Centralized Thoughts from Week 2 Debacle

[membengal]

1. It is pretty damn clear at this point, that the calling card of Marvin Lewis' coaching regime with the Bengals has been their almost singular inability to respond to adversity (ANY adversity) with anything other than going fetal and calling for their parental caregiver of their choice.

In yesterday's game, they responded to the 15-yard interference call on the punt to the Titans with the game 0-0 by rolling over and letting TN roll downfield for the first TD. They give up an inexplicable run to Johnson, and need desperately to hold TN out of the end zone, and instead give up yards in chunks of 10.

They get the largesse of a botched punt, get a 12-men in the huddle penalty (HOW exactly, does that happen) and miss a field goal into a hurricane, and watch the rest of the game drain away.

This has gone on for years. Years. They folded like origami in the playoff game after Carson's injury. Would the Pats have reacted the same way? No. It has been a hallmark of Lewis' regime to have a team that cannot handle anything that remotely goes wrong in the course of a game. Kind of like one of his press conferences.

2. Bratkowski must go. I have never typed that before. Or said it. But he has reached the end of his usefulness. Of that 136 yards or so passing for Carson, 50 come on two dumpoffs to Dorsey at the end of the first half with TN in a prevent. Was that repeatable? I. don't. know. I didn't notice them trying it again. I didn't notice much of anything in terms of plan that seemed worthy of a coach doing anything but mailing in an effort. Which, frankly, matches that of his head coach and his players.

3. Darrin Simmons, I may be as disappointed in him as any coach on that staff. In large measure, that game was lost on special teams yesterday, TN had punters who could punt and kickers who could kick, even into a gale force wind. And guys who could cover. It sure would be nice if the Bengals had some of that.

4. The continued lack of urgency from this team boggles the mind. The first two games of a murderous schedule were inter division and inter conference games, crucial for tie-breaker purposes. And they have sleptwalked through both of them. The hole they are in is damn near insurmountable. Pittsburgh is for real and the likely class of the AFC, which means this is a Wild Card year at best, and they have put themselves in a position that is already as bad as is humanly possible.

5. And, yes, I understand how giggle-worthy the concept of playoffs is now. But it should not have been. This team has talent. It is being mis-applied, mis-used and wasted in general. For all the Mike Brown bitching that is coming back up (understandably), do know that this team should be around a .500 team, looking for a break or two to get into wild card contention. Instead, it is looking like a 4-win team, and that is entirely on Marvin Lewis.

Whole thing is sickening. Worst part is most of us (and the fanbase) saw this coming. Why couldn't Lewis? He's the one who was in position to do something about it...

[CJBestInAFC]

2. I agree that Brat must go and the sooner the better. His offense has become too predictable and stale. Why don't the Bengals use Dorsey more? I never understood the reasoning behind that. He is a big playmaker but only gets a couple of touches a game and makes plays when he gets the ball. Chatman I think has to be sat down on offense. He is fine as a punt returner, but as the #3 wr he is crap. Where is Simpson? Has this guy even played a snap in a regular season game yet? Time to let him make some plays out there, and if they decide to put him on the bench for another week why did you draft him, especially in the second round. Anyone see Eddie Royal. He won the game for Denver, even though SD should have won because the refs gift wrapped the win for Denver.

3. The punting and special teams play has been pretty poor for years. Other than Graham the STs play has been pretty s**tty.

One more thing is if you draft players on your team and then deactivate them for the game why did you draft them? Shirley, Sims, and Caldwell all were not dressed for this game again. Big surpise that our defense gives up 177 yards on the ground. It was very windy don't you think they are going to run a lot. I would have thought that. Why do they keep playing John Thornton? An undersized DT that doesn't get to the qb. I think it is time to start some of the rookies. I don't care if the make mistakes they need the experience and seeing as the season is already over it is time to start them now.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Good points Mem and Dsucks. I think the offense is ridiculous, include Paul Alexander with Brat, since he has a lot of input into blocking schemes and personnel. I can't believe that loser is still coaching here. Brat I don't have so much of a problem with, or didn't, but now I do after yesterday, he simply isn't getting the most out of what he has, and his game plans and use of personnel are still poor.

Zampese? What happened to your QB? He can't hit the broadside of a barn and he has to toughen up mentally. I swear Palmer would rather be home watching games than playing in them. All the questions about his poor leadership skills are coming true - then again how can one lead if they keep hanging their Wr's and TE's out to dry? Both Chad's shoulder and Utecht's sternum injury are his fault IMO.

Right now Carson Palmer is the WORST QB in the league! I've never seen anything so ridiculous in my life. A complete, systematic breakdown.

The infatuation with Chris Perry or one RB, is annoying as hell. No other team does this as much as the Bengals. There is no reason why Watson and Dorsey shouldn't get more carries. Perry is pedestrian, fine for a few carries but his #'s absolutely suck.

The line played better but that's about as good as it's going to get all year. Carson will get hit a lot, Levi will get beat like a drum a couple of times a game, and Rb's who aren't little jitterbugs will struggle to average more than 2.8 ypc., and Guy-chick will get tossed around.

The defense will give up a couple of big plays a game, the offense has to make up for it and stay on the field longer.

Same problems as last year, and the Bengals' have down-graded at a variety of positions because they don't know how to handle, develop, judge or forecast personnel.

We can only hope people quit going to games and don't re-new season tickets en masse.

The only way this changes is by hurting Mike Brown's bottom line.