sparky151

He was in college for 5 years so that's why he's the same age as guys drafted a year or two ahead of him.

Some Xweets from Warren Sharp about how Burrow is superman considering his O-line.

Yeah, the new stadium location is 12 miles from the current stadium and about a mile outside the Cleveland city limits. The stadium plan hinges on revenue from a TIF scheme for the site by the Brook Park city government. We'll see how they manage to swing it. Supposedly Brook Park is kicking in 600 mil themselves, covered by the TIF. That's a lot of wishful thinking.

Call it the Cantona/Artest rule?

Fitzpatrick isn't old but he's declined pretty quickly. He used to generate turnovers but only has 1 interception in the last 2 years. Stealers sold high.

Yeah, Taylor is safe and he knows it. Marvin got a decade and a half with no playoff wins.

Yeah, it's 9-1 if we win the AFCCG.

I'd like to see a better running game. It would make the offense more versatile and harder to stop. 3rd and 2 is usually a passing down for the Bengals but if we could run better, we'd convert at a higher rate. But we couldn't run because our interior offensive line are bad at run blocking. Karras at least was good at pass blocking, Volson and Cappa not so much. If we had a good running game, as our 80s Super Bowl teams did, we'd have an elite offense. We could close out games with a 4th quarter lead. We could play in windy or wet conditions. We'd be less predictable and put more stress on opposing defenses. Ken Anderson and Boomer Esiason were NFL MVPs on teams with good running games. Maybe that would work for Joe Burrow too.

We had something similar in Ohio with the turnpike. Bonds were issued with a 40 year duration and the turnpike was supposed to be turned over to the state for free when they were paid off. Over time the turnpike was profitable and became a patronage job for politicians. So when the bonds were almost due, the turnpike commission refinanced them to a longer period to keep the gravy train going.

That's part of the problem and an indicator of bad management. The constant drama and will-they-or-won't-they action undermine the platonic ideal of team harmony. Unless it's a brilliant scheme to get the whole roster hating ownership, ala the movie Major League. It's not that hard to get deals done, other teams don't find it to be hard and the Bengals aren't actually saving money for other players by squeezing the rookies and vets into coughing back money for the family ski vacations. It just needlessly creates ill will.

The 3 non-rookies behind him on that list all make double his salary.

Certainly but what rate will they have to pay on a loan? Even if it's a 600 mil loan for 30 years, that's 20 mil per year in principle plus at least 30 and probably more like 40 mil in interest. Saying the stadium and adjacent development will pay for itself with various taxes is pretty optimistic. Not the sort of thing to bet the town's solvency on.

From a story about the new lease, apparently other events at Paycor had to be approved by the team, now it's available for whatever the county can book outside of football dates.

Taxes won't have to go up for this deal. It's a mutual climbdown. Instead of 830 mil in improvements, they dropped the cost to the amounts each side could easily come up with. I'd bet Hamilton County is expecting to get 350 mil from the state unclaimed property fund since the Browns just got 600 mil. Meanwhile the Bengals promised amount of 120 mil is just conveniently the limit of the NFL's fund for new or rebuilt stadia.

Yes, the legislature changed the law to end Cleveland's case against the CFT. The site proposed for the dome is about 12 miles from the current stadium and about 1 mile from the Cleveland city limits. They still need to figure out the funding though. The dome is proposed to cost 2.4 bil. Haslams are putting up 1.2. State is kicking in 600 mil. The team wants the city of Brook Park and Cuyahoga county to provide the other 600 mil. That's unlikely. The county has sided with Cleveland in trying to block the move (they know what the voters want). The city of Brook Park will probably try to borrow 600 mil backed by a TIF from the site to pay back the loan. But adding 600 mil in debt to a small city will trash its credit rating. See Bridgeview Illinois for what can happen.