The Bengals have now put together back-to-back weeks with 2 huge
victories after back-to-back crushing defeats…and that is a good thing and a
sign of growth. Sunday was one of, if not the best Bengals wins of the year.
They beat a good team convincingly, and beyond a short mind lapse in tackling,
looked pretty good in all 3 facets of the game.
Here’s the Week 14 Good, Bad and Ugly…
The Good
A Win – The
Bengals needed this game. Pretty or not, they needed a win. For the first time
since the Jets game, the Bengals won convincingly, and for the second time in 2
weeks, they won a very important game. The difference between the 3 seed and
the 4 seed is huge this year. The 3 seed is likely to play a Kansas City team
that may have a better record and come in as a favorite, while the 4 seed will
play a 6 seed that in most years wouldn’t make the playoffs. The other benefit
of the 3 seed is that your second game would be against a very beatable New
England team in Foxboro while the 4 or 5 seed would be going to Denver. A loss would have all but secured the 4 seed,
but the win all but secured at least the 3 seed and still gives the Bengals a
decent shot at the 2 seed.
Andy Dalton –
Andy Dalton is one heck of a tease. Where has this “Dalton” been? That is the
Dalton, who if he shows up in January, with this defense, is capable of leading
this team to a Super Bowl. 24/35, 275 yards, 3 passing TDs, 1 rushing TD and 0
INTs. The first drive was a thing of beauty - 6/7 for 81 yards capped off with
a beautifully placed 29 yard TD pass that only Marvin Jones had a chance to
make a play on. That is the Dalton I am ok with signing long term. The biggest
key was the goose egg in the turnover category. In his career, the Bengals are
13-4 when Dalton doesn’t throw a pick, and all 4 of those losses were in his
rookie year and against playoff teams (Den, Hou, Pit, Balt). Heck, with this
defense, the Bengals don’t need 275 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs from Dalton to make
a deep playoff run. If they can get 250 yards, 1-2 TDs, 65%+ completion and no
more than 1 turnover, they will be very tough to beat. Unfortunately, as we
have seen far too often this season, it is a 50-50 shot at best as far as which
Dalton will show up. In their 8 wins, Dalton has 21 TDs to just 7 INTs. In
their 4 losses, Dalton has 4 TDs to 9 INTs. The former I like as my franchise
QB. The latter I do not. The key for Dalton is 80.0. When Dalton’s rating is
above 80.0 this year, the Bengals are 8-1 (21-5 for his career). When his
rating is below 80.0, the Bengals are 1-4 (7-14 for his career). And this isn’t
asking a lot, a rating of 80.0 is not good – an 80.0 rating would leave Dalton
ranked 28th in the NFL this year.
Giovani Bernard –
Bernard gives the Bengals offense a dynamic aspect they haven’t had for a
while, yet somehow Gruden seems to be the only one not realizing it. On Sunday,
Bernard had 148 total yards – 12 carries for 99 yards (8.3 ypc) and 4
receptions for 49 yards (12.3 ypc) – yet Gruden still gave BJGE the bulk of the
carries (17) and the most targets on the team (18), despite averaging 2.8 ypc
against the same defense Bernard was averaging 8.3. At some point, if Gruden
won’t use Bernard as the main back, Marvin needs to force it. The Bengals are a
dangerous offense when Bernard is on the field and average at best when BJGE is
on the field.
The New Offensive
Line – Rarely is an injury a good thing, but it looks like Boling’s injury
may have been. The Bengals line is exponentially better with the revamped left
side. How much better? Since Boling went down and Whitworth moved to LG and
Collins to LT, Dalton has not been sacked, has been hit exactly 0 times, and
the run game that was averaging 110.8 ypg with Boling at LG is all the sudden
averaging 159.5 ypg with Whitworth at LG. In the first 11 games, the Bengals
had 0 running backs with 90+ yards. In the two games with the new line, the
Bengals are 2 for 2 in having a running back reach 90 wins.
Spreading the Ball
Around – When the Bengals supporting cast (those not named Green) fail to
contribute, the Bengals offense is stagnant at best. But, when the Bengals get
contributions from all their parts and spread the ball around, they can be a
dynamic offense. Sunday was a perfect example. The Bengals had 0 receivers over
75 yards, but Dalton targeted 9 different receivers and 7 different receivers
had at least 1 catch and 5 receivers with at least 3 catches. As a result, the
Colts couldn’t focus on one player and the Bengals were able to torch the
defense and take advantage of the one-on-one matchups they were getting.
Protecting the Ball
– It is no secret: when you don’t turn the ball over, you win more often than
you lose. For just the third time this year, the Bengals didn’t turn the ball
over. Not surprising, they are 3-0 in those games and 6-4 when they have at
least 1 turnover. In fact, in his 3 years, Dalton has played in just 10 games
when the Bengals have not turned the ball over…they are 9-1 in those games (2012
at Denver was the only loss).
The Bad
The “Bad” this week is pretty minimal, but things you would
like to see cleaned up if the Bengals have any hopes of playing in 2014.
The Defense –
a)
No Sacks
– You never like to have a game without a sack, especially at home and
especially for a team that came into the game ranked 9th in the NFL.
