Bengals tonight

[BACH]

Have we faced a top TE this season? I'm asking in all seriousness. I think last night was the first time we faces a real TE. Either way, it's an improvement but I still don't think we can completely contain Gronk and Brady.

We have actually. Barneridge is rated as the second Best after Gronk. Watson is not far behind. We´re facing the #3 on sunday and then there is that Jimmy Graham fellow.

 

[cardpa]

I think maybe the Bengals overlooked the Texans a bit and the Texans came out fired up to hang loss #1 on the Bengals in their own stadium. "these are the best of the best of the best sir!" a little quote from agent J. The reality is in the NFL any team can beat any other team on any given day.

Would I have liked to see the Cardinals hang #1 on the Bengals, hell yes! however it's still an important game for both teams to continue to establish themselves as a strong contender and the Bengals will come out ready to do battle. The Cardinals better be ready too.

 

[DVontel]

Bengals had a stinker last night. Every team does and that's why I put little significance in the loss to Pittsburgh with Jones.

I've maintained all along that I think the two best teams are NE and the Cards. Also, I'd rank Pittsburgh 3rd right now so, even with Landry Jones and the bad calls, a loss in their building is not that much a concern to me.

The Rams loss was not good mainly because it was at home but everything, and I mean everything, went their way that day and sometimes that happens.

My top 5:
1- NE
2- AZ
3- Pitt
4- Car
5- any one of Cincy, GB, Den, Minn

The Carolina disrpect has to stop.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

The Carolina disrpect has to stop.

How is having them ranked 4th disrespectful? I think the other 3 teams would beat them regularly.

 

[Shaggy]

The Carolina disrpect has to stop.

I believe Carolina is a good team, but they have squeaked out 2 or 3 wins the last few games.

 

[DVontel]

I believe Carolina is a good team, but they have squeaked out 2 or 3 wins the last few games.

This is what all that matters.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

I believe Carolina is a good team, but they have squeaked out 2 or 3 wins the last few games.

Plus, when your starting WR's are Ted Ginn and Philly Brown, 2 OSU guys, you're limited. That's just the facts and will eventually catch up with them. They do have a top flight defense though and that's going to keep them in games.

I liken them to Wichita St. in college Bball a couple years ago. They were undefeated but had questions marks that eventually caught up to them when the competition increased in the tourney. Like Carolina, they are/were a good team but their limitations finally did them in.

 

[jmt]

C'mon. They will win the NFC South and play the NFC East and AFC South which are both horrible. I will be greatly disappointed if we lose to them in the playoffs.

 

[ARZCardinals]

There is now a blueprint

 

[Cheesebeef]

I believe Carolina is a good team, but they have squeaked out 2 or 3 wins the last few games.

They won by 17 on the road last week and beat a 6-3 GB team the week before.

 

[NJCardFan]

C'mon. They will win the NFC South and play the NFC East and AFC South which are both horrible. I will be greatly disappointed if we lose to them in the playoffs.

Carolina's complete schedule so far including opponent records:

JAX(3-6) 20-9
HOU(4-5) 24-17
NO(4-6) 24-22
TB(4-5) 37-23
SEA(4-5) 27-23
PHL(4-5) 27-16
IND(4-5) 29-26
GB(6-3) 37-29
TEN(2-7) 27-10
(Collective record 35-47)

They've played exactly 2 tough teams in GB & SEA. Their only impressive win was over GB but they have a mediocre defense but Rogers still slung 350+ yards and 4 TD on their D. The Panthers are us from last season at this point. Last season we were playing somewhat soft teams and beating them but against the good teams(SEA, DEN) we faltered but we had QB issues so there's that. Carolina is good and I would never go to sleep on them but they're far from an elite team. They still have to play Atlanta twice, @ NO, and @ Dallas with a healthy Tony Romo. Then we'll see how good they are.

 

[Buckybird]

Bengals had a stinker last night. Every team does and that's why I put little significance in the loss to Pittsburgh with Jones.

I've maintained all along that I think the two best teams are NE and the Cards. Also, I'd rank Pittsburgh 3rd right now so, even with Landry Jones and the bad calls, a loss in their building is not that much a concern to me.

The Rams loss was not good mainly because it was at home but everything, and I mean everything, went their way that day and sometimes that happens.

