State of the Defense after week 1?

[skyline]

There's so much discussion about our offense, and (obviously) the play at the end, that the overall defensive performance hasn't gotten much talk.

Yes, it was just the lowly Broncos offense, but we've got some things to be happy with, don't we?

Rey and Rivers both had a monster hit or two that made me smile. And I really hope we can expect more of the same from Odom this season. 3 sacks after 1 game compared to 17 all of last season seems like a pretty good start to me.

How do you guys think Williams held up?

[cincy9275]

can't remember his name called one time. but the sack that took the bronco out of FG range in the 4th was pressure from odom and sims. we held them to 75 rushing yards and 215 passing yards and 2 field goals until the fluke play. so the defense played extremely well until the fluke.

[cincy9275]

can't remember his name called one time. but the sack that took the bronco out of FG range in the 4th was pressure from odom and sims. we held them to 75 rushing yards and 215 passing yards and 2 field goals until the fluke play. so the defense played extremely well until the fluke.

sorry was you reffering to tank or roy. i was refering to tank. roy did have some plays and combined with rey a real hard hit on knoshawn that caused him to leave the game. the only bad play by roy is where he had what should have been a sack on orton but whiffed badly.

[skyline]

can't remember his name called one time. but the sack that took the bronco out of FG range in the 4th was pressure from odom and sims. we held them to 75 rushing yards and 215 passing yards and 2 field goals until the fluke play. so the defense played extremely well until the fluke.

sorry was you reffering to tank or roy. i was refering to tank. roy did have some plays and combined with rey a real hard hit on knoshawn that caused him to leave the game.

Roy. I forgot we have two of them now

[Pidge]

There's so much discussion about our offense, and (obviously) the play at the end, that the overall defensive performance hasn't gotten much talk.

Yes, it was just the lowly Broncos offense, but we've got some things to be happy with, don't we?

Rey and Rivers both had a monster hit or two that made me smile. And I really hope we can expect more of the same from Odom this season. 3 sacks after 1 game compared to 17 all of last season seems like a pretty good start to me.

How do you guys think Williams held up?

Absolutely. Forgetting about the freak play they held them to just 6 points. Sure, we'll see better QBs but even their running game didn't destroy us. Holding an NFL team not named the '08 Bengals Offense to under a TD is never to be sniffed at. Still a building process but a very encouraging start. IF they keep on improving and showing the hustle they did yesterday then they might get a top 10 finish by season's end.

Williams wasn't ridden like a $2 hooker which was the fear so he did OK. Honestly, very few complaints about the defensive unit.

[cincy9275]

can't remember his name called one time. but the sack that took the bronco out of FG range in the 4th was pressure from odom and sims. we held them to 75 rushing yards and 215 passing yards and 2 field goals until the fluke play. so the defense played extremely well until the fluke.

sorry was you reffering to tank or roy. i was refering to tank. roy did have some plays and combined with rey a real hard hit on knoshawn that caused him to leave the game.

Roy. I forgot we have two of them now

i think you was replying to my post as i was editing it lol. other than the missed sack he played well and was looking to knock people out.

[bwillycuse]

can't remember his name called one time. but the sack that took the bronco out of FG range in the 4th was pressure from odom and sims. we held them to 75 rushing yards and 215 passing yards and 2 field goals until the fluke play. so the defense played extremely well until the fluke.

Heck, we held them to like 40 yards until denver drove to kick the field goal at half.(if the offense could get a first, Denver would have never touched the ball. Ugh)

120 or so passing yards was because of 2 plays. So pretty much shut them down. A turnover would have been nice though.

Im worried about GB's passing attack though. It will be a good test next week.

[volcom69]

I thought they did pretty good, but they need to start getting turnovers. I was happy with the pressure, and happy with the sacks, and the big hits. That play at the end killed me though, i know we shouldnt blame anyone, but somebody had to stay back, right? somebody? Both safties went after the guy who didnt have the ball. Then again its just another what if, because if stokly wasnt running to that side then he wouldnt have scored.....to many what ifs. All in all they did great.

