[BFritz]

Truthfully, I see either them or Pittsburgh going 11-5 or 10-6. If they win the division, they'll go 11-5, and Pittsburgh 10-6, and if Pittsburgh wins it theyll be 11-5 and Cincy 10-6. I think Cincy is good enough to be a 12 win team, possibly 13, however, Ill stick to my guns that JUST playing in the AFC alone, every team in the AFC North will absolutely beat the hell out of each other, and by the end of the year, it'll take its toll on any team. If Cincy was playing in the NFC, I wouldnt blink at predicting a 13-3 record, but I'm telling you bro, the AFC is flat wicked. There isnt a team in the conference to look past. Even Cleveland will be much much improved. But I dont see a very dominant team in the conference, no 14 or 15 game winners. Everybody has this love affair with Baltimore, and every single pro football publication that Ive seen (7 or 8) has the same order, Baltimore 1, Cincy 2, Pittsburgh 3, and Cleveland 4th. I just dont see it. Baltimore will be a decent team, thats going to rely on its defense 70% of the time to bail them out of games, and although I like McNair, if he gets injured, out goes Baltimore's chance of winning the division. I see it like this, and these are my honest picks.
Pittsburgh 11-5
Cincy 10-6
Baltimore 8-8
Cleveland 6-10
with Cincy getting the wild card, and doing some damage in the playoffs. I wont mind one darn bit if it ends up like it did in 2005, with Cincy winning the division, and us winning the superbowl, lol..but thats what I see anyways. Cincy will be a very dangerous team. Especially if like I said, if they can just play average defense, they'll be flat scary. I hate to admit that, I really do. It pains my soul to say good things about Cincy, but its great for the rivalry. But Its going to be a fun year nonetheless.

With the amount of respect that you've been giving Cinci, I thought for sure that you'd pick us winning the division! No lost love, though, and, as always, I respect your opinion.

Baltimore's defense is good, but they don't worry me because their offense, in my opinion, won't be good at all, and that's even assuming that McNair doesn't die of old age before the season ends.

OK, I see your point about Joseph being the best nickel man, but generally the nickel guy only plays on passing downs, and I can't see them letting a talent like Joseph sit that much. As the best corner, I say he starts, and whoever wins between O'Neal and Hall gets the other spot. If the loser doesn't want to play nickel, I'm sure Ratliff would be happy for the playing time.

I'm not sure how well White will help in pass coverage, most of the stuff I read about him was about how well he tackled in run support. Still, he can't be any worse than Jackson, who isn't all that great in coverage either. Really, though, I'm excited to see White absolutely blast some RB that manages to break through into the secondary!

Yeah, I see your point, I was thinking only about passing downs, and wasn't even considering anything else. Maybe it would be good to start Joseph and Hall opposite each other, and then maybe bring in Deltha on passing downs and move Joseph to nickel back on those downs. Last year, I disagreed with them playing the 3-4 because I didn't think that they had the linebacking talent, but this year I believe they'll have more than enough talent to run the 3-4, and I think that it will be an advantage as the backers are better than the D-line.

White will be an animal, and if they start Joseph and Hall, I wouldn't be afraid to leave either of them out on single coverage on most receivers in the NFL and have White playing up near the line and more run help than pass coverage. Good idea, I love bouncing these ideas off other Bengals fans!!!!!!!!