Bengals
It was a disappointing 9-8 season for the Bengals, missing the postseason. Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin thinks they had the quality to win a Super Bowl but struggled to finish games.
“If we were a team that was constantly down two scores in the fourth quarter, I wouldn’t be sitting here saying that we have a team that could have won the championship this year,” Tobin said via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We have a team that could have won the championship this year had we finished games and we didn’t. And so we own our record, and that’s what we were, I can tell you, nobody really wanted to face us at the end of the year if we were in the playoffs. That’s the respect we have from the rest of the league. That wasn’t something that they wanted. Did we belong in the group? Yes. Did we earn our way there? We did not because we had critical errors at the end of games period. That is what sank the season. It’s like no other year that I’ve been I’ve seen you get some of that, you know, a blip here, a blip there, a blip there, but you don’t get it consistently to lose enough games to not give you a chance.”
Tobin mentioned Joe Burrow felt pressed to keep Cincinnati in games because of their porous defense, which is a major area for improvement this offseason.
“We’ll retool,” Tobin said. “There are elements of our team that we have to get better at. You know, we have to play better defense. We have to run the ball a little better, you know. But that goes hand in hand with playing defense. If you believe that you’re going to hold the team, then you’re a little more flexible to do some things differently on offense, you know, I know for a fact, Joe felt very pressed to play in the way that he played, to try to keep us ahead in these games. And so, we have to get better there. It’s not an indictment on anybody you know more than me. It’s not a pay problem. It’s a decision to stay with guys you know that have been with us through really good times. It probably won’t be that way this year, and we’ll have to make those decisions as we go forward, and we’re going to have to have additions there.”
Bengals
Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase had an interesting comment when it came to the team’s struggles this past season while being interviewed at the Pro Bowl.
“I don’t think we were ready to get into the season when we got into the season if I’m being honest,” Chase told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “But we locked in when it was time to. But it wasn’t early enough.”
Browns
Browns WR Jerry Jeudy put his support behind OC Tommy Rees and hopes the team gets some stability behind the quarterback position.
“(Rees) is a smart guy that knows how to get his playmakers the ball,” Jeudy said, via Browns Zone. “It’s going to be very exciting to have him calling plays. I’m just hoping for somebody (at quarterback) that’s consistent, you know, and somebody that’s a franchise quarterback for our team. That’s really all we need.”
Browns G Joel Bitonio has said he would consider retirement if the team went through a rebuild and will take some time to mull over his future with his family.
“I’m saying my offseason officially starts now,” he said. “So now I’ll take a few weeks and kind of see where we’re at from there. But I got some good family time in and stuff, and this week was fun to be around the guys. But still, I’m going to take a few weeks and just kind of see where we’re at.”
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