How did so many of you become so spoiled?

[BengalYankee]

Originally Posted by Ron Mexico

NEEK......when did you become so optimistic? Dude....I like it.

Personally, I don't think the Bengals will win a playoff game this year, but with the way they've played so far,...I'm certainly not counting them out. They will be Super Bowl contenders within the next year or two, and hopefully they stay that way for a while. I want a Bengals dynastry.

In the 60's we had the Browns
In the 70's we had the Steelers
In the 80's we had the 49ers
In the 90's we had the Cowboys
In the 00's we had the Patriots.

Can we get some Bengals dynasty going on this decade?

In the 60's the Packers were a dynasty with 3 Championships in a row.
It was the 50's that the Brownies were a dynasty.

[BengalzHacker]

Originally Posted by Mexal

Actually, they were healthier for us than they have been for awhile. They were only missing the #1 corner and Polamalu had his best game of the season against us.

Exactly Mexal. And let's not forget the desperation factor. Their D knew what was at stake and they weren't going to give us an inch. We had to fight for every one of them.

[Helldog]

Originally Posted by McC

Neek's pretty cool with the draft. It's FA where he flips his lid.

How could I forget. Shame on me.

[Mexal]

Originally Posted by BengalzHacker

Exactly Mexal. And let's not forget the desperation factor. Their D knew what was at stake and they weren't going to give us an inch. We had to fight for every one of them.

Their defense was awesome. No denying that. We almost broke them though. There were so many chances that we just missed. LeBeau gave us the deep ball and we couldn't connect but if we could...

[neek]

Originally Posted by McC

Neek's pretty cool with the draft. It's FA where he flips his lid.

LOL, yea, you're right about that one

[BengalzHacker]

Originally Posted by Mexal

Their defense was awesome. No denying that. We almost broke them though. There were so many chances that we just missed. LeBeau gave us the deep ball and we couldn't connect but if we could...

But even on the deep balls the Steelers challenged everything. It's not like our WRs were running around 20 yards down field wide open.

On the pass Marvin almost caught for a TD, the defender knocked it loose as they were going to the ground and that was the closest to wide open I remember a WR being except for only one other play I remember where a guy got wide open deep but it happened only after Dalton broke the pocket to his left and the coverage rolled to that side. I think it was Gresh (a TE not even a WR) and he's was on the right hash marks.

[Ron Mexico]

Originally Posted by BengalYankee

In the 60's the Packers were a dynasty with 3 Championships in a row.
It was the 50's that the Brownies were a dynasty.

Doh! I was thinking something was wrong with my post, but I looked at it for a couple minutes, and then my brain checked the 'passable' box and I sent the message through. Thanks for the correction.

[CINCYPRODUCT]

Originally Posted by whodey21

Is this the #1 defense that lost 5 of their last 6? The team that gave up 34 "... At home..." to the mighty San Diego Chargers? The team so decimated by injuries that they were down to their #3 and #4 corners?

I'm not asking for miracles, but if we want to be truly elite, we need to hang more than a pair of field goals on "great" teams. Especially when they are injured and not playing well. Even if they are "... At home..."

So San Diego is elite? Big Ben was hurt and numerous other players. Wegot the - Ike. Still doesn't hold water a playoff game was on the line were they (#1 defense) suppose to roll over and give us free entry to the playoffs I think you are losing scope of the situation.

[Mexal]

Originally Posted by BengalzHacker

But even on the deep balls the Steelers challenged everything. It's not like our WRs were running around 20 yards down field wide open.

On the pass Marvin almost caught for a TD, the defender knocked it loose as they were going to the ground and that was the closest to wide open I remember a WR being except for only one other play I remember where a guy got wide open deep but it happened only after Dalton broke the pocket to his left and the coverage rolled to that side. I think it was Gresh (a TE not even a WR) and he's was on the right hash marks.

Thing is, Marvin was open, Dalton just under threw him. Green also had a step or two on more than one occasion. One Green dropped, the other was over thrown.

And yea, Gresh was wide open in the middle of the field. The thing that bothered me about that play is Dalton broke the pocket for no reason and he did what I can't stand seeing and that's dropping his eyes, turned his back and ran towards the sideline. All he had to do was slide to the right once or twice, buy a second and look straight ahead. The guy just doesn't have a feel for pressure yet. It'll come I hope.

[CINCYPRODUCT]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mc

Was it reasonable to expect that our offense would score just one TD in the game ... or am I being spoiled?

PS The Chargers blew out the Steelers in Pittsburgh just two weeks before our game (3 TD passes, 0 INTs by Rivers) and Dallas put up 400+ yards on them the week before. Their #1 ranking on D was largely the product of earlier season dominance ... by the time we played them they were heavily hit by injuries and were struggling.

