O-Line misses #71

[belfryky]

I wonder what our season would have been like if we wouldn't have made such drastic moves just days before our opening game.

All three players Rudi, Willie, and Deltha were needed. I just don't know why people who have the power to change this team still can't figure out a way to win.

Why would you ever give up experienced former pro bowl players is beyond me. Even if they were at the end of their careers the timing was terrible.

[Rivers4MVP]

I wonder what our season would have been like if we wouldn't have made such drastic moves just days before our opening game.

All three players Rudi, Willie, and Deltha were needed. I just don't know why people who have the power to change this team still can't figure out a way to win.

Why would you ever give up experienced former pro bowl players is beyond me. Even if they were at the end of their careers the timing was terrible.

money to pay for our top 5 pick.

[fredtoast]

Rudi stinks. He can't even start for a horrible Lions team.

The O-line stunk the entire preseason when Willie was here. He only plays in Baltimore when one of the starters is injured.

Deltha still stinks with the Patriots.

The only reason that these three are still in the NFL is because other teams could sign them for a lot less than the bengals would have had to pay them. No team in the league would have kept these guys at what their Bengal contracts would have paid them.

[BengalinDC]

Willie is the one they should have kept.

As much as I love Rudi--and argued all offseason that he'd be back--he looks like he's basically done. Though one thing for Rudi is that he needs a decent o-line to be successful, and he doesn't have that in Detroit and didn't have it in Cincinnati his last season.

Deltha is having a decent season with the Pats. He's not a star anymore, but he looks like a marginal starter and excellent nickel corner. The difference, though, is that he's motivated. He was no longer motivated in Cincy. It happened before in Denver too. He would be playing half as well in Cincy. They might have scored a low-round pick from NE in trade, though.

Willie is still playing well, though. The way the season has gone, the Bengals could have played with their early '07 line with Willie still here. Whitworth, Andrews, Ghiaciuc (sadly, there was not getting rid of him this year), Bobbie, Willie. Let Levi sit out. He's been bad all season. Injury, diminished skill, whatever, the above listed line would have been better. Much.

[whodey1967]

the real travesty of the whole deal is the fact that I understand cutting veterans for several reasons, but to not put the money to use to get some of the cogs in the wheel fixed (re-signing TJ for one) is a huge mistake and may go straight to the thoughts of MB pinching pennies so to speak.

[fredtoast]

the real travesty of the whole deal is the fact that I understand cutting veterans for several reasons, but to not put the money to use to get some of the cogs in the wheel fixed (re-signing TJ for one) is a huge mistake and may go straight to the thoughts of MB pinching pennies so to speak.

I agree 100%. I didn't mind those guys getting released because of their high price tags. However MB has not used any of that money to fix any iof our problems. If we don't use it as a signing bonus to extend one of our current players contracts then it will be gone. Unused cap space does not roll over to the next year unless it is was some sort of performance-based bonus that was not met.

[whodey1967]

I agree 100%. I didn't mind those guys getting released because of their high price tags. However MB has not used any of that money to fix any iof our problems. If we don't use it as a signing bonus to extend one of our current players contracts then it will be gone. Unused cap space does not roll over to the next year unless it is was some sort of performance-based bonus that was not met.that's right, and as of now, that money is just sitting there in MB's pocket, and I'm betting it will stay there.

[Bech72]

Hindsight is 20/20. Willie would have helped this year; but we had to see if Stacey would be worth a 50 million dollar deal in 09. I also think the cutting of Willie was partly to save face; how stupid would we have looked to have franchised a back up. Just another argument to show how inept our FO is.

That said, hopefully the O-Line won't miss #71 much longer; 5 months from now we will hopefully have a new meaner nastier #71 that goes by the name of Andre Smith. Nowhere to go from here but up....Who Dey (he says cautiously optimistic)!

[Housh]

its all about money,im hopeing that their gonna use it next year in FA

[Ryan Mc]

the real travesty of the whole deal is the fact that I understand cutting veterans for several reasons, but to not put the money to use to get some of the cogs in the wheel fixed (re-signing TJ for one) is a huge mistake and may go straight to the thoughts of MB pinching pennies so to speak.

Agree completely. O'Neal would have been a better nickleback than the guys we've had this season. Would he have been over-paid for a nickle guy? Sure, but since we haven't spent that money on anybody else that's not really a good point.

Same argument for Willie, who would have at least been a good backup in a season when our O-line has struggled with form and injuries.

Rudi was done. My criticism here is that we should have cut him sooner, at the beginning of the year. That's not hindsight on my part. I thought it was pretty obvious back then that he was done, and I know plenty people on the boards here did too.

[o&b]

I miss willie.... I mean, I'm sure we would of been a whole lot better than what we are now

[Jumbro]

I wonder what our season would have been like if we wouldn't have made such drastic moves just days before our opening game.

All three players Rudi, Willie, and Deltha were needed. I just don't know why people who have the power to change this team still can't figure out a way to win.

Why would you ever give up experienced former pro bowl players is beyond me. Even if they were at the end of their careers the timing was terrible.


Willie is definately missed, as an emotional leader if nothing else.

Cedric is doing no different than Rudi did last year. The loss of Rudi has had absolutely no impact on this team (Actually, I think Ced has been doing better than Rudi would have in this situation...think about it, what successful running back is out there that succeeds without a legitimate fullback on the roster?). Ced has more years in his tank than Rudi and I think he would be fine if 1) the O-line blocked better 2)the passing game worked and 3) if we had a fullback.

As for Dealtha...well, the secondary is quite possibly the best aspect of this team when it is healthy. So, yeah, Dealtha could be filling in gaps right now I guess...but really, not sure the backups have even done that badly. The secondary has covered receivers for far much more time than the average secondary should have to...and they've done fairly well with it in my opinion.


The bigger problems with personnel and this season are:
No legitimate center through free agency or draft
No replacement for Willie or Levi when the plans quite obviously show that they were both not going to be here much longer
1 defensive player through free agency who is now hurt....however, more should have been done to solidify the rotation on the D-line, including the ends. Justin smith IS NOT the answer and he should be gone as he is....but we should have gone out and drafted/signed a high caliber end to play opposite of geathers, even if for only a year to help mold our other guys into high caliber players