I made a rookie mistake this week. I saw a tweet from Chad that the week’s practice was awesome and read all about how the Bengals have always done well in shitsburg. So I believed. I dusted off the jerseys and got myself emotionally invested in this game. I thought maybe the heat of my hatred of the steelers could fuel a Bengals victory. Learned my lesson.
I don’t really want to re watch or talk about this game. I know the winner this week should be a defender. They didn’t give us a touchdown all game despite our offense’s best efforts at keeping our D on the field. I’m sure they did a great job but I wasn’t exactly sober for this game as it became quite apparent how it would go pretty quickly so I don’t remember who the stand outs were.
So here it is, the winner of this week’s Not your Fault they Lost award goes to Andrew Whitworth. Not because of the touchdown, even though that was awesome. He could win this award every week. All he does is come out and lockdown one pass rusher per week, usually their best, and move people out of the way in the run game. Also the leading vote getter in the pro bowl at OT this year, not that I take that into account at all. When we drafted Andre Smith I thought they should move Whit back to LG because when he was there he was one of the best in the biz. Turns out he’s elite at LT anyway so screw it, keep him there. He has been a steal since the day we got him in the second round. I’m glad he’s getting some national recognition.
So anyway, Whit gets the only award I’m giving out this week because I don’t wanna talk about the game and well, I’m not getting paid for this. Rest assured I’ll make up for it with the Browns game. Whit gets the award not for his receiving touchdown but for his consistently good play his entire career.
Fuck it, for the touchdown too. That was bitchin’.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
VS Saints
So I realized today that I never introduced myself in this blog. It doesn’t matter for a variety of reason but my name is Joel, I live in Cincy. By day I’m and phone jockey and by night a musician. I’m also a full time football nerd.
Alright, paper work handled, lets get into this game. Most of you probably didn’t get a chance to watch this game because it was blacked out in the local market. I was able to watch it the first time by setting up a laptop in a bar and watching an illegal stream and then again last night on rewind. It was actually a decent game. It was pretty standard 2010 Bengals. Threw too much, only showed up in one half and made too many mental errors.
I had a tough time picking out a winner this week. Even though I blew my rant wad on him last week, the winner for this game’s Not his Fault They Lost Award is, Chad Ochocinco. This guy is still one of our best players. I’ll try not to review too much but he’s flat out one of the best receivers in the world and he showed off some of that two Sundays ago. He is among the best three in the league at making the tippy toe catch along the sideline. It happens to me all the time where I’ll see him make a catch and be 100% sure he was out of bounds. Then you see the instant replay and he finds a way to make his toes touch. Chad never gets credit for sacrificing his body either. He’s great at fighting the instinct to protect himself when he goes to the ground making a catch. A lot of guys can’t make the tippy toe catch because of that. Your natural instinct is to put your foot where it will best support your weight. In bounds or out Chad will lay out to make a catch. He has the best body control in the league too. I don’t think people realize how hard it is to catch a ball thrown behind you and this freak will twist his body around like a transformer in mid air to grab balls that he has spoiled casual Cincy fans with.
This week’s Surprisingly it Wasn’t his Fault award goes too, your quarterback, Carson Palmer. Another guy that I totally blew my rant wad on with the last blog. He actually put together a fairly solid game. 0 picks, a touchdown and damn near won the game. The bungs chose the 2nd half to show up this week and needed to put up a lot of points on a very good defense. Carson was creative, slippery and poised against a very good defense. He didn’t let his noodle arm get him in trouble. What surprised me was how good he looked in the pocket. He showed good mobility and escaped some easy sacks while keeping his eyes down field. It was like someone bolted Chad Pennington’s arm (or lack of) onto the Carson of ’05. Part of his success was Chad getting back to running the dig route too. Chad has made a lot of hay with that route in the past and used the out as the change up. For those of you not familiar with the dig route, you run about 14-18 yard down field then cut in as hard as you can. Chad really is a freak when it comes to his break at the top of his routes. Carson still missed a few deep balls but didn’t get his team in trouble against a team known for its turnovers. If the Bengals would stick to the run a little more, this guy could win games for us. I’d still like to see us grab someone in the draft with an arm but for now, this version of Carson will do. I hope he shows up in the last few games.
I didn’t really have a young buck of the week. Shipley was pretty good as usual, Brain Leonard was a man as he usually is but is he young enough to count? I love this guy. He moves the chains 3 times before he even wakes up in the morning. Does he ever NOT get a first down? Anyway, Gresham had a pretty good day but had some gross drops that pissed me off. Dunlap had a big sack and played well but I think he’s been on like every blog I’ve ever done.
