New England 43 Cincinnati 17

[hrcarrier]

Final.

[GrizzlyAdams]

[Bengal Maniac]

I am not surprised at all. The defense was awful. Very 90ish. AD was off early and Green could not shake Revis. Bottom line is the Bengals just got their butts kicked. As others have said in previous threads, it is really hard to take them seriously when the lights come on and they perform like tonight. Most teams have games like this along the way, it's just the Bengals are when they get national exposure.

 

The difference between 1 & 32 in this league is just not that great. I mean, the Raiders played the Pats 16-9 in Foxborough.

[hrcarrier]

3 takeaways from this game, which nearly any Bengals fan should know:

 

1) If A.J. Green is a non-factor, the offense will struggle.

2) If Burfict is not playing, the defense is not nearly as good.

3) The Bengals are no better than what they have been over the past few seasons.

[Voice of Reason]

There is only one thing that is consistent in the Bengals failure in big games and prime time over the past 10 years - Marvin Lewis. He is the only person who has been part of all of it. Tonight was a huge failure by the coaching staff. It is on them more than the players IMO.

[Bengal Maniac]

If I were Carolina, I wouldn't even watch the film from this game and concentrate on the Bengals other three games. You can absolutely get lulled into thinking the Bengals are that awful. I would imagine the Bengals will be buzz saws next week.

 

After watching everyone play 4 games, I think it will be a Seahawk-Charger Super Bowl. Nobody is playing better than Rivers and Wilson right now.

[D-Rob]

What is it with this team and prime time games?

[UKMustangFan]

In 10 prime time games the Bengals D has allowed 150+ yards rushing 6 times

That's why they struggle.

[Jim Schue]

If I were Carolina, I wouldn't even watch the film from this game and concentrate on the Bengals other three games. You can absolutely get lulled into thinking the Bengals are that awful. I would imagine the Bengals will be buzz saws next week.

 

After watching everyone play 4 games, I think it will be a Seahawk-Charger Super Bowl. Nobody is playing better than Rivers and Wilson right now.

 

That would be wise. This game is no indictment of how good the Bengals are. They're a damned good team. This was a no-win situation created by the schedule.

 

That's not to say the Bengals can't learn from the experience and use it productively when the playoffs come.

[Sandman]

I am not surprised at all. The defense was awful. Very 90ish. AD was off early and Green could not shake Revis. Bottom line is the Bengals just got their butts kicked. As others have said in previous threads, it is really hard to take them seriously when the lights come on and they perform like tonight. Most teams have games like this along the way, it's just the Bengals are when they get national exposure.

 

The difference between 1 & 32 in this league is just not that great. I mean, the Raiders played the Pats 16-9 in Foxborough.

 

The bolded a 1,000 times over. Excellent point, I try to make all the time. It's true in all pro sports, but most of all in the NFL. You see it every week.

 

This isn't high school, or to a large extent college, where teams sometimes operate in different stratosphere's. Everyone in the league is there for a reason. I'd never heard of Hoyer before last year when he lit the Bengals up.

[Hellbird]

Where to begin.

 

How about the facts...

 

1. Marvin Lewis is one of the, if not the absolute worst coach when it comes to preparing a team for a big game, a primetime game. I think they are something like 1-11 in primetime games on the road since 2005.

 

He has another bad record I believe following byes.

 

So in essence we got double whammied with not only a prime-time game on the road but also following a bye week.

 

2. The defense. That was embarrassing. how many 2nd and 3rd and LONG plays did the patriots convert on draw plays? How many rushes over 10 yards did they give up? Their are only 2 receivers they needed to make sure were covered every pass play, Gronk and Edelman and they couldn't come close. Shoot, Gronk even had 4 dropped passes and still lit the Bengals up.

 

3. Tate. TATE!!! What the front door is Branden Tate even doing on this team?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? For the Love of God get that man out of here!!!!!

