Saturday, February 5, 2011
The Super Bowl
5:19 PM | 
Posted by
Eric
It's a little over 24 hours until the kickoff of Super Bowl 45 and I started thinking, what's it going to take for the Bengals to get there? Coming off of a 4-12 season you would think a lot, but I don't think they are missing that many pieces and could be a lot closer than you think. One thing it's definitely going to take is good QB play.
Every Bengals fan knows that Carson Palmer wants to be traded. I honestly don't think he does want traded, I just think he knows his career is half over and he wants change and the opportunity to win it all and that won't happen here without some change. Despite what he said about not wanting Bratkowski fired, I think he definitely did want him out. Brat's offense was stale and predictable and the firing was long overdue. I'm excited about the Jay Gruden hiring. I'm glad they didn't bring in a re-tread. Young coaches eager to prove themselves can work out better if they have they know how. This guy comes from a family of football coaches and has almost twenty years of experience as an assistant coach. Every coach comes from somewhere, they don't just start out as coordinators or head coaches.
What needs to happen next is no more Chad and TO. You don't win championships with sideshows like that on your team. They are not commited to winning or even to the team. They do their own thing out there and it showed. Carson had his best games of the season when they were out of the lineup and that's no coincidence. The young WR Simpson was in the right spots and Carson put the ball on the money. Simpson looked really good and could be an excellent WR in the NFL, look at his size, hands, and athleticism. It's as good as any WR in the NFL.
There are some young peices in place on the offense. Simpson could be as good as any number two WR in the NFL next season if given the opportunity. Shipley led all rookies in 3rd down receptions and looks to be the best slot WR in the NFL outside of Wes Welker. Gresham is a match up nightmare for opposing defenses with his size and speed, no LB or Safety in the league can cover him. I think they are going to have the opportunity to draft AJ Green, who is the best WR prospect since Calvin Johnson, and is right there on Johnson's level. That is a legit number one that the Bengals have been missing since Chad was in his prime and actually cared. If you add Green to the current group you have the best young WR/TE core in the NFL and the makings of an explosive offense.
The best part is these young WR's will be hungry to make a name for themselves and will actually listen to Carson and let him be their leader. This could rejuvenate Palmer's career and get him back to the 2005 form. If he can get anywhere close to that level and you have that group of WR's the offense will be tough to stop. The biggest problem will be with a QB like Palmer you have to have a good offensive line due to his lack of mobility. Upgrades will be needed at LG and probably RT unless Andre Smith can get his act together. So far I've seen nothing to show that he will, but who knows if he actually has a training camp. They are going to have to go out and get a free agent at LG and that's fine as Guard's are usually relatively cheap on the free agent market. If you can get a good Guard then the offense could be Super Bowl ready within two years.
On defense the pieces are definitely in place. Domata Peko, Geno Atkins, Pat Sims, Carlos Dunlap, Micheal Johnson, Keith Rivers, Rey Maualuga, Leon Hall, Jonathon Joseph, and Brandon Johnson are all promising young players that are under the age of thirty. All but one or two of these players have pro bowl potential. There are good players on every level of that defense. There are a couple missing pieces though and that is a Safety that is a ball hawk, that can play that centerfield type of role for the defense. The other is a dominant run stuffer next to Peko. A dominant defensive line in a 4-3 defense can win you a Super Bowl, just ask the Giants from a few years ago that beat an undefeated Patriots team in the Super Bowl. I think there are two promising pass rushers in Dunlap and Micheal Johnson. Dunlap looks to be the elite pass rusher this team has been missing for years and MJ is an athletic freak that can also get after the QB. They need another big run stuffer to team up with Peko and make it impossible to run against them. Then they just need the depth, if they can get a good eight man rotation they can be tough to score against.
So overall the team isn't that many pieces of the puzzle away from being a Super Bowl contender. If they draft AJ Green, like I think they're going to then they are a couple offensive lineman and defensive lineman away from having a good to dominant team on both sides of the ball. I think the offense is a little further away than the defense is, especially with Mike Zimmer calling the shots on defense. There aren't many teams that had as bad of a record as the Bengals did that are this close to being a legit contender and having that bad record gets the Bengals a higher pick to get those elite players coming out in the draft.