So instead I’ll give it to the Not His Fault the Lost runner up, Domata Peko. He is another guy that could be on here every week. This guy is really under appreciated in the league. He could be a nose tackle in a 3-4, 3 technique guy, whatever you want. Zimmer said he’s the best tackle he’s ever worked with which is absurd considering he’s been in Dallas with Jay Ratliff and Hotlanta. His motor is endless and he is surprisingly agile. He blew up a screen in the 2nd half for a 9 yard loss. It wasn’t even on the side of the field he lines up on. I didn’t give it to him though because of that 55 yard run that went strait up the middle. I’m not saying it was his fault, he had his gap and his assignment taken care of. But if he slams his guy a few yards backwards, who knows? Also he had like 5 tackles or something crazy against the best guard tandem in the league.
We should be the Cincinnati Samoans. Are any of the Samoans on our team not awesome? Rey rey, Fanene and Peko? More please! I love their super soft demeanor off the field and strait murderer on the field. Its like there is a switch in these guys that goes on when they get in their stance and turns off when the whistle blows. Love it, love it.
Alright, paper work handled, lets get into this game. Most of you probably didn’t get a chance to watch this game because it was blacked out in the local market. I was able to watch it the first time by setting up a laptop in a bar and watching an illegal stream and then again last night on rewind. It was actually a decent game. It was pretty standard 2010 Bengals. Threw too much, only showed up in one half and made too many mental errors.
I had a tough time picking out a winner this week. Even though I blew my rant wad on him last week, the winner for this game’s Not his Fault They Lost Award is, Chad Ochocinco. This guy is still one of our best players. I’ll try not to review too much but he’s flat out one of the best receivers in the world and he showed off some of that two Sundays ago. He is among the best three in the league at making the tippy toe catch along the sideline. It happens to me all the time where I’ll see him make a catch and be 100% sure he was out of bounds. Then you see the instant replay and he finds a way to make his toes touch. Chad never gets credit for sacrificing his body either. He’s great at fighting the instinct to protect himself when he goes to the ground making a catch. A lot of guys can’t make the tippy toe catch because of that. Your natural instinct is to put your foot where it will best support your weight. In bounds or out Chad will lay out to make a catch. He has the best body control in the league too. I don’t think people realize how hard it is to catch a ball thrown behind you and this freak will twist his body around like a transformer in mid air to grab balls that he has spoiled casual Cincy fans with.
This week’s Surprisingly it Wasn’t his Fault award goes too, your quarterback, Carson Palmer. Another guy that I totally blew my rant wad on with the last blog. He actually put together a fairly solid game. 0 picks, a touchdown and damn near won the game. The bungs chose the 2nd half to show up this week and needed to put up a lot of points on a very good defense. Carson was creative, slippery and poised against a very good defense. He didn’t let his noodle arm get him in trouble. What surprised me was how good he looked in the pocket. He showed good mobility and escaped some easy sacks while keeping his eyes down field. It was like someone bolted Chad Pennington’s arm (or lack of) onto the Carson of ’05. Part of his success was Chad getting back to running the dig route too. Chad has made a lot of hay with that route in the past and used the out as the change up. For those of you not familiar with the dig route, you run about 14-18 yard down field then cut in as hard as you can. Chad really is a freak when it comes to his break at the top of his routes. Carson still missed a few deep balls but didn’t get his team in trouble against a team known for its turnovers. If the Bengals would stick to the run a little more, this guy could win games for us. I’d still like to see us grab someone in the draft with an arm but for now, this version of Carson will do. I hope he shows up in the last few games.
I didn’t really have a young buck of the week. Shipley was pretty good as usual, Brain Leonard was a man as he usually is but is he young enough to count? I love this guy. He moves the chains 3 times before he even wakes up in the morning. Does he ever NOT get a first down? Anyway, Gresham had a pretty good day but had some gross drops that pissed me off. Dunlap had a big sack and played well but I think he’s been on like every blog I’ve ever done.
So instead I’ll give it to the Not His Fault the Lost runner up, Domata Peko. He is another guy that could be on here every week. This guy is really under appreciated in the league. He could be a nose tackle in a 3-4, 3 technique guy, whatever you want. Zimmer said he’s the best tackle he’s ever worked with which is absurd considering he’s been in Dallas with Jay Ratliff and Hotlanta. His motor is endless and he is surprisingly agile. He blew up a screen in the 2nd half for a 9 yard loss. It wasn’t even on the side of the field he lines up on. I didn’t give it to him though because of that 55 yard run that went strait up the middle. I’m not saying it was his fault, he had his gap and his assignment taken care of. But if he slams his guy a few yards backwards, who knows? Also he had like 5 tackles or something crazy against the best guard tandem in the league.
