Just now, Voice of Reason said:

 Because I like Whitworth, somewhat conflicted emotions on the outcome of this if I am right, but I like our match up of Hendrickson on Whitworth.

I was always a little conflicted on Whit when he played for the Bengals but I like our matchup here too.

This has been making the Rounds on Facebook, it is a good read:

Serving as the Sports Director at WXTQ/WATH I had the luxury of watching and covering every game Joe Burrow ever played at the varsity level in high school. From the time he stepped foot onto the basketball court as a tall, lengthy freshman - until his prep career ended at the Convocation Center on the campus of Ohio University in the 2015 district tournament - and of course everything in between. Game winning shots on the hardwood, record breaking nights on the gridiron, scoring his 1000th point in basketball to leading Athens to the state championship game and winning Ohio’s Mr. Football award. Watching it all unfold was truly a blessing as athletes like Joe don’t come around often to an area as small as ours. All in all we covered over 90 basketball games on 970WATH, the home of the Bulldogs, and 41 total football games during Burrow’s prep career. It seemed only fitting Cincinnati would draft him No. 1 overall since WATH also serves as the Bengals affiliate in Athens County, which means we will continue to add to that total in the years to come.

What Joe has accomplished since those days at Athens high school has been nothing short of remarkable. Leading LSU to an SEC championship, winning the Heisman trophy, and then a national championship before being drafted No. 1 overall by the Bengals. In his first full season under center, Joe led a team that earned just two wins in 2019, to a division title and Super Bowl berth two seasons later. Throughout the years watching him grow and develop, I was asked a similar question. “Do you really think he is good enough to play in the Big Ten?” “Can he really win the starting job and compete in the rugged SEC?” “Do you think he can actually play at the next level or will he be a bust in the NFL?” My answer has always been the same. Absolutely. Because he is incredibly smart, deadly accurate, has underrated athleticism, off the chart work ethic and a leadership quality very few possess. Those are the traits that make great signal callers and they can’t be taught or coached. So many articles will be written it the coming days leading up to the Super Bowl about Joe Burrow, his quarterbacking ability and long list of accomplishments and individual accolades. But not enough will be focused on his intelligence, character and leadership quality. Most outside of Ohio don’t even know he was a straight A honor student at Athens or that he graduated from Ohio State in three years and earned his masters before leaving LSU with a national championship in hand. When you throw in a father, who happened to be D1 college defensive coordinator, you end up with a quarterback who can process information and break down defenses as well as Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or a Drew Brees. As far as leadership? Athens high school had never won a single playoff game in the history of the school, in year three with Burrow under center it played for a state championship at The Horseshoe in Columbus. LSU, as good of program as they are, in 2018 they were not even in the national conversation or thought of as a CFP contender. In Burrow’s 2nd season starting, they shattered records and brought the national championship back to Baton Rouge. The Cincinnati Bengals were a 2-14 football team when they drafted Joe No.1, two years later they have done the unthinkable and won the AFC North, an AFC championship and are heading to their first Super Bowl in 33 years. Sooner or later you have to recognize this is not a coincidence, everywhere Joe goes – success follows. He just has that unique ability to rally his teammates on the field, galvanize a locker room off it, and then wins and success comes along for the ride.

Last but not least, something has to be said about Joe Burrow’s character. Ever since I watched him compete at the age of 15, he has been confident, but not cocky. His demeanor on and off the field appears laid back, but he is extremely competitive. His teammates love him, the media respects him as all his interviews and public appearances have been great, especially the Heisman speech. If you have ever met his parents, it probably wouldn’t take long to realize where Joe gets a lot of his positive character traits from. I’ve often said if Joe Burrow wasn’t the Heisman trophy winner and national champion – the kids at Eastern would love Robin Burrow just the same. If Joe wasn’t an NFL quarterback and heading to the Super Bowl, everyone who’s met his father Jimmy would like him the same as well. I’ll often bug him to death when he’s trying to get a workout in at the Community Center in Athens – but he’ll just smile and answer all my questions like a champ. He truly is a great guy; you won’t find a single person who has a bad word to say about Jimmy Burrow, guaranteed. When Joe was in high school he too could be spotted at the Rec Center with his friends either working out or playing basketball. I’d try and tease him now and then by saying he should have scored 30 points the night before instead of 20 – or tell him 350 passing yards wasn’t really that impressive. We’d also want him to come on the radio either before or after a game, but he was never very talkative, always just a “yes-no” kind of kid. But on my second trip to Baton Rouge in 2019, Joe actually came out to his parents tailgate after a big win over Auburn, which was highly unusual. I think I razzed him a little about a past game, but then took the opportunity to be serious for a moment and told him how proud I was of him, how proud we all were back in Athens County. Not because he could throw a football 60 yards and score touchdowns, but because of how he handled himself off the field, in public and in the classroom. I told him he represented Southeastern Ohio better than any of us could have ever imagined. He looked me dead in the eye and said “wow, thank you, seriously, thanks a lot. That really means a lot to me.” I think it was the most words the kid ever said to me at one time standing outside of Death Valley that night - and he was very sincere – which tells me he is in fact very appreciative of the support he gets from his hometown. So be loud, stay proud and keep cheering for #9 and the Bengals as they bring a Super Bowl trophy back to Ohio next week.

