The Bengals played their best game of the young season on Sunday, but the result was still all too familiar. They fell 26-23 in overtime to the Giants, and they were again victimized by the kinds of mistakes winning teams do not make. There are no moral victories in the NFL, and I am not getting my hopes up because of this game. I will admit that I was flipping between this and the Ryder Cup on Sunday, but here are some things I noticed:
- Welcome back Carson Palmer. Palmer looked much better in week three after looking clueless the first two games. He did a much better job of handing pressure and moving around in the pocket. He was still sacked six times, and he played a portion of the game
with blood flowing from his previously broken nose. Despite all of that, he re-connected with TJ Houshmandzadeh who had 12 catches for 146 yards and a touchdown. It was a good sign to see those two getting back on the same page, and it should mean better things out of the passing game in the following weeks. Palmer still struggles with his awareness of the play clock, as the Bengals took a league leading third delay of game penalty and had to waste a timeout or two in other instances when the play clock is running down. After the one delay of game penalty, Palmer looked shocked. It was as if he had no idea the play clock was running low. I understand that he has to read the defense, and he is probably very concerned about the rush considering the amount of pressure the d-line was putting on him, but he still has to be more aware of the play clock. The blame for these penalties falls partly on Palmer, but also partly on the coaching staff. They need to do a better job of getting plays in quicker so that Palmer has the necessary time to go through his pre-snap reads. There needs to be a concentrated group effort on both parts to eliminate these penalties in the future. - Marvin Lewis has never been able to manage the clock, and it does not look like he will ever learn how to. As the Bengals were driving late in the fourth quarter, Palmer completed a pass leaving them with a 3rd and one well within Shayne Graham's field goal
range. Apparently, Palmer was supposed to spike the ball to get the field goal unit on the field. Well, a spike would have made it fourth and one, and it would have meant that the Bengals would waste their final timeout since they cannot carry it over into overtime. Palmer was signaled to run another play, and they let a good 15 seconds run off the clock while they were calling the play at the line. Palmer completed a pass to Antonio Chatman to get them down to the six, and they used their final timeout, stopping the clock with four seconds left. At this point, they had to kick the field goal since there was time for only one more play. They should have used the timeout prior to the 3rd and one play. They would have saved around 15 seconds, and if they completed a pass there to get the first down, they would have had plenty of time to get to the line and spike the ball, leaving them with enough time to kick the field goal, and probably enough time to take a shot or two into the end zone. Afterward, Lewis said that if they called the timeout on 3rd and one, they would have had to kick the field goal right then because there was not enough time. Obviously, Lewis does not grasp how the clock works, or the fact that they could have spiked the ball after getting the first down. These types of decisions are why the Bengals do not maximize the clock, and it keeps them from running extra plays that other teams are able to execute.
- Last season, people were wondering how Chinedum Ndukwe fell to the seventh round. This year Ndukwe is showing those people why he was a seventh rounder. For the second straight week Ndukwe whiffed on a draw play, resulting in a big gain for the opposition. Ndukwe has great energy and a great head on his shoulders, but at the end of the day, he is not the best football player out there. He is a valuable special teamer and back up safety, but if you are relying on him to play significant snaps on defense, then his weaknesses are going to be exposed on a much greater level.
- The defensive line failed to get any pressure on Eli Manning all game long, and this is a trend that has been all too familiar in years past. The good teams in the NFL put pressure on opposing quarterbacks because any quarterback will be successful when given all day to throw. Part of this problem starts with the defensive tackles who are never able to collapse the pocket, which would prevent the quarterback from stepping into his throws. John Thornton has been a constant at that position for the last several seasons, and I can still find no reason why he remains a starter on this team. He routinely gets blown off the ball, and he rarely gets a push into the backfield on passing plays. Until this team gets top notch defensive tackles, fans can expect to see more of the same.
- Bob Bratkowski did a better job of opening up the playbook during the course of the game, including a flea-flicker that resulted in a completed pass to Chad Johnson. The problem is that after Palmer shredded the Giants' secondary in the fourth quarter, Bratkowski called
running plays on first and second down in overtime, leaving them with third and long. Third and long is never a good situation to be in, and Bratkowski's play calling put them there when the game was on the line. With the passing game finally clicking, he took the ball out of Palmer's hands, and essentially into the hands of the offensive line who are still struggling to open up running lanes for Chris Perry. Perry showed flashes, but he wound up with 74 yards on 20 carries which is still under four yards a pop. Again, this is an instance of the coaching holding a team back, a team who should be playing with the greatest sense of urgency possible.
- Antonio Chatman made his Bengals debut on Sunday. Actually he has been on the team the last few years, but his play during that time has been so forgettable that some people may have forgotten he was even on the team. Chatman had six catches for 70 yards, and it seemed like they ran plays they utilized his quickness and agility. Part of this again falls on play calling. You cannot have Chatman running the same routes TJ or Chris Henry would run. Henry, who is the team's third receiver when not in jail, is a totally different player than Chatman. Why would you have Chatman running routes designed for Henry? Chatman had been targeted on deep routes in the first two games, but that is not his strength. He does much better at getting the ball in space, and letting him make a defender miss to pick up additional yardage. It is all about catering your play calling to your personnel, and it something I rarely see the Bengals do. Chatman should be used more like a Peter Warrick (slot receiver, get him the ball quickly), but in the past they have used him more like a Chris Henry. Hopefully the Bengals continue to utilize his strengths and quit trying to make him do things he just can't do.
- This defense has been much maligned in the past, and their weaknesses were exposed again on Sunday. Their biggest weakness is their inability to get a stop when they really need it. They let the Giants go right down the field near the end of the fourth quarter to take the lead, and they allowed 4.7 yards/carry. They did a good job of shutting down Brandon Jacobs, but they again allowed a big play on a draw by Derrick Ward that went for 22 yards. Ward finished with 80 yards on nine carries, and the Bengals inability to stop him helped keep Giants' drives alive. Someone on the defense needs to step up and make some game-changing plays, otherwise, this team will continue to let winnable games slip away.
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