Every Bengals fan knows that Carson Palmer wants to be traded. I honestly don't think he does want traded, I just think he knows his career is half over and he wants change and the opportunity to win it all and that won't happen here without some change. Despite what he said about not wanting Bratkowski fired, I think he definitely did want him out. Brat's offense was stale and predictable and the firing was long overdue. I'm excited about the Jay Gruden hiring. I'm glad they didn't bring in a re-tread. Young coaches eager to prove themselves can work out better if they have they know how. This guy comes from a family of football coaches and has almost twenty years of experience as an assistant coach. Every coach comes from somewhere, they don't just start out as coordinators or head coaches.
What needs to happen next is no more Chad and TO. You don't win championships with sideshows like that on your team. They are not commited to winning or even to the team. They do their own thing out there and it showed. Carson had his best games of the season when they were out of the lineup and that's no coincidence. The young WR Simpson was in the right spots and Carson put the ball on the money. Simpson looked really good and could be an excellent WR in the NFL, look at his size, hands, and athleticism. It's as good as any WR in the NFL.
There are some young peices in place on the offense. Simpson could be as good as any number two WR in the NFL next season if given the opportunity. Shipley led all rookies in 3rd down receptions and looks to be the best slot WR in the NFL outside of Wes Welker. Gresham is a match up nightmare for opposing defenses with his size and speed, no LB or Safety in the league can cover him. I think they are going to have the opportunity to draft AJ Green, who is the best WR prospect since Calvin Johnson, and is right there on Johnson's level. That is a legit number one that the Bengals have been missing since Chad was in his prime and actually cared. If you add Green to the current group you have the best young WR/TE core in the NFL and the makings of an explosive offense.
The best part is these young WR's will be hungry to make a name for themselves and will actually listen to Carson and let him be their leader. This could rejuvenate Palmer's career and get him back to the 2005 form. If he can get anywhere close to that level and you have that group of WR's the offense will be tough to stop. The biggest problem will be with a QB like Palmer you have to have a good offensive line due to his lack of mobility. Upgrades will be needed at LG and probably RT unless Andre Smith can get his act together. So far I've seen nothing to show that he will, but who knows if he actually has a training camp. They are going to have to go out and get a free agent at LG and that's fine as Guard's are usually relatively cheap on the free agent market. If you can get a good Guard then the offense could be Super Bowl ready within two years.
On defense the pieces are definitely in place. Domata Peko, Geno Atkins, Pat Sims, Carlos Dunlap, Micheal Johnson, Keith Rivers, Rey Maualuga, Leon Hall, Jonathon Joseph, and Brandon Johnson are all promising young players that are under the age of thirty. All but one or two of these players have pro bowl potential. There are good players on every level of that defense. There are a couple missing pieces though and that is a Safety that is a ball hawk, that can play that centerfield type of role for the defense. The other is a dominant run stuffer next to Peko. A dominant defensive line in a 4-3 defense can win you a Super Bowl, just ask the Giants from a few years ago that beat an undefeated Patriots team in the Super Bowl. I think there are two promising pass rushers in Dunlap and Micheal Johnson. Dunlap looks to be the elite pass rusher this team has been missing for years and MJ is an athletic freak that can also get after the QB. They need another big run stuffer to team up with Peko and make it impossible to run against them. Then they just need the depth, if they can get a good eight man rotation they can be tough to score against.
So overall the team isn't that many pieces of the puzzle away from being a Super Bowl contender. If they draft AJ Green, like I think they're going to then they are a couple offensive lineman and defensive lineman away from having a good to dominant team on both sides of the ball. I think the offense is a little further away than the defense is, especially with Mike Zimmer calling the shots on defense. There aren't many teams that had as bad of a record as the Bengals did that are this close to being a legit contender and having that bad record gets the Bengals a higher pick to get those elite players coming out in the draft.
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