Cincy Jungle
Put up or shut up.
This is a prove-it season for some players, like Cordell Volson, Cam Taylor-Britt, and Myles Murphy, but also for the Cincinnati Bengals as a whole.
Two seasons ago, they just missed the playoffs. The excuse was that Joe Burrow missed the last handful of games because of injury, and Jake Browning stepped in. No one likes excuses, but I’ll give you that one.
Last season, they also missed the playoffs, but Burrow was healthy. Tee Higgins was not and missed five games, but Ja’Marr Chase was healthy, amongst others as well. Burrow wasn’t only healthy, he was arguably the best quarterback in the NFL, as he was a finalist for multiple awards, ultimately coming home with the Comeback Player of the Year Award…again.
Chase also won the NFL’s Triple Crown Award, which is leading the league in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. But you can’t win too many games when your defense ends up being one of the worst in the league. That was the excuse last season. Not a very good one.
The only thing the team needs to fix…scratch that. The only thing the organization needs to fix is to end the Trey Hendrickson saga, and I ultimately believe they will extend him to another contract. But they need to end that before it becomes a bigger distraction once the season starts.
Now, with the team currently in OTAs and about three months out from Week 1, there are no excuses left. The team has one of the best quarterbacks, wide receiver, and receiver duo in the NFL (who both just signed massive contracts). They have to prove they belong in the postseason.
The team got several new coaches, including an offensive and defensive line coach and a defensive coordinator. It’s truly a team effort to figure out what didn’t work last season and fix it. One thing is for certain: They need to have their starters play more in preseason, and that has already been addressed by coaches and players.
The next thing they have to figure out is how to stop the run. They couldn’t stop the run even if the running back ran into them. It wasn’t good…at all. Hopefully, new defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery can help fix that.
They also need to figure out communication in their secondary. Hopefully, with Logan Wilson back healthy, he can help fix that. He’s the captain of the defense, and hopefully, he can get all the defensive backs on the same page.
Lastly, let’s keep Burrow upright. Even when we thought the offensive line was solid and was going to be the best line we had seen in a while, it wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, they had their moments when they were solid, but overall, it wasn’t great.
The interior line was atrocious, so they released starting guard Alex Cappa. A lot of folks expected them to release Volson as well, but that didn’t happen. Maybe they still see some potential in...
