Steeler Week. Time to suit up with our big boy pads as John Thornton would say. Every Bengals fan hates them, and everyone has their reasons. There’s one memory that sticks out in my mind.
In January of 2005 I sat at a BW3’s about an hour outside of Cincinnati. You know the game. The entire place was decked out in orange and black except for three tables. In that area there was a hodgepodge of Pittsburgh apparel, and you could just see it on their faces. Cincinnati truly had taken control as the kings of the AFC North, and the Steelers knew it.
The Bengals were ready to dominate, but then Kimo’s “legal” hit crashed into the leg of Carson Palmer. The entire building knew it was serious. Carson couldn’t get up, and as he was carted off the field you would think there would be dead silence in the room – nothing but gasps and quiet. Instead, those three tables roared at the sight of Carson Palmer leaving the field for good. Pathetic, obnoxious, idiot…pick your adjective to describe the average Steeler fan, and you wouldn’t be untruthful in making the claim.
Keep your five rings and your pot-bellied, mustached women to yourself. I will never understand the pride in a team like that.
That was then. This is now.
I stood for three and a half continuous hours last week because six Jets fans sat directly behind me. These guys were straight off boat from New York. You could hear it in what they said and how they said. One commented about not being able to see. I made a statement to the effect that they should get better seats next time, and with that I was received with a smile and shoulder shrug that told me “good point”.
My point here is that NFL fans aren’t arrogant barbarians ready to duke it out at the sight of a rival. That title belongs to the Pittsburgh cult.
But I digress. Let’s talk about today’s game. It’s simple to me and perhaps a bit different take than the well-known pundits.
The Steelers are overrated and the Bengals are underachievers. How that plays out on the field is uncertain to me at this point, but we’ll see soon enough. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Bengals can beat this team. But the ability to beat a team and actually beating a team have been two distinct concepts this year.
I know most are saying this is a make or break game for the Bengals, and I couldn’t disagree more. After today, the Bengals play three games against teams with winning records. If they lose today and lose to all of those teams, then they are eight and eight. Not bad considering what’s already unfolded this year. But, if they can win one of those games against a winning record team, the Bengals are nine and seven, which would have gotten them into the playoffs last year. One of those winning teams is Baltimore; need I say more?
It’s not do or die today, but why not just go out there and defeat your biggest rival at home? It’s going to take a huge effort from the team and from PBS. Expect to see both, win or lose.
That’s all I’ve got for now. WHO DEY!
Don’t blame it all on Chad Pennington. This time, he had plenty of help.
The punter shanked one. The rookie cornerback had two interference penalties. The center snapped one early. The safety took a swing at a player on the ground.
All in one horrid half.
The Cincinnati Bengals took advantage of nearly every mistake by the down-and-out New York Jets on Sunday, rallying for a 38-31 victory behind the best performance of running back Kenny Watson’s career.
The Bengals (2-4) snapped a four-game losing streak — their longest during coach Marvin Lewis’ five seasons — with Watson playing like a star instead of Rudi Johnson’s fill-in. The seventh-year runner with a half-dozen career starts had 130 yards and three touchdowns.
“You never know how the game is going to go,” Watson said.
The Jets (1-6) often have an inkling.
They’ve already matched their loss total from last season, when coach Eric Mangini was dubbed the “Mangenius” for taking a previously 4-12 team to the playoffs. There’s been nothing brilliant about their play this year.
In some ways, this one was the worst yet.
“It’s just not good enough, and I’m tired of giving the same speech each week,” Mangini said. “We’re going to find out about every person in the locker room. It should hurt deeply. It’s a matter of it’s all got to get better.”
Things haven’t been so bad for the Jets since 1999, when they opened the season 1-6 under Bill Parcells before recovering to an 8-8 finish.
“It’s tough for everybody from top to bottom,” said Laveranues Coles, who had eight catches for a season-high 133 yards and two touchdowns. “For us to come this far and continue to lose is disheartening.
“You can’t point fingers at Chad. You can’t blame one guy. All of us stink, not just one guy.”
Pennington was the heart of the Jets’ playoff run last season, when he returned from his second major shoulder operation and won the Comeback Player of the Year award. This year, he’s under fire for his dink-and-dunk passing and six interceptions in the last three games.
Fans have clamored for strong-armed Kellen Clemens to take over. So far, Mangini has resisted. He was noncommittal about his quarterback after the game, pointing out there were a lot of mistakes by a lot of players.
“The nature of this business, the quarterback is generally the fall guy,” said Pennington, who was 20-of-31 for 272 yards with three touchdowns and a game-sealing interception. “When a team struggles, the first person people look at is the quarterback. But I don’t blink, one way or the other.”
Johnathan Joseph’s 42-yard interception return put Cincinnati ahead 38-23 with 37 seconds left. Pennington threw a touchdown pass on the game’s final play.