With that being said, the Bengals line still made itself known with 4 QB hits
and at least 2 balls batted down at the line of scrimmage. Still, zero sacks
against a banged up offensive line is concerning. They may be able to beat Luck
without sacks, but they aren’t going to beat Manning or Brady if they don’t
make them uneasy in the pocket.
b)
No
Turnovers – In a cold and somewhat damp game like Sunday, you expect a lot
of turnovers. There were none. Combined with the zero sacks, that is pretty
disappointing for any defense, let alone a top 6 defense going against a weak
offense. Dalton is unlikely to continue playing like he did Sunday and
therefore the defense is going to need to help him out with turnovers and short
fields.
c)
Pass
Defense – The Bengals gave up a 300 yard game for only the second time in
like 30 games. A streak that included the likes of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady,
Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, etc. So, while Andrew Luck is a very good
quarterback, and one day may be considered one of the greats, to give up 326
yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs and a 113.1 rating to a 2nd year QB throwing to
T.Y. Hilton, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Coby Fleener and a guy named Da’Rick Rogers,
at home (where opposing QB’s ratings were 56.0), and in bad weather, is very
disappointing to say the least.
Penalties – After
a two game improvement in the penalty category, an old Bengals nemesis reared it’s ugly head again (the yellow flag).
While not the 9 penalty 134 yard debacle in Baltimore, 7 penalties for 60 yards
is far too many penalties for any team, let alone a Super Bowl hopeful team.
Most costly was the Cook penalty – with a 21-7 lead early in the 3rd
quarter, Indy just scored on a 69 yard catch and run (and bad tackling). The
Colts finally had life and thanks to a poor decision by Tate to bring the ball
out (a weekly occurrence), the Bengals really needed a sustained drive (even if
it didn’t result in points) to give the defense a rest, a chance to compose
themselves, and allow Huber some room to punt. Instead, they go 3 and out
(thanks to a Kyle Cook hands to the face penalty) and forced Huber to punt from
his own endzone. You could see it coming: Huber hits a bad punt (30 yards) and
3 plays and just 1:02 later, the Colts pull to within 7 points with 7:22 left
in the 3rd. While Cook was not the only offender Sunday, his penalty
wiped out an 8 yard run by Dalton, a first down, and killed a much needed
drive. In the offseason, the Bengals really need to take a look for a center
that doesn’t specialized in holding and getting blown off the line of
scrimmage.
BJGE – After a
good game in San Diego (minus his fumble), BJGE was back to his 2013 self
again. Ripping off 48 yards on 17 carries and averaging a stunning 2.8 ypc
against the same defense that saw Bernard get 8.3 ypc against. Lucky for BJGE,
Gruden must not have realized his ineffectiveness and allowed him to steal 2
well-deserved TDs from Bernard…with the help of the infamous Jeff Triplette.
The Phantom Touchdown
– How bad is Jeff Triplette? According to an interview after the game,
Triplette claimed to have only reviewed whether BJGE was touched before going
into the endzone…he never considered, nor did he review, whether BJGE went down
because of contact. As a Bengals fan, I am not complaining – Lord knows Bengals
fans could use a bad officiating call to go our way once – but how does he miss
that? BJGE did not trip in the backfield, he was tripped in the backfield. It ended up not deciding the game, but it
was a huge call at the time. He can add that one to his awesome resume that
includes blinding Orlando Brown by throwing his penalty flag into Brown’s eye,
and overseeing the debacle two weeks ago telling the Redskins it was 1st
down when it really was 4th down. Though neither hurt the Bengals
this week, I would love to see Triplette join Dierdorf out in the pasture…and
maybe they can take Fouts with them.
The Ugly
Tackling – I
thought the tackling on the Rogers TD was bad, but I gave them a break thinking
maybe they were too preoccupied by the fact that the guy’s name is actually ‘Da
Rick.’ But, the 6 missed tackles on Brazill were comical (if not for it being
the team I was rooting for). I had flash backs of the early ‘90s and was
beginning to look for Dave Shula on the sidelines grabbing David Klinger by the
facemask and telling him to go stop this nonsense. Zimmer may want to work on
wrapping up with the boys this week at practice.
Injuries – The
concussion Iloka sustained does not sound too bad, but combined with the season
ending injuries to Mays and Hall and now a 1-3 week injury for Newman, this
defense, specifically the secondary is becoming very thin. The more concerning
injury (from a defense standpoint) is the injury to Newman. With Hall already
out for the year and Ghee’s healthy always hanging in the wind, the cornerback
position has become very thin. I would expect the Bengals to sign a CB this
week. For those thinking Nnamdi Asomugha, the idea of it sounds fun, but it
doesn’t seem like a fit – organizationally or schematically. Zimmer and Lewis
normally go one of two ways in this situation – a young player they can begin
developing or a veteran that has experience in Zimmer’s system. If it was the
beginning of the year, maybe. Mid-year though? I just don’t see it. Lest we not
forget, Asomugha lost his starting position last year on a 4-12 Eagles team and
was cut this season by the 49ers. If they pick up a veteran, I have my money on
Nate Clements being brought back - solid, team-oriented veteran that knows
Zimmer’s system (things that do not describe Asomugha). However, I am going to
guess they go with a younger player that none of us have heard of, and that is
not a bad thing. The fact of the matter is, when you lose your 2 starting
corners, there are not starting corner backs sitting out there unemployed. If
they were good enough to be starting, they would be on a team.
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