My top 5:
1- NE
2- AZ
3- Pitt
4- Car
5- any one of Cincy, GB, Den, Minn

 

[Cheesebeef]

Carolina's complete schedule so far including opponent records:

JAX(3-6) 20-9
HOU(4-5) 24-17
NO(4-6) 24-22
TB(4-5) 37-23
SEA(4-5) 27-23
PHL(4-5) 27-16
IND(4-5) 29-26
GB(6-3) 37-29
TEN(2-7) 27-10
(Collective record 35-47)

They've played exactly 2 tough teams in GB & SEA. Their only impressive win was over GB but they have a mediocre defense but Rogers still slung 350+ yards and 4 TD on their D. The Panthers are us from last season at this point. Last season we were playing somewhat soft teams and beating them but against the good teams(SEA, DEN) we faltered but we had QB issues so there's that. Carolina is good and I would never go to sleep on them but they're far from an elite team. They still have to play Atlanta twice, @ NO, and @ Dallas with a healthy Tony Romo. Then we'll see how good they are.

what does that say about us considering we've only played 1 team over .500, lost to them and lost another game to a below .500 team? if people are going to crown us elite, it doesn't make much sense to me that Carolina doesn't get the same distinction at this point of the year. I mean, according to the above, we don't even have one impressive win this season (can't really call our W @ Seattle impressive if you don't give Carolina the same credit, can you?) and have two losses.

 

[nashman]

Cheese to be fair we beat our opponents convincingly not exactly the same as Carolina squeaking out games against bad teams. And our two losses were against pretty solid defenses and we still should have won but we beat ourselves. It's a pretty easy argument to say we are a better more complete team IMO.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Cheese to be fair we beat our opponents convincingly not exactly the same as Carolina squeaking out games against bad teams. And our two losses were against pretty solid defenses and we still should have won but we beat ourselves. It's a pretty easy argument to say we are a better more complete team IMO.

Whether we beat ourselves or not, we still lost at home to a below .500 team and to a good team... With their 3rd string QB. And we've still yet to beat anyone with a winning record. All of those don't make it easy, IMO, to say we are better then a team that's undefeated while playing a schedule similar to ours, but took care of business against everyone, including a 6-3 team.

Note... I'm not saying Carolina is heads and shoulders better then us. Just that I think it hasn't yet been proven that we are heads and shoulders better then them.

 

[daves]

This is what all that matters.

Well then there's no sense ranking the teams, just sort by win %.

...dbs

 

[daves]

what does that say about us considering we've only played 1 team over .500, lost to them and lost another game to a below .500 team? if people are going to crown us elite, it doesn't make much sense to me that Carolina doesn't get the same distinction at this point of the year. I mean, according to the above, we don't even have one impressive win this season (can't really call our W @ Seattle impressive if you don't give Carolina the same credit, can you?) and have two losses.

This is going off topic, but i think to put it simply, the Panthers and Patriots have been extremely consistent - which is an extremely important attribute. The Cardinals' offensive and defensive rankings (and our eyes) show that their average level of play is extremely high. But they've had stretches of poor play that has cost them games.

I think when the Cardinals are at their best (and if they remain healthy), they're better than the Panthers (and maybe even the Patriots without Edelman). But they need to learn to play consistently well for 60 minutes.

So if we rank teams on how well they're capable of playing, you could make an argument that the Cardinals are #1, and they're almost certainly #2. But if you rank teams on what they really have shown that they are, which includes their consistency or lack thereof, you have to put the Patriots, Panthers, and probably Bengals ahead of them.

...dave

 

[Cheesebeef]

This is going off topic, but i think to put it simply, the Panthers and Patriots have been extremely consistent - which is an extremely important attribute. The Cardinals' offensive and defensive rankings (and our eyes) show that their average level of play is extremely high. But they've had stretches of poor play that has cost them games.

I think when the Cardinals are at their best (and if they remain healthy), they're better than the Panthers (and maybe even the Patriots without Edelman). But they need to learn to play consistently well for 60 minutes.

So if we rank teams on how well they're capable of playing, you could make an argument that the Cardinals are #1, and they're almost certainly #2. But if you rank teams on what they really have shown that they are, which includes their consistency or lack thereof, you have to put the Patriots, Panthers, and probably Bengals ahead of them.

