Bengals Defense

[Bengal Mania]

Easy, fellas, I'm not going loco and buying airline tickets to Superbowl City.

 

I'm just making a few positive observations, that's all:

 

Defense

1) Odom got the five sacks, but Geathers put the hardest hit on Rodgers on a pass he got off. He was wobbling off the field after it. I'm just glad the Bengals finally get somebody "near" the QB, that's a big change.

2) 2nd hardest hit was Roy Williams on a TE late. He went off under his own power, but to the wrong side of the field. (Of course, for every lick Roy W puts on someone, he watches a few others make significant catches.......but I'm trying to stay positive)

3) Maualuga will be as advertised. Two forced fumbles, usually near the ball (sometimes catching up after a missed assignment, but that's part of starting as a rookie)

4) Like Peko at DT, like Pat Sims's motor....wonder if Tank Johnson is still on the team????

5) Safety play is poor so far (Crocker is making way to many penalties), but I really like the CBs (Hall and Joseph). An injury to one of them will be devastating.

6) DEF played pretty good last week too, except for one weird play. I doubt if any of you heard about that one?

7) While they still aren't accustom to taking charge of games (made yesterday's finish interesting as well), they are fun to watch finally, and it sure looks to me like they want to learn.

 

Special Teams

1) Kevin Huber - P is already worth the draft pick (5th round). Damn, he hits it far, and pretty good a directional to boot. And a great save on a bad Extra Point snap (what the hell is wrong with our long snapper) too. He's new to that role, so I was impressed.

2) Punt Returns by Quan Cosby (no relation to Bill, but I understands he likes Jell-O Pudding before games)......I think this is the first year the Bengals actually have put someone back to return punts. I might be wrong about that, I was looking at average punt returns over the last 10 years, and I just assumed it. (It's not just the return guy either, it's an attitude the Bengals have sorely lacked, I hope it keeps up)

 

Offense

1) I thought the Bengals (hope for) return to the playoffs rested squarely on Palmer's arm. I was wrong. If the DEF continues to play well (and, gulp, even improve), then Palmer needs to stay out of the way. He either makes too many bad reads or tries to force too much. Having a sh!tty defense promotes this. If their Def improves, and Palmers gets PATIENT, I think he will be a ProBowler again (or close enough to it to satisfy me) by waiting for his shots

2) You guys who aren't in Cincinnati don't realize (understandably) that Benson is a different cat. He was in Cincy for EVERY DAY of offseason workouts, he runs hard as hell. Whether it's a chip on his shoulder, or whether he "woke up", I couldn't care less. I just hope he runs like this for this year and next. A couple more games like this and the deep routes to O-so-Nice-O and Chris Henry will become available.

3) O-Line is still a concern. It will help if Andre the Giant Blob comes back from his broken foot and contributes. But I'm hoping everyone else stays healthy.

 

An excellent win considering what happened last week. And despite 2 turnovers, and 13 penalties (both were more than the Packers had, although they had lots of mistakes too).

 

Gotta go get the tattoo put back on my chest (the one I had removed last week)

[Capt. Stanky]

Very big win, and really a must win with Pitt. coming to town next week. I've been a Bengals fan for as long as I can remember ('83). I don't recall a defense like this since the superbowl years. Rey and Roy have given our defense a swagger that has sorely been missing really since David Fultcher. Odom is playing out of his mind right now. 7 sacks after 2 games. He put on 20lbs in the off season and appears to changed from more of a speed guy to a power guy.

 

I've been a Bengals fan for far too long to get too optomistic. If the offense improves this team is going to knock off some very good teams this year.

[The Irish Doggy]

When was the last time you saw a Bengal RB break 3 tackles running sideways on 3rd and 2? Benson, Benson, he's our man!

 

Regarding the D, well its pretty amazing what happens when you have some guys stay healthy and out of trouble with the law. We might have seen some of this if not for O'Dummy Thurman and David broke-neck Pollack.