As in, Where dey defense?
What a pathetic display by the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday. Less than a week after after praising them on this very site for a job well done, the Bengals went out and stunk up the joint in a 51-45 loss in Cleveland.
The game was a joke. Carson Palmer threw for 400 yards and six touchdowns and the Bengals still lost!
Now the one game of the first four that should have been a gimmee is a loss, and the Bengals (1-1) will have to somehow win at Seattle and/or at home against unstoppable New England to remain at or above .500.
People jump to conclusions too much in the NFL. A lot can happen from week to week, hence the solid performance against the Ravens followed by a dud against a team that looked like a junior high squad the week before. Therefore, it’s possible the Bengals can get things tightened up and play better on D, but I’m not sure they can fix it completely. They’ve been exposed and other teams will try to do the same thing to them.
You think Sean Alexander didn’t see Jamal Lewis run all over that defense? Or that Matt Hasselbeck doesn’t believe he’s 10 times the quarterback as Derek Anderson?
Add in the fact the Seahawks lost to Arizona last week and it’s going to be a match up of two desperate teams Sunday.
The glass half-full side of me wants to rationalize it like this: My friend Ben put it great when he said that if a bad team is allowed to hang around they start to believe they can do the job. The Bengals were in that spot a ton in the 1990s. These good teams would roll into town thinking it would be an easy win and all of a sudden they had a dogfight on their hands because they thought they’d roll their helmets out on the field and win.
Even in the first quarter when the Bengals had established a lead it was apparent they weren’t going in for the kill. Rudi Johnson’s fumble gave the Browns and opening and they took it.
Credit to the Browns for the win. Hopefully it never goes down like that again!
NFL Picks
Well, another week in the cellar for me. I don’t really like the view from down here, but what are you going to do? My distaste for the Steelers cost me a win. The fact I thought Carolina actually had a team has cost me two wins.
Here are the results from Week Two:
Brian wins again despite a tie with Jessica. The Monday Night point total was 32 and Brian had 33, while Jessica had 34.
Brian 11-6
Jessica 10-6
The CPA 9-7
Big Game 9-7
Seth 8-8
Oh, and latecomer Diesel submitted his picks in my comments section and actually did better than any of us (11-5). He didn’t pick last week so he’s not in the official contest, but I’ll put his record up against the rest of us. We’ll see if it takes more than a week for him to catch my win total!
Overall standings look like this:
Brian 26-8
Jessica 23-9
Big Game 21-11
The CPA 19-13
Seth 17-15
Diesel 11-5
Week Three
San Diego (1-1) at Green Bay (2-0)
Minnesota (1-1) at Kansas City (0-2)
Buffalo (0-2) at New England (2-0)
Miami (0-2) at NY Jets (0-2)
Detroit (2-0) at Philadelphia (0-2)
San Francisco (2-0) at Pittsburgh (2-0)
St. Louis (0-2) at Tampa Bay (1-1)
Arizona (1-1) at Baltimore (1-1)
Indianapolis (2-0) at Houston (2-0)
Jacksonville (1-1) at Denver (2-0)
Cleveland (1-1) at Oakland (0-2)
Cincinnati (1-1) at Seattle (1-1)
Carolina (1-1) at Atlanta (0-2)
NY Giants (0-2) at Washington (2-0)
Dallas (2-0) at Chicago (1-1)
Monday
Tennessee (1-1) at New Orleans (0-2) Pts.______
Submit your picks through the comments section.
Picks
Jessica
Green Bay (2-0)
Kansas City (0-2)
New England (2-0)
NY Jets (0-2)
Philadelphia (0-2)
Pittsburgh (2-0)
St. Louis (0-2)
Baltimore (1-1)
Indianapolis (2-0)
Jacksonville (1-1)
Cleveland (1-1)
Cincinnati (1-1)
Carolina (1-1)
NY Giants (0-2)
Chicago (1-1)
New Orleans (0-2) (Pts. 31)
The CPA
Green Bay
Minnesota
New England
Miami
Detroit
San Fransico
Tampa Bay
Baltimore
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Oakland
Seattle
Carolina
Washington
Chicago
Tennessee (34)
Brian
Going for a three-peat:
Chargers
Vikings
Patriots
Jets
Eagles
Steelers
Rams
Ravens
Colts
Broncos
Raiders
Seahawks
Panthers
Redskins
Bears
Saints: 22
Big Game
San Diego
Minnesota
New England
Jets
Philly
Pitt
St. Louis
Baltimore
Indy
Jacksonville
Cleveland
Cincinnati
Carolina
Giants
Dallas
New Orleans 43
Seth
San Diego
Minnesota
New England
NY Jets
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay
Baltimore
Indianapolis
Denver
Oakland
Cincinnati
Carolina
NY Giants
Dallas
New Orleans (37)
September 18th, 2007 at 7:48 am
San Diego
Minnesota
New England
NY Jets
Detroit
San Francisco
Tampa Bay
Baltimore
Indianapolis
Denver
Cleveland
Cincinnati
Carolina
Washington
Chicago
New Orleans PTS: 35
September 19th, 2007 at 4:47 am
Seahakws will take down the Bengals this week….last week the Bengal defense showed that no matter how good the offense is….Defense wins games and it is going to be another 8-8 or worse season for Bengal land!
Enjoy the late game!!
September 19th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
I see Cincy winning this week. I can’t explain or excuse the d’s performance last week, but I don’t think Seattle is that good, and Cincy has to be motivated to play better.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:02 am
Bengals will be lucky to win 8 games this year…or is Derek Anderson really as good as advertised. I think the sunshine scooter Lee Corso could have run thru some of those holes the Browns line was opening up. The sign it will be a long year in Cincy is when Braylon Edwards unnecessarily dives for a catch and then slip ‘n’ slides the last five yards into the endzone without being touched. That and Jamal Lewis goes practically untouched the whole game. I think a more practical matchup will be Duke Women’s Lacrosse vs. Cincinnati. At least then the Bengals might be able to force a 2nd half punt. Even if they play well this week they are still the Bungles, play great one day, play like dogdirt the next. See y’all next year, maybe we can pick up some more worthless defensive free agents and more criminal draft picks. Maybe we’ll even get a new defensive coordinator, that’s all I want for Christmas.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:59 am
Wow Diesel. From texting me 10 times during a preseason game to taking the plunge off the ledge? That’s not like you!
Stick with this team. We have to have hope that it learned from dropping the games to Tampa, Denver and Pittsburgh last season, games they had in the bag.
That said, these next two games are as tough as they come. I felt happy about a 2-2 start when we had beaten the Ravens and were about to beat the Browns. Now they’ll have to win at Seattle, always a tough place to play, or at home against the cheating Patriots to be at .500.
September 20th, 2007 at 9:21 am
This is all guesswork
green bay over sd
the chefs beats minnesota
new england sneaks by buffalo
miami jumps over the jets
detroit eat up the eagles
9′ers steal one from pittsburgh
tampa arches over st. louis
arizona fly by baltimore
indianapolis kicks houston
denver buck jacksonville
cleveland raids oakland
seattle puts the bengals to rest
atlanta beats carolina
giants upset washington
chicago claw over dallas