Next week could be alittle more difficult so the real test will start there but i guess we will see what happens. Lets get some turnovers!!!!

[Kazkal]

Yes Broncos have a avg at best QB but their offense is quite respectable.

One the best offensive lines in the NFL,3 Very good WR's and Tight End...

Overall I was happy with what I saw from the defense and hope they keep it up.

[HAPPYJAQ]

The defense continues to impress...and improve!

The front seven were good, and Odom was about as unblockable as I've seen a Bengals DE in a while.

Keith Freakin Rivers is a beast! He looks much bigger and faster than last year after watching him close. Perhaps he's thinking less and reacting more with a year in the NFL under his belt.

If I had a choice of who I'd like to see start at LB, it would be Rey in the middle with Rivers and Johnson on the outside, but that's just me. For the last 9 games, Brandon Johnson has been our best player overall on defense, while also being very consistent. He had a number of great plays yesterday. Dhani Jones looked old and slow for the first time as a Bengal yesterday, IMO. After seeing some of the same in the preseason from Dhani, we might be closer to Rey starting in the middle than we think, especially with Brandon and Rashad Jeanty continuing to play well in limited roles.

The secondary needs to play better. As mentioned previously, Roy looked bad on a missed sack, while Ndukwe and Hall both missed on chances to pick the ball off in critical points in the game. I actually thought Roy played very well yesterday with a few instances of good coverage against RBs coming out of the backfield in addition to a team-high 9 tackles. It was typical Leon Hall again, where he plays solid most of the game, before allowing a big play to happen that affects the outcome of the game. J-Jo limited the super-explosive Eddie Royal to only 2 catches for 18 yards, which is excellent. In fact, their starting WRs combined for only 6 catches and 45 yards the entire game. The Bengals need to get David Jones, Geoff Pope and Morgan Trent up to speed this week as the Packers might be the only team in the NFL with a deeper WR unit than the Bengals, from top to bottom.

Next week should be a good matchup and a good test for the defense.

[HoosierCat]

I thought they did pretty good, but they need to start getting turnovers.

On that note, does anyone else think Nduke got robbed yesterday? Sure looked to me like that Broncos TE had shifted the ball over and tucked it in his arm and made a "football move" before the ball came out.

[Sea Ray]

I thought they did pretty good, but they need to start getting turnovers.

On that note, does anyone else think Nduke got robbed yesterday? Sure looked to me like that Broncos TE had shifted the ball over and tucked it in his arm and made a "football move" before the ball came out.

Another close call that did not go the Bengals way

[Sea Ray]

can't remember his name called one time. but the sack that took the bronco out of FG range in the 4th was pressure from odom and sims. we held them to 75 rushing yards and 215 passing yards and 2 field goals until the fluke play. so the defense played extremely well until the fluke.

I don't know how often you heard Roy Williams name called but he did lead the team in tackles with 9

[Ickey44]

I thought they did pretty good, but they need to start getting turnovers.

On that note, does anyone else think Nduke got robbed yesterday? Sure looked to me like that Broncos TE had shifted the ball over and tucked it in his arm and made a "football move" before the ball came out.

It didn't look like he ever had possession to me. I was hoping otherwise but after a close look at the replay on CBS it was pretty clear the their TE never had possession.

[HAPPYJAQ]

I thought they did pretty good, but they need to start getting turnovers.

On that note, does anyone else think Nduke got robbed yesterday? Sure looked to me like that Broncos TE had shifted the ball over and tucked it in his arm and made a "football move" before the ball came out.

It didn't look like he ever had possession to me. I was hoping otherwise but after a close look at the replay on CBS it was pretty clear the their TE never had possession.

Never was a fan of the incredibly vague "football move" term. That particular play was another one that could've gone either way, IMO.

Speaking of Chinny/Nedu, it's hard to think that he was probably the team's best defensive player two years ago and he doesn't even start anymore. We're either vastly improved at S, or he's reached one helluva career plateau.

[Kazkal]

Bengals fume as Pack waits

GEOFF HOBSON

Posted Sep 14, 2009

* a

* a

Safety Chris Crocker, one of the defensive leaders, knows his Bengals teammates are watching guys like him respond. And no one was madder about Sunday's 87-yard Impossible Reception.