We should be the Cincinnati Samoans. Are any of the Samoans on our team not awesome? Rey rey, Fanene and Peko? More please! I love their super soft demeanor off the field and strait murderer on the field. Its like there is a switch in these guys that goes on when they get in their stance and turns off when the whistle blows. Love it, love it.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Bengals at Jets
This game was a special one for me. Not because of the Bengals’ play, which was unspectacular, but because since I was half in the bag when I watched this game I had to find a way to refresh my memory. I re-watched the game recently with the game rewind on NFL.com. If you’re a football nerd this is AWESOME. It costs 15 bucks for a month but you can watch any game from this year in HD commercial free and it even has full view cameras you can cut to on certain plays as well as the broadcast cameras which allows you to really break down a play. If I could freeze time I’d watch each game 11 times and watch each guy. Maybe 10, I know how it ends for Carson.
Anyway, on to the awards. I went through several winners for this week’s NHF (not his fault) award. Not because so many were deserving but because no one really had a stand out performance. I’m excited about who I landed on.
The third winner for the Not his Fault they Lost award is the future sack tandem Carlos Dunlap and Michael Johnson. Is it a cop out to give it to two players? I kind of feel like it is. Leave me some comments and let me know what you think. Anyway I was originally going to give it to Carlos hands down. He had two sacks, a few batted balls and plenty of pressures. But the more I looked at his great plays I realized a lot of them were caused by Sanchez running from Michael Johnson. MJ had a few batted balls as he normally does with his massive wing span stacked on to his 6’6’’ frame. He was also the one draped all over Sanchez as he threw that awful pick to Rey rey. I didn’t hear this the first time through but while watching the broadcast replay there was a play where MJ went up and knocked down a pass so thoroughly that it hit his elbow. On the Bengals previous possession Carson’s third down pass had gotten knocked down and before MJ got back to the huddle you could hear him yell “We can knock’em down too!” I love player banter. I wish I could watch games with players mic’d up instead of listening to boarder line retarded commentators (not all of them).
These two have been really impressive over the past few games which is exciting. It usually takes pass rushers a few years to marinate before they make an impact as they need to develop more pass rush moves. But these guys are coming in and using their athleticism and prototype 4-3 DE bodies to get some pressure. If they can be more consistent we could have something special in these two.
Early in the game I was considering Peko and Sims. They both had great games as well. Really the whole defense did. You could throw a dart at the defensive depth chart and I could have made an argument for that person getting the award this week. Other than one big play (the brad smith reverse) they hardly gave up anything even with the short fields caused by the turnovers and all the 3 and outs. I thought Sims was a pretty average player until I got a chance to watch him specifically for a lot of the game. This dude gets it done. The Jets O-line is really solid too. He was not just occupying blockers but beating them and making plays. The knock on him so far is that he isn’t a very good pass rusher but he was knocking Sanchez around all night. I haven’t gotten a chance to watch Tank Johnson much but he must be something special to be getting the start over Sims. I hope this guy sticks around for a while.
I also considered Reggie Nelson for the award. He didn’t do anything great but he was more impressive than I expected in run support. He has incredible acceleration and agility. I saw one play vs shitsburg (the Monday night game) where it was just him against a big pulling guard in the hole at the line of scrimmage on a run play. As the guard went to annihilate the Reggie who gave up at least 100 pounds to him he went low and made this little move that took him around the guard at knee level and was able to trip up Mendenhall saving a big gain. I wish I could link you to a video clip of the play but I doubt many people noticed besides nerds like me and the coaches.
After watching the film on this next award winner I was floored by his performance. I’m so glad I made up this irrelevant award because it fits him perfectly. If we can teach this athlete how to play football we may have ourselves a gem.
This week’s Surprisingly it Wasn’t His Fault award goes to Jonathan Wade. This poor guy had to come in on Monday to play on Thursday. Some guys can’t pick up a scheme after a few weeks let alone 3 days. You could tell that the Bengals made it easy on him scheme wise and didn’t use the complex blitzes and man to man blitzes the like to run as much. Still, he played a heck of a game. Sure he got burnt a few times but who doesn’t get cooked by Holmes and Edwards occasionally? He wasn’t nearly the liability I thought he would be.
