After
a long weekend in Las Vegas, the fog is beginning to lift and therefore the
insight on Sundays exciting game can begin.
What I Liked
The Offense/Play Calling
I
love the stones it took to come out and run a gimmick play on the first play of
the game….I love it even more that it resulted in 73 yard TD pass. Mohamed Sanu
through a perfect pass on that deep ball. So good that from our distant Las
Vegas sports book seat, we didn’t know Sanu had thrown the pass until halftime.
It seems like Gruden is opening up the playbook this year and we are seeing
just how dynamic this offense can be. After just 3 TDs of 40+ yards last year,
the Bengals already have 5 this year. We also saw a direct snap TD to BJGE and
some effective misdirection plays. But, what I like most, was the fact that
Gruden’s creative play calling does not consist of a shuffle pass.
38 Points
You
will win more than you lose when you score 38 points.
AJ Green
AJ
Green has the making of a special NFL WR. After a Pro Bowl rookie season, Green
leads the AFC in receiving yards and is 2nd in the NFL, behind only
Calvin Johnson. On Sunday, Green caught 9 of his 11 targets for 183 yards and a
TD. And, just for good measure, he took an 11 yard reverse down to the 1 yard
line to set up BJGE TD. I am not sure there is a CB in the league that can
cover him one-on-one (definitely not anyone on Washington), and this opens
things up for the other WRs and TEs.
Andy Dalton
Dalton
looked sharp on Sunday (with the exception of the INT, which we will discuss
later). 19-27 for 328 yds, 3 TDs and a staggering 12.1 avg and 132.9 QBR.
Coming out of college, Dalton was known for his accuracy, but was knocked for
his arm strength. After 3 weeks, Dalton and his weak arm have 4 TDs of 40+ yards, is 2nd in yards per
attempt and 4th in QBR. Better yet, he is seeing the field and
spreading the ball. Sunday was a perfect example: the Bengals had 5 players
with 25+ yards receiving and Dalton threw 3 TDs to 3 different receivers.
WRs Not Named Green
Look,
we all know about AJ Green. What we didn’t know about was who would the Bengals
have to make teams pay for double covering Green? Well, the answer is multiple
players. Andrew Hawkins has been electric this year. Coming into 2012, Hawkins
had 23 catches for 263 yds and 0 TDs. After 3 games, Hawkins has 12 catches for
208 yds and 2 TDs (both 50+yds) and is quickly becoming the most dangerous slot
receiver in the NFL. And how about Armon Binns? Coaches praised him last year
for his work on the practice squad, and there was even some talk that some
coaches believed he should have been the #2 at the end of last season. Entering
2012, Binns had 0 catches in the NFL. After 3 games, he has 12 catches for 157
yds and 1 TD, and at 6’3” and 210 lbs, he has shown great hands and good speed.
So far, he looks like a much more reliable #2 than Jerome Simpson ever did.
The Defensive Line
Michael
Johnson stood out the most. Johnson had 3 sacks on Sunday and 7 hits on RG3.
After 6 sacks in 2011, Johnson is showing the potential Bengals fans believed
he had. And how nice was it to have Carlos Dunlap back? Dunlap’s presence helps
everyone on the D-Line, especially Johnson. With Dunlap in there, Dunlap will
get more double teams and Johnson has to take advantage of it (which he did on
Sunday). Even with the double teams, Dunlap still wreaked havoc on RG3 with a
sack, 3 QB hits, and a critical forced fumble. The D-Line as a whole, played
very well on Sunday with 6 sacks and 13 QB hits. They made RG3 pay for running
the option ….which, on a side note, RG3 is good, but the Redskins are going to
get him killed if they keep using him as they did Sunday.
A Jermaine Gresham Sighting
Was
it a huge game? No. But the Bengals don’t need Graham/Gronkowski numbers out of
him. What they need is exactly what they got. 5 catches for 64 yds and a TD.
Now, if he can just start blocking and not getting penalties, he will be on a
roll.
Leon Hall Not Playing
Am
I picking on him? Sure, but, the secondary did have their best game of the year
so far without Hall playing. Some of that may have been due to the pressure
applied by the D-Line, but some of it also had to do with the opposing team not
having a WR running around open all day (Hall’s guy).
What I Did Not Like
Not
a lot to dislike when you score 38pts and win on the road, but there were a few
things.
The
Run Defense
213 yards on 6.3 ypc is not good. The worst
part is, the Bengals seemed to know the run was coming, yet still couldn’t stop
it. Part of the reason why they couldn’t stop it was because they again showed
an aversion to proper tackling. The offense looks good, but the defense can’t
keep giving up 30+ points. At some point and time, they are going to need to
get it together and stop someone. Hopefully the games against Jacksonville and
Miami can cure them.
Rey
Maualuga
Picking
on Rey would get old if he didn’t keep making it so easy. None of the Bengals
LBs played well on Sunday, but Rey stood out. Our friends at Pro Football Focus
rated each LB and broke it down well (https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/09/24/refo-bengals-redskins-week-3/).
According to Pro Football Focus, Rey allowed 7 catches on all 7 passes into his
area for 89 yards…and 3 more missed tackles. I don’t know if the Bengals have a
better option in the middle, but they can’t have anyone worse right? The stat
sheet is again deceiving. Maualuga led the team in tackles with 13 (7 solo),
but he again had crucial missed tackles, terrible coverage and no pressure on
the QB. And, to stop the run, you have to have a good middle LB. 213 rushing
yards tells me the Bengals middle LB is lacking. Kevin Hardy thinks Rey
Maualuga is playing bad.
The
Refs
Look,
all refs (even the real ones) make mistakes, so I am not going to harp on every
little thing, but, any fan worth their weight in salt knows that an injury with
0 timeouts left results in a 10 second runoff. They make that call, the last
hailmary attempt doesn’t even get attempted (which, by the way, was marked back
5 yards further than it should have been – just sayin).
Conclusion
Overall
a good game. The offense was creative, effective, and fun to watch. Anytime you
score 38 points on any NFL team, let alone on the road, that is encouraging.
However, it is equally discouraging to give up 31 points. The Bengals defense
has now given up 102 points in 3 games. Ouch!
Look
for the Bengals Jags preview in the next 2 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment