What We Learned Today

[membengal]

I loved the first quarter and nothing after that.

I can't recall a game ever where they won by 10 points and felt they deserved to lose.

Any team can throw TD's to players not being defended.

You do realize that was a designed play? They didn't just happen to catch them at an off moment? And that the D forced like 6 straight punts in the second half, plus an int? And Benson had a 39 yard TD run to ice the festivities?

Man. Tough crowd.

Indeed. I don't have the energy to argue with it anymore. They toughed out a road win where they were heavy underdogs against a division opponent while starting three rookies on offense at qb, ol, and wr (in their first ever NFL regular season games). They maintained poise through adversity, and pulled out a clever play to find a way to get ahead. And then they salted it running the ball.

All from a team that most reasonable observers (including me) expect to win, if all goes well, no more than about six games.

I just can't figure anything other than being pretty damn happy over how they handled themselves today. But, whatever, I guess.

[derekshank]

I loved the first quarter and nothing after that.

I can't recall a game ever where they won by 10 points and felt they deserved to lose.

Any team can throw TD's to players not being defended.

You do realize that was a designed play? They didn't just happen to catch them at an off moment? And that the D forced like 6 straight punts in the second half, plus an int? And Benson had a 39 yard TD run to ice the festivities?

Man. Tough crowd.

No doubt.

Aside from the two blown coverages in the 2nd quarter, the defense played extremely

good football.

The offense was clunky... as expected. They got away from the running game in the 2nd and 3rd quarter (grrrrr), and Gradkowski looked pretty rusty and cold. But they ran the ball well again in the 4th and closed out the game.

Overall, I have few complaints. This team is incredibly inexperienced... but showed a lot of character. What's not to like?

[BengalszoneBilly]

I loved the first quarter and nothing after that.

I can't recall a game ever where they won by 10 points and felt they deserved to lose.

Any team can throw TD's to players not being defended.

You do realize that was a designed play? They didn't just happen to catch them at an off moment? And that the D forced like 6 straight punts in the second half, plus an int? And Benson had a 39 yard TD run to ice the festivities?

Man. Tough crowd.

No doubt.

Aside from the two blown coverages in the 2nd quarter, the defense played extremely

good football.

The offense was clunky... as expected. The got away from the running game in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, and Gradkowski was looked pretty rusty and cold. But they ran the ball well again in the 4th and closed out the game.

Overall, neither of these teams are great... but the Bengals were better, and I have few complaints.

Nor do I. This team did what it had to do for a win. Hats off to the defense for holding on to the lead.

[cincy9275]

I loved the first quarter and nothing after that.

I can't recall a game ever where they won by 10 points and felt they deserved to lose.

Any team can throw TD's to players not being defended.

You do realize that was a designed play? They didn't just happen to catch them at an off moment? And that the D forced like 6 straight punts in the second half, plus an int? And Benson had a 39 yard TD run to ice the festivities?

Man. Tough crowd.

No doubt.

Aside from the two blown coverages in the 2nd quarter, the defense played extremely

good football.

The offense was clunky... as expected. The got away from the running game in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, and Gradkowski was looked pretty rusty and cold. But they ran the ball well again in the 4th and closed out the game.

Overall, neither of these teams are great... but the Bengals were better, and I have few complaints.

Nor do I. This team did what it had to do for a win. Hats off to the defense for holding on to the lead.

AMEN!

[Stripes]

Props to the coaching staff for handling pretty much everything the Browns tried to do. The 2nd quarter was all about poor execution. For all the criticism we constantly heap on Paul Alexander, the offensive line generally looked okay today. Andre was good, Boling didn't appear to struggle notably. It was the other team for once who looked totally unprepared, from the 11 penalties to the defensive flub on the Bengals semi-gadget quick huddle.

[volcom69]

Not really sure why anybody would complain today, was a perfect win, um no it was far from it but it was a win.

If the offense can attack in all 4 quarters like they did in the first today, they would have put up some great numbers/points. I think thats what Lewis has to be telling his team, because it seemed like in the 2nd and 3rd they were not attacking. The o-line didnt protect as well in the 2nd like it had been, but they seemed to figure that out later on in the game. Keep attacking that should be the memo to the team this week, if they do that and defense continues to grow and get better, maybe they could reach 8 wins you never know!

