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I didn’t want to hog the subject but this is a fascinating matchup . The Rams are the far more star studded team. The Bengals have Joe Cool and the loose attitude playing with house money . All the pressure is on the Rams . They will not have home field advantage . My keys are Ramsay on Jamar Chase . The Cincy secondary vs Kupp. Make Beckham beat you . Catch the moon balls Stafford throws up . Mixon vs Donald . You have to go at him. Burrows is going to get hit and sacked but so far he’s shook it off and won. Stafford is the wild card . If he throws 5 TDs it don’t matter what Joe Brrr does. But he’s gonna throw one up . Maybe 2.

I’m going Bengals 31-26

I keep thinking the Rams are the obvious choice but but when it came down to putting down on the pick'em I found myself going with the Bengals 34-33. maybe I should listen to myself.

The Bengals are the clear underdog in this game. The Rams have more weapons on offense, more studs on defense. I'd like to see the Bengals win but my sense is that the Rams win this one going away.

Rams 30, Bengals 17.

There’s a report out there that the odds are narrowing.
It may be just the gamblers hedging their bets though.

We are in it to win it!!

GO RAMS, I AM STOKED

We will be on top for a long time now, get used to it

RAMS 42, CINN 16

I just realized why I found myself picking the Bengals ...

RiverDog wrote:The Bengals are the clear underdog in this game. The Rams have more weapons on offense, more studs on defense. I'd like to see the Bengals win but my sense is that the Rams win this one going away.

Rams 30, Bengals 17.

I am with River, but I am upping the score. I think you have one team just happy to be there, and the other team expecting to win.
Rams 52-17 But yeah, I will be cheering for the Bengals.

I would like to see the Bengals win. I won't watch the game. I don't care enough about either team to have a strong interest.

Aseahawkfan wrote:I would like to see the Bengals win. I won't watch the game. I don't care enough about either team to have a strong interest.

I get it but it is the Super Bowl.

obiken wrote:I get it but it is the Super Bowl.

I don't want to see the punk ass Rams win. I don't like their fans. I don't like their team. They are a division enemy. I don't take any pleasure in their victory and won't waste my time watching it unless I know they're losing as I will enjoy their pain.

Good one, cBob. Ha!

I'll say 33-23 Rams.

I don't have a dog in this fight, so I don't care who wins. Rams have more talent and it kinda feels like they're due. Bengals seems fun, though.

Every time I see Joe Burrow I see that darn kid in the Home Alone movies lol

Aseahawkfan wrote:I don't want to see the punk ass Rams win. I don't like their fans. I don't like their team. They are a division enemy. I don't take any pleasure in their victory and won't waste my time watching it unless I know they're losing as I will enjoy their pain.

The Rams fans are lame. This Ramblow character is typical, can't find his way out of his parent's basement. Niners and Cowboys fans cause me a lot more angst than the puny number of Rams fans cause me.

However, I will be rooting for the Bengals, sort of. I'm not very passionate about the outcome.

NorthHawk wrote:There’s a report out there that the odds are narrowing.
It may be just the gamblers hedging their bets though.

Thwey went from 3.5 to 4 last I checked. It dont matter.

obiken wrote:
I with River, but I am upping the score. I think you have one team just happy to be there, and the other team expecting to win.
Rams 52-17 But yeah, I will be cheering for the Bengals.

You don’t have one team happy to be in any super bowl ever . Certainly not Cincy . Not with their vibe . Sherman made the same accusation of our 2005 Xl team in his podcast but I didn’t feel that way and I’m sure the team didn’t .

I’ve been running the game over in my head. If the Titans sacked Burrows 9 times and lost is that superior defensive line of the Rams going to stop him ? And also following that disastrous effort by Cincys line he was only sacked once in the conference title game . And the Cincy defense has garnered respect recently with their shut down of Mahomes .

Rams scored 3 points in one of the worst offensive performances ever 3 years ago. Meanwhile Burrow set an NFL record this year by throwing for 525 with 5 TDs and no picks . He backed it up with another 400 plus 4 TD game , another record putting 2 like that together . But this postseason burrows has merely been good enough . Mixon has underperformed . Stafford led the league in picks and pick 6s .they got swept by the 9ers and almost a trifecta if the SF defender could squeeze the balloon Stafford launched to nobody .