Unless it was defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer hearing the pundits blame his secondary for what happened.

"Some of the things I'm hearing are ridiculous," Zimmer said Monday. "Like, 'you've got to keep a guy back in case he tips it.' That's just stupid. Every safety is taught since he was in sixth grade to go after the receiver in a Cover Two. We could have gone Prevent, but their kicker had hit it from 50 and 48. So we went with what had worked pretty damn well for 50 plays. If they're going to blame somebody, blame me, don't blame the players. They played their butts off."

Like Crocker. During the previous 59:49, Crocker had helped hold Broncos wide receiver Brandon Stokley to precisely 0.0 catches while moving to nickel cornerback in place of injured cornerback David Jones. With Crocker lined up in the slot for what he estimated was 90 percent of the snaps, he had shots at Stokley and Brandon Marshall and Marshall didn't exactly tear it up, either, with four balls for 27 yards.

But there was Stokley, minding his own business when cornerback Leon Hall's tip off Denver quarterback Kyle Orton's desperate chuck to Marshall on the sidelines ended up in his hands all the way out at the numbers to start and end the wild finish.

"All day he makes one catch. He caught the big one, but what can you do?" Crocker said Monday. "It's obvious it was just luck. There's nothing they did to out scheme us or out hustle us or anything. The guy just stood right there and it fell right to him."

With 28 seconds left from the Denver 13, the Bengals were in their nickel package with five defensive backs. Crocker, Hall, cornerback Johnathan Joseph and safeties Roy Williams and Chinedum Ndukwe on a day the Bengals hadn't let Denver get past the Cincinnati 30.

"We could have rushed three guys. We could have gone Prevent," Zimmer said. "But we went with what had been kicking their butt all day. We had them playing a little deeper. We had the corners sinking a little bit. When I hear people say they should have had everybody back, give me a break. Two passes and they're close to a field goal."

Crocker remembers the Cover Two call. A deep zone. It was the same nickel package that had dominated Denver all day, not allowing a third-down conversion until 26 seconds left in the first half, and giving them just three out of 12 in the game.

"Let them catch anything that's short and keep it in bounds," Crocker said of his mindset. "Keep them inbounds and keep the clock moving. They might have had one timeout left. That's what I was thinking. Make them catch it in front of you and if not and they go deep, get your hand on the ball."

After Hall leaped and tapped the ball away from Marshall, both Crocker and Williams converged on Marshall.

"The ball just took a bad bounce. The ball just popped up the air," Crocker said. "Leon was trying to make a play on it. He made sure the receiver didn't catch it. Nothing he did was wrong."

And head coach Marvin Lewis said nothing Crocker and Williams did was wrong.

"I thought the guys at the point did exactly what they want to do on that play. Leon goes up to try and intercept the ball, and unfortunately it bounces off his hands," Lewis said. "Guys come over to take the receiver out just like they are supposed to do, and the other guys have to do a better job of finishing it. There were some things that can be done differently, but it’s a play that happened. I don’t know what you call it, but it’s a good play by them, and a not-so-good play by us.”

Crocker said they weren't focused on Marshall on that play, but the call.

"We were focused on the call," Crocker said. "Once the ball went to him, that's where we were focused on as the ball is in the air. It's obvious it was just luck."

It looks like Crocker is going to get another shot in nickel this week with Lewis making it sound Monday like Jones is still in rehab.

"It's no big deal. I've been doing it throughout my career,' said Crocker of playing corner as well as safety. "I know what my element is, what kind of person I am and what I bring to this team. It doesn't matter where I line up."

In the last 24 hours, Crocker is showing his value to this team with his versatility and demeanor. So upset after the game Sunday, he waved away a reporter but was in front of his locker Monday praising Zimmer and the pluck of his teammates.

"We've got to come back and play hard next week. You're a professional. You don't worry about what happened last week. Zim has us running around loose, telling us to make plays and not be worried about mistakes. Zim was sick to his stomach. Just like us. Everybody was in disbelief. Just a tough loss. We feel bad for each other. I feel bad for Zimmer. He called a great game. What do you do?"

