[Lake Chief]

Your post in the Thurman thread sounded like you had a decent amount of intelligence, but it didn't sound like it had a whole lot of football merit. I bring that up because this post doesn't have a whole lot of logic. They finished 8-8 last year with arguably the toughest schedule in the league, losing games that could have easily made them 11-5. They had a horrible defense last year, and Palmer's mechanics on his throws were off. Even with Palmer struggling, they still produced enough on offense to win games if the defense could have stopped teams better than a girl scout team lining up to play D.

Palmer fixed the problems with his mechanics, so he could be the top QB in the league behind Manning, and he likely will be. They made dramatic improvements on defense, it should be like night and day with defensive squads that have been ranked 28th and higher every season of the past few years- experts have the D ranked 12th or so. Without a defense, you can't win, with a horrible defense, you can win a few games if your offense is very good, with an offense like the Bengals have plus a respectable defense, you can be a very good football team. Now, to the schedule. The other teams in the division have not improved at all in the offseason, in fact, they've gotten worse. This may or may not still be the toughest division in the NFL, but the Bengals certainly look like they're the best team in it. Their out-of-district schedule looks to be even easier, as it is every other year also. It's still not a walk in the park, but playing in this division year in and year out, it looks remarkably easier. They have one team that will be ranked ahead of them in any preseason rankings, and while preseason rankings don't mean a whole lot, if every expert is picking about the same thing, it must have some merit.

So, with a better defense (which we've established as the most important component of a team), an offense that could be even more explosive than last year, and a schedule that says that the NFL wants us to go at least 12-4, you say we'll only go 8-8. Please, explain your logic, and anyone else can comment or correct any mistakes you think I made- in predictions or anything.

8-8