Did the end of the 2015 season carry over into 2016? Or were injuries the cause of the team winning six fewer games?
And does the 2016 season leave Marvin Lewis on the hot seat, coaching for his job in 2017? With several off-season changes, including an offensive line that has incurred a 60 percent turnover, can he lead another winning team?
Anthony Cosenza, an editor with Cincy Jungle, joined us to share his insights.
Zoneblitz: The Bengals fell from 12-4 to 6-9-1 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010. What went wrong?
Cosenza: It all depends on who you ask. Injuries to star players including Vontaze Burfict (plus a two-game suspension), A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert all played a role in the six-win drop-off. While I think that played a role, I think the Bengals’ frugal ways in free agency caught up to them last year, as did the lack of dividends in recent draft classes that once seemed promising.
Major turnover at the assistant coach ranks, including Hue Jackson (offensive coordinator) and secondary coach (Vance Joseph) also didn’t help matters, as the units often looked confused and/or stale — particularly at the end of the year. As far as on-field issues, the offensive line play may have been the most surprisingly egregious of any unit. That definitely caused problems for the offense.
However, while all of these factors contributed, I maintain the opinion that this team had a major problem getting over the heartbreaking playoff to the Steelers to end the 2015 season. After such an implosion, the team kept Marvin Lewis at the helm and one has to wonder if the message fell on deaf years after his 0-7 playoff record. (more…)
Cincinnati won the NFC North in 2015 and finished the season a heartbreaking couple minutes from advancing to the divisional playoffs. That fell apart in 2016, as injuries and inconsistency dropped the Bengals to 6-9-1.
That means after 14 seasons, Marvin Lewis has a solid winning percentage, but the team still has not advanced in the postseason under his leadership. Can the Bengals rebound and make another postseason run? And even if they do, what will it take to get the team’s first playoff victory in the 21st century?
Larry Spicer, a contributing writer for Stripe Hype, joined us to share some thoughts.
Zoneblitz: The Bengals fell from 12-4 to 6-9-1 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010. What went wrong?
Spicer: The loss of Hue Jackson was a major one for the offense and cannot be understated. The offensive line struggled mightily last season. Although Brandon LaFell and Tyler Boyd did an admirable job, with the injuries of A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert, the offense lacked playmakers that opposing defenses really feared. Add to that inconsistency in the running game. I felt that though the defense struggled early, they really picked up as the year went on. (more…)
Just a year after being 15-1 and going to the Super Bowl, Carolina struggled to a 6-10 record in 2016. Several things fell apart, including Cam Newton, who struggled through an injury- and inconsistency-riddled follow-up to his MVP season.
Can the Panthers get things back in order and make another deep postseason run? Or was the year as runner-up the outlier? Brian Beversluis, a staff writer with Cat Scratch Reader, joins us with some thoughts.
Zoneblitz: The Panthers followed up a Super Bowl season with a 6-10. How would you assess what went wrong in 2016?
Beversluis: Injuries were obviously a big deal. Losing Michael Oher to a concussion all year was a major issue that threw the offensive line into shambles. In 2015, Oher stabilized the line and left only right tackle Mike Remmers as a weak link. In 2016, Remmers had to play left tackle, something he’s definitely not cut out for long term. Remmers has value as a swing guy (why he got paid in Minnesota) but he has no business there at LT all the time. Then their back up RT Daryl Williams got hurt too, forcing Pro Bowl right guard Trai Turner to play RT. They also eventually lost Ryan Kalil and his back up at center. Obviously for an offense that likes to take shots down field, that’s a problem. It caused Cam to take a lot of hits and allowed teams to load the box.
On defense, losing Josh Norman and having to field two rookie corners and unproven commodities at nickel threw the secondary into disarray, and the front seven struggled to get pass rush early on due to teams taking advantage of that.
Zoneblitz: Cam Newton wasn’t terrible in 2016, but despite the return of Kelvin Benjamin, he didn’t come close to matching his magical 2015. What happened there? (more…)
That said, the enshrinement of one of those players – Terrell Davis – should be the best thing that ever happened to the case for one of the most dominant, but way too forgotten, dominant wide receivers of the late 1980s and early 1990s: one Sterling Sharpe.
I’ve seen his name come up a couple times in the comments section of our Hall posts. And I think it’s rightfully so. Here’s why:
A few years ago, we did a post looking at the then-stalled candidacies of Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed. All three appeared deserving of consideration for the Hall, but their resumes seemed to be canceling each other out.
Now, they all eventually got in. And each of them warranted enshrinement. But in studying that post again and comparing each of their respective cases to the numbers posted by Sharpe during his injury-shortened seven years, I think if Sharpe had stayed healthy, he’d have been the best of the group.(more…)
It’s the offseason, but fantasy football never sleeps. As free agency starts and rosters get reshaped, the savvy fantasy player has a lot of reasons to pay attention.
John Tuvey, director of content with SportsHub Technologies, has long been one of the best in the business. He shared his weekly rankings with you here during the 2016 season and he’s agreed to share his thoughts on developments of interest to the fantasy crowd in the time since the Super Bowl ended.
Zoneblitz: Last year, for the first time in my memory, WRs went with the top two or three picks in most drafts. Was that an anomaly or is that the new fantasy normal?
Tuvey: After the seasons that David Johnson, Le’Veon Bell and Ezekiel Elliott had in 2016 I have to think they’ll be three of the first five players off the board—though with PPR becoming the scoring system of choice, a high-volume receiver like Antonio Brown will be in the mix as well.
As long as there are compelling backs touching the ball as frequently as Johnson, Bell and Elliott, they’ll remain atop the fantasy wish list. That list of sure things is dwindling, however, as committee backfields become the norm. In my mind that makes it even more vital to grab one if you can; it’s when you get to that next tier of less-certain backs that wideouts such as Brown, AJ Green, Julio Jones and Odell Beckham Jr. start looking like the smarter move.
Zoneblitz: What would you be looking at as your first round in a standard draft right now?(more…)
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I guess what I am saying Andy P is that transparency is great, just doubt that it improves the results