In the first half, the Bengals made the glaring gaffes. They were flagged for having too many players in a defensive huddle, and Carson Palmer was called for grounding on the final play before halftime, costing them a chance for points.
They calmed themselves and ground it out in the second half.
“We stayed patient,” said Palmer, who was 14-of-21 for 226 yards with a touchdown and an interception. “We didn’t ever freak out. We didn’t ever think we weren’t going to win the game. We never thought of being 1-5.”
Instead, the Jets freaked out.
First-round draft pick Darrelle Revis drew a pair of pass interference penalties that extended Bengals touchdown drives during their comeback. Ben Graham’s shanked, 20-yard punt set up the Bengals’ drive to a 24-23 lead in the fourth quarter.
The mistakes kept coming.
Pennington was calling a play in the shotgun formation when the ball was snapped, resulting in a fumble that gave Cincinnati possession at the 50. The Bengals then drove for Watson’s 2-yard touchdown with the help of a personal foul on safety Abram Elam, who threw a left-handed punch at Watson on the ground at the end of a run.
“We didn’t play very good football at the beginning, but it’s not how you start but how you finish,” Bengals defensive tackle Domata Peko said. “We got some bounces. The ball finally bounced our way.”
Credit: Cincinnati (AP)
Truly, I am a loss for words. For the first time in the Marvin Lewis era, it’s time to hit the panic button. Like many others, I try to keep my self distracted by keeping an eye on the college football scene and wondering whether Dusty Baker can bring the Reds back to the playoffs.
Luckily, today we play the Jets. It’s a shame we can’t play the Jets a few more times this year. This game comes at a good time. No, I’m not saying we’re going to win. If the Bengals win, well then, a win is a win, and we’ll all feel better tomorrow. If the Bengals lose, at least we know for sure who we can start looking at to draft with one of the first five picks.
It really has gotten that bad this year. But if your still hanging around after a Jets loss, consider yourself a fan. Haven’t you noticed people putting their orange and black away for some happier colors such as scarlet and gray? These folks were around for the peaks, but want to avoid the valleys. I’m sure if you asked them, they couldn’t name more than five Bengals’ players from the Nineties.
For anybody still watching, this is our team. We’ve been through worse times than this. Just think back to those games in the late Nineties or early Two-Thousands. The difference between then and now is that the Bengals have a core of players that can sustain this blow. They will have the ability to get back up and rise to the top.
Mark my word. Maybe not this year, but I’ll keep watching just in case.
That’s all I’ve got for now. WHO DEY!
The players weren’t the only ones that needed a bye week. As fans, we needed a week to catch our breath and bury our frustrations. For the second straight season, the year hasn’t turned out as planned. Not that that is a bad thing. I guess we all thought that the Bengals could dance its way into the playoffs, but hardly do things ever go right in Cincinnati. It’s back to the drawing board for Cincinnati with its NFL roster looking more like the size of an MLB roster. Luckily, the talent severely drops in this game compared to last.
Kansas City has plenty of trouble of its own. “They only have three good players,” sayeth my buddy Craig yesterday. That may be true, and it probably is true, but don’t forget we’re playing at Arrowhead. This game seems reminiscent of the Seattle game. The good news, besides saving a bunch of money on car insurance, is that Damon Huard, if he plays, is not Matt Hasselbeck, nor are the Chiefs’ receivers anywhere near as talented as the Seahawks’. But maybe the loss of Jonathan Joseph evens the odds here.
How about some more doomsday talk? The Bengals were supposed to get some injured players back after the bye. The extra week clearly didn’t do much for some of the injuries to players like Brooks, Jeanty, and Miller. The biggest story is that Willie Anderson’s career is likely over. After fighting through years of pain, Big Willie’s body just can’t do it anymore.
We’ll all stand up and clap when Willie receives his plaque at the end of the year for all his service to the Bengals, just like we did for Rich Braham. And maybe one day I’ll write a Willie Anderson tribute, but not today. The Anderson injury is one of the least troubling because he really hasn’t been there all year. Willie tried to play in the early games only to realize that he’s a liability. So we go back to square one, and it takes a few drives to get the O-line in sync again. If the line can hold up as it will read in the starting lineup this week, the Bengals will be better served due to the all important concept of consistency. The offense will benefit from the consistency that comes from an offense line that is not being constantly shifted.
As for a prediction? I’m done with that. This year has been a unique one. Some people see it as a return to the dark ages. I see it as I did when Marvin first came. This team has great potential and is underachieving at the moment. And though this isn’t something to smile about, at least it’s not like watching Akili Smith take the snaps.
I laugh right along with Mike Brown when there is talk of firing Coach Lewis, and until he shows a reason for deserving otherwise, Coach Lewis will have a job here as long as Coach Lewis wants a job here. As for other coaches on the staff, let’s wait and see what happens.
Here’s to the hope that we can pull to an even .500 soon!
That’s all I’ve got for now. WHO DEY!
