Bengals Circle the Wagon to Beat the Bills
Sunday was a, "Great day to be a Bengal fan," because not only did the Bengals win, but they did something they hadn't done in over ten years, defeat the Buffalo Bills.
Buffalo came in undefeated, fresh off a dramatic victory over the New England Patriots and more people were on the Bills bandwagon than ever before. Cincinnati was coming off their worst performance of the year, a 13-8 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, in which the offense was basically nonexistent. The woe's for the offense continued on Sunday, but the defense kept Cincinnati in the game.
The Bengals defense was excellent throughout and it's the main reason why the Bengals being 2-2. The defense forced Buffalo to go 3-and-out six times after the Bills had only seven 3-and-outs on 36 drives in the first three games.
Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was the second highest rated passer in the NFL coming in, but he was only 20/34 for 199-yds, no touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 75.5 on Sunday. The Bills were ranked third in the league in scoring, but they only had 273-yards of total offense and scored 13 points, excluding a defensive touchdown.
As the defense played inspired, rookie QB Andy Dalton and the offense were awful in the first half and I mean awful. Dalton's quarterback rating was in the teens, he threw two interceptions, one was returned for a touchdown. The offense could not throw the ball, or run it, they could not convert a third down and it looked like the Bengals were going to start the season 1-3 after being down 17-3 at the half. However, I don't know what happened in that locker room, but a different team appeared in the second half.
With the continued great play of the defense, Andy Dalton and the offense were able to eventually get it together. RB Cedric Benson ran the ball effectively, the line gave Dalton time to make throws deep down the field to WR A.J. Green and he found TE Jermaine Gresham for a 17-yard score. Dalton then added a 3-yd touchdown run with four minutes to go to tie the game.
The Cincinnati defense came up big again late in the fourth quarter to get the ball back for the offense and Dalton drove them down the field for a game winning 43-yd field goal by kicker Mike Nugent.
Sunday was a great win for the Bengals and it's a shame only 41,142 people were in attendance to see it. The fans may not go to games because of owner Mike Brown, which I totally understand, but this city still cares about this team. No one around the country is talking about the Bengals knocking off the previously unbeaten Bills, but they should be. Cincinnati may not get much national media attention, positive attention that is, but the fans in Cincinnati sure are paying attention despite the poor attendance.
After four games, the Bengals may not as bad as people think, in fact they could be 4-0. The defense is ranked in the top ten in almost every defensive category and they go into Week 5 as the top rated unit in the NFL. QB Andy Dalton and the Bengals offense are quickly growing up and as rookie WR A.J. Green said of his quarterback, "He's a young quarterback. It's all about how you finish. The great ones finish, and he's going to be a great one."
Both Dalton and Green have the potential to be great and so does this football team. Yes, I said great.
It's going to take time, but the Bengals are slowly, but surely, getting better. So, football fans and the national media better start paying attention.
A trip to Jacksonville is up next for Cincinnati and then Indianapolis at home before the bye week, so the Bengals could realistically go into the bye 4-2. Who would have expected that? Who-Dey.
"HOLY CRAP" PERFORMERS
RB Matt Forte, Bears: 25 car, 205-yds, TD. Big day on the ground from Forte helped the Bears get to 2-2 with a win over Cam Newton and the Panthers.
WR Devin Hester, Bears: Teams still haven't figured out that you don't kick it to Devin Hester. A 69-yd punt return for a touchdown by Hester was the 11th of his career, giving him the most punt returns for touchdowns in the history of the NFL.
QB Cam Newton and WR Steve Smith, Panthers: The Panthers are a much improve team from last season, despite a 1-3 record. QB Cam Newton, 27/46, 374-yds, TD, INT; 8 car, 35-yds, 2 TD, continues to impress the league as a rookie and he has a lot of chemistry with WR Steve Smith, 8 rec, 181-yds. If the Carolina defense can get it together, the Panthers will win some games.
QB Matt Hasselbeck, Titans: Hasselbeck was only 10/20, but his ten completions were good for 220 yards and 3 TD, leading Tennessee into a tie for first with Houston in the AFC South.
Detroit Lions: For the second straight week the Lions faced a huge deficit and came back to win it. This week, down 27-3 in the third quarter at Dallas, Detroit came back in large part to three Tony Romo interceptions. Two of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns and QB Matthew Stafford connected with WR Calvin Johnson for two late scores keeping the Lions undefeated.
