Comments on: Preseason power rankings: No. 20

By: Trox

Trox — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:09:26 +0000

HAHAHA! So THAT is why his name is Inept_guy….WHO DEY!

By: Inept_guy

Inept_guy — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:03:15 +0000

The Bengals have an extremely easy schedule if you exclude the four games against Pittsburgh and Baltimore. I agree that they can easily be .500, but the Ravens and Steelers schedules are not that much more difficult. They may win 1 game at home against either the Steelers or Ravens, but that is it for those 2 teams. so again around .500, but third in the division missing the playoffs.

By: D'ronious

D'ronious — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:02:29 +0000

The Bengals could indeed become one of the more talked about teams after a quick start out of the gate.Weeks 3,4,5 are divisional and will determine the season for this franchise.

By: Hooby

Hooby — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:15:09 +0000

YES! congrats florio, your first correct ranking ever! ive been saying it for a while now, the bengals are way to underrated. a weak oline, yes, but theyve got 2 possibly 3 great wrs and a severly underrated back in benson, plus a franchise qb. the defense isnt too bad and with rey maualuga added, theyve got plenty of room for improvement, i say they go 8-8 or better…
SAVE THIS POST, its gonna be a prophecy come true

By: Voyager6

Voyager6 — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:14:25 +0000

This is one of the more reasonable accessments of the Bengals that I have read. Their season rests solely on the offense, with the line and hense Carson Palmer’s health the main concern.
Just getting rid of Eric Ghiaucic at center from last year is an improvement. Levi Jones’ knee needed fat injections every game to cut the pain, and Andrews is gone in FA, who played like he didn’t want to be here.
The Oline now consists of people motivated and healthy (with exception of Smith). They may not be the best group in the NFL, but they will play better than last year’s line. If Carson has time to throw deep, the safetys can’t crowd the line of scrimmage and will open up the running game. Opposing defenses will have to choose their poison. Other than tackle, TE is the weak spot on the team. They have great depth at the skill positions (WR and RB, and the backup QBs are better than last year).
Truth is, they finally have a defense under Marvin Lewis. There is depth at defensive line, so they can run a rotation and wear out the opponent’s Oline. They have top corners and a line backer core that only neads seasoning. Depth at corner is the defense’s only weakness. It will be a top 10 defense.
Finally, so far, Mike Brown hasn’t done something stupid to usurp Marvin Lewis’ authority, as he did last year with the re-signing of Chris Henry and cutting of Deltha Oneal, Willie Anderson, and Rudy Johnson for salary reasons. These latter cuts destroyed team morale and made a bad situation, worse.