though.

 

[jbuck]

they are bad. a good test of how bad we are

 

[cincygrad]

We'll win. Probably by 10 or more. All the twitter folks and podcasters will overreact about how good we are and how the Cleveland game was just a fluke.

This team is inconsistent. That's how they were last year too. Look at last year's games against the Bears, Browns, Jets, Chargers and Niners. The Browns and Chargers ended up beating us by multiple scores and the Bears and Niners should have if they could play offense. That said, none of those teams were "better" than us.... That is, I wouldn't have been surprised if we beat any of them (or even blew them out) on one of our good days.

The inconsistency mostly stems from the offense. Taylor still hasn't established a sustainable identity to what he wants to do with the talent he has on the team. Yes, he has principles - Only use 11 personnel. Use zone-blocking. But these almost become a detriment to any real identity because they don't always work with the guys we have. So, within his limited framework he resorts to throwing shit at the wall, finding something that works, until it inevitably gets solved by the defense. Then we have to go back to the throwing shit at the wall period again until things get fixed.

Outside of Matt Canada of the Steelers, there is not a single OC in this league that wouldn't have unleashed Chris Evans.... Or at least tried him after watching Mixon fail repeatedly.

 

[alf8478]

We'll win. Probably by 10 or more. All the twitter folks and podcasters will overreact about how good we are and how the Cleveland game was just a fluke.

This team is inconsistent. That's how they were last year too. Look at last year's games against the Bears, Browns, Jets, Chargers and Niners. The Browns and Chargers ended up beating us by multiple scores and the Bears and Niners should have if they could play offense. That said, none of those teams were "better" than us.... That is, I wouldn't have been surprised if we beat any of them (or even blew them out) on one of our good days.

The inconsistency mostly stems from the offense. Taylor still hasn't established a sustainable identity to what he wants to do with the talent he has on the team. Yes, he has principles - Only use 11 personnel. Use zone-blocking. But these almost become a detriment to any real identity because they don't always work with the guys we have. So, within his limited framework he resorts to throwing shit at the wall, finding something that works, until it inevitably gets solved by the defense. Then we have to go back to the throwing shit at the wall period again until things get fixed.

Outside of Matt Canada of the Steelers, there is not a single OC in this league that wouldn't have unleashed Chris Evans.... Or at least tried him after watching Mixon fail repeatedly.

There is no way this is a double digit game. This will be a last play of the game type of game.
Carolina is playing with more fire and spirit than the Bengals are.
And lets not forget that Carolina has a third string QB playing, so he'll put up insane numbers this week.

 

[cincygrad]

There is no way this is a double digit game. This will be a last play of the game type of game.
Carolina is playing with more fire and spirit than the Bengals are.
And lets not forget that Carolina has a third string QB playing, so he'll put up insane numbers this week.

I get both of those points about Carolina and it gave me some pause.... But, I also think that they put a lot of emotion into the last 2 weeks of games. During that time they traded players, endured bad behavior on sidelines, basically lost a game because their pro-bowl receiver took off his helmet during a celebration and eventually lost in OT because their kicker couldn't make a 30 yard field goal in a dome. A few of their start players spent the day Tuesday wondering if they would be traded. I just don't see how that team has much left in the tank for a random, non-division game that is the second straight on the road. I think the Bengals are catching them at the right time. And I also think Burrow somehow throws for 350+ and everyone decides they don't need Chase..... Until the next week, when it is obvious that they do.

 

[alf8478]

Here's my prediction:

The Bengals will lose 2 of their next 3 games which will cause Chase to come back before he's 100% and then getting re-injured, only worse, in his first game back, thus killing the season.

 

[DanBengalfan]

need these soft games so we can pad our stats and look relevant.

we will win this game and it will be meaningless in the long run.

they need to start planning for next season, this team just doesn't have it. Perine is our best running back now, he should be a rb3. jonah Williams will need to be rotated out because he can't block anymore. the defense is banged up. we might luck out and get a wildcard, but not likely.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I bet we all miss Awuzie immediately in this game. Apple is terrible but we can offset some of his flaws by shading guys to his side. That is no longer going to be possible with no Awuzie to completely shut down one side. Defensive line will have less time to rush, WR's will get open a little quicker. Everything we do on defense revolves around Awuzie's talent and his isolating one side of the field.

Make no mistake, our defense just took a massive hit. Massive.

