The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Week 7

Make no mistake, that was a HUGE win for the Bengals for many reasons: 1) with the Ravens and Browns losing, the Bengals now have a 2 game lead in the division; 2) the Bengals now have wins over the Packers, Patriots and the Lions (on the road); 3) 5-2 just seems miles better than 4-3. Though there was plenty room for improvement, all in all, that felt like the best Bengals game of this young season.

 

The Good

Andy Dalton – 24/34, 70.5% completion, 372 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, 135.9 rating, 92.8 QBR. The scary thing was, it could have been better as Dalton missed Green on at least 2 occasions for deep TDs. For all the talk about Dalton’s play this year, he now has 709 yards, 6 TDs and just 1 INT in the last 2 games – 2 big road wins, and is among the top 11 in every major category: yards (6^th), completion % (7^th), TD (10^th), rating (11^th), ypg (11^th), completions (6^th), ypa (10^th) and longest TD (2^nd). Maybe we can lay off Dalton for a bit now.

 

AJ Green – To think he had 6 catches for 155 yards and 1 TD and he wasn’t even the best WR on the field yesterday! But he wasn’t far off from what Calvin Johnson was doing. Green exploited a weak Detroit secondary, and if not for a few under throws by Dalton, Green would have had a 200+ yard day and 2 TDs.

 

Marvin Jones – How big has Jones been these past 2 games? Another nice game with 4 catches for 57 yards and a beautiful TD grab along the back of the end zone. In the last 2 games, Jones has 7 catches for 128 yards, 2 TDs and 1 run for 34 yards. Those are the type of numbers you look for out of a #2 WR.

 

Tyler Eifert – Hard to believe Eifert’s TD catch was the first for a Bengals TE in 2013, but what a beautiful catch it was. Eifert turned one way, and then had to turn the other way to make the catch, a very difficult thing to do and he made it look easy. I would like to see the Bengals start getting Eifert more involved.

 

Kevin Huber – Punters are often overlooked and under-appreciated. Not Huber, and not here. On Sunday, he averaged 47.3 yards per punt, put another inside the 20, and had arguably the play of the game when he dropped a 45 yard punt at the Lions 6 yard line. It was this punt that lead to Detroit’s conservative play calling on their last drive - which eventually led to the Lions crappy punt – and eventually led to the Bengals ability to kick a game winning FG. We will all remember Nugent’s kick, Green’s big plays, the blocked FG, but let’s not forget Huber’s clutch punt.

 

Special Teams – Sunday was a perfect display of how important special teams are. That game was won by the Bengals special teams – Nugent’s FG, the blocked FG, and Huber’s end of the game punt, and lost by the Lions – blocked FG, terrible punt at the end of the game. Outside of Nugent’s missed FG earlier in the game, this was a great day for special teams.

 

The Bad

The Defense – The Lions have an extremely potent offense, and the Bengals did shut down the run game, but that makes 2 weeks in a row where the defense has looked bad. 0 sacks, 0 turnovers and 3 TD drives of 78+ yards. Good thing the offense showed up this week, because the defense did not do their job.

 

The Run Game – After back-to-back games of 160+ yards rushing, the Bengals faced the 29^th ranked run defense (surrendering 124.8 ypg)… and came out with just 57 yards on the ground (3.2 ypc). That is very disappointing. Good thing the passing game stepped up. 

 

Dalton’s Long Ball – As good of a game as Dalton had (and it was a great game), his long ball struggled again. 3 times Green beat his man deep for a TD and all 3 times Dalton underthrew him. Green was able to come back and get one and turn it into a TD, but not the other two. When the opportunity is there, Dalton has to connect on those. I will say, I would rather he under throw it than over throw it (because Green at least has a chance then), but I would prefer he learn how fast Green is and get the ball out there far enough to hit Green in stride.

 

Nugent’s Missed FG – 47 yard FGs are not give me’s, but when kicking indoors, they should be. That is now 2 weeks in a row a Nugent missed FG that could have cost the Bengals the game. The good thing? That is now 2 weeks in a row Nugent picked himself off the mat to kick a game winner. With that being said, I believe the Bengals kept the wrong kicker and should have held on to Josh Brown.

 

 

The Ugly

Jermaine Gresham – I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I cannot recall a more frustrating Bengal in my life time. The guy has all the physical tools in the world yet can’t seem to get his head on right. With Gresham, it just oozes lack of mental focus. He reminds me of the kid out in right field picking dandelions and chasing butterflies. His head is just never in the game. He now has 6 penalties in 7 games. Only 2 players in the entire NFL have more penalties than Gresham’s 6 (DE Jason Babin and OG Willie Colon). The amazing thing with Gresham is the timing of his penalties. They inevitably kill a drive or cost the Bengals points. Gresham had 2 penalties on Sunday – the first stopped a drive, may have cost the Bengals a TD, definitely cost them an easy FG try and ended up leading to a missed FG; the second was on 3^rd and 1 with about 2 minutes left and the Bengals on the verge of FG range for a game winning FG. If Gresham wants more than $2-3 million next year, I would gladly drive him to his new city.

 

3^rd Down Defense – The Lions converted 13-19 3^rd downs (68.4%), including conversions of 20, 18, 10, 9 and 7 yards. Just let that sink in for a moment (I sure as hell hope Zimmer does). On their 1^st TD drive, the Lions converted a 3^rd and 7 deep in their own territory. On their second TD drive, the Lions converted a 3^rd and 20 and a 3^rd and 10. On their third TD drive, the Lions converted a 3^rd and 18. That, my friends, is not good.

 

Leon Hall’s Injury – You have to feel for Hall. Less than 2 years removed from tearing his left Achilles, it looks like Hall has torn his right Achilles. Hall was looking like he was finally back and was playing quite well. A second torn Achilles could be very tough to comeback from, especially for an NFL cornerback. You have to wish a full and speedy recovery for Hall, who by all accounts, is one of the better guys in the league and the type of guy you want on your team (both on and off the field).