Bengals Bungle Huge Opportunity

All losses count the same. Some losses hurt more. That loss hurt. It hurt more because it was a game they should have won, a game they had, and a game they let go. On top of that, in light of Baltimore and Pittsburgh losing, it is a game that would have given the Bengals control of the 6^th wildcard spot and a legitimate shot at winning the division. As it stands, the division and 5^th seed are likely gone, and the matchup in week 16 at Pittsburgh is likely a playoff play in game. A tough loss, but thanks to Pittsburgh, not a playoff crushing loss.

What I Did Like:

Opening Drive

The Bengals came out making things look easy. 5 plays, 70 yards and a TD in a 1 minute 55 second blink of an eye. Unfortunately, the players and OC may have gotten a little complacent after that drive and never saw the endzone again.

BJGE

BJGE had another excellent day and had his 3 game streak of 100+ yards snapped only because Jay Gruden lost his head calling plays. BJGE ended the day with 89 yards on just 12 carries. When a man is averaging 7.4 ypc, you hand him the ball until 1) his legs fall off, or 2) the other team quits. Neither of those scenarios happened yesterday, yet Gruden still stopped giving the ball to BJGE. This may be blasphemous, but for once in my life, I missed Bratkowski.

Gresham’s One Handed Grab

Gresham had 4 catches for 43 yards. I would like to see more from him, but overall, a pretty decent game from your TE. The highlight of his day though, and probably of the Bengals day, was a beautiful one-handed grab on 3^rd and 7 for a 25 yard gain, setting up a go ahead FG.

Josh Brown

I like Nugent, but it may be worthwhile to take a hard look at Brown as the Kicker. Brown was had 4 of his 5 kickoffs kneeled down for Touchbacks and was 4/4 on FGs, including a 52 yarder (which would have been good from 60) right down the middle.

Run Defense

Yes, the Cowboys have the 30^th ranked run offense, but holding any team to less than 2.0 ypc (49 yards on 24 carries), with a long of 7 yards, is impressive. Unfortunately for the Bengals, the only time they could not stop Murray was on the final drive when Murray picked up 20 of his 53 yards.

Geno Atkins

Geno Atkins is a man against boys. 3 tackles for a loss, 3 QB hits, and another sack, now giving him 10.5 on the season. 

Marvin Jones

After a rough debut last week, Jones bounced back against the Cowboys, leading the team with 45 receiving yards and throwing in 37 yards rushing to boot. If not for being shoved out of bounds, Jones would have also had his first NFL TD (and won the game). Jones looks like he may be able to help Bengals fans get over the loss of Sanu.

Reggie Nelson

Another solid game by Nelson. 5 tackes, 1 sack, 1 pass defensed and one text book blow up on Dez Bryant. Unfortunately for Nelson and the Bengals, the NFL referees are unaware of the rules by which the NFL asks the players to play by. They fine you if you hit illegally. They flag you if you hit legally. Despite the flag, seeing anyone who punches his mom get blown up is exciting. Therefore, Reggie Nelson caused the highlight of my day.

Watching Rob Ryan Explode

Rob Ryan is a loud, out of control, under showered, and over hyped bafoon of a coach. The only consistency that comes from a Rob Ryan defense is lack of discipline and a failure to play to their skill level. DeMarcus Ware would get 10+ sacks if I was his coach, if not for DeMarcus Ware, the Cowboys would have the worst defense in the league, hands down.

Watching Moorman Punt

The Bengals may not have won the game, but they have the better punter…so they have that going for them. Moorman punted 5 times with a long of 49. In the other 4 punts, Moorman averaged 29.0 yards per punt. Dear Jerry Jones, I can punt 29 yards for league minimum. Please email me at 12ozprospective@gmail.com. 

What I Did Not Like: 

Drops

I can count 6 huge drops. 3 on offense and 3 on defense. The offense killed 3 drives and lost about 11 points (minimum) with drops. 1) Green dropped a TD on 3^rd down (4 points), 2) Green dropped a 20 yard pass on 3^rd down (possibly 4 more points), and 3) Hawkins dropped a 3^rd down pass (likely 3 points). On defense, Newman dropped 2 INTs and Clements 1. Any of the three would have likely sealed the game. If the Bengals make any of the above plays, they win the game. If they make all those plays, they win by 30.

AJ Green

Rarely does AJ not make the “Like List.” Even more rarely does he make the “Did Not Like” list. Yesterday, AJ had his worst day as a pro and would have to be one of the biggest reasons for the Bengals loss. Green dropped a surefire TD on 3^rd and goal which was perfectly thrown by Dalton, resulting in a FG. Green then dropped a 20 yard pass at the Dallas 18. The throw was not great, but it was a catch Green normally makes. The Bengals still got a FG, but that play would have given them 1^st and 10 in the redzone. If those two drops weren’t enough, Green had an inexcusable block in the back penalty at the end of BJGE’s 43 yard run. The play was right in front of Green and BJGE was being pushed out of bounds when Green was flagged. Rather than 1^st and 10 at the Bengals 49, it was first and 10 at the Bengals 34. 3 plays later, the Bengals punted to the Dallas 32. A possession the Cowboys would turn into a crucial TD. Worst case scenario, if the Bengals went three and out, they could have pinned Dallas further, causing Dallas to have to use more time and or TO’s. Both of which would have made a difference, seeing that the game winning FG was kicked from 40 yards out with just 4 seconds left.

