Arkansas Bengal Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 The Media's "Just Because" Reasoning With The AFC North By Anthony Cosenza @CJAnthonyCUI on Aug 21 2014, 4:00p Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports Lately, media outlets have been dogging the Bengals in the AFC North division race in favor of their rivals. Are the opinions justified? It's tough to truly say what the most competitive division in the NFL is at this very moment. The consensus opinion is that the AFC and NFC West squads have the toughest go of it, seeing the amount of teams that made the playoffs or barely missed out on them in 2013. In those two divisions alone, five teams made the playoffs last year (two facing each other in the Super Bowl) and another just missing out, even with a 10-6 record. Still, saying that a team around the league enjoys playing anyone in the bruising AFC North would be erroneous to the umpteenth degree. Strong defenses, bad weather and physicality reign supreme--even if one of the four teams is having a "down year". The Cincinnati Bengals won the division last year and made the playoffs for the third straight season, while the perennial powerhouses in Pittsburgh and Baltimore had disappointing 8-8 finishes. Cleveland was in rebuild mode again, but still gave each team a run for their money in head-to-head contests. Each of the four teams did interesting things in the draft a few months ago. By most accounts, each team received solid grades for their efforts in May and all four appear to have impact players that they brought on to their rosters from the college ranks. Earlier in the offseason, media pundits proclaimed the Bengals as the most talented team in the division and expected another playoff berth. However, as Training Camp and the preseason have wore on, more and more NFL media members are jumping off of the Cincinnati bandwagon and back onto to the ol' faithfuls with the Ravens and Steelers. On Tuesday, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk filled in as lead radiohost on "The Dan Patrick Show". In the episode, the DPS crew previewed the AFC North, concluding with Florio's early prediction of the Bengals missing the playoffs in 2014 while the other former mainstays make it. A similar article surfaced at NFL.com, picking the Steelers to come out on top in the AFC North, and this was after an earlier piece there that said the same thing . We also can't exclude what the guys at Football Outsiders wrote about the Bengals backsliding this year either. Why the change in heart? Normally, I'd employ the "opinions are like you-know-whats, everybody has one" type of mantra, but the reasoning behind the opinions has been eating at me. In short, they just aren't very sound. As is often used when respectively examining the Bengals, Steelers and Ravens, the "just because they are who they are" broken record resounds. What do I mean by that? Well, a major theme to a lot of these predictions lie in the injury category. Fears surrounding Geno Atkins and Leon Hall are valid, however Hall has already seen time in the preseason with the first team defense and Atkins is getting close to making a brief preseason appearance before the Week One kickoff. Hm. Moving on. Aaron Schatz's piece on the Bengals concedes this: "Our AGL metric does not account for importance of players lost to injury. The Bengals could suffer an average number of injuries this year, and -- as long as the injured players don't include Atkins, Hall, A.J. Green, Andrew Whitworth or Andy Dalton -- they'll be no worse off than they were in 2013." When you read the previous paragraph as to his explanation of the impending backslide, it rested solely on injuries and their rehabilitation. The argument seemingly collapses on itself, doesn't it? Then there is the "vastly improved" argument. Truth be told, I really liked what Pittsburgh did in the draft this year, but the Bengals were no slouches themselves, either. Cincinnati addressed its few points of weakness (i.e. running game, age of secondary) and it has appeared to pay off. Though Russell Bodine has struggled at times in the first two preseason games, he has helped fellow rookie Jeremy Hill perform well early on. After the team struggled with a 3.7 yards per carry as a team last year, Hill has come on with nine carries, 52 yards and a 5.8 yards per carry. It's early, but should be very encouraging. Really, the reasons that are seen in these prognostications are mostly going with the "known commodities" in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, while harkening back to the visions of their many past glories. It's not a bad idea to hang your hat on successful franchises like those, but it also shouldn't skew actual current roster make-up and immediate history. In the meantime, we'll casually gloss over the recent legal issues that have plagued some big-name players that represent these two cities. The fact of the matter is that the Steelers have missed out on the postseason the past two seasons, and the Ravens saw a steep decline last year after winning the Super Bowl. Furthermore, the Bengals have been on the uptick the past three years, have had minimal personnel losses and are getting back the aforementioned injured players that have such a big impact on their team. Did I mention that another young star is locked up long-term? Look, I get it--not everyone is going to have the same opinion on this type of thing. Aside from a Peyton Manning and/or Tom Brady-led team making the playoffs every year, NFL media members rarely have a consensus opinion on anything. The rigors of the 2014 schedule has daunting stretches for Cincinnati. Unfortunately, it still seems that pundits are mired in Bengals perceptions created in the mid-2000s--or worse yet, the mid-1990s. When it comes down to it all, nobody will remember these early predictions. It will only matter what happens on Sunday, September 7th and where everybody stands after Christmas. Maybe then, some of the stale perceptions on the orange and black will have changed for the better. It's up to the Bengals to make sure that that happens. http://www.cincyjungle.com/2014/8/21/6049855/the-medias-just-because-reasoning-with-the-afc-north Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scharm Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Backslides