If there's one thing better than the Ravens winning, it's everyone else in the AFC North losing. If you're lucky, you get to see 2-3 Super Bowl wins in your lifetime – but what you can see, way more often, is the Ravens, Steelers, and Browns losing painfully. Sometimes comically painfully, even. Really, for your happiness, the smart move is to become a hater.
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And if you're new to this, try this one on for size: the Bengals just cut Germaine Pratt. The same Germaine Pratt, in fact, who was among the league's best tackling linebackers last season and a team captain. The *Bengals* took a look at their defense and decided they needed less talent. They thought about a season without Trey Hendrickson and decided that if they weren't going to have one good player on defense, might as well get rid of the rest of them while they're at it.
The Bengals' decision to release Germaine Pratt doesn't make a ton of sense, but that's fine with me
"The Bengals are releasing veteran LB Germaine Pratt today, per sources," he said. "Pratt ranked in the top 10 in the NFL last season in tackles and was a team captain. Now, he hits the open market.
I imagine this is where Bengals fans would normally point out that Pratt was a tackling machine who didn't really grade super well in other parts of his game last year, or that he's almost on the other side of 30, or that this money could be what gets a Hendrickson deal across the finish line, but that is all simply coping. And maybe all of that is true in some way – I don't know. Being a hater is not about arguing facts – being a hater is about consistency, and always finding the right angle.
For today, we're just working on our consistency. It's a daily grind, but the Bengals are always willing to help out. Stay tuned next week when they (presumably) cut all the other defensive starters for no apparent reason.