Today I did my first simulated mock draft for the Bengals through Fanspeak. Not sure if the O-line improved enough with this. I like the 3 linebackers I got here though.
4 College Coaches the Cincinnati Bengals Could Hire
The Cincinnati Bengals are days away from answering a question years in the making – who will replace Marvin Lewis as head coach?
We say “years in the making” because, quite frankly, Marv should’ve been out as the HC around the time you were finishing your 2016 Thanksgiving leftovers.
Don’t get us wrong. The team experienced some good with Lewis. Since 2003 when he took the helm, the Cincinnati Bengals won the AFC North four times and made the playoffs seven times.
But they appeared in the playoffs seven more times than they won a playoff game. And that 8-24 regular season record against the Pittsburgh Steelers? It doesn’t exactly put a big neon sign over your head that says “GIVE THIS GUY A CONTRACT EXTENSION!!!”
Part of the recent troubles can be attributed to the Bengals being the youngest team in the NFL last year (25.2 years), and third youngest in 2017 (25.5), So, with all that youth, why not go after a college football coach? Someone who can relate. Someone who can win. It’s been done before with success (Jimmy Johnson, Pete Carroll) and there are plenty of hot names out there.
Here are our top four:
Top 4 College Coaches Who Could Lead the Cincinnati Bengals
- Dabo Swinney – The Clemson head coach is a bigger deal in the state of South Carolina right now than Nick Saban is at Alabama – which is saying something. Swinney just captured his second national championship in three years (beating Saban) after beating Bama 44-16. His recruiting classes show how he can recognize and develop talent.
- Dan Mullen – Mullen just finished his first year with the Florida Gators. He engineered the biggest one-season turnaround at the NCAA level, improving from 4-7 to 10-3. He gets results quickly. We know a team who could use a quick turnaround.
- Urban Meyer – This one is a long shot, but name someone on this list who isn’t. Meyer recruits speed, teaches speed, and puts players in the NFL faster than almost anyone. Plus, he’s a Buckeye guy, having just stepped down from Ohio State. Don’t ask.
- Tom Herman – Expectations were bigger than Jerry Jones’ ego when Herman took over at the University of Texas in 2017. It took him a bit to get warmed up, but now, Texas football is hotter than a branding iron. Herman just capped the program’s first 10-win season since 2009 and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
However this shakes out, Bengals fans will be on the edge of their seats until the new coach is announced. And hopefully, it’s a guy who won’t have fans out of their seats by the third quarter.
5 Things Cincinnati Bengals Fans Should Be Thankful For
It’s turkey week, Cincinnati Bengals fans! Time to stuff our bellies, thank The Man Upstairs and our people in uniform for what they do, and settle in for the second half of the 2018 season.
Because, for the first time in a long time, we won’t just be watching to pass the time until the draft. No sir. With a few more wins, we’ll be back in the playoffs for the first time since 2015. Just about everyone in the 513 area code is thankful for that.
If you root for Cincinnati, here are some other things to be thankful for.
Cincinnati Bengals Fans, Be Thankful That:
5. The offensive line is doing better in 2018. O-line problems are as familiar to Cincinnati Bengals fans as tiger stripes. But with new line coach Frank Pollack and the emergence of guard Trey Hopkins, we’re starting to be cured of the Andrew Whitworth/Kevin Zeitler hangover. The team is tied for 11th in the NFL with 9 rushing touchdowns and are 11th best in sacks given up (21).
4. Our young receivers are getting their chance. With AJ Green out because of a foot injury, it’s a golden opportunity for youngsters Tyler Boyd, John Ross and Josh Malone to get their names mentioned on ESPN. Boyd’s been making the most noise. He has 756 receiving yards through 10 games. He’s also tied for 6th in the league with 14 plays of 20+ yards. If Ross and Malone want to show what they can bring to the table – and get the paychecks to reflect it – now is the time.
3. You don’t root for the Cleveland Browns.
2. The schedule is friendly … ish. This point actually gets us the most excited. Four of the remaining 6 games are against teams with losing records. We could really build some momentum down the stretch. Conversely, the Ravens have to play Kansas City, the LA Chargers and Atlanta – all with a rookie QB in Lamar Jackson. And if not him, then Flacco and his gimpy hip. The Bengals can’t really afford another slip up, but the Ravens have a better chance to slip.
1. We’re doing better than in previous years. Even with Sunday’s loss to Baltimore, the 5-5 Cincinnati Bengals are still in the playoff hunt. The last 2 years saw them at 4-6 (2017), and 3-6-1 (2016) at this point in the season. Yes, their ’18 playoff hopes would look better with two wins against the Ravens, but Sunday’s game is not a deal-killer. Many players on D think brighter days are ahead now that Teryl Austin is out on his duff. If they can sew up some defensive holes, then we’ll get excited about the playoffs. If not … well, there’s always 2019.
