What are the Bengals holes?

[Johnny Nix]

Trying to see what the general public thinks about this Bengals team. Who are the Superstars? What players are ascending? Where are the holes on the team? And if they address those holes, is this a consistent playoff contender? What is one player they should target in free agency?

[SkippyX]

Holes at OT G C ?

Edited February 5, 2022 by SkippyX

[Johnny Nix]

1 minute ago, SkippyX said:

Holes at OT G C ?

Most definitely. I’m curious if we fixed Center if that would help RG , just seems like one is messing up every other play. I really hope we can upgrade tremendously at Center. The interior push teams get is problem #1

[Pandrew87]

As stated, if the Bengals get a good oline, they'll be in the playoffs every year and probably another sb or two. 

[FinSting]

This is so crazy. Many negative plays where the O-line screws up, followed by Burrow dropping a 1st-down dime on 2nd and 24. This team is impossible to understand, which makes them difficult to defeat. 

[lancerman]

The biggest weakness you could assume is offensive line. Burrow has been magic this year. But he still will occassionally get pressured and just make a bad move whether it's running too far back and taking a sack or throwing a desperation ball. He's getting better but that's a problem. 

Going up against the Rams front could be a problem. This could be a fantastic game, but it also wouldn't be surprising if this was the second consecutive Super Bowl where we see a QB running for his life all game and the other team coasting.

[stl4life07]

The Bengals clear hole is the OL. If the Bengals were to lose in the Superbowl its going to be bc the mismatch of the Rams dominate front 7 will be too much for the Bengals weak OL to overcome. I know everyone is hyped for the Bengals and Im certainly rooting for Burrow and Chase bc they played for my LSU Tigers, but this Superbowl could look alot like last season Superbowl. The Chiefs OL was weak bc of injuries and the Bucs front 7 was dominant. Alot of people still picked the Chiefs bc of Mahomes but he just couldnt overcome a bad OL and a Bucs dominant pass rush. He was pressured the most times in a game in NFL history. So the Bengals regardless of the outcome need to hit FA and the draft and immediately address the OL position. Its ironic too that they let go a great LT who I think could end up in Canton named Andrew Whitworth. He plays for the Rams now. Do you think the Bengals could greatly use him in the Superbowl? I think so.

After the OL, I think they could continue to improve the defense. They have played great in the playoffs but in general in the regular season they havent been consistently great. I do really like Hendrickson and Hubbard the pass rushers. I have on idea why the Saints let Hendrickson go? Even my best friend who is a Saints fan was upset that they let him go. I could see the Bengals steadily improving the defense to get to where they are consistently better throughout the course of the season.

As long as the Bengals have Burrow and he is healthy they will always be in the playoff discussion but I dont think anyone will consistently say year in and year out that they are the favs to make it out of the AFC especially with Mahomes and the Chiefs, Allen and the Bills, a healthy Lamar and the Ravens, Herbert and the Chargers, and if ARod goes to the Broncos or the Titans. Thats why the Bengals need to capitalize now on winning the Superbowl bc its not a lock that they will get back even though I do believe in Burrow and his ability to make it happen again one day. 

Edited February 5, 2022 by stl4life07

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

17 minutes ago, Johnny Nix said:

Who are the Superstars?

Burrow, Chase

17 minutes ago, Johnny Nix said:

What players are ascending?

Hendrickson, McPherson, Bates (I would almost put bates in Superstar category)

17 minutes ago, Johnny Nix said:

Where are the holes on the team?

The OL and linebackers(?)

17 minutes ago, Johnny Nix said:

And if they address those holes, is this a consistent playoff contender?

Yes.

17 minutes ago, Johnny Nix said:

What is one player they should target in free agency?

Anyone for the OL.

[Shady Slim]

aside from the ol, zac taylor and the offensive playcalling

i get a lot of 2017-2019 seahawks vibes from this offense, there's too much run-run-have your exemplary star quarterback pull a highlight reel play out of his ***. just like those seahawks, when he's on you look unstoppable, imperious, but on the days he's not able to pull those plays out of his *** i'm not sure if the offensive playcalling is there to scheme a win up

[stl4life07]

10 minutes ago, lancerman said:

The biggest weakness you could assume is offensive line. Burrow has been magic this year. But he still will occassionally get pressured and just make a bad move whether it's running too far back and taking a sack or throwing a desperation ball. He's getting better but that's a problem. 

Going up against the Rams front could be a problem. This could be a fantastic game, but it also wouldn't be surprising if this was the second consecutive Super Bowl where we see a QB running for his life all game and the other team coasting.

Exactly what I was just saying. The Chiefs wasnt running the ball effectively and the Bucs feasted off of Mahomes having a bad OL in front of him. If Mixon cant get going on the ground and the Rams have a top 7 run defense and in the playoffs are number one against the run, I think Burrow could be in a similar spot that Mahomes was in last season in the Superbowl. AD, Von, Floyd, and Gaines all they have to do is make sure they get Burrow to the ground bc we know how he can escape from sacks. Its nothing new in the NFL, I saw him do that every game at LSU. And I do think Von and especially AD if they get a hold to Burrow they wont allow him to get away. If the Rams get even close to the type of game the Titans had when they had 9 sacks on Burrow, the Bengals arent winning. Id say the Bengals will get blown out if they allow the Rams to pressure and sack Burrow that many times. 

[Johnny Nix]

There’s definitely been some “magic” this year, and we have been incredibly healthy for the most part unlike years past.

to me the only clear hole is like I said on the OL. After that this team just needs depth across the board, mainly on the DL (although Ossai was looking awesome in the preseason until he got put on IR), CB, and maybe TE?

