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This needs to be a reflection on the staff that picked him.

and that's why a lot of us loved Burfict. Plus he hated the Stealers every bit as much as us.

I might be wrong, but Vontaze never had any issues off field issues. Someone once said he knew the defense better than the coaches. He was just an nasty and vicious player on the field.

There's something to be thankful for

Think about the draft picks wasted. The "Down year" when Dax Hill failed to replace a fuggin' pro-bowler. Paying Geno Stone the same amount of money when he's half the player... Say what you want about Duke... Katie and Troy decided that Bates cost too much. Katie and Troy keep emphasizing the "business" part of it being a family business. And it's not just about Bates. Bates just serves as a shining example of the same FO that does business in such a way that even the guys they love end up holding out of Training Camp and chafing under the Franchise Tag. All of that noise about responsibly managing the cap for sustained success? We can't pay Jesse Bates because then we won't be able to keep our Super Bowl caliber roster together?? And they still tried to not have to resign Higgins. And wasted a pick on Burton. Our blind squirrel moment came and went.

Joe2 delivered 3 wins...but the defense gave two back.

That’s just his genius. How dare you criticize him! Let me explain it to you. Other teams think to themselves that the Bengals run 100% of the time on 2nd down if 1st down was an incompletion. So by continuing to follow their tendency, they throw the defense off because the defense is thinking the bengals are going to break tendency sooner or later. Nope, run again. Boom! Outsmarted the defense once again. Did you forget Zac Taylor called games to advance to the SB some years ago? When you do that you’re beyond criticism. It’s not like he had/has amazing players on offense, he literally carried that team on his back to the SB with his play calling. Had defenses all sorts of off balance, they had no idea what was going to hit them next. The only thing that was certain was that Zac Attack was going to do damage. Major damage.

Andy Reid went to Kansas fucking City. That's in Kansas and Eastern Missouri, which might actually be even worse than Kansas. Green Bay, Wisconsin had a run of HoF coaches. You think they went there for the fuckin' nightlife? Should we go on? You think Pittsburgh is anything but a nastier Cincinnati? They went there because they believed owners would GTFO of their way and let them cook, and because they were paid enough to not give a shit about the weather. The Bengals aren't willing to do either of those things. It's not Ohio's fault. Sorry your time there was so awful but this just sounds like you trying to convince yourself paying 3-5x as much for literally everything is worth it. I love the Mountain West but wtf does that have to do with football? These are people that can spend their summers in Fiji or Malta. As far as learning a new system this is year whatever and Zac still looks lost half the time. He's hardly out there redefining NFL offense with his tremendous mind. I'm sure a new guy could take a delay of game before sending in a draw play on 3rd & 8. At least we could blame that on a rookie HC. Simply put, Zac Taylor and Duke Tobin are not Ohio's fault. The mental gymnastics you go through to avoid blaming ownership for anything, ever... Olympic level, man. Good effort but get real.

I was kinda hoping that I'd login today and see that something big happened. Maybe we got a new popcorn guy or maybe they got new mops for the cleaning staff. Perhaps a coaching change. Maybe they fired the assistant water boy coach. IDk anything. But of course nothing.

Hol' up. When did Burfict miss a meeting? Or do anything at all of concern off the field? His unforgivable crime was giving Shitsburgh a taste of their own medicine. He should be coaching here #FreeVontaze

& why was he still trying to force the ball downfield late in the game? If the defense gets one stop... Asking him to be "Captain America" every week to bail out a shitty, dysfunctional team is bad enough without throwing him under the bus if he falls short. He's the one person in the entire organization that takes responsibility for anything so I guess that's where we're going to point the finger

Letting Allen run for it on 3rd and 15 to end your season ... Golden should be fired before he gets on the plane.

