How did the Bengals turn it around?

[Scottemojo]

Didn't change owners.
Didn't change coaches.

What gives?

 

[Smelly McUgly]

They drafted a bunch of damn good defensive players and AJ Green. Good drafts.

That defense is legit enough that it could get them to the Super Bowl this year.

 

[chris98251]

They hired more scouts a season or so back, they had the least scouts in the league for many years. I also think they are taking a stronger approach in background information about players.

 

[mr.stlouis]

They drafted a bunch of damn good defensive players and AJ Green. Good drafts.

That defense is legit enough that it could get them to the Super Bowl this year.

Yeah I agree. Bengals may be my pick to win that division this year.

 

[RedAlice]

What about Dalton? I've read several places this will be a break out year for him, but don't know much about him.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

IMO, Dalton has a really weak arm 20+ yards down the field. I don't like him, to be honest, and I'm glad we didn't draft him. He's unathletic, doesn't have much of an arm, and doesn't strike me as a necessarily great decision-maker. The dude screams "career backup" to me. That's the guy that could hold them back, but I think that if he can effectively game manage things, AJ Green and Mohamed Sanu can help make him look better than he is and that defense can carry them a long way.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Smelly, say what you will about Dalton, but he's got a 60.2% career completion percentage, (58/62 for rookie/sophomore years) 47-29 TD-int, 6.8 yard pass average, and an 83.9 passer rating. Most importantly, he improved in every major stat in 2012 over his rookie year, except in sacks.

Not spectacular, but definitely not "career backup" material.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

Smelly, say what you will about Dalton, but he's got a 60.2% career completion percentage, (58/62 for rookie/sophomore years) 47-29 TD-int, 6.8 yard pass average, and an 83.9 passer rating. Most importantly, he improved in every major stat in 2012 over his rookie year, except in sacks.

Not spectacular, but definitely not "career backup" material.

Those are good stats. I think some of them definitely prove my "eye test" ideas about Dalton wrong. I like his completion percentage jumping up near 63%, and if he can get into the 63-65% range, that will be excellent. I also like that he has a decent TD/INT ratio. I'd like to see him get INTs down to about ten or less a year, though, and get that INT% down as far as he can.

However, 6.8 YPA is not particularly a good YPA (he was 17th last year - mediocre) and passer rating means nothing whatsoever to me as a stat.

Let me look up some other metrics and see what we can find; this info is good food for thought, however, and I should definitely revise my opinion of Dalton upward. How far upward, I'm going to see.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Football Outsiders ranked Dalton the 12th-best QB in 2011, and 20th-best in 2012. I'm thinking a fair amount of that drop is due largely to him taking WAY more sacks in 2012 than he did in 2011. 24 in his rookie year, 46 in his 2nd. Ouch. There are definitely reasons for concern, though.

 

[joeseahawks]

I don't think he will be elite, but he will be above average. He took the Bengals to back to back playoffs in a very tough division. He has shown, he has what it takes to win the games his team MUST win. The real question is if he can start winning those tough games, when he is expected to win them. He has looked awful in two play off games, but he has time to learn and adjust.
I don't think the Bengals will make it to the SB, but I think they won't stink like they did in previous years or with Carson Palmer.
Joe

 

[Tech Worlds]

Like the Seahawks all the Bengals needed was competent QB play to be a playoff team. That was painfully obvious the year TJack started for us.

They are a strong team that if it gets decent qb play will win it's fair share of games.

 

[SalishHawkFan]

Cinci got good through defense. It's been getting rapidly better. FO ranked them 17th in 2011. They ranked 10th in 2012, however, their weighted DVOA ranked them 3rd. By comparison, the Hawks ranked 4th, but as the season progressed and injuries (Bryants foot, etc.) affected our rushing defense, our weighted DVOA fell to 7th.

So the trend here is a Bengal defense that just keeps getting better and better. A large part of that is their secondary. Using Bartlett's Defensive Scheme Type Indicator, the Bengals are a Penetrating Flowing Man Coverage defense. They rely on aggressively attacking with their front four while allowing the quality secondary to hold. It's working for them so long as they keep the players healthy who can run that defense.

If the defensive coaches haven't changed - I don't follow the Bengals that closely - then I'd have to say they've finally managed to get some quality players on their secondary to allow their scheme to finally work.

 

[60niners]

They drafted a bunch of damn good defensive players and AJ Green. Good drafts.

That defense is legit enough that it could get them to the Super Bowl this year.

This. Great drafts.

 

[Scottemojo]

Good drafting, that's it? That team was 50 million under the cap last year. That is beyond good drafting, it's insane. Remember, this is the team that will draft any felon any time. The took Andre Smith what, like 6th over all? Rey Malaluga runs like a riding mower and still they have a good defense. Their good DBs left town 3 years ago.

Was it the extra picks they got from the Raiders? Was that how they did it? And is this the way they are going to be from now on, or is Mr. Brown going to go back to old ways and lose all his talent?

 

[chris98251]

THEY HIRED MORE SCOUTS, used to be they had just a handful of guys due to Mike Brown being so cheap.

BENGALS DEPARTMENT

PLAYER PERSONNEL
Duke Tobin Director of Player Personnel
Greg Seamon
Robert Livingston
Steven Radicevic Scouts
Earl Biederman
John Cooper
Bill Tobin Scouting Consultants
Debbie LaRocco

Seahawks

Scot McCloughan Senior Personnel Executive
Tag Ribary Director of Team Operations
Trent Kirchner Director of Pro Personnel
Dan Morgan Assistant Director of Pro Personnel
Matt Capurro Football Operations Coordinator
Scott Fitterer Director of College Scouting
Matt Berry Area Scout (Southwest)
Ed Dodds Area Scout (Midsouth)
Jason Barnes Area Scout (Midwest)
Aaron Hineline Area Scout (Midlands)
Tyler Ramsey Area Scout (West)
Todd Brunner Area Scout (Northeast)
Jim Nagy Area Scout (Southeast)
Josh Graff National Scout
Kirk Parrish College Scouting Coordinator

 

[mikeak]

New security firm to keep players out of jail?

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

They drafted a bunch of damn good defensive players and AJ Green. Good drafts.

That defense is legit enough that it could get them to the Super Bowl this year.

This. And Dalton is Alex Smith level, solid game manager and flat dangerous on a team that's good to elite around him.

 

[onanygivensunday]

Simple answer... they stopped drafting knuckleheads.

 

[volsunghawk]

They drafted a bunch of damn good defensive players and AJ Green. Good drafts.

That defense is legit enough that it could get them to the Super Bowl this year.

I don't think they can make it to the SB, but they are an improved team.

Chalk it up primarily to a really good D-Line, a playmaker in AJ Green, and a competent QB in Dalton. I don't think Dalton is ever going to be capable of putting the team on his back and willing them to a victory, but he can keep mistakes to a minimum and take advantage of a weapon like Green.

 

[NinerBuff]

They got a great talent in AJ Green, a capable QB, and a very underrated defense... but they're still about the 15th best team in the NFL... not exactly the cream of the crop