Personally, I think we will be lucky to get to 9-8 now. KC and Buffalo are going to rip us up so freaking bad, it will be laughable, because we are going to try not to be messing up our shit and throwing things at the tv.

And with us not having Chase, getting into a shootout because of our defense being much weaker, doesn't favor us.

 

[cincygrad]

Uh oh..... Hilton has now been declared out. Our corners for the game are Eli Apple, CTB, Jalen Davis, and Dax Hill.

Could be a shoot-out. I'm sure our offense will be ready with a wide assortment of terrific plays and schemes for the Panthers.

 

[cincygrad]

 

[jbuck]

completely thrashed by ravens and browns. And barely beaten by teams that sucked down to our level.

 

[DanBengalfan]

if the bengals thought they had a chance at having another SuperBowl run, they would have traded for some defensive help. but they didn't, so we know that they know.

 

[DanBengalfan]

We'll win. Probably by 10 or more. All the twitter folks and podcasters will overreact about how good we are and how the Cleveland game was just a fluke.

This team is inconsistent. That's how they were last year too. Look at last year's games against the Bears, Browns, Jets, Chargers and Niners. The Browns and Chargers ended up beating us by multiple scores and the Bears and Niners should have if they could play offense. That said, none of those teams were "better" than us.... That is, I wouldn't have been surprised if we beat any of them (or even blew them out) on one of our good days.

The inconsistency mostly stems from the offense. Taylor still hasn't established a sustainable identity to what he wants to do with the talent he has on the team. Yes, he has principles - Only use 11 personnel. Use zone-blocking. But these almost become a detriment to any real identity because they don't always work with the guys we have. So, within his limited framework he resorts to throwing shit at the wall, finding something that works, until it inevitably gets solved by the defense. Then we have to go back to the throwing shit at the wall period again until things get fixed.

Outside of Matt Canada of the Steelers, there is not a single OC in this league that wouldn't have unleashed Chris Evans.... Or at least tried him after watching Mixon fail repeatedly.

so far looks like we're going to win by 21 or more. better than I hoped, even with my 7 or more prediction.

Cleveland isn't as bad as we thought, all the teams in our division are pretty decent. every division game is like a playoff game. well, the steelers could be decent too, given enough time to figure their crap out.

 

[alf8478]

so far looks like we're going to win by 21 or more. better than I hoped, even with my 7 or more prediction.

Cleveland isn't as bad as we thought, all the teams in our division are pretty decent. every division game is like a playoff game. well, the steelers could be decent too, given enough time to figure their crap out.

The browns have a better offensive line, defensive line, running backs, tight end, and probably corners and receivers (given the current injuries), I’m not sure why everyone thinks the browns are this terrible team.

On a side note, I couldn’t have been more wrong about todays game.

 

[DanBengalfan]

 

[DanBengalfan]

or mixon, I swear I'm not a crook.

 

[cincygrad]

And there you go.... Now we can spend two weeks discussing how Taylor has unlocked Mixon and we're ready for a run.

I will give Taylor some credit for finally attacking a little more and breaking a bunch of tendencies. I like how he used Taylor and Irwin on run sweeps. I liked how he brought three tight ends in at various points. It took him an extra week of not having Chase, but not having him made him be more creative with the gameplan. It seems like when Chase was healthy, we only played 11 personnel, we were only effective out of the shotgun and the only creativity was swapping Chase into the slot every 3 or 4 plays. It would be nice if Taylor learned something here - Give Chase a break every now and then. Change up some formations.... Run the ball to the guys that nobody think is going to get it rather than giving it to Chase with 4 guys already watching him.

 

[DanBengalfan]

And there you go.... Now we can spend two weeks discussing how Taylor has unlocked Mixon and we're ready for a run.

I will give Taylor some credit for finally attacking a little more and breaking a bunch of tendencies. I like how he used Taylor and Irwin on run sweeps. I liked how he brought three tight ends in at various points. It took him an extra week of not having Chase, but not having him made him be more creative with the gameplan. It seems like when Chase was healthy, we only played 11 personnel, we were only effective out of the shotgun and the only creativity was swapping Chase into the slot every 3 or 4 plays. It would be nice if Taylor learned something here - Give Chase a break every now and then. Change up some formations.... Run the ball to the guys that nobody think is going to get it rather than giving it to Chase with 4 guys already watching him.

Chase injury forced them to do their jobs.
if this success is maintained, they may be able to keep them.

 

[DanBengalfan]

Frank reich is available we could hire him as a scout and promote him when these idiots run the offense into the ground.