I agree this team needs to capitalize because the AFC North is always a dogfight, but if we can shore up the OL, I really feel like we can at least be in that conversation. 

[Pandrew87]

Mike Brown is also a problem. He's cheap. Will he spend the money for an OL and to pay the stars what they're worth? 

[Johnny Nix]

18 minutes ago, Pandrew87 said:

Mike Brown is also a problem. He's cheap. Will he spend the money for an OL and to pay the stars what they're worth? 

They spent over 200M if FA the last two years 

[El Ramster]

I think in their Underwear’s. I know I have holes on mine.. Just hate buying a new pair. 

[Mr Raider]

The OL obviously. 

It's not unprecedented for a franchise QB to be able to overcome a shaky OL and still win a lot of games, but I don't think anyone can argue that the quickest way to derail a future of the next 10 years of Burrow and company being labeled contenders is to allow Burrow to continue to take 51 sacks every year (the most in the league, while being 11th in the NFL in passing attempts). 

It's one of those things where a good enough QB (and weapons, and a good to great defense or at least a defense that forces a lot of turnovers) can still find a way to overcome and get you all the way to the super bowl clearly, but that's for one specific individual season. The long term outlook of Burrow and the Bengals looks worse than their super bowl appearance this year would lead one to believe when you consider just how many sacks/hits Burrow has taken through his first 26 regular season games. 

There really isn't anything more to talk about or focus on until that gets addressed. Even if you can overcome it and win a lot of games it's a very simple calculation that allowing your young franchise QB that you drafted first overall that has taken you all the way to the super bowl in year two can NOT be sacked over 3 times a game. I mean we saw exactly why in Burrows rookie year when he suffered a season ending knee injury. He's obviously rebouded and has been playing at a really high level, but as someone who has tore their ACL (and played college level baseball, as well as boxed professionally at obviously not champion level, but I made a living for a while with it) it is something that never went back to exactly "right" like it was before I tore my ACL, and when I tore it the second time? Forget about it. I still suffer terrible instability to this day at times. Obviously pro athletes can and have overcome those types of things, but the more you open up those possibilities by subjecting your franchise QB to more hits than the baseline NFL player will, the more you open up the possibility of Burrow going down as a tragic case of what if because of injury, or even the Andrew Luck route of I have made a lot of many, had a lot of success, I'm a smart guy, I don't have to do this for 15 years and take all the abuse. 

I will leave it to Bengals fans to go more in depth as to what the specific positions are that have led to all the pressure/hits/sacks so far. I feel like their tackle situation isn't awful. I liked Jonah a lot coming out, I don't know how well in depth he has played this season, Riley Rief has been a respectable NFL tackle for a good stretch of time. It seems to my eye as someone who has only caught like 6 Bengal games this year that they could do a lot worse on the edge. The interior seems to be the much more likely holes to my eye. I feel like I have regularly heard fans clowning Su'a-Filo for being terrible. I liked Carman last year as a second round prospect that I thought could be a solid NFL RT and probably an even better guard. He is a rookie, perhaps he has gotten better as the season went on and some of the issues were him taking some early lumps, or perhaps he has even been rock solid and the problem is from the other players on the interior. 

Regardless priority #1 has to be identifying what the issue and the holes are that are leading to so many hits on their young franchise QB and using their best assets to correcting it. They have seemingly done a good job giving Burrow a good offensive mind to coach him up and grow together with, they have hit the surrounding him with weapons part of the equation out of the park with for my money the BEST group in the entire NFL in terms of skill players RB/WR/WR/WR today and in recent memory, the last biggest part to a young franchise QBs sustained success is keeping him upright and keeping him healthy. 

Mixon IMO is probably just under the elite category for RB, but I could go either way on it. I don't believe he's quite as good as Henry, Chubb, Taylor, but he's so close tomorrow I could see myself calling him elite. Chase on the other hand, is already elite IMO. He was such a great prospect, and after everyone raising the alarms after some drops in the preseason he showed everyone what a special talent he is. It's him or Jefferson when talking about the wide receiver people would draft first for the next 10 years. Ironically the group of best wideouts 25 and under would be Chase and Jefferson at the top followed by some order of Godwin, Lamb, Higgins, DJ Moore, and probably like Waddle, Diontae Johnson. Which brings me to... 

And lastly, I want to take the time out to pat myself on the back for nailing my evaluation of Tee Higgins. He isn't elite yet, but I feel like I would be hard pressed to take anyone besides the previously mentioned 2 over him long term. I think we have seen Higgins take the next step to what we should expect of him consistently over the last 9 or so games of the regular season. He was downright unguardable, a matchup nightmare, and he took over games. Going forward there are very few guys in their first 2 or 3 seasons I would label as more confident in them ascending into the elite category. I had him, I believe as my #2 WR behind only Lamb coming out, but he certainly in my top 4 and I believed he was worthy of a top 15 selection (I whiffed on Jefferson though lol). I said on the Raider board that he and Lamb were the two wideouts I was most sure would be great NFL WRs. The scary part is for as much as everyone loves Chase and as good as Chase has been (and I liked him a lot coming out, but the Bengals have seemingly proven me wrong in my belief taking Chase over Sewell was a mistake), I don't think either guy is even close to hitting their ceiling yet. As a fan of a team that lost to the Bengals in the playoffs this year it's terrifying long term, but as a fan of entertaining football and seeing long time bad teams winning, I am so looking forward to seeing this core of Burrow, Mixon, Chase, and Higgings for the next few years before all of them have to get paid. 

Edited February 5, 2022 by Mr Raider