What really stood out to me about him is what an athlete this guy is. One play he had Braylon Edwards one on one. Braylon ran a double move out and up. Wade bit on the first move and was still able to recover and run with him stride for stride. Say what you want about Edwards but no one ever questioned his speed. On the Brad Smith reverse, a guy who is known for his speed, Wade was running him down from the backside corner position. Another 20 yards and he might have had him which is really impressive.
Wade showed some good football awareness and acceleration when he almost made the play that changed the game. I’m sure we all remember the punt that hit Caldwell’s lid and was recovered by the Jets. Well the play before that caused the punt was Wade jumping the hell out of a quick out. He was OH so close to bringing it down with him. It would have been a tough catch but the Bungs would have had the ball inside the Jets’ 30 yard line instead of the Jets having it on their 15 or whatever it was. That is at least a 10 point swing.
This week’s Not your Fault Young Buck award goes to a guy that could probably get it every week, Jordan Shipley. I love this kid, great hands, crispy routes and surprising speed and quickness. And can we talk about his run after the catch skills? Why the hell is he not returning punts? Old man Cosby hasn’t done anything all year and Shipley was creating returns on his own in the pre season. Picking up the jocks he juked off guys in the pre season would be a full time job. Anyway, Ship had a touchdown and a few clutch receptions as usual but after watching the “Film Room” angles on some of the plays, this dude wasn’t covered all game. If it was zone he found the hole, if it was man he torched his guy. He gets compared to Welker a lot just like all white slot receivers and I agree to an extent. He has great hands like Welker and can be used inside on 3 receiver sets and could play outside in base formations. However Shipley isn’t all that small and has plenty of strait line speed to go with his quickness. On the deep interception where Shipley and T.O. were in the area they were both running flys. Shipley had actually beat his guy by a few steps and Carson just under threw him by a good 10 yards. Unlike T.O. however Ship tried to come back for it but got knocked down by one of the many Jets in the area. If that is Aaron Rogers throwing that ball Shipley has a 60 yard completion.
I have a few more notes after really getting to break down a game. First of all, Carson scares the hell out of me. I don’t know what happened to his cannon but it looks more like a potato gun right now. Watch Cutler or Rogers then watch Carson. He has 0 zip on the ball and can’t hit a deep ball to save his life this year. He is still a good decision maker but he just can’t make some of the throws he used to. On the interception in the end zone where T.O. would have been the 4th guy to catch it if you took them away one at a time, T.O. was actually open. It would have taken a great throw though and Carson did NOT provide that. Would have had to have been a bullet to the back of the endzone but he can’t throw bullets anymore. I’m not saying he’s done. Some great quarterbacks have had really bad seasons around this age. Hell Kurt Warner was cut. Hopefully next year he’ll find his gun and be the Carson of old because he has the people around him to do it now.
I have one last thought. So you know how Chad says he’s always open? He’s actually sort of right. Sure, sometimes his route runs him right into zone coverage but every time they had the film room camera angle on the replay he was open. Maybe not wide open but you could get a ball to him. I hate when people rip on Chad and call him Ochostinko or whatever. To quote the great Michael Jackson, that’s just ignorance. He’s still one of the best and quickest receivers in the world. He’s had some uncharacteristic drops recently but no more than an average receiver. P.S. 2-11 and T.O. and Chad still haven’t combusted. What’s up now every sports pundit ever?
I realize I’m ranting now. Moral of the story, Chad is still one of the best receivers in the game and it is certainly not his fault we lost either.
Anyway, on to the awards. I went through several winners for this week’s NHF (not his fault) award. Not because so many were deserving but because no one really had a stand out performance. I’m excited about who I landed on.
The third winner for the Not his Fault they Lost award is the future sack tandem Carlos Dunlap and Michael Johnson. Is it a cop out to give it to two players? I kind of feel like it is. Leave me some comments and let me know what you think. Anyway I was originally going to give it to Carlos hands down. He had two sacks, a few batted balls and plenty of pressures. But the more I looked at his great plays I realized a lot of them were caused by Sanchez running from Michael Johnson. MJ had a few batted balls as he normally does with his massive wing span stacked on to his 6’6’’ frame. He was also the one draped all over Sanchez as he threw that awful pick to Rey rey. I didn’t hear this the first time through but while watching the broadcast replay there was a play where MJ went up and knocked down a pass so thoroughly that it hit his elbow. On the Bengals previous possession Carson’s third down pass had gotten knocked down and before MJ got back to the huddle you could hear him yell “We can knock’em down too!” I love player banter. I wish I could watch games with players mic’d up instead of listening to boarder line retarded commentators (not all of them).
