CincySportsFan

Good win for the Bengals. Jury still out, for me, on Taylor's game planning. What the heck were we thinking trying to force the run in the first half? Jacksonville was what, 30th, in the league in passing defense? It'd have been different if we still has Jeff Driskell under center, but we didn't. The line was even doing a good job holding up in pass protection. Yet we still tried to run. We got weapons in the receiving department, so why not use them? I just don't understand. Also, I think we missed Bates in the secondary more than we realized.

This all my fault, fellas. Should've never drank the Kool Aid. Will never do this again.

I can't believe how pumped I am for this game tonight. It's been awhile since I've legitimately felt this way.

Not going to the game, but pumped about it just as much. I normally don't like to do this...but, I think the Bengals roll tonight. Maybe I've drank too much Kool-Aid since the Steelers game, or looking at things thru tiger-striped glasses, but I like where we're at. I think Burrow throws for a couple of TD's, and Mixon runs for a couple of more. And I think defensively, the line comes up with 3 or 4 sacks of Lawrence. I also figured Bates would come away with an INT, but that's not going to happen (since he's not playing). Bengals win 31-17.

Caught it the first couple of weeks. Ended up missing part of this past week due to being sick and falling asleep on and off. I think it's been great! There have been some great stories, analysis and jokes. But, hands down, in my opinion, is the dig Peyton threw down this past week on Joe Buck was HYSTERICAL...because it is true! Biggest surprise to me has been Eli. He's always been overshadowed by Peyton's personality for the most part. He's had some great moments that I never expected. BTW - I LOVE Pat McAfee's show. Can get a little off-topic and raunchy sometimes, but the guy knows how to disarm his guests and you get less of the cut-and-paste cliches given in other interviews.

Ring of Honor unveiled tomorrow as well, right?

Oh sure, anybody can write it...but, can you speak it? 🤓

No, it's still impressive as heck. Just wanted to point out how long he's been working on it, before every other teams' fans expects their kicker to be able to go out and do something similar. Some of these guys have a booming leg...but, to change their routine/approach to the ball, might as well be asking them to learn Mandarin.

Watching the Pat McAfee show on Monday, he said he talked to Tucker about that. Said he's been working on it for about a year. So, while it may be the first time that we've seen him do it in a game...it's something he has been practicing.

There is also another challenge too, I think, within the owners. Look at it this way, there's 12 teams this year that had payroll below $100 million. Why? Because they chose it. Also, there's 2 teams that were over $200 million. Again, why? Same answer, because they chose it. So, there's 14 of 30 teams that obviously...whether it's for "economic" (ie: profit) reasons, or for competitive reasons...like payroll to be where it's at today. Are they really going to want to offer to change? Will the Yankees and Dodgers want to commit to a structure that will bring them back to the pack? Will the Orioles, Pirates and Marlins want a system that would automatically double their payroll? I have my doubts. Unfortunately, there's no "central" party that's truly looking out for the game, that's going to be a decision maker in this process. What may be good for the game, is not likely going to be viewed favorably by one, if not both, of the other sides. Which is a shame.

"If you build it, he will come."

"You're killin' me, Smalls."

I think if Burrow takes the preparation seriously, most everyone else will follow suit. I think he's a leader by example. And I think Vonn Bell and Sam Hubbard will be fired up to to play against their former coach, and that'll be infectious, as well. I could be completely wrong, and they come out and lay a turd. But the fact there's already 3 games of tape to look at on Lawrence, I feel much better, given the way our D has played so far.

Not going to stand up for Akron in that regard...they are a not a good team. However, Ohio State is one of just 15 teams this year to NOT have an FCS opponent on their schedule. So, while everyone may knock the Zips...at least they are an FBS school. Darn near everybody else, including Bama, Clemson, Georgia...literally takes it (down) to the next level. BTW, the 15 schools that do not have an FCS opponent on their schedule this year... Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC, UCLA, Texas, Stanford, Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Navy, Boise State and Georgia State.