Troy Bolin
WXTQ/WATH

Mentions in the Bible:

 

Rams = 200+

Bengals/Tigers = 0

 

Just Sayin'

 

(Of course, the Rams were usually getting slaughtered...)

Cincinnatians sure love their beer.  God bless the wonderful people of Greater Cincy.  Great turnout for the Pep Rally!

29 minutes ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

Cincinnatians sure love their beer.  God bless the wonderful people of Greater Cincy.  Great turnout for the Pep Rally!

I forgot that this was televised tonight as well.  Sounds like it was a good time.

Madden simulation says Bengals 24  Rams 21.   I'll take it.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33234981/super-bowl-22-madden-simulator-predicts-cincinnati-bengals-joe-burrow-edge-los-angeles-rams

I am going to be a real downer in this thread and pick the Rams. I just don't see the Bengals being able to move the ball enough to score given the monumental struggles the Bengals have still had on the Offensive line, while also I struggle to see the Bengals rushing the passer with any type of consistency, despite the 4 sacks they got against KC Mahomes was only under pressure 11 times( in 43 dropbacks) and many of those pressures were when Mahomes caused the pressure by leaving a clean pocket. I think it could be a long night for the Bengals. 

LAR-27

CIN-14

Fun to look back at the odds from this thread before the playoffs started.

Rams over the Bengals was at 85-1, Bengals over the Rams was at 100-1.

I still can't wrap my head around this Super Bowl. It doesn't seem real I think because no team was that dominating this season so the Magic 8 ball gave us Bengals/Rams. The Packers had the league's best record, but was anyone really scared of them? Same for the Titans in the AFC. Outside 3-4 of the bottom playoff teams, the separation between the other teams was minuscule. Parity at its finest.

38 minutes ago, R1 sports fan said:

I am going to be a real downer in this thread and pick the Rams. I just don't see the Bengals being able to move the ball enough to score given the monumental struggles the Bengals have still had on the Offensive line, while also I struggle to see the Bengals rushing the passer with any type of consistency, despite the 4 sacks they got against KC Mahomes was only under pressure 11 times( in 43 dropbacks) and many of those pressures were when Mahomes caused the pressure by leaving a clean pocket. I think it could be a long night for the Bengals. 

LAR-27

CIN-14

I do think the Bengals strategically dropped more players in coverage than came after Mahomes, especially in the 2nd half.  Hubbard often would drop back and almost play like a linebacker and then spy Mahomes.  So I think that was a factor in how much they got after Mahomes.

But I don't think you're a downer, its going to be a tough one for the Bengals to win.  But it would be awesome if they did haha!

9 minutes ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

I do think the Bengals strategically dropped more players in coverage than came after Mahomes, especially in the 2nd half.  Hubbard often would drop back and almost play like a linebacker and then spy Mahomes.  So I think that was a factor in how much they got after Mahomes.

But I don't think you're a downer, its going to be a tough one for the Bengals to win.  But it would be awesome if they did haha!

Correct, the Bengals dropped 8 on i believe half of the Chiefs passing plays, which obviously worked. I don't think the Bengals struggling to rush the passer was unique to the game against the Chiefs, the Bengals struggled to rush the passer against the Titans as well, and while they rushed the passer well against the Raiders, the Raiders offensive line was dreadful this year. The best thing the Bengals can hope for is that the Rams come out and run the ball a ton, the rams most efficient offensive games this year have been against Tampa Bay, when they totally disregarded the run game, which was incredibly effective because of how great the rams passing game has been. 

The Bengals didn't rush or blitz Mahomes because of the threat of him running the ball and throwing the ball scrambling on extended plays. I don't think they are worried about Stafford making plays outside the pocket. I expect the Bengals to rush 4 and blitz rarely against the Rams.

Tidbits heard today:

If the Bengals win, Burrow will be the first QB ever to win a NCAA title, the Heisman and the Super Bowl.

CJ Uzomah said he is planning to play in the game.

2 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Tidbits heard today:

If the Bengals win, Burrow will be the first QB ever to win a NCAA title, the Heisman and the Super Bowl.

CJ Uzomah said he is planning to play in the game.

CJ sure got the PBS crowd fired up last night when he came on stage wearing a brace and then proceeded to rip it off and throw it up in the air!

5 hours ago, R1 sports fan said:

I am going to be a real downer in this thread and pick the Rams. I just don't see the Bengals being able to move the ball enough to score given the monumental struggles the Bengals have still had on the Offensive line, while also I struggle to see the Bengals rushing the passer with any type of consistency, despite the 4 sacks they got against KC Mahomes was only under pressure 11 times( in 43 dropbacks) and many of those pressures were when Mahomes caused the pressure by leaving a clean pocket. I think it could be a long night for the Bengals. 

LAR-27

CIN-14

Good points but i I think you underestimate the Bengals potential to still put pressure while just rushing 4. As long as Hendrickson is healthy, I think he will give big Whit some fits. 
 

The biggest key will be for the Bengals defense to create some turnovers. Which Stanford does seem to struggled more with teams that don’t blitz often, because he will at times try to force the ball into coverage. The Bengals will have to take advantage of it and make those turnovers when they had a chance. The 49ers dropping an easy interception in the 4th quarter cost them the game. The Bengals creating turnovers and not turning the ball over themselves will determine if the Bengals win or lose this  one.