happen in the NFL. However, Bengals should be the clear favorite. They simply have the better team. Momentum and Injury during the season can be equalizers and each division rival has their own beliefs as to why they could win it but the Bengals should be the favorite. Division will probably go down to week 15-17 but in the end it will Cincinnati fans with the opportunity to buy "back to back" division championship t-shirt/hats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBengal Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 The Steelers looked like dog-shit last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cincity Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 This is what I've been saying all off season... It's a shame that they are still living in the early 2000's and 1990s.... The Stealers showed last night James harrison LC Greenwood, Jack Lambert and Lynn Swan are no longer on that team... There is also no Ed Reed and Ray Lewis for the Ravens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scharm Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Steelers are in desperate need of a string of complete meltdown seasons. A few 4 win seasons. They have too many ass kissers, bandwagon fans and they need to suck badly to kill some of them off. All this 8-8 barely missing the playoff shit they done the past couple season apparently isn't sending the message home to those black and yellow blow hards that they suck and it's the Bengals rise to power that is occuring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turningpoint Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Honestly it's fair for them to call this, we have the toughest schedule in the division, considering we won the division. That means we play the broncos, while the steelers play the chiefs and ravens play the chargers, and browns play the raiders. We play the patriots, ravens play miami, and steelers the jets, and browns the bills.... Those could possible by 2 losses for us, while ravens and steelers could be wins, this same thing happened last year for the ravens, they got the broncos we got the chargers. This is a close division just based on the schedules, sure we're more talented and should be able to beat the ravens and steelers, but will do it 2x? Ravens couldn't last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_B Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 I think the gap MAY (and I cant stress may enough) have tightened but I still think were the favorites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBengal Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 I think the gap MAY (and I cant stress may enough) have tightened but I still think were the favorites. The gap hasn't tightened. It's gotten larger. The Bengals are stronger this year with Geno and Leon back, stronger RBs and Dalton improving (he will be better this year). The strength of the Ravens and the Stealers has always been defense. The Ravens and the Stealers simply don't have the dominant defenses that they used to have. And this problem will only get worse because neither team has drafted well on defense. In recent years the Stealers have used a lot of high picks on D and none have become stars. Jarvis Jones had a bad rookie year. Shamarko Thomas saw his playing time get reduced as the season went on. Sean Spence is a bust. Cameron Heyward hasn't panned out. Jason Worilds never showed anything until late last season when he played pretty well. The jury is still out on him. Thaddeus Gibson, bust. Ziggy Hood was never more than a replacement level player and the Stealers let him walk. The Stealers havent had a good defensive draft since 2007. Same deal for the Ravens. Ravens were praised for taking Sergio Kindle, Terrence Cody, Courtney Upshaw, Arthur Brown all with high picks in the past few years. None of these guys have done squat. Here is the problem as I see it. The Ravens and the Stealers are focusing on LBs and DTs in the first 2 rounds. This is dumb. You can find good, and even great LBs in later rounds and as UDFAs. Look at the Bengals. Bring in a ton of unheralded LBs and let the cream rise to the top. That is a better strategy and it has yielded an excellent group of LBs for the Bengals with very little investment in terms of draft picks. Fortunately the Bengals have figured this one out. I am also convinced that DTs (and 3-4 DEs) are really hard to evaluate. There have been so many DT busts in recent years. You are better off using first round picks on CB, OT, QB, WR, DE and TE. Yet year in, year out the Stealers and the Ravens invest heavily in LB and DT/3-4 DE. The gap is growing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Lucid| Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 The gap hasn't tightened. It's gotten larger. The Bengals are stronger this year with Geno and Leon back, stronger RBs and Dalton improving (he will be better this year). The strength of the Ravens and the Steelers has always been defense. The Ravens and the Steelers simply don't have the dominant defenses that they used to have. And this problem will only get worse, because neither team has drafted well on defense. In recent years the Steelers have used a lot of high picks on D and none have become stars. Jarvis Jones had a bad rookie year. Shamarko Thomas saw his playing time get reduced as the season went on. Sean Spence is a bust. Cameron Heyward hasn't panned out. Jason Worilds never showed anything until late last season when he played pretty well. The jury is still out on him. Thaddeus Gibson, bust. Ziggy Hood was never more than a replacement level player and the Steelers let him walk. The Steelers havent had a good defensive draft since 2007. Same deal for the Ravens. Ravens were praised for taking Sergio Kindle, Terrence Cody, Courtney Upshaw, Arthur Brown all with high picks in the past few years. None of these guys have done squat. Here is the problem as I see it. The Ravens and the Steelers are focusing on LBs and DTs in the first 2 rounds. This is dumb. You can find good, and even great LBs in later rounds and as UDFAs. Look at the Bengals. Bring in a ton of unheralded LBs and let the cream rise to the top. That is a better strategy and it has yielded an excellent group of LBs for the Bengals without very little investment in terms of draft