Possibly, but I don't think so. And the reason why I say that, is the Burrow-factor. While he'll never say it aloud, I think he'll be driven to show that last year's #1 is better than this year's. Plus, it'll also give him an opportunity to stick it to Urban about how things ended up at OSU. I think his teammates will rally around that "unspoken" motivation.

I'm with you. Unfortunately, that is the measuring stick that a lot of fans use (and not just here on BGP). They want players to be "loyal" to the city/club, not realizing that those players back then had no choice. You were a prisoner of the team. For better or worse, free agency changed that forever...and like you said, it's not going to change. Other things that make me shake my head is the two sides of the coin that are often pitted against each other (many times by the same person). We don't want someone in a slump out there...but, when we make a change to a different player, it's now a revolving lineup. So and so isn't good enough to be here, but we complain when a rookie is brought up to take their spot. It's almost like if we have a lineup of veterans out there, we're too old...but, if we start some rookies, now we're suddenly too young. Yes, it'd be nice to field a team with 6 or 7 future Hall of Famers. But, so would everyone else. The Mike Trouts of the game don't grow on trees. It's not as easy to go out and suddenly makeover your squad when you're not the Dodgers or the Yankees. Heck even the Cubs and Red Sox have gone into rebuild mode recently, and they actually WON a World Series. No doubt, the Reds have a lot of questions heading into next year. But, expecting them to become the '75 BRM is not going to happen.

One of the many areas that I feel the Bengals need to clean up after the Chicago debacle, is kick returns. Seemed like there were several punts that were fair caught well inside the 10, and a couple of kickoff returns from the end zone that were brought out and didn't even make it to the 15. We're not good enough yet on offense to constantly be able to overcome this.

Must've heard that from some Rodgers haters then. I went and looked it up in the play-by-play...he had passes of 18, 19, 4 (for a TD), 5, 6, 9, 13, and 1 (for a TD) yards in the first half. That's 75 yards on 8 of 10 passing. The main reason there were no big bombs in the first half was that Detroit was playing with 2 high safeties...so the "easy" plays were the runs and the shorter passes underneath. But, is there really anything wrong with them, if they're resulting in scores? I'll take my cues on how he was playing from the guys who've been out there before. Peyton's reaction to the one TD in the second half was classic. Peyton Manning can't believe this throw from Aaron Rodgers - YouTube

I understand what you're saying, but with limited off-season stuff last year, plus the fact he only played in 10 games...he's not really completed a "full season" in my opinion. My point is, that maybe the coaching staff feels they have to "protect him" with their play calling.

I understand we are playing with, basically, a rookie quarterback...but, still. In my strictly armchair quarterback opinion, Higgins and Chase both need to see a ball come their way on a sideline go route sometime in the first half...preferably in the first quarter. And please, let me elaborate that I'm not advocating Burrow do a seven-step drop and wait 5 seconds to throw the ball 50 yards down the field. But, do some play action and try to hit the guy in stride when he's 20-25 yards out. Basically, the defense needs to respect the fact that, not only do we have guys that can go deep, but we're going to throw it to them as well. Even if you don't complete either one of them, the thought of the receiver possibly going deep can make the DB a half-second late on those ins/outs/comebacks...which is all you really need on a well-thrown ball. That's my crude, Strat-o-matic, backyard-football offensive philosophy.

Biggest disappointment with Taylor as a coach has been his play calling.

No lie. Awesome place. First time I ate there, my jaw hurt from trying to fit that big of a sandwich into my mouth. I didn't realize they were staying open later now. Will definitely keep them in mind for dinner now, too.

Been by that place a lot, but always at the wrong time because they always seem closed. Usually we're later in the day, either getting a burger at Bard's, or donuts at Moonrise.

Don't have the time (or the desire, lol) to search every state. But, here's data from Ohio, showing hospitalizations for the flu over the past 5 years. The number of flu-related hospital stays dropped dramatically last season. 2016-2017 8,661 2017-2018 17,397 2018-2019 9,865 2019-2020 11,005 2020-2021 122

Don't know what to tell you...I believe it. The preventative measures for the flu happen to perfectly align with what we were doing for Covid. So, it's not a surprise to me, at all.