Andy Dalton

Dalton can shoulder a lot of the blame for this loss as well. While he was victimized by drops, he seemed off, missing throws and making bad plays. And, yet again, threw a critical INT which turned the game. Up 10-3 and driving, with 1^st and 10 at midfield, the Cowboys looked to be on the verge of caving. The Cowboys couldn’t move the ball and they couldn’t stop the Bengals. Dalton to the rescue! Dalton, rather than recognizing nothing was there and throwing the ball away, he indefensibly tried to force a deep out route pass into Green. Result? Picked by Carr and returned to the Bengals 27 yard line. 4 plays later, the game was tied and the Cowboys again had life, life the Bengals never found the rest of the game. Dalton has to stop being smarter with the football and throwing the ball away when nothing is there. Young or not, that decision is a poor decision at the NFL level, the college level, the high school level, and the pee wee level. Dalton knows that. Also folks, Dalton is no longer ‘young’ in NFL terms. He has now started 30 NFL games. He knows better, and if he doesn’t, this team has much bigger problems. 

Play Calling

What the hell happened to Gruden? Did he fall asleep after the first drive? This isn’t the first time we have seen the Bengals come out, drive right down the field and score on their first or second drive, and then spend the rest of the game looking clueless (see @Cle and Pitt). And what happened to sticking with what is working? The Cowboys have a poor run defense, they are down to their 3^rd string DT, you are averaging 7.4 ypc on the ground and you run it 12 times to BJGE? WTF? If they can’t stop the run, you run it down their throats until 1) your RBs legs fall off, or 2) they figure out a way to stop it. When the game ended, BJGE still had his legs and the Cowboys still hadn’t learned to stop the run. Instead, on a rainy day, when the receivers have lost their ability to catch and the QB is inaccurate, Gruden threw 33 times and ran 20. What? More asinine, was the fact that from the 4:38 mark in the 3^rd quarter, with a 19-10 lead, in a game they had to have, the Bengals had 3 possessions. In those 3 possessions they had just 15 plays, killing just 8:33 of game clock. Despite having a 9 point lead, running the ball at a 7.4 yard clip, and needing to kill the clock, in those 15 plays the Bengals threw the ball 11 times – resulting in a total of 19 yards, 2 sacks and a 10 yard holding penalty – while running it just 4 times – resulting in 52 yards. Oh yeah, and with 6:35 left, clinging to a 2 point lead, and desperately needing to kill some time and at worst pin the Cowboys deep, the Bengals ran 5 plays – pass, pass, pass, pass, pass (sack), punt – killing just 2:51 and giving the Cowboys the ball at the 28 with 2 TOs and needing just 40 yards to get into FG range. Smart football.

Clock Management

How the hell does a team run out of TOs 31 seconds into the 4^th quarter? Those TOs would have been nice on the Cowboys last drive in an effort to get the ball back. It is amazing how Marvin Lewis has been a head coach now for 10 years and still cannot manage the game.

 

Penalties

8-70. Take away Nelson’s terrible penalty and it is still 7-65, including another critical penalty on Whitworth in the redzone (leads team in penalties), a critical hold on Cook (rough game back), the terrible penalty on Green, and a crucial penalty on Marvin Jones nullifying what would have been a game winning TD. It is tough to win the NFL. It is even tougher to win when you are constantly trying to overcome holes dug by penalties.

Sacks

The OL gave up 5 sacks. That is about 4-5 too many if they want to win. While a few of the sacks are on Dalton for not getting rid of the ball (he is becoming very bad at this), the OL has to improve on protecting Dalton. They gave up 2 drive killing sacks in 2 of the last 3 drives.

Red Zone Offense

 1 for 4 in the redzone. It has long been said, kicking FGs in the redzone will get you beat. On Sunday, it got the Bengals beat.  It allowed the Cowboys to hang around long enough to win, despite being outplayed all game. Simply going 2-4 in the redzone would have been enough to win that game.

Clutchness of Defense

For the most part, the defense played very well. 288 total yards and 49 rushing is pretty good. Especially when you consider Dallas had just 170 yards of total offense going into their last 2 drives…which begs the question: How can a defense play so well all game and then crap the bed when they are needed? It is reminiscent of the regular season Texans game from 2011. I trust this defense to be good until they are needed. When they are needed, I no longer trust them.

3^rd Downs

How to you lose to a team you thoroughly outplay? Let them convert critical 3^rd downs while you fail to do the same. This 2012 Bengals team has had trouble on 3^rd down all year long on both sides of the ball. Sunday was no different. Dallas – 11-19 (58%), Bengals 4-11 (36%). Ballgame.

 

Terrance Newman and Nate Clements

Do the Bengals have a Jugs machine? If so, can Terrance Newman and Nate Clements spend some time in front of it before Thursday’s game please. Newman dropped 2 INTs and Clements 1. While none of the 3 were easy plays, they were all plays that winning teams make, and any of the 3 would have likely sealed the game. The difference in this game was Dalton’s 1 pick to Romo’s 0 (I don’t count the hail mary pick because all the Bengals did was kneel on it for the half).

 

Reggie Nelson Penalty

Remember how much better these refs are than the replacements? Hahaha! They all suck, just ask the Lions after their Thanksgiving debacle. I get wanting to protect players and eliminate head shots. I understand that the biggest threat to the immovable force that is the NFL is liability for player safety. I even understand wanting to error on the side of caution. But, this is still tackle football (I think). And, if players were to come to the NFL to ask how they can hit a receiver under the new rules, Nelsons hit would have been an instructional video. He lead with his shoulder, to Bryant’s chest, and allowed him to catch the ball before hitting him. Textbook…..except the referees doing Sunday’s game had apparently not read the textbook. Unlikely to happen, but the NFL should come out and publicly apologize to Reggie Nelson and tell players this is exactly how we want you to hit. It won’t happen, but it should, and doing so would go a long way with bridging the gap between players and the league.