Bengals Week 11 Preview – Cincinnati at Baltimore
Cincinnati Bengals (5-4) at Baltimore Ravens (4-5)
Oh boy, do I really need to recap the Bengals week 10 game against the Saints? Do we all remember the 500 plus yards and 50 plus points the Saints put up on the Bengals? Or do I need to mention that the Saints punter wasn’t used once in the entire game? Or how the Bengals starters managed to only put up just seven points against the 31st ranked defense in the league? Do we all remember this? Good, because I don’t want to talk about it anymore.
This week the Bengals face another tough task. That is going into M&T Bank Stadium and facing a divisional rival, the Baltimore Ravens. Like the Bengals, the Ravens are also in the wild card playoff hunt and a win against the Bengals would give the Ravens matching records with Cincy. In order for the Bengals to keep their playoff hopes alive, they can only afford to lose two games max the rest of the year. And with games still left against the Chargers and Steelers, they cannot afford to lose this week. They will have to be sharp against a very good Baltimore defense.
Matchups to watch for…
Tyler Boyd vs. WR1 Coverage – I listed it last week and I will list it again this week. Marvin Lewis isn’t closing the door on A.J. Green playing this Sunday, but we all know that is a total smoke screen. We will not see A.J. Green Sunday, and that is that. Tyler Boyd MUST continue his breakout season against the Ravens top corners, Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Carr. The Ravens defensive backs have already publicly stated their plan to keep more eyes on Boyd. This could be his toughest game of the year.
Andy Dalton vs. The Ravens Secondary- The Baltimore Ravens secondary is good. They are averaging the 3rd fewest passing yard per game this year with an average of just 205 yards allowed through the air. Andy Dalton will have his hands full this weekend, especially with no A.J. Green. The last time the Bengals faced the Ravens Andy Dalton carved them up for 265 yards and 4 touchdowns, but that was with a healthy A.J. Green. Good Andy will have to be out in full force in order to get anything going against this stingy pass defense.
The Bengals Defense vs. A Backup Quarterback- The closer and closer we get to Sunday it becomes more and more evident that Joe Flacco isn’t starting. However, that doesn’t mean we are any closer to knowing who will start. The Ravens are keeping quiet, not telling us if Lamar Jackson or Robert Griffin III will get the start on Sunday. It is looking like it will be Griffen. Regardless of who gets the start the Bengals must take advantage of a backup getting the start.
My Prediction:The Bengals are one game removed from a blowout loss and have recorded three straight games where they given up 500+ yards on defense. I think the combination of a backup quarterback starting for the Ravens and Marvin Lewis taking over the defense, leads to the Bengals defense getting a little more on track. While the Bengals linebackers are all banged up, the rest of the defense should be able to step up. The Bengals seem to always have the Ravens number. It will take everything they have but I believe the Bengals escape with a win.
My Prediction: Bengals 27 Ravens 24
My Bengals Predictions on the year: 6-3
Be sure to follow me on twitter @Pierson242FF. Be sure to tweet me anything Bengals related, questions or comments!
Game: Cincinnati Bengals (5-4) at Baltimore Ravens (4-5)
Date/Time: November 17, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. EST
Location: M&T Bank Stadium
Uniforms: White Jersey
Last Matchup: 9/13/18 – Bengals 34 Ravens 23
Odds: Bengals, +4
Why the Bengals can still make the playoffs in 2018
After a 4-1 start to the season, the Bengals found themselves in first place in the AFC North. Now a few short weeks later, they sit at 5-4 in second place behind the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bengals can still make the playoffs, in fact if the season ended today they would be the number six seed. But the Bengals are trending in the wrong direction, and many people are beginning to write them off. Here is how and why the Bengals will still make the playoffs in 2018.
Defense
Their major problem right now is the defense. They are ranked 30th in total yards allowed and 31st in points allowed. This makes it very hard for a team to win even with their offense ranked 11th in total points scored, averaging 26.1 points per game. The defense as a whole has to improve, but how? For starters, they fired defensive coordinator Teryl Austin following last Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the New Orleans Saints. Austin’s defense got off to an okay start through the first few weeks, coming up big with turnovers that led to multiple wins. The defense took a turn against the Steelers and seemingly never got back on track. On the final defensive drive of the game, the Bengals defense allowed the Steelers to march down to field goal range after letting them convert on a long third down and a costly defensive holding penalty by Dre Kirkpatrick. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Austin called an all out blitz a few plays later where Ben Roethlisberger connected with Antonio Brown to give the Steelers the win. After the game, Vontaze Burfict was on tape asking why they called a play they had never even practiced.
