One Thing Would Get Me Buying Tickets Again

[bradfritz21]

Start Burfict at MIKE.

He'd bring swagger to this D.

He'd bring playmaking to this D.

He'd bring identity to this D.

He'd bring leadership to this D,

H'ed bring excitement to this D.

Start him and I'd buy every game's tickets for the rest of the year because I'd know we'd be in favor to win.

Without Burfict at MIKE, we're just that ****ty team from Cincinnati.

[alleyviper13]

Id go to every single remaining home game if this were to happen. Just to watch the defense.

[Bengal4ever68]

Originally Posted by bradfritz21

Start Burfict at MIKE.

He'd bring swagger to this D.

He'd bring playmaking to this D.

He'd bring identity to this D.

He'd bring leadership to this D,

H'ed bring excitement to this D.

Start him and I'd buy every game's tickets for the rest of the year because I'd know we'd be in favor to win.

Without Burfict at MIKE, we're just that ****ty team from Cincinnati.

Burfict will start at MLB, its just a matter of time. He's just being broke in.

[Shake n Blake]

I don't see us making the switch this year. This team is always slow to make necessary changes with ineffective vets. Plus if they were going to make a change, they would've done it during the BYE. Rey will start the remaining games at MLB, but I definitely think Burfict will be our starting Mike next season. Unless we draft Te'o. Even then it's still possible that we move Te'o and let Burfict play the middle.

[SHRacerX]

Originally Posted by Shake n Blake

I don't see us making the switch this year. This team is always slow to make necessary changes with ineffective vets. Plus if they were going to make a change, they would've done it during the BYE. Rey will start the remaining games at MLB, but I definitely think Burfict will be our starting Mike next season. Unless we draft Te'o. Even then it's still possible that we move Te'o and let Burfict play the middle.

I would rather keep Burfict right where he is and bring in Te'o. Rey could move to SAM, where he was solid. Switching Burfict to MIKE just weakens the Bengals at WILL. I don't see Thomas Howard coming back as WILL, why reinvent the wheel? We know Te'o is a cerebral, hig-character guy that can set the defense and make tons of plays. Rey, his lone strength, is at the point of attack and could possibly rush the passer at SAM and limit his coverage responsibilities.

Depth could be provided by Lamur, Vincent Rey, and Skuta.

This whole picture depends on Te'o. I see him as a Brian Urlacher-type that could be the leader of the Bengals defense for 10 years. He is exactly what the Bengals need.

[Shake n Blake]

Originally Posted by SHRacerX

I would rather keep Burfict right where he is and bring in Te'o. Rey could move to SAM, where he was solid. Switching Burfict to MIKE just weakens the Bengals at WILL. I don't see Thomas Howard coming back as WILL, why reinvent the wheel? We know Te'o is a cerebral, hig-character guy that can set the defense and make tons of plays. Rey, his lone strength, is at the point of attack and could possibly rush the passer at SAM and limit his coverage responsibilities.

Depth could be provided by Lamur, Vincent Rey, and Skuta.

This whole picture depends on Te'o. I see him as a Brian Urlacher-type that could be the leader of the Bengals defense for 10 years. He is exactly what the Bengals need.

I'll be stoked if we land Te'o, and I guess you're right. Burfict has been playing great at Will, so I wouldn't be opposed to leaving him there (if we land Te'o of course). I also wouldn't mind bringing Rey back as long as he switches back to Sam. I just think the leadership responsibilities at Mike are overwhelming him. He thinks way too much.

[Lygraf]

the writing's on the wall. it'll happen hopefully sooner than later.

[Fan_in_Kettering]

Even in his current position, Vontaze Burfict is already doing all the things the OP listed. While I understand -- but don't agree with -- the idea of keeping Rey Maualuga at middle linebacker, there will soon come a time when he will whiff on a tackle and cost the Bengals a game. This season is not over and with some intelligent changes, Cincinnati can still make the playoffs.

As the OP so eloquently wrote, much of the roadblocks the 2012 Bengals have encountered on defense have involved the linebackers. Rey Maualuga, a man who I truly like and admire for his play at USC, is not finding his comfort zone in the NFL. Thomas Howard is down for the count due to injury. Dontay Moch is ill. In retrospect, not retaining Dhani Jones might have been a mistake -- but in the Front Office's defense, at the time the trio of Howard, Maualuga, and Manny Lawson was looking good.

Among all the skills they must possess, linebackers need to master two moves of which one we know and the other is not so well known. The move we all know is the blitz where the objective is to get to the quarterback and put him on the turf as fast as possible. The linebacker move most football fans do not know is the shoot-through where the idea is for the linebacker to find a gap, dash through it, get into the backfield, and disrupt anything he can find. It may be the quarterback, it might involve catching a running back behind the line of scrimmage and bringing him down for a loss, or it may be to tie up a running back who would normally be on his way to a certain spot to become a check-down receiver.

