A new idea I had in order to help me go through the NFL team's rosters and examine all the personnel and coaching changes, etc., one-by-one. I'm going to look at two teams head-to-head in seven key categories (my bias on what is ‘key'). The team that gets my vote in each category gets a ‘win'…the first team to 4 wins moves on to the next round. Just a quick, hopefully fun, way to take the temperature of each team heading into the 2023 preseason.
The seven categories…it's actually six because one category is so important that it's worth double:
1-2) The quarterbacks comparison…the winner of this gets 2 wins, or if too close to call it could be a 1-1 split.
3) O-Line -- Judging which team has the better O-Line…the most critical aspect of a team after the QB.
4) Cornerbacks -- After O-Line, I think the most critical position is shutdown corners (or not having any).
5) Head Coach/Organization -- A battle of which coaches will get in the way less, to some degree but also an edge given to teams that will attract free agents or be a desired destination in trades…and what teams are filling the stadium for home games, etc. Everything rolled into one judgment call.
6) Offensive Weapons -- Which team has the better, scarier RB-WR-TE group.
7) Kicker -- If it comes down to #7, of course the kicker should make the determination...as the kicker often determines the winner of a 59+ minute war prior with a last second make/miss.
As we lead into each category and tap a winner -- I'm also listing the major add/loss for each team in the offseason so far, just to eyeball it as a list.
Is this a brilliant way to judge teams over another? Who knows! But it struck me as something fun to do while studying each team this preseason, after the majority of offseason moves have been made.
BAL major adds: WR Beckham, WR Agholor, LB T. Simpson, WR Zay Flowers
BAL major losses: OG Ben Powers, TE Oliver, DE C. Campbell
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CIN major adds: LT O. Brown, TE I. Smith, DE Murphy, CB Turner, SAF Battle, RB C. Brown
CIN major losses: SAF Bates, TE Hurst, SAF V. Bell, RB Perine
QB (2x): I mean…I'm not the mainstream football media that would side in favor of Lamar Jackson here. You know it's true, or if you don't -- wake up! Lamar is a god to THEM.
Joe Burrow is a god to me…better than Patrick Mahomes.
Bengals lead it (2-0) out of the gates.
O-Line: You have to give this to the Ravens. A very good O-Line collection, while the Bengals always seem to struggle at O-Line no matter how clever their plans are…and I like what I see from the Cincy O-Line, but not enough over Baltimore.
Ravens cut the lead to (2-1) Cincy.
CBs: I see Marlon Humphrey and I think the Ravens have a real chance here. But then I see Rock Ya-Sin on the other side (now) for the Ravens and the good vibe cancels out. Chidobe Awuzie is as good as Humphrey…and is back for 2023. Cam Taylor-Britt had a terrific rookie campaign and Mike Hilton is one of the most underrated corners/slot corners in the game. The Bengals also have rookie D.J. Turner in their back pocket for even more depth and talent. Cincy takes it.
Bengals lead (3-1).
HC/Organization: These are two places players don't particularly want to play/live, for the cities themselves…no edge to either here. The Bengals organization has a current vibe where players want to go to play for a shot to win a title…while the Ravens collect garbage players like Odell Beckham to play with media/fake news Lamar Jackson like he's some great thing. John Harbaugh is a better coach, but Zac Taylor has had two Super Bowls in a row stolen from him the past two years. And the best coach on either side is the Bengals D-C Lou Anarumo. Edge Cincy.
Bengals lock up the win (4-1)
Weapons: A push at RB…not overwhelmed with either (or all RBs on any team in general…they're mostly all interchangeable). Edge Ravens at TE…by a mile. But huge edge Cincy at WR, and the single best weapon on either team -- Ja'Marr Chase. It's not a blowout, but overall edge here to the Bengals.
Cincy extends to a (5-1) spread.
Kicker: Justin Tucker is the greatest kicker in the history of football, and still is right now. Ravens get the point here.
Cincy still wins (5-2) and moves on to the AFC Final Four.
Upcoming Matchups (next round):
MIA v. CIN in the AFC Final Four
LAC v. KC for the AFC West
IND v. JAX for the AFC South
DAL v. PHI for the NFC East
MIN v. DET for the NFC North
TB v. NO for the NFC South
ARI v. SEA for the NFC West
