Noteworthy tidbits....

[CrashDavisSports]

Geno Atkins is looking like Geno Atkins again. Maybe even better. After practice Tuesday, Bengals defensive line coach Jay Hayes offered a whistle longer than LeBron’s minutes when asked just exactly how good Atkins has looked this spring.

“Scary,” Hayes said. “It’s scary how fast and explosive he is right now. I think he has the confidence that he has his legs under him. He feels like he did.”

Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, who challenged Atkins publicly and privately after last season, agrees and believes Atkins is primed ‘for a big year.”

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And, his Tuesday trip downstairs to watch Pro Bowl WILL linebacker Vontaze Burfict rehab had Guenther enthused. He pointed to his agenda he has taped up in his office called The Burfict Plan, which ends in capital letters on Sept. 13: BEAT OAKLAND!

“He’s really going after it. He wants it. He looks good,” said Guenther of the hope that Burfict’s micro fracture knee surgery heals well enough for him to start the opener.

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And if Clarke plays like he had practiced this spring, Hayes says he has found his seventh.

“The way he’s been practicing? No question,” Hayes said. “He understands where he’s supposed to be in the defense and he’s bigger and stronger. You can see that confidence.”

Guenther was impressed right away when Clarke showed up this year at 290 pounds when they told him he had to put on 20 pounds this past offseason after he arrived somewhere between 270-275.

“He looks like a different player,” Guenther said. “I have confidence in these guys that we’re able to go in there and play at a high level. I really, really think we can have one of the best (lines) in the league.”

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T.J. Houshmandzadeh returned as a coach Monday at Paul Brown Stadium.

Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson has made no bones this offseason about looking to extend his unit’s mean streak and has been looking to light some competitive fires along the way.

He decided to bring in a guest lecturer for the next two weeks to help deliver his point home when T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the always fiery self-made Pro Bowl wide receiver for the last-decade Bengals, signed up for one of the club’s four Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowships.

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QUEZ ADAPTING: Darqueze Dennard, the Bengals’ 2014 first-round draft pick, has been looking like it lately this spring. And again on Tuesday with an interception in one-on-ones and another interception in team drills. In 11-on-11 cornerbacks coach Vance Joseph alerted him before the snap on wide receiver Brandon Tate’s pattern down the middle and Dennard got on top of the route and stayed put. When Dennard slowed down Tate and quarterback Andy Dalton overthrew it, Dennard circled back to make the interception.

Dennard says the mind games are allowing him to play more like he did at Michigan State for one of the nation’s top defenses after adjusting to the pro game last season.

“I understand the total defense,” said Dennard of the difference between last spring and this one. “I wasn’t using my help as much as I should. Now I underdstand what to give up. What the strengths of the defense are, what is it supposed to do, what is it trying to do? I’m more understanding of the game.”

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When Dennard slowed down Tate and quarterback Andy Dalton overthrew it, Dennard circled back to make the interception. (*It is great to know that Andy Dalton hasn't changed any*)

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Is the defensive band back together with even more corner back talent now? Good vibes on Burfict and his return. Can we keep this damn team healthy this year? Can Dalton become something other than Dalton?

 

[alf8478]

That's all from a Hobson article. Take it with a spoonful of salt

 

[DanBengalfan]

TJ Who's your mama is back in the house!!!!

championship bitches!!!

 

[DanBengalfan]

That's all from a Hobson article. Take it with a spoonful of salt

hobson will take your teaspoon of salt, and turn it into next years mounds of winter.

 

[DanBengalfan]

if Hobson told the truth:

God, this is awful. It's excruciating to watch knowing that most key players on defense will be injured inside the first 5 weeks of the season. Geno is going to fold by week 3, Burfict by week 6. The only player guaranteed not to go on the DL is Andy Dalton. Another one and done season on the horizon. The players are moving slow and without purpose, no one listens to Marvin Lewis anymore. There's an air of hopelessness and a dark cloud hovering over the OTA. I want to go home. this is awful. Why does anyone watch this team? -Geoff Hobson.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

if Hobson told the truth:

God, this is awful. It's excruciating to watch knowing that most key players on defense will be injured inside the first 5 weeks of the season. Geno is going to fold by week 3, Burfict by week 6. The only player guaranteed not to go on the DL is Andy Dalton. Another one and done season on the horizon. The players are moving slow and without purpose, no one listens to Marvin Lewis anymore. There's an air of hopelessness and a dark cloud hovering over the OTA. I want to go home. this is awful. Why does anyone watch this team? -Geoff Hobson.

That is not how anyone views this team but this board. Most people outside this board still show hope. We are just special here.

 

[alf8478]

We are honest.

 

[cincygrad]

I've been enjoying the 're-branding' of TJ Houshyourmama...... The guy was as much of a cancer as he was an asset by 2008. Why on earth do you want him in that receiver room?

