Somebody is still holding out!
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In what way :-)
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If it results in a Playoff loss, you can take that "#1 offense" stat and flush it down the toilet. What did the eye test say last weekend? Sure looks like the Bengals have a better OL and better defense. That's problematic if you want to beat them.
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This defense is better than the one last year. It is very young and will take time to work through their growing pains. Veach can continue to add to it, but how many players on this defense have more than 5 years experience?
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Lest we forget the glory days of Mahomes and the offense scoring 51 points and losing.
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But was it the defense that caused us to lose three times in a row?
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The Chiefs have 2 of the worst. Someone posted the pressure stats. Orlando Brown & Andrew Wiley are #1 and #2 in the league in terms of pressures allowed, but part of that is because KC throws the ball more than other teams. But even when you adjust it based on percentage of blown plays by each OT, the two KC offensive tackles are in the bottom 15% of the league. So at least 85% of the starting OT's around the league are better than these two guys at protecting the QB.
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that we have the #1 offense

they averaged the exact same number of yards per play as cincy

the game was a battle between two elite offenses, and one turned it over
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It was always something, basically being outsmarted one way or another. I'm not here to argue that we suck, but i'm going to be reserved until we meet again probably in a month or so.
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Hitchens is gone. You seem obsessed with that deal. It’s like you want to ignore McDuffie, Gay, Bolton, Snead, Mathieu etc…. Got it Clark’s deal looks bad in retrospect but it’s like you can’t shake your bias against the defense regardless of stats that show otherwise.
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Fair enough. It’s going to take the offense stepping up and not being shooting themselves in the foot.
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Yet, they instead went up against better defenses that the Chiefs supposedly need and still put up 30+ on both. :-)

Ironically, the Bengals haven’t really padded their stats with shitty QBs.. they gave up 440 yards and 32 points to the Browns, 400 yards to the Saints, 30 points to the Steelers. They should statistically be better and this place would be freaking out about numbers like that, too.

And I don't mean to completely excuse the Chiefs defense... Allen throwing to wide open receivers in both games last year was pretty terrible, when defender gets juked out of his shoes in one move and no one else is in the neighborhood down the middle of the field. They didn't seem to stop much of anything the other day despite giving up fewer than 30.

They obviously have to provide some resistance somewhere and win in one phase or another in terms of QB pressure, tight coverage, stuffing the run... because you aren't stopping everything, obviously.

And they have, too... Bills punted 4 times last year and the Bengals offense wasn't great by any means. Just not sure what people expect outside of the obvious, better effort than Sunday.

And I'd expect the Bengals' and Bills' offense to be better in the playoffs, but I'd also expect the Chiefs' to be as well (and hopefully defensive effort).

The simple truth is you need to score 30+ once you get to the Conference Championship and SB... and that's not an opinion, it's what the winners of those games have averaged over the past several seasons.

Giving up 30-35+ is bad and they haven't done that much at all, even having played two of the top offenses in the league. It's not 2018 where 40+ isn't out of the question any given week.
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It's going to take both units doing what they're capable of and our ST's not killing us. For whatever reason the Bengals don't seem to do stupid things against us and if they do the refs always seem to bail them out. We should start by benching our 2 starting tackles.
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I just think the Hitchens & Clark deals showed that they have a questionable eye for defensive talent. Some of the defensive draft picks lately have been a lot better, no doubt about that one.

But Veach & Reid both have an offensive background, so maybe it has hampered them at times in evaluating the defensive players. Veach played offense in high school & college days. Andy is obviously an offensive minded coach.

They still haven't proven that they can figure out the pass rusher situation. Hopefully they can do it. You're going to need that if you want to make it through the Playoffs against several high powered offenses in the AFC. I don't see it happening this year, but I hope they can figure it out in the future.
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The thing I see is that you say they don’t have an eye for defensive talent and use those tow as examples while saying they have gotten better. For every “bad” one they have, they have 2-3 more good ones. I would say that’s pretty impressive, especially considering where this team has drafted since Reid arrived. I will take that success rate all day long even if there are some whiffs. I promise you that Veach and Andy are not scouting and drafting these guys or even trading for them in a silo. I almost guarantee that any defensive pick is blessed off by the defensive staff.

I completely agree with you regarding the pass rush. It has to improve, especially considering the quality of QBs and overall offensive talent in the AFC. At this point Veach’s overall track record gives me confidence that he will attack this deficiency with the same effectiveness that he has for every other one. He’s earned the benefit of the doubt for me.
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