...dave

I agree with all of this.

 

[Russ Smith]

On the Bengals, last night exposed some things but I do think they also just had an off night. Eifert had 3 big drops, and another play where his man fell down, he's wide open for a huge gain and Dalton flat missed him. Dalton is interesting he can look really good, but in general I've never been sure is he good or is Green just so good he makes Dalton look better.

Marvin Jones had a nice run there and then the NFL seemed to figure out hey they're targeting him more and the last 3 games he's been far less effective even when targeted 9 times last night. Seems like Dalton hasn't adjusted and keeps trying to force deep balls to him and Green when they're doubled.

They need to figure that out because without that 2nd guy, it's easier to key on Green. Last night it should have been Eifert but they had 4 big plays to him that were either dropped or missed and killed their offense.

they are very dangerous, seems like Eifert and Bernard are guys we need to be very careful of.

I do think we can score on them though, we just have too many weapons for them to shut them all down.

 

[Russ Smith]

Dalton have traditionally struggled big time against blitzes up the middle and disguised coverages. Exactly what he's dealing with tonight. Since we're one of the best teams in mixing up coverages I'm starting to feel a lot better about this game.

They keep beating around the bush on it but IMO the reason he struggles against the Texans is simple, JJ Watt. The Bengals like to let their T's block 1 on 1 so they can get more out in the pattern, just like us. The problem with doing that against Houston is they find the weaklink and line Watt up there and he blows you up. Last night they were going at Winston the RT. He did ok but it got to where they either had to help, or Watt was getting there, and that led to keeping someone in, and it led to Dalton getting nervous in the pocket and missing guys.

We obviously don't have a JJ Watt but hopefully Campbell can wreak some havoc on them.

 

[Darkside]

This is going off topic, but i think to put it simply, the Panthers and Patriots have been extremely consistent - which is an extremely important attribute. The Cardinals' offensive and defensive rankings (and our eyes) show that their average level of play is extremely high. But they've had stretches of poor play that has cost them games.

I think when the Cardinals are at their best (and if they remain healthy), they're better than the Panthers (and maybe even the Patriots without Edelman). But they need to learn to play consistently well for 60 minutes.

So if we rank teams on how well they're capable of playing, you could make an argument that the Cardinals are #1, and they're almost certainly #2. But if you rank teams on what they really have shown that they are, which includes their consistency or lack thereof, you have to put the Patriots, Panthers, and probably Bengals ahead of them.

...dave

This is a good post.

 

[splitsecond]

I believe we are a better team than Carolina, HOWEVER, for purposes of power rankings I would still put them above us based purely on consistency and the fact that they are undefeated. No matter who you have played it means something in the NFL. We SHOULD be undefeated, and if we played consistently we would be.

 

[conraddobler]

I am not worried at all about Carolina.

The Patriots on the other hand would terrify me because they are just so consistently good.

Carolina just doesn't scare me like that.

I guess we'll see or not but as long as we're healthy at QB and some key spots I think we could easily beat them.

The Packers have just fallen off a cliff. They think it's the new guy calling plays but I think it's their run game.

The commentators who are former players understand how good we are just because well we are.

We aren't the most consistent team but we probably are the most talented.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

We aren't the most consistent team but we probably are the most talented.

I agree with this. I think the Cards have the most talented roster in the NFL. Other than P, LB's, and TE, the Cards other units are upper echelon in the NFL. Their WR group is probably the best in the league and their secondary is right there also.

 

[Goldfield]

This is going off topic, but i think to put it simply, the Panthers and Patriots have been extremely consistent - which is an extremely important attribute. The Cardinals' offensive and defensive rankings (and our eyes) show that their average level of play is extremely high. But they've had stretches of poor play that has cost them games.

I think when the Cardinals are at their best (and if they remain healthy), they're better than the Panthers (and maybe even the Patriots without Edelman). But they need to learn to play consistently well for 60 minutes.

So if we rank teams on how well they're capable of playing, you could make an argument that the Cardinals are #1, and they're almost certainly #2. But if you rank teams on what they really have shown that they are, which includes their consistency or lack thereof, you have to put the Patriots, Panthers, and probably Bengals ahead of them.

...dave

Said it perfectly. We're very good. But we need to improve our focus and consistency for the entire game if we're going to be the best in the NFL.