What does this even mean? The Bengals under Marvin Lewis are a legit franchise. It isn’t 1993 with Dave Shula and David Klingler anymore.
I’m not worried about it. This is a one-shot deal with TO to try to push us over the top to the Superbowl. TO is certainly past his prime, but even so is still better than any other team’s #2 IMO. He’s just a fantastic receiver, one of the best ever to play the game.
The other wideouts will get their shot. Caldwell and Shipley are locks to make the team and Briscoe was a 6th round pick, I’m thinking practice squad for him. Purify isn’t very good and will be cut. The only one I’m worried about is Cosby. He was a very good PR for us last season and would like for him to be again. But with Pacman on board that job may be in jeapordy (although Pacman’s last year returning for Dallas he was awful).
C’mon man everyone knows what this means. They’ll make a good run of it every decade or so, but will ultimately fall apart. I like Carson Palmer but he can’t consistently stay on the field. Under Marvin Lewis, who I like, they’ve had only 2 winning seasons, and they’re 56-55-1 under him. That may seem like “legit” to their fans, but average at best to everyone else.
Wes Welker, Sidney Rice, Anquan Boldin, Donald Driver, Devery Henderson, Mario Manningham, Hakeem Nicks. All #2 WR who performed as good as, or better, than TO when TO was the #1 in Buffalo. He had one game over 100 yards receiving, and nearly 23% of his yards came in one game against Jacksonville. I’m not so sure he’ll settle nicely into a #2 role, especially with a guy like Chad being #1.
Was. He was a fantastic receiver. Now, I’m not so sure his production justifies his headaches.
Getting TO on board, means less practice reps, less passes thrown their way, less work at the #2 WR spot in training camp and games, and less playing time for all of them. Making the team isn’t enough to help them develop.
This is still 1990’s to early 2000’s thinking. It took a lot for Marvin to turn around the culture and the roster when he took over in 2003. We’ve had some really unfortunate injuries hit the franchise, most notably in 2008 when we were 4-11-1. Bringing on Coach Zimmer to handle the defense has paid off big and will continue to do so. Franchise history means very little in today’s NFL anyway. Witness the Saints. They were bad for a really, really long time. OK, maybe the Lions history can be used to judge the team. But they are improving too.
Terrell Owens managed a very good 15.1 YPC last season playing for the lousy Bills with horrible Ryan Fitzpatrick as his QB. Look at his stats in 2008 instead, when he had 69 catches for over a 1,000 yards, 10 TD’s and a 15.0 YPC average. I wish people would quit pointing to last season as some way to determine that he’s washed up. The Bills and their QB last season were miserable. You don’t have to look any further than Chad Ochocinco’s stats in 2008 when Fitzpatrick was the Bengals QB after Carson hurt his elbow. That guy is atrocious.
I think it’s a great move for the Bengals. I don’t think TO will be a cancer. But he will grab headlines from the media. They will fall all over themselves trying to create havok like they did in Dallas. (Although he did keep his mouth shut in Buffalo)
I’m more interested in the TD celebrations created by the combo of TO and 85. They should probably spend some time practicing kicking-off from the 20.
Yeah, the Dez Bryant media-driven hatefest will reverse course rather dramatically when he starts doing the things on the field that he’s going to start doing.
Said the Eagles fan.
You think all these guys are better football players than Terrell Owens?
Ochocinco is a loudmouth who talks to the media too much. But I haven’t seen him badmouth Palmer before. (I might have missed it.) Rumors of his primadonnaness are overrated.
Back when Houshmandzadeh was still on the team, Chad complained often and loudly that Palmer favored Housh over Him, even when He wasn’t double covered, which wasn’t very often because a man of His incredible talent SHOULD be double, even triple covered.
Tensions have diminished since Housh left. Can’t wait for the fireworks between two egomaniacs.
Gotcha. Forgot about that. It’s not excuseable, but it has to be tough to be in an actual “the student surpasses the teacher” situation like that. This is slightly different - let’s hope it does/doesn’t happen again (depending on your affiliation…).
As a (now former) season ticket holder of the Buffalo Bills, allow me to interupt your pen and paper fantasy with reality.
Note that Fitzpatrick was only the started for about half the season. Trent Edwards lost the starting job after a week 5 concussion, retook it briefly when he came back, but gave it up for good a week or so later. They are not necessarily bad quaterbacks, but we haven’t had the chance to find out. Peyton Manning would look terrible behind Buffalo’s offensive line.
15.1 YPC is a good stat, however the operative words are per catch. TO had the fourth highest number of dropped passes last year and was in the top 15 of Passes Not Caught (just a few behind Mr. Ochocinco). So unless that ball is right in his mitts, he isn’t going to get you 15.1 yards.
Fight through coverage to come down with a pass? :snicker:
Run a crossing route? Not a chance - only 6 receptions in the middle of the field last year.
Throw a block downfield on a running play? The guy is a flippin’ matador when it comes to tying up a defensive back.
Football is a team sport. Unless Terrell Owens is the primary focus for consistant stretches, he will not be doing the little things that get you that extra two yards needed for the first down on a left sweep running play, or break up a potential interception on a deflected pass. He’ll be all energy to start the season, but the first two game losing streak or blowout loss and I predict that Bengals fans will start to tire of him just like we did.
Let’s revisit this thread around week 10 of the season and see where we are.
If Owens doesn’t do the things the coaches ask of him, he won’t play. Marvin has “put up with” Chad only so much, the same would apply to Owens. We were a legit playoff contender without Owens, and we have a lot of good, young wideouts right now. I think TO will toe the line, mostly in part because he really wants to get a ring and because Chad is a good friend of his.
Chad may be an attention whore, but he’s really good with the fans, randomly taking bunches of them to the movies on his dime, paying for stranger’s meals for the hell of it, etc. He’s actually a good guy.
As a Giants fan I have high hopes for Hakeem Nicks, but I think you might be giving Mario Manningham a little too much credit. However, I think the 2009 Giants illustrate your point about developing receivers quite nicely. Going into 2009, the story was that the Giants and Bears were in a toss-up for worst receiving corps in the league. With a year of development under their belt – Eli’s best year as a passer, btw – I’m quite happy with the surplus of young, promising talent at the position. I am thrilled that the Giants didn’t bring in a guy like TO last year, since it wouldn’t have mattered much for the team but would absolutely have stunted the development of the franchise’s future at the position.
Keep in mind how incredibly old TO is. He came into the league in the fabled 96 draft class, which included:
Keyshawn Johnson
Terry Glenn
Eddie Kennison
Marvin Harrison
Eric Moulds
Bobby Engram
Terrell Owens
Muhsin Muhammad
Amani Toomer
Jermaine Lewis
Joe Horn
I wouldn’t want anyone on that list for 2010, including Owens.