Apparently Buffalo can’t cover a TE either. 😂

The first example of complementary football all year. Defense really stepped up. Pass rush was good, they had some aggressive play calls with blitzes, pass coverage was good overall as they did a good job raking the ball out a few times. Awesome play by Battle to play through contact on that would be TD. Jalen Davis has been a nice add and so has Ced Johnson. Obviously turnovers were huge. Ossai had an immense game and Murphy was very good, too. He had the tip at the LOS that was intercepted. I thought they got a few calls that went their way… the OPI on Turner was weak, but I’ll take it. And Stone and Carter still take some horrible angles to the ball in the open field… but the D is definitely improving by the week. Long way to go, though. Happy for Al Golden. Joe was obviously rusty but he was in command and made enough plays. Awesome TD catch by Hudson. Both Chase Brown and Perine ran well and the OL, other than too many penalties, played a solid game. Just an all around solid effort and a pleasure to watch. The extra days will help and hopefully Tee and Trey will be back soon.

Did the Rats overlook us or take us too lightly> Nahhh... they got their asses handed to them

I kinda feel sorry… ah who the fuck am I kidding!!!

We need this ref crew every week

Then that can also be read as his teammates being lazy pieces of shit who don't go out and give effort. Right? I mean, if it isn't the coaching or game plan... On offense and defense, this has been a team that starts soft and slow. Even in the past few years, this has been an OFFENSE that has started slow and has only really shown up to play when they had to. So, even going with the "Zac is an Offensive Coach" bullshit... This is a trend. Is Zac not responsible for setting the tone? Sure, maybe it's on Mims and OBJ to turn up the volume, but isn't Zac the one choosing Coldplay and Pat Benetar as the playlist? There is no defending of leadership on a losing team. There just isn't. You can't be 1 and 12 and still "good at your job" when you're the guy in charge. Any attempt to pretend like the team's record is not something Zac Taylor is responsible for means you don't really see him as a Head Coach, and that's an even bigger problem. He's not even a lousy Head Coach anymore, he's an Offensive Coordinator who's in over his head. In fact "Smart and puts a lot of hours in" is not the job description. If your investment broker loses 90% of your money, does it matter that he worked late and is good at chess? If a guy doubles your money, does it matter that he checks email from the beach? Zac is not building a winning and accountable culture here. Period. The most grace I will afford him is that he's only responsible for 40% of it. Mike and Katie still contribute in the majority. The Bengals won't change until a real GM is hired.

Had to laugh… article on Bengals.com about Geno Stone and his tackling improvement. Working specifically on space tackling. Get this… the article said that he needed to get “closer to the ball carrier” in order to make a secure tackle. Well, knock me over with a feather. I mean, I never would have guessed that. Wow!

Say it, don't spray it.

Kind of hard to believe it will be 3 straight season without a playoff birth considering how wide open the AFC North is currently. Starting to have a Blake, Pickens, Scott feel to it albeit we have no Corey Dillon on the team. I guess I fell into the Katie and Troy Blackburn trap after our miraculous playoff run a mind blowing 5 years ago. We snuck into the playoffs that year with. a 10-7 record and caught lightning in a bottle. Afraid those days are over. I can’t believe it has been 4 years since we could be called good or great.

I'm thinking the Sunday night 12/21 8:30 PM game vs the Dolphins will be flexed to !:00 on Nickelodeon.

Yes, but he is just scratching the surface (or just scratching his balls)...not to worry, just like Meh Murphy, by the middle of year 3 he will have a 'breakout' game with 1 sack and a few meager pressures and the team front orfice can say 'See, we knew it!"

There has to be an assistant coach at Valdaosta State that is ready for the NFL.....

Personally, I would let Zac go and hire Dan Pitcher. I’m really impressed with that guy. He has done well with the offense at every turn - offensive assistant, QB coach, OC. He knows situational football… he and the analytics guy basically built that capability here. He has done player evaluation at other spots. The fam knows and trusts him. He represents continuity, which we all know Mikey likes. Joe knows Pitcher and seems to respect/like him. He knows the offense. JB had his best season ever last year in his first year as OC. Browning was solid last year (and yeah, he blew chunks this year but I don’t fault Pitch… no way he’d have coached Jake to make some of those horrid throws) and they got Flacco productive from the jump. It’s not all him, I get it… but he’s a sharp dude and he’s got a good temperament. He’s insightful but I think he’s got fire in his belly also. Re: whether he calls the plays or not, whatever. Bring back Callahan if it comes to that. He was a solid offensive coach too. STs are fine overall. Simmons isn’t getting a better deal than he’s getting here. Defense and front office are the issues. Kick Duke to the curb, get someone else and focus intensely on D in the draft and FA. They gotta get some vets in here that can mix in with the young guys. Maybe Murphy has something, you’ve got Turner and Hill and the rookie LBs who are green as grass but need to get more guys that can play and jettison guys like Stone and even Battle who half-ass it and won’t tackle. Get some OL depth and cement the backup QB spot.

