Not sure if anyone is still following this. I actually plan on doing some off season stuff but I haven't been at work and I have a hard time writing while not on the company dime. I wrote this forever ago and sent it to a friend to review. Never got the review but thats ok, pretty sure I'm awesome anyway...
Let me start off by talking about what an absolute joy it was to watch this game.
This is the type of football I love. Dominating defense, unstoppable running game
and NO T.O. I feel sorry for all Bengals fans that had to miss this one because of the
blackout. This is how the Bengals win football games. Commit to the run game, even if
its not working. It DID work this time, about every time the Bengals ran you saw Browns
moving backwards. For those of you who don’t watch a ton of football, when your team
runs the ball and you see defenders moving backwards, GET EXCITED. Check it out
next time. Anyway, this is how you make Carson good, the receivers good, the defense
good.
Speaking of making the receivers good, I loved watching Caldwell and Simpson
out there showing why we drafted them. I’m such a nerd that I love watching pre season
games because you get to see all the young guys and backups out there. This was even
more fun because you got to watch them run with the 1’s against the 1’s and they got the
job done. I don’t want to say all these losses were T.O.’s fault but he only plays 5 snaps
and we break a 10 game losing streak? In the words of Adam Pratt, I’m not sayin’, I’m
just sayin’.
So I was a little confused as to what to do this week. The blog is called
Nothisfaulttheylost.com but the Bengals won. Some people suggested I make a Not
his fault they won blog about the people who were bad in a victory but this blog was
created in the spirit of positivity in a bad time for Bengaldom. Since I live in Lockland
Ohio “The positive capitol of the world” we’ll just stick to the format. Riiight after I
bitch about the guy that almost lost it for us…
This week’s winner of the Not his Fault they Lost award could have been damn
near anyone on the field except Keiwan Ratliff. STOP SIGNING THIS GUY! You
can’t tell me there isn’t some college free agent that got cut from someone’s camp that
can’t play better than this guy at nickel back or safety. I get that he knows the system
or whatever but his play is painful, it always has been, it always will be. Go back to the
UFL and stay there.
Love,
Joel.
(terminate rant)
Back to the award. Now the obvious candidate for the award is Cedric Benson.
There is not a damn thing wrong with the way he ran. He is fast, agile and VOILENT.
I don’t think people realize how fast he is because of his size and strength but there is
a reason this guy went 4th overall. Last year he outran Ed Reed on an equal start for 20
yards. Not a lot of NFL players can say that. He still has all the tools he did coming
out, the only thing between him being a top 3 back in the world is he runs just a little too
far forward. This is his boon and his bane. He runs though every arm tackle and falls
forward because of it, but how many times have you seen him miss a touchdown because
someone just barely touches a leg and he stumbles about 9 yards before falling down
frustrated. That is nit picking though, awesome game. Yes the Brown’s front 7 was on
roller skates but he made some things happen on his own. He could probably trade mark
the run he bounces outside and makes a dude miss in the backfield for a clutch 3 yard
gain.
So he would be the obvious answer but I like to think we’re above that here at
NHFTL.com. Like how I try to legitimize the blog by saying ‘we’ like its more than
just me typing this up on the company dime? I thought about Bobby Williams, he’s still
a monster and can move damn near anyone in the run game. I thought about Caldwell
and Simpson but I think it was more because I was excited about seeing them than them
actually having a stand out performance. I hope you guys are ready for this because I’m
excited about this selection for a couple reasons. This week’s Not his Fault They Lost (Is
His Fault They Won?) goes to…Chris Pressley!
Now most fans are probably thinking, who the eff is Chris Pressley? Is he even a
Bengal? He is now! You might remember him last year from hard knocks when he came
into camp as a rookie free agent fullback out of Wisconsin. He was a thumper, perfect
for the Bengals system. The Bengals don’t ask their full backs to catch the ball, run the
ball or run screens (often), they just block. They run down hill and throw their body at
the first poor bastard they find. Granted there is a lot more technique at it than that but
for some reason the Bengals cut him out of camp. It was between him and De De Dorsey
and they made the wrong call. Pressley was snapped up by Tampa bay just like everyone
else the Bengals shouldn’t have cut (Corey Lynch and Dez Briscoe).
I was really excited that he was signed back to the team after he was cut from
Tampa’s active roster a few weeks ago and he wasted no time making an impact. For
some reason the Bengals decided not to keep a fullback this year despite being a run
oriented team and having the tight ends take the full back duties. Pressley showed
them why that was a bad idea after one week. After rewatching the game, every time
Pressley blocked a guy that person didn’t make the tackle. He was hitting the hole with
some authority. Full on, no fear, head of steam hits. I feel like he wasn’t all the way
incorporated into the offense yet though because they had him make some second tight
end blocks occasionally, like chopping down the guy with backside contain*.
I’m not saying our tight ends are bad blockers because they’re not. It just takes
a certain mentality and little bit of crazy to lead block in the NFL. Also when you
make a tight end play fullback it takes away from his focus of playing tight end. This is
especially important for a rookie like Gresham. This guy had a lot on his plate to begin
with. Also if you look at how the tight ends have lined up as a fullback this they were
much closer to the line than a traditional fullback would be. They look like a tight end
that motioned into the backfield.
Pressley shows up and the run game goes off, not a coincidence. He did a great
job, well done kid.