Not true they were not hit by injury only Ike was out. Dallas and San Diego game. They had more injuries. On top of all that playoffs were on the line you ppl need to wake up there team stepped up as did we. The better team won albeit defense.

[Wyche'sWarrior]

Originally Posted by McC

Neek's pretty cool with the draft. It's FA where he flips his lid.

I tend to side with him there....

[whodey21]

Originally Posted by CINCYPRODUCT

So San Diego is elite? Big Ben was hurt and numerous other players. Wegot the - Ike. Still doesn't hold water a playoff game was on the line were they (#1 defense) suppose to roll over and give us free entry to the playoffs I think you are losing scope of the situation.

San Diego is not elite. That is the point. San Diego is bad, but still traversed 3 time zones and put up 34 on the Steelers. And Ben's injury has nothing to do with the "#1 defense" that you keep using as an excuse for us. We couldn't make it less than 300 miles and put up a single TD, you want people to be impressed?

The fact that a playoff appearance was on the line just makes it worse that we showed up looking so lackluster and unprepared on offense.

[BengalzHacker]

Originally Posted by whodey21

San Diego is not elite. That is the point. San Diego is bad, but still traversed 3 time zones and put up 34 on the Steelers. And Ben's injury has nothing to do with the "#1 defense" that you keep using as an excuse for us. We couldn't make it less than 300 miles and put up a single TD, you want people to be impressed?

The fact that a playoff appearance was on the line just makes it worse that we showed up looking so lackluster and unprepared on offense.

So then what was Pitt's problem on offense? You can't say our defense if our offense was supposed to play like their defense didn't exist or make plays in the game.

[whodey21]

Originally Posted by BengalzHacker

So then what was Pitt's problem on offense? You can't say our defense if our offense was supposed to play like their defense didn't exist or make plays in the game.

The point of football is to impose your will on the other team. On defense we did. On offense we did not. If we want to be considered the best, we need to be able to push the other team around on both sides of the ball, regardless of who they are or where we're playing.

[fredtoast]

Originally Posted by whodey21

San Diego is not elite. That is the point. San Diego is bad, but still traversed 3 time zones and put up 34 on the Steelers. And Ben's injury has nothing to do with the "#1 defense" that you keep using as an excuse for us. We couldn't make it less than 300 miles and put up a single TD, you want people to be impressed?

The fact that a playoff appearance was on the line just makes it worse that we showed up looking so lackluster and unprepared on offense.

This is a silly.

The Patriots lost to the Forty-niners, then the Forty niners lost to the Seahawks by 30 points. So I guess Patriots fans are slitting their wrists knowing that the Seahawks are 40 points better than them.

[Ryan Mc]

Originally Posted by CINCYPRODUCT

Not true they were not hit by injury only Ike was out. Dallas and San Diego game. They had more injuries. On top of all that playoffs were on the line you ppl need to wake up there team stepped up as did we. The better team won albeit defense.

"Wake up"? Seriously? Pitt deserves credit for stepping up, but you have an exaggerated respect for their D. We scored 6 offensive points ... Pitt has held only one other team to that all season, and that same game was the ONLY other game all season they held a team without an offensive TD. Our offense came up small in a big game ... it's OK to acknowledge it.

[Helldog]

Originally Posted by fredtoast

This is a silly.

The Patriots lost to the Forty-niners, then the Forty niners lost to the Seahawks by 30 points. So I guess Patriots fans are slitting their wrists knowing that the Seahawks are 40 points better than them.

Says the guy who was OK with being 8-8 and not going to the playoffs a day before the Pittsburgh game

[BengalzHacker]

Originally Posted by whodey21

The point of football is to impose your will on the other team. On defense we did. On offense we did not. If we want to be considered the best, we need to be able to push the other team around on both sides of the ball, regardless of who they are or where we're playing.

By this logic does it not hold that the Steelers Defense is paid to do the same thing as ours? Instead of slamming our guys as failures, how about looking at it from the perspective that the Steelers are still a great D, got some great play from guys finally getting healthy and we took their best shot and still managed to do enough to win.

Instead, many choose to say: AD *****. Offesne *****. Coaches ****. BJGE *****. AJ is great but everyone else *****. (BTW - AJ is has dropped a ton of balls lately.)

Your logic says that we impose our will at will while discounting that the Steelers are a championship calliber organization who are trying to do the same thing and we beat them at their own game in their own backyard!

[JungleJuice]

Originally Posted by neek

I'm glad some people are happy right now. Great posts from all of you.

We are def on the same page right now.

[whodey21]

Originally Posted by BengalzHacker

By this logic does it not hold that the Steelers Defense is paid to do the same thing as ours? Instead of slamming our guys as failures, how about looking at it from the perspective that the Steelers are still a great D, got some great play from guys finally getting healthy and we took their best shot and still managed to do enough to win.