And one never knows how the NFL sees the benefit of the “comeback Chiefs” in marketing? But it’s blatantly obvious the favorite children will be Buffalo. The sales job has begun already

After 10 playoff appearances in a row, 7 straight AFC Championship games, and 3 Lombardis in 6 years.., no.

Yeah, it’s not… 😐

Zack is an absolute dumbass

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. I can't believe the guy who held out and waved his panties around in the press about how he deserves injury guarantees ended up getting injured all year so he didn't have to play. Who could've possibly foreseen this state of affairs.

How can the head coach evade all responsibility for a terrible defense? This is the 3rd year in a row it's gotten worse.

AFAIK the practice squad serves as part of the scout team, so they kind of need them to show up every day. Plus it's the Bengals so they may also serve as draft scouts. Think they've been more than charitable enough with Burton already. Dare say they could find a more deserving outlet.

Akile Smith was the worst bust ever here 1st round #3 pick PRE ROOKIE SCALE contract that set the franchise back 3 years. Burton is just a speck of sand in Bengals history.

Henry had more talent than Burton He actually showed it on the field. Both had demons riding in their heads. Chris Henry Jr. doesn't. He'll be the next great Buckeye along with Smith. Burton never caught on to the route tree Maybe a low IQ or such.. He's gone. Good. Hopefully he gets his life together.

6 week recovery time. Just in time for the playoffs 🥷

They take chances on character issues with perceived star potential. Odds say is a bad bet..

No way. His price just went down big time. No one should pay him $30mill for 2026. He's now over 30 and has had a serious surgery

"NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah used to be a scout, so it's not as if he's using the box score to evaluate players. Measuring a linebacker by tackles alone only tells part of the story. If they're making those stops too far downfield, it doesn't matter. Evidently that's not the case with Pratt." And NOW Go Bengals is using PFF to make his case! All of a sudden their rankings are undisputable. Hilarious. I mean, why trust a scout when some rando who hasn't even watched a Colts game all year says Pratt is "trash". Take that Daniel Jeremiah. Pratt's just getting "carried" by the amazing Colts defense that - checking - was 29th last year. Worse than the Bengals unit. It's a heck of a workout carrying water for Mike and Katie, but he's up to the task! The problem is actually Joe Burrow doncha know. All that guy's fault. Y'all are something else.

Too bad Jason...

Why would Burrow want to come back to this shit?

Announcers doing everything they can to excuse Steeler behaviour, gee that's new 🙄

Always dirty. Always classless.

Geno Stone is the worst FS in the NFL. Jordan Battle is the worst SS in the NFL.

I see a little Mason Rudolph of a man What a douche, what a douche Trying to run the West Coast O We cannot lose to this Freddie Mercury looking MoFo.

Age & athleticism, no question. That being said there are some parts of Flacco's game that Joe1 should learn to emulate. Maybe he even needs to humble himself a little and try to soak up what he can from a 40 yr old vet SB MVP that's still playing at a very high level. For the little while he's still in the building, you know? That's an opportunity to take his gane to the next level.. but hey he went to his own SB that one time and the org seems overall happy to say they've been to the mountain top.. almost. To me the smart long-term play is to let him sit but they're not going to admit this defense won't get them to the postseason. The Bengals thing to do will be turn this into an entirely pointless QB controversy and somehow piss off both of them. Also worth noting neither of them are close to being truly healthy. Safe to predict however it plays out will be an epic waste of talent.

They could make the relatively minimal investment in improving the poorly-graded areas of the franchise. Instead they signal boost their bad grades 100x over by trying to ban players from talking about it. Kinda hard to root for people like that.