Football
taught me the age-old lesson that comes with the territory of
chest-thumping, overboard smack talk which was haughtily displayed
within these pages less than a week ago. My tone was mouthy and
flippant and I only sprinkled the Browns with the flimsiest of
respect. I knew I was taunting the Gods, mocking the force that
rules the football universe, describing it as a silly karmic
undertow. I've watched enough football to know that divisional
match-ups often play out illogically, but I was high atop my pedestal
in full throat, peeved by the naysayers. I let them get to me and I
am the one now feasting on crow, not them. As solid as the analysis
and talking points may or may not have been, I eliminated even the
possibility of an upset, and for that I feel somewhat responsible
that it happened at all.
The
game was a funny one, weird in its nature. Initially everything was
fine, but then Josh Cribbs cashed in on a big punt return and the
shroud of doom lurked around the Bengal sideline. Next an
interception gave the Brownies three more easy points and doom took a
step closer. Montario Hardesty entered the game and lifted
Cleveland's offense in an instant. The scattered style of Trent
Richardson wasn't scaring anyone, but Hardesty took the ball and ran
straight ahead, seemingly confusing the Bengals in the process. A
couple of bad zone coverages later, the deficit was ten with eight
minutes to go and the unthinkable was unfolding right before us.
Once Any Dalton threw his second pick—returned for a score—doom
began whispering into Marvin Lewis' ear. The sack fumble at the end
was the icing and it rendered the Bengals mediocre at best for now.
A
lot of this loss is heaved upon the shoulders of Dalton. He didn't
play well. The two picks were avoidable and mostly on him. That
being said, Cedric Peerman couldn't make his block and it spooked Red
into throwing a bad ball on the first one, and Brandon Tate ran an
awfully rounded slant route on the second one. Still, Dalton threw
too high on a number of passes, didn't look like he recognized a lot
of the Browns' coverages, and rarely appeared in rhythm. Andrew
Whitworth got beat on the sack fumble, but for the most part, I
thought the offensive line pass-protected well. I feel on a lot of
Dalton's scrambles, he moved out of the pocket because he was
confused, not always because he was being chased. His inability to
regularly find safety valve check-down receivers is costing a lot of
hidden yards in field position. I still love Big Red as the
quarterback, but for all of the intangibly good things he does, his
report card does come with some legitimate gripes. My ultimate
concern surrounding Dalton and the Bengals is that they attempt to
harness his wily instincts and robotize him like they did Carson
Palmer. By the end of the Palmer-era in Cincinnati, he had become a
programed cyborg who played with an uncompromising predictability.
Last year, Dalton's greatest attribute was his pocket presence and I
already feel that has marginally declined here in 2012. I sense he
panics more than he did last year and the reason could be because he
is asked to do more and therefore has more to think about rather than
just reacting to the play. Who knows? He is still putting up nice
statistics, but I feel his command of this offense is not quite yet
where it needs to be.
As
documented, the defense did not play all that poorly despite the big
point total. Outside of the Hardesty effect, Cleveland struggled
moving the ball, they just benefited from Cribbs and turnovers.
Vontaze Burfict played very well and continues to impress. He's
active, hard to block and wants to hit people every time. I can't
say the same for some of the other linebackers on the team. The pass
rush was mild on Sunday, but good enough to keep things in order.
Terence Newman has proven himself to be a pretty fearless hitter and
rather excellent in run support, but his man-coverage skills are
seriously lacking. When random tight ends are running successful out
patterns to the sidelines on him, you know speed is a concern. Leon
Hall continues to play with good technique but he too looks to have
lost a step from an already below-average speed. I hate to keep
harping on how slow these guys are, but it keeps showing up.
Hopefully Kirkpatrick can alleviate some of this concern after the
bye week.
Another
player I am hopeful returns is Kyle Cook. While Jeff Faine filled in
admirably early on in the season, he is now getting pushed around on
a somewhat regular basis. He looks okay in pass-protection, but his
running blocking rarely has a positive impact. Trevor Robinson came
in for a series and looked to do okay against Cleveland, perhaps
indicating a shared concern by the coaching staff about the center
position. I haven't read or heard about Cook in a while and have no
idea of his recovery, but if he can come back this season, it would
be a sizable upgrade along the offensive line.
Lastly,
Armon Binns struggled on Sunday and may have given more snaps to
Marvin Jones. In my last entry, I mentioned how the supporting cast
behind A.J. Green needed to show more pizazz. Binns showed the
opposite, and his targets are coming up empty too often to stay on
the field.
Maybe
next time I won't be so brash about my Bengals support. Perhaps I
should remain a bit more grounded for credibility purposes, but above
all other football-related things, I am Bengals fan and it bleeds out
in my writing. We should have beat those Browns and everyone knows
it, but to tempt fate by saying we couldn't lose was a mistake. I
must be sage at my post. Lessons learned, I suppose.
Mojokong—week-old
humble pie.
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