Matthew McAdow
Contributing columnist
I never thought I’d say this, but the Cincinnati Bengals will finish last in the AFC North this season and in all honesty, I’m not sure they win more than one more game. At 5-6, this season is a failure and fans already have their eyes set on next season. I’ve been through a lot of bad seasons in Cincinnati, but this one really hurts because we’re losing a year of our $275,000,000 franchise quarterback who turns 27 in two short weeks. His absence from the game this week helped highlight all of the flaws in this offense and how well it covers up the horrible offensive schemes.
Good points
· Somehow, Cincinnati only gave up 16 points despite giving up over 400 yards of offense.
· Trayveon Williams continues to be impressive in kick returns and completely flipped the home field advantage in Cincinnati’s favor with a 46-yard return.
Negative points
· Eight races? What’s wrong with our offense? With a backup quarterback, Cincinnati once again used almost their entire shotgun and handed the ball to our running back eight times. Unwatchable.
· Up three and in the red zone, Jake Browning threw a horrible ball that was later recovered and converted to give the Steelers the lead. Browning had a chance to lead this team to victory, and in all honesty, that pick lost the game.
· The Bengals were 2 of 10 on third downs. No further comments are necessary here.
· Cincinnati had 15 fewer minutes than Pittsburgh in terms of possession and simply couldn’t get a stop when needed.
· Pat Freiermuth had nine receptions for 120 yards. Why does this team struggle so much against tight ends?
· This team lacks speed on offense and could use another weapon on offense that can move vertically down the field.
· Cincinnati failed to secure a competent second quarterback, failed to solve its tight end problem and failed to have a good running game for years .
· Chase Brown, Chris Evans, Trayveon Williams: Why don’t any of them have any shots? If they’re not good enough, then why did we get rid of Samaje Perine? If they can’t do it, then we’ve done a poor job of writing. If they can, why aren’t they getting shots?
· I can’t watch Browning with a shotgun on 95% of the snaps to end the season. Honestly, I feel bad about the situation he’s in.
· I saw the best pash runner on Earth (TJ Watt) go untouched twice. How’s it going ?
· I have tickets to the Colts and Bengals game in a few weeks and now I feel obligated to attend.
Let’s talk baseball
I never thought I would want to write about baseball in November, and yet here I am. With RedsFest approaching this weekend and the Bengals’ season all but over, I’m already patiently (or impatiently) waiting for the month of March. I expect Cincinnati to have a solid year after our rookies have a year under their belt. Expectations should be high for this ball club, but there are still some gaps on this roster. Let’s take a look at our current roster projections for the 2024 MLB season!
Current rotation: Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Graham Ashcraft, Andrew Abbott, Brandon Williamson, Connor Phillips.
This team still needs to add to this rotation if they want to seriously contend in 2024. The Cardinals are loading up their rotation and we need to follow suit. This rotation actually looks good enough to compete, but injuries can happen and we need to have a good starter to fall back on. While I would love to see Trevor Bauer return to his old team where he won a Cy Young, I think there are more realistic free agents who could join this list. Cincinnati, spend money!
Current bullpen: Alexis Diaz, Fernando Cruz, Ian Gibaut, Sam Moll, Alex Young, Casey Legumina, Daniel Duarte.
This bullpen desperately needs two more arms. There are many names and Lucas Sims is currently a free agent. AJ Minter, Tommy Kahnle, Paul Sewald, Ryan Pressly and Tanner Scott are familiar names signing with teams or currently on the market.
Current List Status
Receiver: Tyler Stephenson/Luke Maile (let’s hope Stephenson returns to form this season).
Infield: Spencer Steer, Matt McLain, Noelvi Marte, Jonathan India (for now), Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Elly De La Cruz, Jose Barrero (possibly).
Outfield: Will Benson, Stuart Fairchild, Jake Fraley, TJ Friedl, Nick Martini, Rece Hinds, TJ Hopkins and Jacob Hurtubise.
I like the young talent this team has on the roster, but a power bat is desperately needed. Kyle Schwarber would be a sight to see at the Great American Ball Park.
Matthew McAdow is a resident of Peebles. He works in human resources in the nuclear industry and has been an avid Cincinnati fan his entire life. He is a graduate of Ohio Christian University and has always enjoyed giving an honest opinion on many topics regarding Cincinnati sports.