The shoot-through is a staple of many great defensive schemes but, on the 2012 Bengals, only Vontaze Burfict has this ability and we all saw it in the first quarter against the Steelers when he blew up a screen pass play in the backfield. This is why Mike Zimmer is forced to press the issue by running cornerback and safety blitzes more than he really should.

Someday soon during this season I want to see a linebacking corps of Dontay Moch, Vontaze Burfict, and Manny Lawson play for the Bengals. These men have, in my opinion, the best combination of size, speed, and most of all intelligence of any three linebackers on the roster and I have to except Thomas Howard who is injured.

Marvin Lewis and Mike Zimmer need to take the muzzle off Vontaze and let him do what he did so well at Arizona State: Scaring an opposing offense into submission.

[bradfritz21]

Originally Posted by SHRacerX

I would rather keep Burfict right where he is and bring in Te'o. Rey could move to SAM, where he was solid. Switching Burfict to MIKE just weakens the Bengals at WILL. I don't see Thomas Howard coming back as WILL, why reinvent the wheel? We know Te'o is a cerebral, hig-character guy that can set the defense and make tons of plays. Rey, his lone strength, is at the point of attack and could possibly rush the passer at SAM and limit his coverage responsibilities.

Depth could be provided by Lamur, Vincent Rey, and Skuta.

This whole picture depends on Te'o. I see him as a Brian Urlacher-type that could be the leader of the Bengals defense for 10 years. He is exactly what the Bengals need.

Originally Posted by Shake n Blake

I'll be stoked if we land Te'o, and I guess you're right. Burfict has been playing great at Will, so I wouldn't be opposed to leaving him there (if we land Te'o of course). I also wouldn't mind bringing Rey back as long as he switches back to Sam. I just think the leadership responsibilities at Mike are overwhelming him. He thinks way too much.

I don't know that I'd move Rey to SAM just because I think that he's already lost the "it" factor and the mental portion of his game, which I think demoting him to SAM would damage his physch even more, even though it would be beneficial for him, so cutting him seems like the only logical choice.

I agree that we can't pass on Te'o, so I'd probably move Burfict to SAM where he can be more directly involved (even though he's still making plays from WILL), but hopefully we won't be picking high enough to take Te'o.

If we can land Te'o, I'd have it be Moch at WILL because his speed and coverage abilities let him be all over the place, as well as a hell of a pass rusher, Te'o at MIKE, and Burfict at SAM because he'd be great with him and Te'o just staring down offenses and saying "bring it," especially with his abilities in pass coverage because he'd help to solve our problems covering tight ends.

Like I said, though, hopefully we turn this season around and aren't picking high enough to take Te'o, so I'd like to see us take Jefferson at safety from Oklahoma because he could solve our problems covering tight ends, he's so instinctive that he can be playing off the ball but be up in the box quick enough to make plays on running backs, he can even rush the passer on blitzes. and he's great in pass coverage on more than just tight ends. He'd be the AFC North safety that this team's never had and he'd be like another back that just can handle pass coverage, too.

[Lygraf]

Originally Posted by Fan_in_Kettering

Marvin Lewis and Mike Zimmer need to take the muzzle off Vontaze and let him do what he did so well at Arizona State: Scaring an opposing offense into submission.

i think they're a little afraid of what could happen if he was green-lit. i'd be terrified to see him regress from all of the character progress he's made so far.

[keller]

Originally Posted by bradfritz21

One Thing Would Get Me Buying Tickets Again

Becoming a Steelers' fan?

[Fan_in_Kettering]

Originally Posted by Lygraf

i think they're a little afraid of what could happen if he was green-lit. i'd be terrified to see him regress from all of the character progress he's made so far.

This is an excellent point, but I actually thought this through before posting about giving Vontaze Burfict the green light to wreak havoc. I had the privilege of meeting Vontaze at training camp and from talking with him I could tell that not being drafted bothered him a lot -- and it got him focused on the game. Vontaze told me he has never been so driven to do anything in his life more than making the Bengals' final roster and he said he had something to prove to the 31 other teams who passed on him. I really think the character issues at Arizona State and his diva act of refusing to work out when Marvin Lewis visited him are things of the past. Personally, I would take the gloves off the guy and tell him to just make plays and carry the defense because sometimes it takes one player who plays physically and with lots of energy to spark the rest of the defense.

[Bengal4ever68]

Originally Posted by bradfritz21

Start Burfict at MIKE.

He'd bring swagger to this D.

He'd bring playmaking to this D.

He'd bring identity to this D.

He'd bring leadership to this D,

H'ed bring excitement to this D.

Start him and I'd buy every game's tickets for the rest of the year because I'd know we'd be in favor to win.

Without Burfict at MIKE, we're just that ****ty team from Cincinnati.

What about Marvin Lewis being fired?...Instead of Burfict being moved to MLB.