RB Ryan Torain, Redskins: 19 car, 135-yds, TD. How many people had Washington going 3-1 after four games with Rex Grossman at quarterback? Not many I'm guessing.
RB Frank Gore, 49ers: 15 car, 127-yds, TD. Gore lead the charge as the 49ers came from 20 down to beat the Eagles.
TE Jimmy Graham, Saints: 10 rec, 132-yds, TD. Cannot stress enough the importance of the tight end position in the NFL and Jimmy Graham is quickly becoming one of the best.
RB Arian Foster, Texans: 30 car, 155-yds, TD. Foster had been hampered by injury to start the season, but he had a breakout game Sunday. The most impressive fact was that Foster did it against the Pittsburgh Steelers defense.
RB Beanie Wells, Cardinals: 27 car, 138-yds, 3 TD. Wells had his best game of the season, but it was not enough as Arizona fell to New York.
WR Hakeem Nicks, Giants: 10 rec, 162-yds, TD. A 29-yd touchdown pass from QB Eli Manning to Nicks gave the Giants the lead for good with 2:39 to go in the fourth quarter at Arizona.
QB Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers: Rodgers made NFL history on Sunday with his performance against Denver. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Rodgers became the first player to ever pass for 400-yds, throw 4 TD and rush for 2 TD in one game.
Green Bay put up 507-yds of offense and scored 49 points to blow out Denver and move to 4-0. Only the Lions and Packers remain unbeaten and they meet for the first time in Week 12 on Thanksgiving Day.
WR Wes Welker, Patriots: 9 rec, 158-yds, TD. Through four games Welker leads the league, by a wide margin, with 40 receptions and 616 yards receiving.
Jets/Ravens Defenses: It was a defense struggle, but the score sure doesn't reflect it. The Ravens defeated the Jets 34-17 and all but one of the five touchdowns was scored by the defense and special teams, which tied an NFL record.
New York had a 107-yd kickoff return by Joe McKnight and David Harris returned an interception 35-yds for a score. Baltimore's Jameel McClain and Jarrod Johnson returned two fumbles (6-yds and 26-yds) for scores and Lardarius Webb took a Mark Sanchez pick 73-yds to the house. The 51 points scored by the two teams was the most in NFL history in a game that only featured one offensive touchdown.
WR Pierre Garon, Colts: 2 rec, 146-yds, 2 TD. Garson only had two catches in the game, but when they both go for a touchdown, that's not too bad. However, the Colts are still 0-4 without Peyton Manning.
"C'MON MAN" PERFORMANCES
Dallas Cowboys: Tony Romo and the Cowboys had a comfortable 27-3 lead with 12:23 to go in the third quarter, but then panic set in. Romo had a great first half, including two touchdown passes to WR Dez Bryant, but in the second half, two of his three interceptions were returned for touchdowns.
The Cowboys eventually lost their 24 point lead after two Calvin Johnson touchdown receptions and fell to the Lions 34-30. Romo has been praised the last two weeks for leading Dallas to victories with a fractured rib, but the criticism will certainly return this week.
Philadelphia Eagles: The "Dream Team" is having a nightmare. 49ers RB Frank Gore could not be stopped, missed tackles on defense and two missed field goals by rookie kicker Alex Henery, resulted in the Eagles losing a 23-3 lead with 9:30 to go in the third quarter.
Everyone, including myself, had Philadelphia going to the Super Bowl, but that doesn't even seem realistic at 1-3. Their defense has been getting gashed in the fourth quarter, the tackling is terrible, the pass rush is inconsistent, injuries are piling up, including QB Michael Vick, who is having a hard time staying in for a full game. Someone in the locker room has to step up and get this team together before things get worse and the season is lost.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Twice already this season, the Steeler defense has allowed a 100-yard rusher and that never happens. The offensive line is terrible, Ben Roethlisberger is getting sacked left and right, and he is not helping matters by holding on to the ball far too long. Whether it's any aging team or just poor luck, the Steelers need to turn things around Sunday against Tennessee before Baltimore runs away with the division.
Miami Dolphins: They are 0-4, Chad Henne and Matt Moore both have had time at quarterback, neither with very much success and with the bye week coming up, head coach Tony Sparano might be looking for a new job. Miami may have a good chance of winning the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes come April.
QB Mark Sanchez, Jets:11/35, 119-yds, INT, 31.4% completion percentage, Sanchez also fumbled four times and lost three of them.
