Ugly Does It

The Bengals' 23-20 victory over the Browns yesterday was not one of their best performances of the year. Carson Palmer struggled as much as he has this season going 13-27 for 95 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. Chris Perry was forced to leave the game with what appeared to be a serious injury to his ankle. The defense continued play their bend but don't break style against a Browns offense that has been towards the bottom of the league all year. Chad Johnson had by far his worst outing with only 2 catches for 22 yards. Given all this, the Bengals found a way to get the job done and escape with a win on a game ending field goal by Shane Graham.

This is the difference between this years Bengals and previous years teams. This team knows how to win ugly. They played poorly yesterday. They made mistakes that should have cost them the game. They persevered and hung around, and in doing so, they gave themselves a chance to win the game in the closing seconds. It goes to show how special this team can be if they want to. On a day where San Diego lost at home to Miami and Denver nearly lost to Baltimore, the Bengals showed that they can win without their best stuff. They have played toe to toe with the league's best team in an offensive shootout, and they have grinded out victories by riding the horse that is Rudi Johnson. In the playoffs, it is important for a team to know that it can win a game by playing different styles. The Bengals have proven that, and on Sunday, they showed the ugly side to winning.

Some other key points to yesterday's game:

• It will be interesting to see how much playing time Shaun Smith gets when Bryan Robinson returns from injury. Smith has played very well the past two games, including 3 solo tackles and numerous disruptions to the Browns O-Line on Sunday.
• John Thornton should be the leading candidate to ride the pine. He is constantly blown off the ball, and his offsides on 4th and short yesterday was inexcusable. That is the type of mistake even a rookie should not make.
• After showing some promise last season, Kiewan Ratliffe has done nothing as a punt returner this year. He is averaging only 5.3 yards per return with a long only 13 this season.
• David Pollack is slowly improving from week to week. Time will tell whether he was worth the first round pick used on him, but it is nice to see him making some plays. This may have something to do with the Bengals using him more at the defensive end position which is where he took a decent number of snaps yesterday.
• Odell Thurman continues to impress and has to be a front runner for defensive rookie of the year. He had 8 more tackles and a half sack yesterday, and his energy seems to be a boost for the defense as a whole.
• The Bengals offense made the plays that it needed to which was helpful on the game winning drive that consisted of 12 plays. They only gained 43 yards on those 12 plays, but they were tough yards that got them into field goal range.
• Chad Johnson has proven himself as one of the top receivers in the league, and that was evident with the two penalties he drew on the final drive. Both calls were borderline, but great players will get the benefit of the doubt in those situations.
• Even though Johnson is one of the top receivers in the league, I would go to TJ Houshmandzadeh if I needed a tough catch for tough yards. That ball that Johnson dropped late in the game could have been costly and should have been caught. It was the type of play that Houshmandzadeh would make.
• Deltha O'Neal added to his league leading interception total by picking off Brown's QB Charlie Frye, but he dropped an interception on the goaline later in the game that allowed the Browns to kick the game tying field goal. Still, his ability to be in the right spot at the right time has been critical to the defense.
• Tab Perry added a few more quality kick returns to his total. With his size and strength, he should be a great weapon both at returner and receiver for years to come.