Go to Green Bay and play an offense that is 10 times more dangerous than Denver's.

"I know what we're about," he said. "I'm not worried about it."

He may have been getting ready for the Packers, but he was still mad.

"I can't give them any credit," Crocker said. "I can't say they deserved it more than we did. They didn't play any harder than we did. It's just a miracle."

I like ZImmers views ferk the vanilla stuff.

[volcom69]

I do feel bad for these guys they play there butts off, and for a game to end that way is just horrible. Im still sick to my stomach after seeing that. Nobody wants to praise the guys for everything they did all day all the will look at is that last play, and that really sucks.

[cincy9275]

I thought they did pretty good, but they need to start getting turnovers.

On that note, does anyone else think Nduke got robbed yesterday? Sure looked to me like that Broncos TE had shifted the ball over and tucked it in his arm and made a "football move" before the ball came out.

YES i am glad some one else seen that. i was peeved the refs blew the whistle and called it incomplete. i thought the refs where supposed to let the play finish then use replay to correct it. because i dvr'ed it and watch it ten times. not only did he catch the ball he turned and took a couple of steps.

[kingwilly]

Agree. Lost in that sequence is that play. It was a fumble.

[Ickey44]

I thought they did pretty good, but they need to start getting turnovers.

On that note, does anyone else think Nduke got robbed yesterday? Sure looked to me like that Broncos TE had shifted the ball over and tucked it in his arm and made a "football move" before the ball came out.

It didn't look like he ever had possession to me. I was hoping otherwise but after a close look at the replay on CBS it was pretty clear the their TE never had possession.

Never was a fan of the incredibly vague "football move" term. That particular play was another one that could've gone either way, IMO.

Speaking of Chinny/Nedu, it's hard to think that he was probably the team's best defensive player two years ago and he doesn't even start anymore. We're either vastly improved at S, or he's reached one helluva career plateau.

I doesn't really have anything to do with a football move on that play. The ball was moving around in his hands until somewhat swatted it out of his hands. The refs actually made a good call on that play.

[jonahdsage]

I thought they did pretty good, but they need to start getting turnovers.

On that note, does anyone else think Nduke got robbed yesterday? Sure looked to me like that Broncos TE had shifted the ball over and tucked it in his arm and made a "football move" before the ball came out.

It didn't look like he ever had possession to me. I was hoping otherwise but after a close look at the replay on CBS it was pretty clear the their TE never had possession.

Never was a fan of the incredibly vague "football move" term. That particular play was another one that could've gone either way, IMO.

Speaking of Chinny/Nedu, it's hard to think that he was probably the team's best defensive player two years ago and he doesn't even start anymore. We're either vastly improved at S, or he's reached one helluva career plateau.

I doesn't really have anything to do with a football move on that play. The ball was moving around in his hands until somewhat swatted it out of his hands. The refs actually made a good call on that play.

I just hate the inconsistency of the refs on stuff like that, though. How about that catch before half time? The receiver didn't even have his hands on the ball when he was out of bounds. Seemed clear to me that it wasn't a catch . . . and yet a guy who has the ball tucked and gets it knocked out doesn't have possession? I just don't like the inconsistency.

[semiotter]

I give the defense a "A" first game out of the of the box. They get some time together and they will be a force. Can't wait till the offense catches up with the def.

[SupaBran]

I give the defense a "A" first game out of the of the box. They get some time together and they will be a force. Can't wait till the offense catches up with the def.

I agree, I give the defense an "A" as well for dominating the game until that redikulus fluke s**t of a play! I can't wait to see the offense catch up with the defense as well! Remember a couple of years ago we were saying the opposite, btw its inexcuseable for our personnel and the amount of money we have invested in our offense for them to play that way! Here's to Andre gettin on the field and starting soon b/c Collins givin up two sacks is terrible, and here's to more players gettin hurt by our defense layin the wood!! I can't wait until the Squeelers come to town, and Hines leavin on a stretcher!!!