Vontaze Burfict walks off saying the #Bengals called something they never call. Not even in practice. @fox19 #Bengals pic.twitter.com/zGHxAhJSJz
— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) October 14, 2018
From here things continued to get worse for the defense, with multiple players beginning to question Teryl Austin’s methods. This continued to snowball, the Bengals would go on to give up 500+ yards on defense in three straight games, an NFL record. This led to the Bengals making an usual move, and firing a coach midseason. This now puts Marvin Lewis in total control of the defense, a move that could ignite a late season spark that this defense desperately needs. Lewis was known as a defensive guru before taking the head coaching job in Cincinnati. Lewis is the man behind some of the best defenses in the Super Bowl era. It is now all eyes on Lewis who appears to already be working first hand with the defense on the basics of football. A good sign for Bengals fans.
Who's Marvin Lewis the defensive coordinator? Much more hands on at practice. Going over basics with his defense. #Bengals @fox19 pic.twitter.com/4J4XFkyqtl
— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) November 14, 2018
Hue is back!
Hue Jackson! I know that Bengals fans have very mixed feelings on bringing Hue back in the fold, and if the end goal is to eventually promote him to head coach I dislike the move. However, bringing in someone the Bengals players all trust and someone who had great success in Cincinnati, its not a terrible idea. Marvin will get to focus on the defense and have someone he trusts on the sidelines on game day in case he needs to spend more time with the defense. It is almost as if they want him to serve more like the coach and Marvin as the defensive coordinator without the official titles. It will be interesting to see how this hire plays out and the effects that it will have but the bottom line is that Hue had great success in Cincinnati, why not try to find that spark this team needs.
Remaining Schedule
The biggest reason the Bengals could still make the playoffs is their schedule. Right now it looks like the Chiefs, Patriots, Chargers, Steelers, and Texans are all sitting in pretty good for spots 1-5 in the AFC playoff picture. Which means there is one wild card spot up for grabs. In my opinion there are four teams including the Bengals that will be fighting for the last wild card spot. Those teams are the Bengals, the Ravens, the Titans, and the Colts. The Bengals and Colts both have much easier schedules remaining compared to the Titans and Ravens. The Ravens still have games against the Chiefs, Falcons, and Chargers. The Titans will still face the Redskins, Jaguars, Texans, and a red hot Colts team twice. Indianapolis has a chance to go 5-2 to close out the year which would leave them with a 9-7 record. Their two toughest games will be at the Texans, who they almost beat earlier in the year, and at the Jaguars, who they beat last week. Then we have the Bengals, who could also finish the year 5-2 to end up at 10-6 on the year.
Week 11: @ Ravens – A winnable game for Cincinnati. They have a history of doing very well against the Ravens, and it is a Ravens team that could see either a rookie or Robert Griffin III starting at quarterback. Baltimore has a tough defense but I think Cincinnati wins this game.
Week 12: Browns – At home against the Browns with their old head coach on the Bengals sideline, the Browns will make it tough but the Bengals should walk away with the win.
Week 13: Broncos – The Broncos have a tough defense but a weak quarterback to lead their offense. As long as the Bengals keep Von Miller off of Andy Dalton this is another game the Bengals should win.
Week 14: @ Chargers – A possible three game win streak will see its end in LA. The Chargers are red hot right now with only two losses. I think the Bengals will fly home with a loss.
Week 15: Raiders – The Raiders look like the favorites to finish the season with the first overall pick in next years draft and are clearly building for the future. The Bengals get back in the win column.
Week 16: @ Browns – Winning on the road in Cleveland will be tougher than in Cincinnati but the Bengals still have experience on their side. The Bengals should sneak out with a close win.
Week 17: @ Steelers – The Bengals aren’t beating the Steelers on the road. They can’t even beat them at home. The Bengals end the year with a loss.
This would put the Bengals at 10-6 and in a prime spot to sneak into the playoffs. Based off of my projections I have the four teams projected to finish as so…
Bengals 10-6
Colts 9-7 (Colts hold tiebreaker in this scenario)
Titans 9-7
Ravens 7-9
As I mentioned the Ravens have a tough second half schedule and I think their final record will suffer for it. The Bengals can’t afford anything less than a 10 win season with how close this wild card race could be. With Cincinnati’s remaining schedule, a 10-6 finish is still on the table.
No one is saying it will be easy, but the sky is not quite falling just yet for this team. With a good blend of veterans and youth, and a fresh coaching change, the Bengals still have the talent to be a playoff team. I would love to hear your thoughts on the Bengals playoff outlook. Be sure to follow me on twitter @Pierson242FF. Who dey!
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