This week’s Not Your Fault They Lost Young Buck award goes to the same guy
that is has almost every week, Carlos Dunlap. I can’t help it, I’m sorry. He’s a beast. I
didn’t want to do it but he had two sacks and got the game ball. I didn’t know that until
I started following as many Bengals as I could on twitter. Most of it is total garbage
but occasionally you get a nugget like that. So that I don’t just keep naming Carlos the
young buck player of the week I’m going to make another award. It’s called the Being
Carlos Dunlap Award. The player that is most Carlos Dunlapy that week gets it. I think I
might have a new favorite player. People are having a really hard time stopping this guy.
So this week’s Being Carlos Dunlap Award goes to, Carlos Dunlap. Congrats.
I have a NHFTL.com first this week for the Surprisingly It Wasn’t His Fault They
Lost Award. It goes to coach, one that I’ve been calling for his head for the past 3 years.
He actually did a good job this week though. The award goes to one Mr. Bob “pass
happy” Bratkowski. He kept his finger off the pass trigger almost all game and stuck
with the run despite the passing game’s effectiveness.
Bob has driven me nuts since ’06. He has to be the least creative or deceptive
offensive coordinator in the league. He runs out of heavy formations, he passes out of
spread formations, he throws on first down because you see a lot of base defenses on first
down and if he gains nothing on first down he almost always runs on second to make 3rd
down shorter. After a few years of watching him I’m at least 85% accurate at predicting
run or pass based on formation and down and distance. That is a conservative estimate
too. When you take out Chad and T.O. for Caldwell and an extra lineman then motion
Caldwell in to block, what do you think the call is going to be? If I notice, I would think
that professional coaches and players can do even better.
He never runs into 8 man fronts and he always lets the defense dictate what he
will do. Mathematically most of these things make sense but there needs to be some sort
of deception going on for an offense to work properly (in most cases). Run out of 3 wide
or pass with heavy personnel, something like that. Also, this is a running team. The
offensive linemen are big maulers who were specifically picked for their run blocking
ability. The thing that has driven me crazy all year is Brat sending them out in the
shotgun on 3rd and 2 or less. You built your team to run into the defense and get at least
2 yards every play, let them do that! 3rd and 2 is not a passing down for the Cincinnati
Bengals of 2010 if you want to convert them. If you want to pass on 3rd and two at least
put Carson under center so there is a threat of a run. Lord knows Brat almost never runs
out of the shotgun.
Back to the reason he got the award this week. Brat has been far too pass happy
this year and he blames it on turnovers and being behind on the scoreboard. This week
was different. I don’t have the number in front of me but I can’t imagine the Bengals had
fewer than 50 runs. Almost everything he called worked. He called a nice conservative
game which is what the Bengals are built for. He shortened the game with his rushing
attack and let the defense lock it down for him. On the NFL rewind it has a little notch
for each play that happened that game so you can snap to it. After watching the Browns
at Bengals I watched a Lions game from earlier this season and there were at least 30%
more notches. A good running game goes a long way and with the Bengal’s power
attack you need to stick with it to get it going. Benson is a big back and the linemen are
big guys. You have to keep pounding at that defense and get them worn down. Good
job this week Brat. Now go away.
Few points I want to wrap up on Bratkowski before we move on. I’m really
excited to see what this offense can do with a new coordinator. He makes things hard on
everyone in the offense. By not putting any doubt in the defense’s mind about what he’s
going to do he makes the execution have to be perfect. He puts all of his passing game
on the skill of the players, never the scheme. The receivers get to the top of their route
and have to beat the guy across from him. Rarely does he run drag patterns, slants or
deep crosses where you can just run fast and let the play get you open. We have two fast
outside receivers now, let them use their speed to get open from time to time. He’s
reduced Carson to a pre determining QB because everything is so timing based. Carson
only reads half the field because he doesn’t have time to check back and see if anyone on
the back side is open. Carson has to figure out where he thinks the ball has to go before
the snap to avoid getting killed. A good run game helps this a lot but a new scheme
would tickle me.
Another loose end I want to tie up is when I said at the beginning that it’s not a
coincidence that T.O. went out and we won. I may have mentioned this before but it’s
not hat he isn’t a good receiver because he is. It is because Brat and Carson are so stoked
about him that they throw way too much. It doesn’t help that T.O. is an inconsistent run
blocker at best.
Last thing I want to mention is that little asterisk I have in there under Chris
Pressley’s section. I realize that not all of my readers are total football nerds so I want to
explain some of the more technical terms I use. I’ll probably still miss a bunch but this is
a start. “they had him make some second tight end blocks occasionally, like chopping
down the guy with backside contain*.”
On every running play the direction the run goes (offense’s left or right) is
considered play side and the direction it goes away from is considered backside. There is
always a guy on the defense, usually a defensive end or outside linebacker, whose job it
is to make sure that the running back doesn’t cut back against the grain. This is what I
was referring to as backside contain. It can be called different things in different
defensive scheme’s but it is the same thing. Now the guy furthest on the backside of the
line for the offense, usually a tight end, tackle or fullback, it is usually his job to try to get
this backside contain guy on the ground to open up a cut back. They do this by trying to
dive low on the defender’s legs, or chop block depending on how much lingo you know.
So this week’s winners again are Chris Pressley, Carlos Dunlap, Carlos Dunlap
and Bob Bratkowski. Also every Bengal’s fan that got to watch the game. What a treat.
Thank you for this one Bungs.
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