These two have been really impressive over the past few games which is exciting. It usually takes pass rushers a few years to marinate before they make an impact as they need to develop more pass rush moves. But these guys are coming in and using their athleticism and prototype 4-3 DE bodies to get some pressure. If they can be more consistent we could have something special in these two.
Early in the game I was considering Peko and Sims. They both had great games as well. Really the whole defense did. You could throw a dart at the defensive depth chart and I could have made an argument for that person getting the award this week. Other than one big play (the brad smith reverse) they hardly gave up anything even with the short fields caused by the turnovers and all the 3 and outs. I thought Sims was a pretty average player until I got a chance to watch him specifically for a lot of the game. This dude gets it done. The Jets O-line is really solid too. He was not just occupying blockers but beating them and making plays. The knock on him so far is that he isn’t a very good pass rusher but he was knocking Sanchez around all night. I haven’t gotten a chance to watch Tank Johnson much but he must be something special to be getting the start over Sims. I hope this guy sticks around for a while.
I also considered Reggie Nelson for the award. He didn’t do anything great but he was more impressive than I expected in run support. He has incredible acceleration and agility. I saw one play vs shitsburg (the Monday night game) where it was just him against a big pulling guard in the hole at the line of scrimmage on a run play. As the guard went to annihilate the Reggie who gave up at least 100 pounds to him he went low and made this little move that took him around the guard at knee level and was able to trip up Mendenhall saving a big gain. I wish I could link you to a video clip of the play but I doubt many people noticed besides nerds like me and the coaches.
After watching the film on this next award winner I was floored by his performance. I’m so glad I made up this irrelevant award because it fits him perfectly. If we can teach this athlete how to play football we may have ourselves a gem.
This week’s Surprisingly it Wasn’t His Fault award goes to Jonathan Wade. This poor guy had to come in on Monday to play on Thursday. Some guys can’t pick up a scheme after a few weeks let alone 3 days. You could tell that the Bengals made it easy on him scheme wise and didn’t use the complex blitzes and man to man blitzes the like to run as much. Still, he played a heck of a game. Sure he got burnt a few times but who doesn’t get cooked by Holmes and Edwards occasionally? He wasn’t nearly the liability I thought he would be.
What really stood out to me about him is what an athlete this guy is. One play he had Braylon Edwards one on one. Braylon ran a double move out and up. Wade bit on the first move and was still able to recover and run with him stride for stride. Say what you want about Edwards but no one ever questioned his speed. On the Brad Smith reverse, a guy who is known for his speed, Wade was running him down from the backside corner position. Another 20 yards and he might have had him which is really impressive.
Wade showed some good football awareness and acceleration when he almost made the play that changed the game. I’m sure we all remember the punt that hit Caldwell’s lid and was recovered by the Jets. Well the play before that caused the punt was Wade jumping the hell out of a quick out. He was OH so close to bringing it down with him. It would have been a tough catch but the Bungs would have had the ball inside the Jets’ 30 yard line instead of the Jets having it on their 15 or whatever it was. That is at least a 10 point swing.
This week’s Not your Fault Young Buck award goes to a guy that could probably get it every week, Jordan Shipley. I love this kid, great hands, crispy routes and surprising speed and quickness. And can we talk about his run after the catch skills? Why the hell is he not returning punts? Old man Cosby hasn’t done anything all year and Shipley was creating returns on his own in the pre season. Picking up the jocks he juked off guys in the pre season would be a full time job. Anyway, Ship had a touchdown and a few clutch receptions as usual but after watching the “Film Room” angles on some of the plays, this dude wasn’t covered all game. If it was zone he found the hole, if it was man he torched his guy. He gets compared to Welker a lot just like all white slot receivers and I agree to an extent. He has great hands like Welker and can be used inside on 3 receiver sets and could play outside in base formations. However Shipley isn’t all that small and has plenty of strait line speed to go with his quickness. On the deep interception where Shipley and T.O. were in the area they were both running flys. Shipley had actually beat his guy by a few steps and Carson just under threw him by a good 10 yards. Unlike T.O. however Ship tried to come back for it but got knocked down by one of the many Jets in the area. If that is Aaron Rogers throwing that ball Shipley has a 60 yard completion.
