Week 13 recap

Steelers 24, Bengals 10

The year of the Bummer culminated Sunday night with another winnable game slipping down the drain pipe. Four turnovers, an average Willie Parker performance, and 30 plus pass attempts from Rothless are the ingredients one could hope for to escape Pittsburgh with a win. But, like we’ve seen throughout this season, when one piece starts to work another piece quickly breaks down. This time it came from Ol’ Faithful himself, marking the second time in three weeks where Palmer has struggled mightily.

We can cut him some slack Sunday night. Playing the first-ranked defense in the rain on a crappy field sounds like a battle scene from Lord of the Rings. ESPN commentator and super fan, Ron Jaworski, would bore you to death with his analysis of Carson’s throwing mechanics showing you film after film of exactly why he threw too high all night. He’d repeat words like ‘release point’ to you a thousand times and once ignored long enough, he would ramble off to his little room where he would continue his obsession of watching game footage. But the offense looked fine on their opening drive and the difference stems from play-calling more than Carson and a wet ball.

The Bengals started off with short routes and quick hitters. We used DeDe and Kenny Watson on screens and pitches. The line made holes for Rudi. We got in the end zone. It was working.

Then we got cute. All of a sudden we went back to the medium throws to the sidelines, the Rudi-for-Twodie and the long crossing routes. Bratkowski abandoned the short game with an insistence to run his style of offense instead of what the situation dictated. I realize that big-brained Dick Lebeau is gonna make the right adjustments in his coverage scheme, but why not come back to what worked? I liked that the Bengals went deep a couple of times to keep em’ honest. I didn’t mind some Rudi runs up the gut. I did mind that he had 14 carries and the other two running backs got a combined six. Rudi’s longest run was for a less-than-explosive four yards. On the year he averages less than three yards per carry. Every Bengal fan can see the play-calling revert back to the predictable set of 12 or so plays Brat is seemingly in love with. Defenses can see it too, and then stopping the Bengals becomes easy for them.. DeDe’s only carry was good for 15 yards. He averages six per carry. You can’t use Dorsey 20 times a game, but you can use him more than once.

The once laughable circus that was once the Bengal defense has moved along leaving a serviceable unit in it’s place. They’re causing turnovers again and aren’t being ax-murdered against the run anymore. They still need lots of attention in the off-season but at least fans and coaches have seen something they can work with. If the last four games have anything to keep an eye on it’s the butterfly version of this defense. If the caterpillar doesn’t surface again this year, it would serve as nice dose of optimism heading into free-agency.

Another thing I’d like to see happen the remainder of the way is to play some bench-warmers a bit more. Let’s see what the kids can do. We’ve got two rookie safeties that should be in the defense’s plans next year. We’ve got three huge Samoans still growing along the defensive line. Let’s not forget the ethereal Frostee Rucker who may or may not even exist. Playing these guys more also gives the vets a chance to get healthier and rest up some for next year. I don’t think that’s giving up, but it’s being realistic.

Mojokong - I guess I'll root for Jacksonville in these playoffs.