QB Joe Flacco, Ravens: 10/31, 163-yds, INT, 32.3% completion percentage and Flacco lost a fumble. I've said it once and I will continue to say it, the Ravens and Jets will go as far as Flacco and Sanchez take them. Flacco got lucky that Sanchez and the Jets offense was flat out awful Sunday night, because that will not happen every week. Both these guys need to figure it out and fast.
Buffalo came in undefeated, fresh off a dramatic victory over the New England Patriots and more people were on the Bills bandwagon than ever before. Cincinnati was coming off their worst performance of the year, a 13-8 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, in which the offense was basically nonexistent. The woe's for the offense continued on Sunday, but the defense kept Cincinnati in the game.
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| DE Michael Johnson and the Bengals defense shut down one of the league's most prolific offense's on Sunday. (AP Photo/David Kohl) |
Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was the second highest rated passer in the NFL coming in, but he was only 20/34 for 199-yds, no touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 75.5 on Sunday. The Bills were ranked third in the league in scoring, but they only had 273-yards of total offense and scored 13 points, excluding a defensive touchdown.
As the defense played inspired, rookie QB Andy Dalton and the offense were awful in the first half and I mean awful. Dalton's quarterback rating was in the teens, he threw two interceptions, one was returned for a touchdown. The offense could not throw the ball, or run it, they could not convert a third down and it looked like the Bengals were going to start the season 1-3 after being down 17-3 at the half. However, I don't know what happened in that locker room, but a different team appeared in the second half.
With the continued great play of the defense, Andy Dalton and the offense were able to eventually get it together. RB Cedric Benson ran the ball effectively, the line gave Dalton time to make throws deep down the field to WR A.J. Green and he found TE Jermaine Gresham for a 17-yard score. Dalton then added a 3-yd touchdown run with four minutes to go to tie the game.
The Cincinnati defense came up big again late in the fourth quarter to get the ball back for the offense and Dalton drove them down the field for a game winning 43-yd field goal by kicker Mike Nugent.
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| A.J. Green and the Bengals are 2-2 and they could be celebrating a lot more wins this season. (AP Photo/Tony Tribble) |
After four games, the Bengals may not as bad as people think, in fact they could be 4-0. The defense is ranked in the top ten in almost every defensive category and they go into Week 5 as the top rated unit in the NFL. QB Andy Dalton and the Bengals offense are quickly growing up and as rookie WR A.J. Green said of his quarterback, "He's a young quarterback. It's all about how you finish. The great ones finish, and he's going to be a great one."
Both Dalton and Green have the potential to be great and so does this football team. Yes, I said great.
It's going to take time, but the Bengals are slowly, but surely, getting better. So, football fans and the national media better start paying attention.
A trip to Jacksonville is up next for Cincinnati and then Indianapolis at home before the bye week, so the Bengals could realistically go into the bye 4-2. Who would have expected that? Who-Dey.
"HOLY CRAP" PERFORMERS
RB Matt Forte, Bears: 25 car, 205-yds, TD. Big day on the ground from Forte helped the Bears get to 2-2 with a win over Cam Newton and the Panthers.
WR Devin Hester, Bears: Teams still haven't figured out that you don't kick it to Devin Hester. A 69-yd punt return for a touchdown by Hester was the 11th of his career, giving him the most punt returns for touchdowns in the history of the NFL.
QB Cam Newton and WR Steve Smith, Panthers: The Panthers are a much improve team from last season, despite a 1-3 record. QB Cam Newton, 27/46, 374-yds, TD, INT; 8 car, 35-yds, 2 TD, continues to impress the league as a rookie and he has a lot of chemistry with WR Steve Smith, 8 rec, 181-yds. If the Carolina defense can get it together, the Panthers will win some games.
QB Matt Hasselbeck, Titans: Hasselbeck was only 10/20, but his ten completions were good for 220 yards and 3 TD, leading Tennessee into a tie for first with Houston in the AFC South.
Detroit Lions: For the second straight week the Lions faced a huge deficit and came back to win it. This week, down 27-3 in the third quarter at Dallas, Detroit came back in large part to three Tony Romo interceptions. Two of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns and QB Matthew Stafford connected with WR Calvin Johnson for two late scores keeping the Lions undefeated.
RB Ryan Torain, Redskins: 19 car, 135-yds, TD. How many people had Washington going 3-1 after four games with Rex Grossman at quarterback? Not many I'm guessing.
RB Frank Gore, 49ers: 15 car, 127-yds, TD. Gore lead the charge as the 49ers came from 20 down to beat the Eagles.