I have a few more notes after really getting to break down a game. First of all, Carson scares the hell out of me. I don’t know what happened to his cannon but it looks more like a potato gun right now. Watch Cutler or Rogers then watch Carson. He has 0 zip on the ball and can’t hit a deep ball to save his life this year. He is still a good decision maker but he just can’t make some of the throws he used to. On the interception in the end zone where T.O. would have been the 4th guy to catch it if you took them away one at a time, T.O. was actually open. It would have taken a great throw though and Carson did NOT provide that. Would have had to have been a bullet to the back of the endzone but he can’t throw bullets anymore. I’m not saying he’s done. Some great quarterbacks have had really bad seasons around this age. Hell Kurt Warner was cut. Hopefully next year he’ll find his gun and be the Carson of old because he has the people around him to do it now.
I have one last thought. So you know how Chad says he’s always open? He’s actually sort of right. Sure, sometimes his route runs him right into zone coverage but every time they had the film room camera angle on the replay he was open. Maybe not wide open but you could get a ball to him. I hate when people rip on Chad and call him Ochostinko or whatever. To quote the great Michael Jackson, that’s just ignorance. He’s still one of the best and quickest receivers in the world. He’s had some uncharacteristic drops recently but no more than an average receiver. P.S. 2-11 and T.O. and Chad still haven’t combusted. What’s up now every sports pundit ever?
I realize I’m ranting now. Moral of the story, Chad is still one of the best receivers in the game and it is certainly not his fault we lost either.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Bills vs Bungals
First of all, I apologize. This blog is supposed to be positive. I made myself angry writing it so if you’re looking for rainbows, sunshine and other musical theatre shit you can skip this week.
I don’t have a whole lot to say about this game because I’m so disgusted. Usually after a Bengals game I cuss uncontrollably, swear off the Bengals forever and contemplate throwing myself off the fire escape. Then come the Sunday night game I can function like a normal human and look back with analytical disgust. That never happened with this game. There is absolutely no excuse for this game. Just, gross. So sorry readers, this one will be short.
I hate to have the same winner my first two weeks but that is going to happen when he is the best player on your team. This week’s Not his Fault award winner is…
Jonathan Joseph gets it for two reasons. One is because he had a pick 6 and another pick later and two because he didn’t play in the second half. As I sat there huddled in front of my computer, watching my illegal stream of the blacked out game I was so confident I was enjoying the first Bengals win in like a million weeks, or so it seemed. This was the biggest meltdown in NFL history point swing wise. So I don’t want to talk about it. I’m still pissed. I’m glad the game was blacked out. Poor people of Cincinnati don’t deserve to have to watch that abortion. No one does…except shitsburg fans. I hate you.
So J-Joe gets it for not only being the only guy that played well, but for being absent for the 2nd half meltdown because he was hurt. The rest of the team sucked. Maybe an O-lineman played well, who knows. Who cares? Who dey? More like who don’t.
I don’t have a whole lot to say about this game because I’m so disgusted. Usually after a Bengals game I cuss uncontrollably, swear off the Bengals forever and contemplate throwing myself off the fire escape. Then come the Sunday night game I can function like a normal human and look back with analytical disgust. That never happened with this game. There is absolutely no excuse for this game. Just, gross. So sorry readers, this one will be short.
I hate to have the same winner my first two weeks but that is going to happen when he is the best player on your team. This week’s Not his Fault award winner is…
Jonathan Joseph gets it for two reasons. One is because he had a pick 6 and another pick later and two because he didn’t play in the second half. As I sat there huddled in front of my computer, watching my illegal stream of the blacked out game I was so confident I was enjoying the first Bengals win in like a million weeks, or so it seemed. This was the biggest meltdown in NFL history point swing wise. So I don’t want to talk about it. I’m still pissed. I’m glad the game was blacked out. Poor people of Cincinnati don’t deserve to have to watch that abortion. No one does…except shitsburg fans. I hate you.
So J-Joe gets it for not only being the only guy that played well, but for being absent for the 2nd half meltdown because he was hurt. The rest of the team sucked. Maybe an O-lineman played well, who knows. Who cares? Who dey? More like who don’t.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Bengals vs Colts
With all the well deserved negativity circling the Cincinnati Bungles this year there is some good football being played and going unnoticed. Rather than focus on all the obvious reasons the Bengals lose each game this year this blog will delve into the positive performances going on out there that may not be so easy to pick out in the enormous shadow of all the losing. These are my weekly picks for whose fault it wasn’t that the Bungs lost.
I know I’m getting a late start on this week and the season but I never expected something like this to be necessary. The Indy game was a bit of a surprise even though it went exactly like almost every game they played this year. They got down big early and made a real run at it late. The Bengals are the garbage time champions of the NFL this year.