The absolute worst kick returner in not only the NFL, but College, Highschool and Pee Wee football!!!!!!!!!!!! That freaking mental midget returned every single kickoff that went into the endzone and decided to take it out everytime and not once, not one time, NOT A SINGLE RETURN did he make it to the 20 yard line. Even when the football-handicapped moron fields a kick at the 5 yard line he gets tackled at the 15....10 YARD RETURN ON A KICKOFF!!!!! I could walk a return and make 10 yards on a kickoff!!!! What does he do when he can't return a kick past the 15 yard line? He fumbles!!!!!!!!!

How did Tate do at punt returns? 1 for 6 yards.

I've been screaming for Adam Jones to return kicks for 3 years now and what happens the 1 time he gets to return a punt last night? 1 return for 47 yards!!!!!!!!! The only spark this team had last night was because of the guy that Marvin continues to refuse to allow to return kicks. Marvin should be fired simply for being an idiot.

 

Adam Jones punt return avg this year. He's returned 5 punts, anyone want to guess his avg?????? HE averages 24 yards a punt return. 24 YARDS A RETURN!!!!!!!!! For the love of all that is holy, what the wild wild west is wrong with Marvin Lewis that he 1. keeps Simmons on staff as special teams coach 2. Continues to allow Tate who avg'd 6 yards a punt return! Tate hasn't avg'd over 10 yards a return his entire career except 1 year. Adam Jones averages more per punt return than Tate averages on kickoff returns! How is that possible????? Yet Tate still returns 99.9% of all kicks....ARGHHHHH!!!!!

 

Time for the Grades

 

Start with Defense

F- The entire defense was horrible, not one bright thing I can take away from that game on the defensive side of the ball, I guess we can be happy we held them below 50 points. Wasn't NE's O-Line supposed to be the worst part of that team? Lol, they schooled the Bengals D-Line all night. I'm used to PEko stinking up the place every game, but the rest of the D-Line should be embarrassed. Why is Geno playing if he isn't 100% healthy? No one will convince me he is 100% or close to it.

 

Special teams

F Another missed FG, Adam Jones with the only bright side of anything last night. Jones punt return is the only reason the grade wasn't a F-

 

Offense D- where do I begin. Yes some started to already shield Dalton from any blame last night, sorry it isn't going to work to try and hide him from any blame. Yes he threw 2 TD's which is the only reason the offense didn't get a F-. that along with Gio's running is the reason the offense doesn't even get an F. With that said, yes Dalton had 2 TD's but he also missed 2 others. Had a wide open Sanu for a TD when he decided to throw into double coverage to AJ and he also missed a wide open Gio who had 2 yards on his defender as he's streaking down the sideline with no one in front of him to prevent him from scoring. Dalton was just as much to blame than anyone on offense. Gresham....where do I begin, he drops another pass which would have resulted in a TD. I believe Gresham has more dropped passes than any other TE in Bengals history...I'm serious.

 

Coaching

FFFFF---------- I can't give any lower score even if we had a baseball coach coaching this football team. No way possible any random group of BGP'ers could prepare this team worse than this coaching staff did. The special teams coach should be tarred and feathered on fountain square at noon and Marvin should be the encore of the lunch hour show by the fountain.

 

That fiasco put the U back in Bungals.

[TheDeuce]

The Bengals offense was stagnant with AJ Green not being a factor.

[MJAlltheWay24]

Nobody is playing better than Rivers and Wilson right now.

 

Peyton Manning's 479 yards and 4 TD day would beg to differ with you. And that was against an undefeated team that is supposed to have a good defense and top corner. Granted it was at home.

 

Chargers are playing some great football right now but I think that division is Denver's.

[MJAlltheWay24]

I will admit that I was 100 percent wrong about this game and it sucks.

[Hellbird]

The Bengals offense was stagnant with AJ Green not being a factor.

The thing is, I think many are selling AJ short. He still had 81 yards receiving and a TD. Just saying.