TE Jimmy Graham, Saints: 10 rec, 132-yds, TD. Cannot stress enough the importance of the tight end position in the NFL and Jimmy Graham is quickly becoming one of the best.
RB Arian Foster, Texans: 30 car, 155-yds, TD. Foster had been hampered by injury to start the season, but he had a breakout game Sunday. The most impressive fact was that Foster did it against the Pittsburgh Steelers defense.
RB Beanie Wells, Cardinals: 27 car, 138-yds, 3 TD. Wells had his best game of the season, but it was not enough as Arizona fell to New York.
WR Hakeem Nicks, Giants: 10 rec, 162-yds, TD. A 29-yd touchdown pass from QB Eli Manning to Nicks gave the Giants the lead for good with 2:39 to go in the fourth quarter at Arizona.
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| Aaron Rodgers could not be stopped on Sunday, scoring 6 TD in a 49-23 win over Denver. (Photo Courtesy Green Bay Press Gazette) |
Green Bay put up 507-yds of offense and scored 49 points to blow out Denver and move to 4-0. Only the Lions and Packers remain unbeaten and they meet for the first time in Week 12 on Thanksgiving Day.
WR Wes Welker, Patriots: 9 rec, 158-yds, TD. Through four games Welker leads the league, by a wide margin, with 40 receptions and 616 yards receiving.
Jets/Ravens Defenses: It was a defense struggle, but the score sure doesn't reflect it. The Ravens defeated the Jets 34-17 and all but one of the five touchdowns was scored by the defense and special teams, which tied an NFL record.
New York had a 107-yd kickoff return by Joe McKnight and David Harris returned an interception 35-yds for a score. Baltimore's Jameel McClain and Jarrod Johnson returned two fumbles (6-yds and 26-yds) for scores and Lardarius Webb took a Mark Sanchez pick 73-yds to the house. The 51 points scored by the two teams was the most in NFL history in a game that only featured one offensive touchdown.
WR Pierre Garon, Colts: 2 rec, 146-yds, 2 TD. Garson only had two catches in the game, but when they both go for a touchdown, that's not too bad. However, the Colts are still 0-4 without Peyton Manning.
"C'MON MAN" PERFORMANCES
Dallas Cowboys: Tony Romo and the Cowboys had a comfortable 27-3 lead with 12:23 to go in the third quarter, but then panic set in. Romo had a great first half, including two touchdown passes to WR Dez Bryant, but in the second half, two of his three interceptions were returned for touchdowns.
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| QB Tony Romo can only stand on the sideline and watch, as the clock runs out Sunday in a loss to Detroit. (Photo Courtesy The Dallas Morning News) |
Philadelphia Eagles: The "Dream Team" is having a nightmare. 49ers RB Frank Gore could not be stopped, missed tackles on defense and two missed field goals by rookie kicker Alex Henery, resulted in the Eagles losing a 23-3 lead with 9:30 to go in the third quarter.
Everyone, including myself, had Philadelphia going to the Super Bowl, but that doesn't even seem realistic at 1-3. Their defense has been getting gashed in the fourth quarter, the tackling is terrible, the pass rush is inconsistent, injuries are piling up, including QB Michael Vick, who is having a hard time staying in for a full game. Someone in the locker room has to step up and get this team together before things get worse and the season is lost.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Twice already this season, the Steeler defense has allowed a 100-yard rusher and that never happens. The offensive line is terrible, Ben Roethlisberger is getting sacked left and right, and he is not helping matters by holding on to the ball far too long. Whether it's any aging team or just poor luck, the Steelers need to turn things around Sunday against Tennessee before Baltimore runs away with the division.
Miami Dolphins: They are 0-4, Chad Henne and Matt Moore both have had time at quarterback, neither with very much success and with the bye week coming up, head coach Tony Sparano might be looking for a new job. Miami may have a good chance of winning the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes come April.
QB Mark Sanchez, Jets:11/35, 119-yds, INT, 31.4% completion percentage, Sanchez also fumbled four times and lost three of them.
QB Joe Flacco, Ravens: 10/31, 163-yds, INT, 32.3% completion percentage and Flacco lost a fumble. I've said it once and I will continue to say it, the Ravens and Jets will go as far as Flacco and Sanchez take them. Flacco got lucky that Sanchez and the Jets offense was flat out awful Sunday night, because that will not happen every week. Both these guys need to figure it out and fast.
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