Before I unveil this weeks winner I want you to keep in mind I’m trying to stay away from the obvious in this blog.
My first ever “Not his fault award” goes to…
Jonathan Joseph, 5th year corner out of South Carolina. Did you see him all game? Yeah me neither. Corners are like O-linemen where when you have your best games, no one hears from you. It can be a little different depending on the game plan. If your team runs a lot of zone coverage then your best games will involve some picks but if you run a lot of man, which the Bengals did while heating up Manning, you should be invisible on the stat sheet. The colts purposely lined up Wayne away from J-Joe and left poor Garcon to get smothered all day. I really wanted to put the whole defense on here as they turned in an amazing 2009-esq performance. Great D Bungs, shame your offense gave up 5 turnovers. Not a defense in the league that can recover from that against Indy.
I actually have more to say about the sub awards I have here. My first one is the “Not your fault young buck” award which goes to…
Carlos Dunlap, rookie defensive end out of Florida. With all the injuries to our ends he was pressed into service at left end on passing downs, which is almost every down against the Colts. I was worried about him when he was inactive for the first few games. That got me thinking he was a bustzilla since he was taken in the second round. Though he wasn’t the starter, on passing downs Robert Geathers slides into the left tackle spot putting Dunlap one on one with the right tackle. He ended up with two tackles for loss and a SACK on Manning which is really rare, along with plenty of pressures. I did notice one adorable rookie move though. Any time you play the Colts your scout team D line is going to be spinning like tops and you see it on film all week. On one play I saw him “bust out” this spin move on their right tackle. It was obviously crazy unpolished and got him nowhere. It is very hard to make a rush move effective in the NFL and he hadn’t worked on this one. My guess is in the heat of the moment he reverted back to his week of preparation and pulled his best Freeny impression. The tackle deals with this shit all day all year 3 times a week. I thought that was cute.
I have two winners for my first ever “Surprisingly it wasn’t your fault” award. These are players I expected to get cold smoked in the game but held up pretty well. I guess I technically have 3 awards for this one. The first 1/3 goes to.
Rico Murray, 2nd year college free agent DB. This poor bastard gets called up off the practice squad the week before and they say “Go cover whoever lines up in the slot”. This dude would be like number 6 or 7 on the depth chart at the beginning of the year. Due to injuries he is pressed into service as the starting nickel back. Yes that is a starting spot in the NFL. Against the Colts you will be in your Nickel package more than your base. Rico Murray isn’t even a full on corner, he is a swing guy between corner and safety. Yet they had him matched up against whoever happened to be in the slot. Instead the Colts running their 3rd best receiver out against him like most teams this poor guy ends up against Reggie Wayne for most of the first half. The Bengals later made the adjustment and had Hall follow him around the left side of the field, which I was shocked they didn’t have that in the initial game plan. This could be because Rico isn’t familiar with the outside technique in the defense. Now don’t get me wrong, they beat up on Rico a little bit but he did surprisingly well and certainly wasn’t the reason we lost this game.
On a side note I was really upset they didn’t run 3rd round pick Brandon Ghee out there to see what they had in him. C’mon, you’re 2-6. It’s time to take a peek at next year. I’m not saying bench all vets but how much worse could Ghee be than Rico? I’ve heard Ghee’s physical talents compared to J-Joe’s coming out of college. Lets see it!
The other 2/3rd of the award goes to Dennis Roland and Andrew Whitworth. I was convinced Roland was going to get beat like a drum by Robert Mathis, possibly the best pass rushing left end in the game. Now granted both of these guys had help almost every pass play but still, you have to do your job regardless. As much as I hate to, I have to give a little credit to Bratkowski on this one. The tragedy of Brat’s offense is it is really well designed ESPECIALLY the protection schemes. He might have the best protection schemes of anyone in the league. He has to going against Baltimore and Shitsburg twice a year. Unfortunately he is a terrible play caller and game planner. Anyway, I knew Whit would handle his bizniz on the left side like he always does but I was really impressed by Roland and his little helpers (Gresham, Kelly and the backs). Surrendering no sacks until it didn’t matter anyway.
Last little shout out I want to give is to Chad. This guy is still a great receiver. He had a monster day with some incredible catches. Broke my heart that his 30+ yard contested catch in the end zone got called back and Carson missed him wide open for a huge play. He might have had the weeks best receiver stats if not for those two plays.
Thanks for reading! I promise I’ll be more on top of this going forward.
I know I’m getting a late start on this week and the season but I never expected something like this to be necessary. The Indy game was a bit of a surprise even though it went exactly like almost every game they played this year. They got down big early and made a real run at it late. The Bengals are the garbage time champions of the NFL this year.
