POLL SUN 11/05 8:20 PM EDT

[DanBengalfan]

If Joe Burrow was to wrastle Josh Allen WWE style, who would get disqualified first?

 

[DanBengalfan]

Bengals by a little. 2 similar teams with similar history having similar seasons. don't focus on "wah! our tight end sucks! focus on what we do have!"

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I re

Bengals by a little. 2 similar teams with similar history having similar seasons. don't focus on "wah! our tight end sucks! focus on what we do have!"

I really like Tanner Hudson. He kind of reminds me of Hayden Hurst a little. I wish we would give him more opportunities.

 

[DanBengalfan]

I re

I really like Tanner Hudson. He kind of reminds me of Hayden Hurst a little. I wish we would give him more opportunities.

relegated to the practice squad at that.... they love them some Wilcox.

 

[Cincyfan78]

relegated to the practice squad at that.... they love them some Wilcox.

Called up today to the 53.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I liked what I've seen from Hudson...I'd like to get more run out of him. I don't see Hurst, but I do see a guy who's big enough to be a viable blocker, and has shown enough in his pre-season and 2 game regular season, stint to know that he's got decent hands, and seems to find ways to get open. His stats in just 2 games are nearly better than Smith in 5 games...

I don't think he's a long-term answer at TE at 28, but I think he provides a better option in both facets of the offense (run and pass) than what the Bengals have been getting thus far in the 5 games he's not been active.

 

[Cincyfan78]

 

[Cincyfan78]

Again, and Again, and Again....it's about WHEN you play a team...almost nearly more than WHO you are playing...

(Think the Bengals lose that Cleveland game with Burrow playing as healthy as he did at SF? I don't think so, either)

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I liked what I've seen from Hudson...I'd like to get more run out of him. I don't see Hurst, but I do see a guy who's big enough to be a viable blocker, and has shown enough in his pre-season and 2 game regular season, stint to know that he's got decent hands, and seems to find ways to get open. His stats in just 2 games are nearly better than Smith in 5 games...

I don't think he's a long-term answer at TE at 28, but I think he provides a better option in both facets of the offense (run and pass) than what the Bengals have been getting thus far in the 5 games he's not been active.

The part of him that reminds me of Hurst is his hands, his intensity to get the extra yards and how fiery he is upon completion of the play. If you are giving everything, you are likely to win more often than not.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Again, and Again, and Again....it's about WHEN you play a team...almost nearly more than WHO you are playing...

(Think the Bengals lose that Cleveland game with Burrow playing as healthy as he did at SF? I don't think so, either)

Cleveland beat the living shit out of us in the second half. Didn't score many points, but they did what the wanted for the most part. Defense was worthless in second half, offense was non-existent.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Again, and Again, and Again....it's about WHEN you play a team...almost nearly more than WHO you are playing...

(Think the Bengals lose that Cleveland game with Burrow playing as healthy as he did at SF? I don't think so, either)

I want to play a healthy Allen. I don't want there to be any excuses. I want to be battle hardened, not lulled into a false confidence because we played teams plagued with injuries. I want good old fashioned, these are our best against your best, and we take it to them.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Cleveland beat the living shit out of us in the second half. Didn't score many points, but they did what the wanted for the most part. Defense was worthless in second half, offense was non-existent.

But....if the Bengals score 2 TD's in the 1st half...that second half doesn't happen...and that's my point. You get a healthy Burrow and suddenly that game isn't following the Cleveland script of ground and pound, but putting the ball in Watsons' hands to win it...I'll always take my chances with other teams trying to, not only, match Burrow but then knowing that our defense is geared for those moments....

Edit - To add, it was just 10-0 at half, and Bengals got a fumble...they had 9 drives and 0 points. Not only could they have had 14-17 points, but any one of those drives could have taken points off the board for Cleveland.

It was just 13-3 after 3 quarters...a Healthy Burrow doesn't allow for the same script to be followed allowing Cleveland to just pound away at the defense, IMO.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I want to play a healthy Allen. I don't want there to be any excuses. I want to be battle hardened, not lulled into a false confidence because we played teams plagued with injuries. I want good old fashioned, these are our best against your best, and we take it to them.

Not how the league works, though...Think Cleveland cares they got statue Burrow back there in game 1? Or that Denver got Flu-Mahomes this past weekend?

Not. One. Bit.

 

[cincygrad]

This sucks for Buffalo. I still maintain that their season was wrecked last year due to his arm injury that he continued to play through.... It just robbed him of his accuracy too much. And, like us, they didn't have a run game or another way to pivot when the passing game is a little off. It was too easy for our defense to limit them in that playoff game.

Anyway, I like the Bengals in this game and I would like them without this news. To me, until they can prove that they can stop our offense, I will continue to believe that we are a bad match up for them. It sure seemed that way in the first quarter of our home game here and the entire game in the playoff up there.

Now, if the Bengals come out complacent and the offense goes back to being sloppy and one-dimensional, they could absolutely kick our butts. They certainly will have the motivation for revenge. But, if we play like we did last weekend, I think we win this game.

 

[cincygrad]

BTW - Maybe Josh can check in with Deshaun and discuss shoulder pain and playing time adjustments.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Not how the league works, though...Think Cleveland cares they got statue Burrow back there in game 1? Or that Denver got Flu-Mahomes this past weekend?

Not. One. Bit.

I don't give a flying crap if they care or not, this is about me, it is always about me and we as a collective group will always remember this is about me. And in case you didn't get the hint, this is still about me.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I don't give a flying crap if they care or not, this is about me, it is always about me and we as a collective group will always remember this is about me. And in case you didn't get the hint, this is still about me.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Now you got it. I am glad we could come to an understanding bra! Minus the talk about you part.

 

[DanBengalfan]

if we really have a working running game, we should beat buffalo. that's what messed with them last time, they couldn't key in on one part of the offense.

 

[Cincyfan78]

if we really have a working running game, we should beat buffalo. that's what messed with them last time, they couldn't key in on one part of the offense.

The running game is what is going to unlock this offense. Not a TE, though it would help in the passing portion. Currently, teams are employing a "cover 7" kind of deal...rushing just 4 most of the time, and dropping 7 into coverage. This allows them to play a mix of man and zone, but more importantly is putting a lid on the deep part of the passing game. It forces the offense to become 1 dimensional, and grind out drives of 10 plays where the defense knows they are going to pass on 8 of the plays.

Not only does this help the defense, but it allows the defense to simply ignore the run and simply worry about rushing the QB, and the additional stress on the offense now becomes needing to connect on 2 of every 3 passes to just keep drives alive. While Burrow can certainly hit 70% of his passes, those are going to come in chunks (usually) meaning that leads to many drives where they don't move the ball at all. This is what we've seen over the past 2 years...feast (TD) or Famine (3-ous) and not much in-between.

If they can run the ball as effectively as they did last week, and keep the formations like they did (actually passing out of the 10 personnel/under center, and using PA) - we'll likely see the offense really start to open up not only in connecting on some deep shots, but in overall consistency.