 

[Cincyfan78]

That is not how anyone views this team but this board. Most people outside this board still show hope. We are just special here.

The team is what it is. Lots of positives to look at, and lots of negatives, too. This team could be very good, and should win games and should push for another playoff spot. Come time for the playoffs, will again see whether Dalton can raise his game, or fall flat again (Same for Marvin). Until then, I'm just going to let the season ride out. You simply can't predict injuries, and even then, with how badly things went last year, they still made the playoffs.

 

[Cincyfan78]

We are honest.

I think there is a line between being an honest critic of the team and just being a baby because someone is afraid to get their feelings hurt if the team tanks and they had all this hope that they might do well (not saying you, just in general).

One can be honest about the team and still be hopeful or expectant of what they should accomplish.

We know that Dalton is sub-par, as is Marvin.

We also know that despite a rash of injuries, and a major lack of depth last year, this team still made the playoffs, and has for the past 4 seasons.

Green will hopefully be here all year and healthy, as having the #2 WR back in Jones. We have no clue if this team can depend on Eiffert to stay healthy, and this is probably the thinnest position on the team with 2 rookies basically backing him up.

The OL will have better depth for sure, and hopefully will be healthier this year.

The DL got better with the return of Johnson as well, and the LB got better depth, but the jury is out big time on Burfict, no doubt about that. We know that Atkins should round back into form (as this would follow most post-ACL surgery patterns). The rotational depth that was missing last year should return this year.

The secondary should continue to grow and be a strength. By seasons' end last year, Newman was no longer but a token starter, and routinely outplayed by Dre (as hard as that is to imagine).

We also know that come crunch time, this team will continue to struggle with Marvin at the helm and Dalton at QB...we'll see.

 

[cincygrad]

I think it can easily be summed up by just saying that playoff football is different than regular season football. Clearly the Bengals have talent -- You don't win the number of games they have the last 4 seasons if you don't have a good roster.

But they suck in the playoffs..... It's easy to blame Dalton, because he has sucked in the playoffs. But the other players shouldn't get a pass. We've had some dominating defensive performances over the last 2 or 3 seasons - But in the playoffs, we look like an average D at best. The entire team sucks with the lights on -- Maybe they need a shrink?

 

[Cincyfan78]

I think it can easily be summed up by just saying that playoff football is different than regular season football. Clearly the Bengals have talent -- You don't win the number of games they have the last 4 seasons if you don't have a good roster.

But they suck in the playoffs..... It's easy to blame Dalton, because he has sucked in the playoffs. But the other players shouldn't get a pass. We've had some dominating defensive performances over the last 2 or 3 seasons - But in the playoffs, we look like an average D at best. The entire team sucks with the lights on -- Maybe they need a shrink?

Perfectly stated.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I think it can easily be summed up by just saying that playoff football is different than regular season football. Clearly the Bengals have talent -- You don't win the number of games they have the last 4 seasons if you don't have a good roster.

But they suck in the playoffs..... It's easy to blame Dalton, because he has sucked in the playoffs. But the other players shouldn't get a pass. We've had some dominating defensive performances over the last 2 or 3 seasons - But in the playoffs, we look like an average D at best. The entire team sucks with the lights on -- Maybe they need a shrink?

Agreed.

 

[alf8478]

That is something that never gets mentioned outside of here, is that the rest of team fails to show up in the playoffs.
I'm trying to think, off the top of my head, of any kind of a (positive) memorable game played by someone on this team in the playoffs, and I can't think of one.

 

[cincygrad]

That is something that never gets mentioned outside of here, is that the rest of team fails to show up in the playoffs.
I'm trying to think, off the top of my head, of any kind of a (positive) memorable game played by someone on this team in the playoffs, and I can't think of one.

Cedric Benson had a monster game against the Jets in the 2009 playoffs.

That's right -- The best playoff performance of any of our players during the Lewis tenure was Cedric Fucking Benson.

 

[alf8478]

Cedric Benson had a monster game against the Jets in the 2009 playoffs.

That's right -- The best playoff performance of any of our players during the Lewis tenure was Cedric Fucking Benson.

Wow, he did that's right. Thanks for reminding me, lol.
The only thing I remember about that game is Marvin and his blown challenges.

 

[cincygrad]

Wow, he did that's right. Thanks for reminding me, lol.
The only thing I remember about that game is Marvin and his blown challenges.

Marvin's finest moment..... He was panicking 10 minutes into that game.... To me, that was the worst of the Marvin era postseason games.

 

[alf8478]

Marvin's finest moment..... He was panicking 10 minutes into that game.... To me, that was the worst of the Marvin era postseason games.

Add in the fact that they let the Jets walk all over them the week before to let them into the playoffs and gave them momentum.

 

[DanBengalfan]

oh look, they're in the wildcat, maybe they're going to pass the ball.

yep.

oh snap. they ran the ball from a running formation, totally tricked us

oh well.