Before I unveil this weeks winner I want you to keep in mind I’m trying to stay away from the obvious in this blog.
My first ever “Not his fault award” goes to…
Jonathan Joseph, 5th year corner out of South Carolina. Did you see him all game? Yeah me neither. Corners are like O-linemen where when you have your best games, no one hears from you. It can be a little different depending on the game plan. If your team runs a lot of zone coverage then your best games will involve some picks but if you run a lot of man, which the Bengals did while heating up Manning, you should be invisible on the stat sheet. The colts purposely lined up Wayne away from J-Joe and left poor Garcon to get smothered all day. I really wanted to put the whole defense on here as they turned in an amazing 2009-esq performance. Great D Bungs, shame your offense gave up 5 turnovers. Not a defense in the league that can recover from that against Indy.
I actually have more to say about the sub awards I have here. My first one is the “Not your fault young buck” award which goes to…
Carlos Dunlap, rookie defensive end out of Florida. With all the injuries to our ends he was pressed into service at left end on passing downs, which is almost every down against the Colts. I was worried about him when he was inactive for the first few games. That got me thinking he was a bustzilla since he was taken in the second round. Though he wasn’t the starter, on passing downs Robert Geathers slides into the left tackle spot putting Dunlap one on one with the right tackle. He ended up with two tackles for loss and a SACK on Manning which is really rare, along with plenty of pressures. I did notice one adorable rookie move though. Any time you play the Colts your scout team D line is going to be spinning like tops and you see it on film all week. On one play I saw him “bust out” this spin move on their right tackle. It was obviously crazy unpolished and got him nowhere. It is very hard to make a rush move effective in the NFL and he hadn’t worked on this one. My guess is in the heat of the moment he reverted back to his week of preparation and pulled his best Freeny impression. The tackle deals with this shit all day all year 3 times a week. I thought that was cute.
I have two winners for my first ever “Surprisingly it wasn’t your fault” award. These are players I expected to get cold smoked in the game but held up pretty well. I guess I technically have 3 awards for this one. The first 1/3 goes to.
Rico Murray, 2nd year college free agent DB. This poor bastard gets called up off the practice squad the week before and they say “Go cover whoever lines up in the slot”. This dude would be like number 6 or 7 on the depth chart at the beginning of the year. Due to injuries he is pressed into service as the starting nickel back. Yes that is a starting spot in the NFL. Against the Colts you will be in your Nickel package more than your base. Rico Murray isn’t even a full on corner, he is a swing guy between corner and safety. Yet they had him matched up against whoever happened to be in the slot. Instead the Colts running their 3rd best receiver out against him like most teams this poor guy ends up against Reggie Wayne for most of the first half. The Bengals later made the adjustment and had Hall follow him around the left side of the field, which I was shocked they didn’t have that in the initial game plan. This could be because Rico isn’t familiar with the outside technique in the defense. Now don’t get me wrong, they beat up on Rico a little bit but he did surprisingly well and certainly wasn’t the reason we lost this game.
On a side note I was really upset they didn’t run 3rd round pick Brandon Ghee out there to see what they had in him. C’mon, you’re 2-6. It’s time to take a peek at next year. I’m not saying bench all vets but how much worse could Ghee be than Rico? I’ve heard Ghee’s physical talents compared to J-Joe’s coming out of college. Lets see it!
The other 2/3rd of the award goes to Dennis Roland and Andrew Whitworth. I was convinced Roland was going to get beat like a drum by Robert Mathis, possibly the best pass rushing left end in the game. Now granted both of these guys had help almost every pass play but still, you have to do your job regardless. As much as I hate to, I have to give a little credit to Bratkowski on this one. The tragedy of Brat’s offense is it is really well designed ESPECIALLY the protection schemes. He might have the best protection schemes of anyone in the league. He has to going against Baltimore and Shitsburg twice a year. Unfortunately he is a terrible play caller and game planner. Anyway, I knew Whit would handle his bizniz on the left side like he always does but I was really impressed by Roland and his little helpers (Gresham, Kelly and the backs). Surrendering no sacks until it didn’t matter anyway.
Last little shout out I want to give is to Chad. This guy is still a great receiver. He had a monster day with some incredible catches. Broke my heart that his 30+ yard contested catch in the end zone got called back and Carson missed him wide open for a huge play. He might have had the weeks best receiver stats if not for those two plays.
Thanks for reading! I promise I’ll be more on top of this going forward.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)