On
Saturday, October 6th, being a Cincinnati sports fan was about as
good as it has ever been. The Reds had just won Game 1 of their NLDS series
against SF (in SF) despite losing Johnny Cueto; the Bearcats football team was
undefeated and ranked for the first time this year (21st); the
Bearcats basketball team was sitting at 18 in the preseason poll; and the
Bengals were getting ready to play a 1-3 Dolphins team at home and an 0-5
Browns team, both starting rookie QBs. The Reds were already in the NLCS and
the Bengals were already 5-1….right?
By
Sunday October 14th at 4pm, I can only think of one word to describe
how Cincinnati sports fans felt: Numb. Sure, the Bearcats held up their end of
the bargain, but the Reds suffered a historic playoff collapse at home, the St.
Louis Cardinals came back in the top of the 9th, down 2, with 2
outs, and down to their last strike (literally), to beat the top team in the
NL, and the Bengals lost back to back games to rookie QBs to drop to 3-3 going
into a Sunday night matchup against the Steelers. What the hell just happened?
On
Friday, I laid out exactly why the game against the Browns scared me: the
Browns were on an 11 game losing streak, they lost 11 or 12 straight division
games, they had lost 4 in a row to the Bengals, Shurmur was 0-3 against Lewis,
the Browns had hung in games, the Bengals have let lesser teams hang around,
the Browns were the game before the Sunday night matchup against the Steelers,
the Browns were better than their record indicated and they were going to beat
someone sometime (likely at home) etc. etc. etc. Well, what I feared came true.
The Bengals took the early lead, displayed poor clock management at the end of
the half, were careless with the ball, and let the Browns hang around long
enough (Bengals up 14-13 going into the 4th quarter). In the 4th
quarter, the Browns scored 21 points. The same Browns team that had only scored
21 points (in an entire game) twice this year.
Playoff
teams don’t lose to the Browns, or at home to the Dolphins. At the beginning of
the year, I predicted this Bengals team would go 10-6. To get to 10 wins, I
counted the Cleveland and the Miami game. Now the Bengals face an uphill battle
to get to 9-7….lucky for them, the AFC only has two teams with winning records
and is littered with mediocrity.
What I Did Like
As
you can see from the short list below and the short discussion, there wasn’t
much.
AJ Green
He
seems to be a highlight each week. AJ Green is top 3 WRs in the NFL, arguably
the top. 7 catches for 135 yds and a TD on one of the best CBs (Joe Hayden). I
don’t believe there is a CB in the league that can cover him 1-on-1, which
gives opportunities to the other receivers and the run game. Unfortunately, the
last two weeks those players have not been able to take advantage the way they
did in weeks 2-4, and the result is 2 straight losses to inferior teams.
Cedric Peerman
Off
the bench, he gets 8 catches for 76 yards. With the struggles of the run game,
I would like to see him featured more in the run game.
Geno Atkins
The
guy is disruptive. It was Atkins that made the big play deflecting the Weeden
pass that Michael Johnson picked off. Geno is a top 5 DT in the league and is
exciting to watch.
Gresham’s 55 Yard TD
I
liked the TD, not Gresham. This is what the Bengals need from Gresham, and they
need more of it. Not the 55 yard TDs, but the catches over the middle, the
pulling coverage from AJ, the making teams pay for doubling AJ, unfortunately,
they are not getting it on a consistent basis.
What I Didn’t Like
I
don’t have the time to get into everything, but here are the main culprits:
Andy Dalton
I
like 31-46. I like 381 yds. I like 3 TDS. What I don’t like is the 3 picks and
1 fumble. What I really don’t like is the pick six. Only one QB has more INTs
than Dalton. That QB is the rookie Weeden. On Sunday, Dalton looked like the
rookie and Weeden the vet. I like Dalton. I think he can and will be a
successful QB, but he has to improve his decision making. Dalton now has 3 pick
6’s. 2 of which allowed a close game to get out of control (both division
games). Can you imagine if Palmer had thrown those picks? Ultimately, he has to
start making better decisions and taking care of the ball. Tough to win when
you turn the ball over 4 times.
The Run Game
I
was big on BJGE the first few weeks. He seemed to be running hard, always
getting the tough yards, etc. Not anymore. But, it is not just the fault of
BJGE. His line is not helping him. How many times is BJGE having to make his
first move in his own backfield? This is a multilayered problem: 1) BJGE has to
get better, 2) the line has got to start opening some holes for him, 3) Gruden
has got to design a running attack that works with this OL and this RB crew.
The Giants ran for 243 yards against this Browns defense in week 5. The Bengals
ran for 76 (20 on one play).
The Receivers Not Named AJ
Green
is getting doubled and still having success, yet the complimentary receivers
are no longer taking advantage of their opportunities and matchups. While it is
impressive the backup RB had 8 catches for 76 yards on Sunday, it is
troublesome that the second leading receiver was the backup RB seeing his first
significant playing time of the year. In the last 2 weeks, Hawkins has an
impressive 10 catches, but only 82 yards and 0 TDs. Binns just 6 for 53, 0 TDs.
Gresham has had some success, 8 catches for 128 and 1 TD, but, he continues to
drop passes. Against the Browns, Gresham dropped 2 catchable balls, both of
which would have continued drives, instead, they killed them.
Brandon Tate
How
long do they keep Tate back there returning kicks? At least once a game he
returns one from deep in the end zone and gets tackled short of the 20. Possibly
excusable if he had a penchant for breaking a few. He really has yet to show
that ability in his time in Cincy. Sunday, he took one 8 yds deep to the 10.
Really?
Play Calling
Remember
when we were talking about how creative and fun Gruden’s offense was during the
3 game winning streak? Where has it gone? Has he used all his good plays? The last
two weeks, this offense has been stagnant and resembling that of his
predecessor. During the 3 game win streak, Gruden showed an ability to play to
the strength of his personnel. During the 2 game losing streak, he has either
gotten away from that, or teams are taking it away from him. Either way, he
needs to figure a way to fix it, or this will be a long season.
Zimmer
Is anyone getting a bigger free pass than Zimmer? Sure his defense seemed to improve in weeks 4 and 5, but what defense wouldn’t look better against the Jaguars and Dolphins? In 6 games, this defense has faced 4 rookie QBs and 1 second year QB and forced a grand total of 2 INTs. Those INTs came from a safety who was signed off the street the week of his pick (Crocker) and a defensive lineman. 0 picks from the starting secondary. Up next, Roethlisberger, Manning, Manning.
LB Corps
As
bad as the secondary has been, the LBs on this team have managed to out suck
them (if out suck is a word). Maualuga continued his streak of poor coverage
and lack of impact. On Sunday, he had 4 solo tackles (2 assisted). How does the
MLB end up with 6 tackles? By mistake he should be able to run into 8-10 a
game. Until the MLB position improves, I am not sure this defense will.
Speaking of LBs, Manny Lawson is a starting LB. Manny Lawson had 1 tackle. How is
that even possible? Hell, Brian Leonard had 1 tackle. Brian Leonard plays
offense. Sitting on my couch I think I had .5 tackles.
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