Burrows is gonna go off . It might be a blowout for Cincy .

Hawktawk wrote:I’ve been running the game over in my head. If the Titans sacked Burrows 9 times and lost is that superior defensive line of the Rams going to stop him ?

If the Rams sack Burrows 9 times, the game will be over by halftime.

RiverDog wrote:
If the Rams sack Burrows 9 times, the game will be over by halftime.

I don’t think they will , certainly not by halftime ..you just weren’t too impressed with the Titans were you ? . Another angle the weather calls for record SB heat at 85%. Cincy is far younger across the board . More stamina late ? We will know in 2 days . I’m always invested in the super bowl . 100%

Apparently someone put $5 Million on Cincinnati to win.

NorthHawk wrote:Apparently someone put $5 Million on Cincinnati to win.

That’s called stupid money in the words of Drew Carey . Wow I hope they can afford it .

I saw a guy from Cincy on the morning news who is convinced Burrows is God . He seemed serious . Burrows conquests from LSU leaking that he’s a superstar off the field as well.

It’s gotten a little nuts . If he can live up to it it will be amazing but if not it’s gonna be a hell of a letdown . But he’s been a cocky winner his whole life . And I see the same look in his eyes I used to see in Russels early in his career . Dead shark eyes . Assassin eyes .

Zach Taylor served as an assistant to Mcveigh from 2017 till 2019. Mentor vs pupil . Youngest ever coaching duo . Second ever meeting of overall # 1 QBs . Lots of interesting angles

NorthHawk wrote:Apparently someone put $5 Million on Cincinnati to win.

Drop in the bucket, though. They're anticipating that over a billion dollars will be legally bet on the game.

NorthHawk wrote:Apparently someone put $5 Million on Cincinnati to win.

That person was either very rich, or very stupid!

RiverDog wrote:If the Rams sack Burrows 9 times, the game will be over by halftime.

Hawktawk wrote:I don’t think they will , certainly not by halftime ..you just weren’t too impressed with the Titans were you ? . Another angle the weather calls for record SB heat at 85%. Cincy is far younger across the board . More stamina late ? We will know in 2 days . I’m always invested in the super bowl . 100%

I wasn't too impressed with the Titan's offense, that's for sure. 1-9 on third/forth down? WTF is up with that? Stafford isn't going to bail out the Bengals by throwing 3 picks and finish with a QBR of 10.8 like Tannehill did. If Burrow plays as poorly against the Rams as he did the Titans, takes 4-5 sacks in the first half, I'd bet money that they'll be down by 3 TD's at halftime.

I'm not nearly as enamored with Burrow as you are. Yes, he's a good young quarterback, perhaps the best in the past two years. But in games like this, I'll go with the experienced vet, especially considering that Stafford has way better weapons than Burrow has.

BTW, SoFi Stadium has a roof over it. The ambient weather shouldn't be a huge factor. Besides, the predicted high is only for 84 degrees, warm for this time of year but nothing compared to what it was in September when they've had 1pm kickoffs. Kickoff for this game is at 3:30pm PST.

So how does that impact the game? Fair question. It most likely won’t. SoFi Stadium is an indoor-outdoor venue. Its large canopy encompasses the field and while the sides remain open, the arena is able to maintain a decent internal temperature. It can get a little hot on the field level with the turf if temperatures continue to climb.

The field at SoFi can get a little stuffy in extreme heat, and there is a heat advisory in place for Inglewood from Wednesday through Sunday. But they covered the stadium to protect the field from the SoCal sun. So they have a mechanism in place to defend against that. Plus, the sun will be pretty low in the sky by game time. Sunset is at 5:36.

[quote="RiverDog]



I wasn't too impressed with the Titan's offense, that's for sure. 1-9 on third/forth down? WTF is up with that? Stafford isn't going to bail out the Bengals by throwing 3 picks and finish with a QBR of 10.8 like Tannehill did. If Burrow plays as poorly against the Rams as he did the Titans, takes 4-5 sacks in the first half, I'd bet money that they'll be down by 3 TD's at halftime.

I'm not nearly as enamored with Burrow as you are. Yes, he's a good young quarterback, perhaps the best in the past two years. But in games like this, I'll go with the experienced vet, especially considering that Stafford has way better weapons than Burrow has.