picks. Fortunately the Bengals have figured this out. I am also convinced that DTs (and 3-4 DEs) are really hard to evaluate. There have been so many DT busts in recent years. You are better off using first round picks on CB, OT, QB, WR, DE and TE. Yet year in, year out the Steelers and the Ravens invest heavily in LB and DT/3-4 DE. The gap is growing. Great post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRAPradio Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Stealers are in desperate need of a string of complete meltdown seasons. A few 4 win seasons. They have too many ass kissers, bandwagon fans and they need to suck badly to kill some of them off. All this 8-8 barely missing the playoff shit they done the past couple season apparently isn't sending the message home to those black and yellow blow hards that they suck and it's the Bengals rise to power that is occuring. I wish WE (the Bengals) would get that memo and sweep those bastards. The loss in Pittsburgh last year was embarrassing for the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scharm Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Steelers bringing back Kiesel or whatever isn't a good sign on them developing younger players. Looks similar to our Crocker deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldcat Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Honestly it's fair for them to call this, we have the toughest schedule in the division, considering we won the division. That means we play the broncos, while the Stealers play the chiefs and ravens play the chargers, and browns play the raiders. We play the patriots, ravens play miami, and Stealers the jets, and browns the bills.... Those could possible by 2 losses for us, while ravens and Stealers could be wins, this same thing happened last year for the ravens, they got the broncos we got the chargers. This is a close division just based on the schedules, sure we're more talented and should be able to beat the ravens and Stealers, but will do it 2x? Ravens couldn't last year. So when the Steelers and Ravens win the divison, why do they never claim they will finish third because of the schedule? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scharm Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 When it comes to predictions of the AFC North, I think it's safe to say talking heads find it easier to doubt the Bengals and easier to find reasons to believe in Ravens and Steelers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cincity Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 TheStealers also lost their starting SSand a staple of their D in Ryan Clark, and 2 proven WRa in Sanfersand Cotchery...Heath is on his last leg... I really don't see it ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 I think people will continue to doubt us until Dalton shows he can play well consistently. It is a QB league, and in the eyes of the "experts" Dalton is the #3 QB in the division. Losing Zimmer and Gruden also probably plays in with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldcat Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 I think people will continue to doubt us until Dalton shows he can play well consistently. It is a QB league, and in the eyes of the "experts" Dalton is the #3 QB in the division. Losing Zimmer and Gruden also probably plays in with them. They did the same thing when Carson was our QB, pretty much.. this predates all of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turningpoint Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 So when the Stealers and Ravens win the divison, why do they never claim they will finish third because of the schedule? true, but they should. i knew they would last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 They did the same thing when Carson was our QB, pretty much.. this predates all of that. Because when Carson was our QB the team was just as likely to lose 10 games as win 10 games. And our defense was usually poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.A.B. Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 It kinda is a toss up. And with us losing both coordinators, I don't think its unreasonable for some people to seem skeptical. Not everyone has to think we're the best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|schotzee| Posted August 23, 2014 Report Share Posted August 23, 2014 These are the new Bengals. No one distant from the team is yet to realize it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleeds Orange Posted August 23, 2014 Report Share Posted August 23, 2014 I said this earlier this summer but will say it again. Going into any season, the Stealers and Ravens are good until they prove otherwise and the Bengals are not good until they prove otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|schotzee| Posted August 24, 2014 Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 I said this earlier this summer but will say it again. Going into any season, the Stealers and Ravens are good until they prove otherwise and the Bengals are not good until they prove otherwise. This will be done how in each case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooky Posted August 24, 2014 Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 I think people will continue to doubt us until Dalton shows he can play well consistently. It is a QB league, and in the eyes of the "experts" Dalton is the #3 QB in the division. Losing Zimmer and Gruden also probably plays in with them. Gruden got credit from the sports analysts for the offense that got them in the play-offs 3 straight years, but only Dalton gets blamed for their play-off woes. I'm giving Dalton a pass until he has a full season with Hue. I think Bengals - Gruden = play-off wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleeds Orange Posted August 24, 2014 Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 This will be done how in each case? What I meant was, "in the eyes of far too many in the media, the Stealers and Ravens are good until they prove otherwise and the Bengals are not good until they prove otherwise". They look for any reason to believe in those teams and any reason to doubt the Bengals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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