It isn't called very often, probably shouldn't have been called in this instance where you can tell that Peko was motioning that it was a run play. Run-Run-Run is not the same as Hut-Hut-Hut.

 

There is zero chance he was really saying that. Mainly because there was less than zero chance of a run play happening with 6 seconds left and no TO's left. Pecko got caught and it cost them 15 yards. His excuse after the game was either a lie or he is dumber at understanding simple stuff than Marvin and Hue.

Good point. I don't mind going for the throat. I do mind AJ's lack of ferocity when it comes to fighting for balls.

 

I agree. Going for the throat is fine. Do it after you pick up the 1st down and you probably win the game. They had the ball on the 32 yard line with a little over a minute left and 2 TO's when Arizona had none. They ran 15 seconds or so off the clock with 2 in-completions and a completion while running out of bounds. The loss falls squarely on the shoulders of Hue, Andy and Marvin for that. They never once considered running clock in a spot where it had to happen.

 

Agree on AJ. The narrative is slowly coming around that he melts in big games more than Marvin and Dalton.

Andre Smith had a 10 yard penalty, a 15 yard penalty, and whiffed a block that led to the Dalton fumble/interception. He was terrible last night.

Penalties. Inexcusable on some of them. Peko is an idiot. Dalton played pretty well. He didn't get help. Marvin Lewis is a joke of a coach.

 

Peko is maintaining his innocence lol.

This team is 7 points from perfect. Last night was tough to take because it was right there. Last week a fumble at the 20, this week a poor decision on someone's part and even poorer execution. Andy continues to throw those balls down the sideline in bad spots, and AJ Green needs to give a better effort to stay in bounds. That said, very low percentage play there and no way was it the right one. Run it. Short screen to Gio. Something and anything to keep the clock moving.

I give Andy a pass. This OLine is SOOOOO bad at getting a push that 3rd and 2 might as well be 3rd and 7. 2 times in the first half they couldn't pick up 1 yard. One time they did, barely. They don't have the short yardage back on top of that. They need to draft a Center next year, like a really strong center.

 

You give Andy a pass? Maybe you are as clueless to the game situation as he apparently was. This wasn't about getting a first down. He did the one thing you absolutely CANNOT do in that situation - an incomplete pass that forced 4th down that also stopped the clock for a team that had no timeouts left.

 

Anything else would have worked 3rd and 2 at the AZ 25yd line - including getting sacked to keep the clock going, including getting stuffed in the backfield to keep the clock moving.

 

Paper says it was Dalton's decision to throw it. Dalton does really dumb things at important times in big games.

You give Andy a pass? Maybe you are as clueless to the game situation as he apparently was. This wasn't about getting a first down. He did the one thing you absolutely CANNOT do in that situation - an incomplete pass that forced 4th down that also stopped the clock for a team that had no timeouts left.

 

Anything else would have worked 3rd and 2 at the AZ 25yd line - including getting sacked to keep the clock going, and running it and getting stuffed in the backfield to keep the clock moving.

 

Paper says it was Dalton's decision to throw it. Dalton does really dumb things at important times in big games.

 

Clueless, yep, or I see it differently than you. What happens if he completes the pass? They get 4 more downs and the potential to win the game with a TD. If he runs the ball, they aren't getting the first. There is 1:10 left w/ 25 seconds run off to kick the field goal. That give AZ 40 sec to get into field goal range to win the game. W/ the way that the secondary was already shredded w/ injuries and the fact that Kirkpatrick is awful, we still would be looking at what we got last night. All that would have been eliminated if the Bengals run the ball is the necessity for Palmer to kneel the ball to run more of the clock off.

Going into the game, I was scared to death of the Cardinals' offense. Very diverse group, and Arians is no fool. Thought we'd get picked apart all night, especially after knowing that Jones wasn't playing. That was offset, somewhat, by Floyd not playing on the other side...but, still.

 

Unless their rookie Nelson blew up and had a career game in his stead haha!

Andy Dalton's costly underthrown pass opened the door for the Arizona Cardinals' last-second FG - NFL Here is an article that shows the thought process on the last play. That said I obviously do not agree with Andy's logic, but I can see where his thoughts were going. He throws a better pass against a 5'11 corner one on one with AJ we have a completely different storyline today. That said we did see a pretty good Andy last night. He missed some throws, but he missed throws in good places. He had a great 4th quarter and if we can get that kind of performance from Andy the rest of the year. I like our chances.