“Someone was playing the defense that stopped the Titans weren’t they ? On Tannehill first 2 picks he was shocked . They schemed him up. And they had Henry back too. I think a lot of people are not paying close attention but the Cincy defense the last 5 games is why they are in this game .

I’ll give you Rams have better skill players but by a hair . Jamar Chase is as good as anyone . Kupp is Kupp , the one guy Cincy must hold down . Beckham with a few games in the system isn’t better than Tee Higgins who went for well over 100 last week . Running back is a push . Tyler Higby the Rams TE is out which is big . I’ll take Burrows at Qb over stafford straight up
. Both have an equal number of playoff wins . Stafford is in his 13th season . He led the league in pick 6s and picks while Burrows was setting all time passing records. Yeah I’m enamored by Burrows but I haven’t been on his jock long . It’s just research . The whole team kind of came out of nowhere with plenty of other contenders in that division expected to win it .

He will have a great career, no matter the outcome Sunday .”

Alright!! Throwback video resolution!! Are the Bengals gonna roll out Ickey Woods as well?………

How do Bengals not challenge the spot on that long pass to Chase? Clearly should have been spotted at the 4 and he clearly didn’t get touched after he had the ball.

Absolutely hate the PI calls against Cincinnati. Not much there...

TriCitySam wrote:Absolutely hate the PI calls against Cincinnati. Not much there...

Yeah, bad call. They have been letting them play all game and then call that. Bad call.

mykc14 wrote:Yeah, bad call. They have been letting them play all game and then call that. Bad call.

Very bad...but given the missed OPI on that long TD throw, I'm not too stressed about it. I thought the refs mostly let them play and it feels like the f-ups evened out a bit. Given how low the standard for good reffing is across the sports world, I think this was a well-reffed game. Not perfect, but good.

Objectively speaking, this was the best, most competitive NFL playoff season I can remember, including the SB. You can certainly make a case based on this one season that the NFL parity effort is working pretty well now.

I am with River, but I am upping the score. I think you have one team just happy to be there, and the other team expecting to win.
Rams 52-17 But yeah, I will be cheering for the Bengals.

Man I tanked on that prediction! To fair until OBJ went out we were headed there, but I guess there's a reason the Vegas Boys make money!

TriCitySam wrote:Absolutely hate the PI calls against Cincinnati. Not much there...

mykc14 wrote:Yeah, bad call. They have been letting them play all game and then call that. Bad call.

There was one play, inside the 10 on 3rd down on that last drive, where there was a very slight jersey pull, which is one of the ques the refs look for, but it was so slight that it didn't affect the outcome of the play, and as mykc said, they had been letting both teams get away with it all game and you hate to see games decided by a close call like that. But I didn't have a problem with any of the others, and in the same series, there was one play where Cupp got mugged at the goal line and didn't draw the flag, so they sort of evened out. Plus as Oly noted, Bengals fans have no legitimate argument about the officiating as they benefited from a huge, obvious missed call that resulted in a TD.

You can't take anything at all away from Cupp as the Bengals knew that the Rams were going to him, but they still couldn't stop him. The guy has been money for the Rams all season, one of the few to catch TD passes in each of the Rams' 4 playoff games. He's very deserving of the MVP although I thought an argument could have been made for Aaron Donald.

trents wrote:Objectively speaking, this was the best, most competitive NFL playoff season I can remember, including the SB. You can certainly make a case based on this one season that the NFL parity effort is working pretty well now.

Yah, it was a great playoff year. I hope it’s the beginning of a trend and not just the planets aligning for one year.

Great game . Although Joe B could not live up to the hype . Ball in hand with the game on the line . He’s young . I think he will be back . Cincy D was valiant . Unfortunately the #%@# Rams are world champions
It’s a dark sickening time for this Seahawks fan . 2013 seems a long time ago . Worst night I’ve had as a fan in quite some time . Nauseating .

Hawktawk wrote:Great game . Although Joe B could not live up to the hype . Ball in hand with the game on the line . He’s young . I think he will be back . Cincy D was valiant . Unfortunately the #%@# Rams are world champions
It’s a dark sickening time for this Seahawks fan . 2013 seems a long time ago . Worst night I’ve had as a fan in quite some time . Nauseating .