Instead, many choose to say: AD *****. Offesne *****. Coaches ****. BJGE *****. AJ is great but everyone else *****. (BTW - AJ is has dropped a ton of balls lately.)

Your logic says that we impose our will at will while discounting that the Steelers are a championship calliber organization who are trying to do the same thing and we beat them at their own game in their own backyard!

It's amazing that you have the ability to type, but lack the ability to read... I didn't say any of that and I don't understand why you bothered to quote or reply to me.

If the Steelers, who are not a championship-caliber team this year by any stretch of the imagination, were successful in any facet of the game, we were therefore a failure in the opposing phase. Do you understand how sports work?

Our defense did their job by making the opposing offense unable to do theirs. Our offense did not do their job. They were stymied by a depleted defense, and were therefore a failure. This is not a new thing. This is not a sudden thing. Our offense has not been running on all cylinders since the Giants game.

I'm not "slamming" anybody, I'm just pointing out that our offense has a long way to go to get back to the point where they can impose their will on defenses the way our defense does to other offenses.

[whodey21]

Originally Posted by fredtoast

This is a silly.

The Patriots lost to the Forty-niners, then the Forty niners lost to the Seahawks by 30 points. So I guess Patriots fans are slitting their wrists knowing that the Seahawks are 40 points better than them.

I didn't say anything remotely like this, either. You all are nuts. No one here applied the transitive property to football until this post. Who are you trying to argue with?!

All I said was that if PIT gave up 34 to SD, then they aren't worth all the hype, and it would have been nice to have scored a TD on them.

[McC]

Originally Posted by whodey21

It's amazing that you have the ability to type, but lack the ability to read... I didn't say any of that and I don't understand why you bothered to quote or reply to me.

If the Steelers, who are not a championship-caliber team this year by any stretch of the imagination, were successful in any facet of the game, we were therefore a failure in the opposing phase. Do you understand how sports work?

Our defense did their job by making the opposing offense unable to do theirs. Our offense did not do their job. They were stymied by a depleted defense, and were therefore a failure. This is not a new thing. This is not a sudden thing. Our offense has not been running on all cylinders since the Giants game.

I'm not "slamming" anybody, I'm just pointing out that our offense has a long way to go to get back to the point where they can impose their will on defenses the way our defense does to other offenses.

I don't think our offense will be doing much will imposing. But they don't have to. Don't lose the game. Don't leave the defense out there the whole game by going long stretches without being able to move the ball. Make some plays when the opp. presents itself. Win it at the end.

Just win out--ugly, pretty, whatever. There have been quite a few formulas that have won SB's. Ours will be defense rules, offense kicks in just enough to win. And I'm just fine for that.

[whodey21]

Originally Posted by McC

I don't think our offense will be doing much will imposing. But they don't have to. Don't lose the game. Don't leave the defense out there the whole game by going long stretches without being able to move the ball. Make some plays when the opp. presents itself. Win it at the end.

Just win out--ugly, pretty, whatever. There have been quite a few formulas that have won SB's. Ours will be defense rules, offense kicks in just enough to win. And I'm just fine for that.

I would be fine with that, too. However, 99% of the time 2 field goals, 6 sacks allowed, 3 turnovers, and 0.9 yards per rush will not be enough to win. This time, fortunately, it was.

I don't understand what's so wrong about wanting the team to be as complete and dominant as possible.

[BengalzHacker]

Originally Posted by whodey21

It's amazing that you have the ability to type, but lack the ability to read... I didn't say any of that and I don't understand why you bothered to quote or reply to me.

If the Steelers, who are not a championship-caliber team this year by any stretch of the imagination, were successful in any facet of the game, we were therefore a failure in the opposing phase. Do you understand how sports work?

Our defense did their job by making the opposing offense unable to do theirs. Our offense did not do their job. They were stymied by a depleted defense, and were therefore a failure. This is not a new thing. This is not a sudden thing. Our offense has not been running on all cylinders since the Giants game.

I'm not "slamming" anybody, I'm just pointing out that our offense has a long way to go to get back to the point where they can impose their will on defenses the way our defense does to other offenses.

This is another example of the hate mongering and anger raging that comes from the crowd on the "we aren't good enough" side.

Who's the one who can't read, I said championship calliber organization.

They were missing one starter. How many were we missing on D? What about on O?

If that's all you were saying, I'd agree with you.

[BengalzHacker]

Originally Posted by McC

I don't think our offense will be doing much will imposing. But they don't have to. Don't lose the game. Don't leave the defense out there the whole game by going long stretches without being able to move the ball. Make some plays when the opp. presents itself. Win it at the end.

Just win out--ugly, pretty, whatever. There have been quite a few formulas that have won SB's. Ours will be defense rules, offense kicks in just enough to win. And I'm just fine for that.

Exactly. It may not be what some people want, but it is who we are right now. You play best when you play to your strengths.