Clueless, yep, or I see it differently than you. What happens if he completes the pass? They get 4 more downs and the potential to win the game with a TD. If he runs the ball, they aren't getting the first. There is 1:10 left w/ 25 seconds run off to kick the field goal. That give AZ 40 sec to get into field goal range to win the game. W/ the way that the secondary was already shredded w/ injuries and the fact that Kirkpatrick is awful, we still would be looking at what we got last night. All that would have been eliminated if the Bengals run the ball is the necessity for Palmer to kneel the ball to run more of the clock off.

40 second run off, not 25. Also the clock was at 1:03. They get the ball back with less than 20 seconds. I bet they kneel it there unless they get a good kick return.

Unless their rookie Nelson blew up and had a career game in his stead haha!

 

Yes, he did. My point is, the fact that the Bengals found themselves down by 14 in the fourth quarter and looked like they were on the verge of getting blown out...the fact that they came back and tied it showed me something. I know they say there's no such thing as a moral victory, but I'm looking a team that came back against both Seattle and Arizona. Most teams would be sitting at 0-2 in those same situations. Heck, we're 1-1 and had a legit chance to win them both! I will take it. This team had a legitimate excuse to roll over last night, and they didn't.

Yes, he did. My point is, the fact that the Bengals found themselves down by 14 in the fourth quarter and looked like they were on the verge of getting blown out...the fact that they came back and tied it showed me something. I know they say there's no such thing as a moral victory, but I'm looking a team that came back against both Seattle and Arizona. Most teams would be sitting at 0-2 in those same situations. Heck, we're 1-1 and had a legit chance to win them both! I will take it. This team had a legitimate excuse to roll over last night, and they didn't.

 

Yeah, definitely with you. It was good to see the fight and make things interesting. They were right there and had a chance.

 

Too many times in years past, we lose that game by 27.

40 second run off, not 25. Also the clock was at 1:03. They get the ball back with less than 20 seconds. I bet they kneel it there unless they get a good kick return.

 

Maybe I was clueless. 40 seconds. According to ESPN, the pass play happened with 1:13 left. A running play would have taken 3 seconds off the clock. 1:10, ball set at 1:08 run it down to :27. Kick takes 5 seconds, 22 seconds left. You may be correct. I also look at it as the a field goal is not guaranteed, and if I can put my team in better position throwing to a top 5 receiver, I don't mind it. It didn't work, they lost, so be it. Playoffs it is a different story.

Andy Dalton's costly underthrown pass opened the door for the Arizona Cardinals' last-second FG - NFL Here is an article that shows the thought process on the last play. That said I obviously do not agree with Andy's logic, but I can see where his thoughts were going. He throws a better pass against a 5'11 corner one on one with AJ we have a completely different storyline today. That said we did see a pretty good Andy last night. He missed some throws, but he missed throws in good places. He had a great 4th quarter and if we can get that kind of performance from Andy the rest of the year. I like our chances.

 

Not to mention the whole 3rd quarter he had about a third of the field to work with due to being flushed out of the pocket on about 6 straight throws.

When the Bengals went down 28 to 14 late in the third I turned to my guest and said we will see if the Bengals can turn it on against a good team. As we all know often the Bengals kind of sleepwalk through some games only to decide at some point in the second half it is time to play if we want to win. Often the Bengals overwhelm inferior teams at that point and we win. A little to my surprise last night we turned it on down 28 to 14 and no matter the final result no one is coming away from that game saying/thinking the Bengals are an easy out. It was really impressive on our part.

 

However... although these are not the same old Bengals, these are not the Super Bowl Champs either at this point. We are somewhere in between. I thought Andy played a pretty solid game (and we did put up 31 points) but like many of you have pointed out the Bengals clock/time out management continues to be an issue for us, AJ needs to show up all the time, defensively we need to up our game - I don't care what the stats say we are just above average on defense, and finally I don't believe we have confidence we can run the ball effectively on 3rd or 4th and short.

 

I am not sounding any alarms, I am not upset, I just think the Bengals need to learn from this one and get back to work. We have two huge games remaining, the Steelers coming to town and the Broncos on the road. If we win those two everything else will take care of itself.

 

This is a fun season.

 

Who Dey!