Not sure why he hasn't lived up to the hype. After an injury shortened season, Burrow comes back this season and they make it all the way to the show with a chance to win on the last drive. That's Russel Wilson like trajectory, and the Bengals have him for 3 more years on his rookie deal with $60 million in cap space. Burrow is the real deal.

Hate that the Rams got another one, but I'm happy for Whitworth and Stafford.

Hawktawk wrote:Great game . Although Joe B could not live up to the hype . Ball in hand with the game on the line . He’s young . I think he will be back . Cincy D was valiant . Unfortunately the #%@# Rams are world champions
It’s a dark sickening time for this Seahawks fan . 2013 seems a long time ago . Worst night I’ve had as a fan in quite some time . Nauseating .

MackStrongIsMyHero wrote:Not sure why he hasn't lived up to the hype. After an injury shortened season, Burrow comes back this season and they make it all the way to the show with a chance to win on the last drive. That's Russel Wilson like trajectory, and the Bengals have him for 3 more years on his rookie deal with $60 million in cap space. Burrow is the real deal.

Hate that the Rams got another one, but I'm happy for Whitworth and Stafford.

Our friend Hawktalk has been hyping him somewhat, so perhaps that's what he was referring to.

I, too, think that Burrow is the real deal and will eventually mature into a very solid NFL QB. He does have some things to work on, such as managing the pass rush. After doing a good job of it the first half, one of the deciding factors in the 2nd was that he got sacked 6 times. I don't care how poorly an OL you have or dominating of a pass rush the opponents have, you just can't be taking that many sacks if you're expecting to win consistently.

Stafford made some mistakes, wasn't super sharp as he overthrew a few receivers and tossed one up for grabs in the end zone on the first half that got picked off, but he was Matt Cool on that last drive when the game was on the line.

I don't have the same angst for the Rams as many of my Seahawk pals have, so I was glad to see a lot of those guys, ie Stafford, Whitworth, and Donald, get their rings. They all said the PC things, were very humble in victory, It was a very enjoyable game, my small group of fellow attendees at our SB party all had a blast.

MackStrongIsMyHero wrote:
Not sure why he hasn't lived up to the hype. After an injury shortened season, Burrow comes back this season and they make it all the way to the show with a chance to win on the last drive. That's Russel Wilson like trajectory, and the Bengals have him for 3 more years on his rookie deal with $60 million in cap space. Burrow is the real deal.

Hate that the Rams got another one, but I'm happy for Whitworth and Stafford.

Russell Wilsons 2 year trajectory was 11-5 lose in divisional and SB champ. The only similar trajectory I see is Mahomes out of the gate. If anything it reminds me how rare what the Seahawks did in 13 and 14 is.

Burrows is a great young QB and cocky kid but he kind of put this pressure on himself with the bling bling jewelry and embracing the Joe cool , the mink coats etc. Nonstop promotion. They hes got the ball in hand with a chance to be the MVP. Anything less than success is failure. He had to do that to back up his bluster and he didn't. hes got the right attitude about it and I think he will learn and be wiser next time about putting up bulletin board material for a stacked opponent.

Other than that I'm not happy for anybody. I hope McVeigh retires and Donald demands a trade. I despise the Rams. I hope they go 0-17 for the next 5 years .

No joy in Mudville mighty Joe Brr struck out..

trents wrote:Objectively speaking, this was the best, most competitive NFL playoff season I can remember, including the SB. You can certainly make a case based on this one season that the NFL parity effort is working pretty well now.

NorthHawk wrote:Yah, it was a great playoff year. I hope it’s the beginning of a trend and not just the planets aligning for one year.

It was the most competitive offseason in my memory, and I've been watching professional football since the early '60's.

Next year could look vastly different in our division. The Rams could implode, with Aaron Donald and Sean McVay rumored to be considering retirement, the Niners likely looking at parting ways with Jimmy G, and the Cards, having collapsed like a K-Mart lawn chair in the 2nd half of the season has a discontented QB of their own to deal with. It's going to be a real interesting offseason.

He had his chance to actually become "Joe Cool III" as he clearly was being hyped but didn't get it done. he had the ball with a minute and a half to go and the magic just wasn't there. Of course it wasn't all his fault, never is, but "failed to live up to the hype" is a totally legit story line.

Good game though, I enjoyed it. Congrats to the Lambs!