Please get better Dalton want to see you next week

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

Indeed. I don't have the energy to argue with it anymore. They toughed out a road win where they were heavy underdogs against a division opponent while starting three rookies on offense at qb, ol, and wr (in their first ever NFL regular season games). They maintained poise through adversity, and pulled out a clever play to find a way to get ahead. And then they salted it running the ball.

I'll admit, I was pleasantly surprised. Besides, the Steelers are known for the 'pull game out with trick play' card all the time, and nobody gives them crap. Hell, the Bengals are usually on the receiving end of that one.

The only deal now is to see where it goes. Certainly there will be better tests than the Clowns, who looked pretty rough - sometimes when errors were forced, sometimes when they weren't.

[ArmyBengal]

Yes, i'm serious.

To start though, I called and expected a win today and absof*ckinlutely am I pleased with it.

No, I didn't give enough credit to the defense in the second half, so props, but lets not make it anything more.

I'm just being objective here. They beat a really bad team today.

Yes, i'm happy they did because they used to lose to really bad teams they were suppose to beat.

Tough crowd ??

I don't think so, but hey, whatever.

There is something I was really pleased with though.

They hung in together as a team and got the win after Dalton went down.

I loved the Benson run, but before that happened I was already envisioning a board with Pimp saying how they won despite Bensons sub 4 YPC.

Glad that's not the case and I'm glad Benson is the workhorse he is. Dalton is going to need him all year long.

[cHaD711Johnson]

I loved the first quarter and nothing after that.

I can't recall a game ever where they won by 10 points and felt they deserved to lose.

Any team can throw TD's to players not being defended.

Hey Cook, go f*ck yourself.

Wow.

[ArmyBengal]

I loved the first quarter and nothing after that.

I can't recall a game ever where they won by 10 points and felt they deserved to lose.

Any team can throw TD's to players not being defended.

Hey Cook, go f*ck yourself.

Wow.

WTF ?? I mean really guys.

[TJJackson]

I think Nate Clements held up well, too. Some were saying he was washed up but I disagree. He looked solid.

he's also about 800 years old, so we better be grooming his replacement now....Ghee? I hope? (if he can get healthy?)

[volcom69]

I loved the first quarter and nothing after that.

I can't recall a game ever where they won by 10 points and felt they deserved to lose.

Any team can throw TD's to players not being defended.

Hey Cook, go f*ck yourself.

Wow.

WTF ?? I mean really guys.

Whats wrong with cook??? Lap was actully praising him on some of his blocks, so why all the hate with him

[TJJackson]

This team is incredibly inexperienced... but showed a lot of character. What's not to like?

This was the best case scenario for me looking ahead to this year, and I liked what I saw a LOT.

They didn't have to win for me to like it, but the win was the proverbial icing on the cake.

[TJJackson]

What exactly did Cook do to get himself in the formerly-occupied-by-Ochostinko-official-f**k-you Army doghouse?

I didn't see the whole game, was at soccer games early and dd not get back til early in the second half

[HoosierCat]

I think Cook got called for a face mask. Which is one of the new team-can-get-fined-for-if-there-are-a-lot-of-them penalties. So maybe army's just pissed that Cook might cost Mikey some pocket change...?

[TJJackson]

I am all in favor of Son-of-a-Genius losing some money, myself.

He will just have to hold off on replacing the brakes on the Lumina for another year......

[derekshank]

I think Cook got called for a face mask.

Yeah. It's funny. I saw one of the Browns D-Linemen walking around looking for his helmet. I thought to myself "How did he lose his helmet?" Then I assumed either Livings or Cook got a little bit overly aggressive.

Frankly... I like it.

[kingwilly]

WTF ?? I mean really guys.

Army, this was an impressive win by any measure.

They won a division game, on the road, with a rookie QB who had to leave the game due to injury while behind, leaving it to Gradkowski, freaking Bruce Gradkowski, to pull out the win. And they did.

They started fast, scored points, moved the ball (except for that stretch of 6 or 7 punts) and did not commit the metric a55 ton of penalties, like we were so used to seeing.

The defense, though burned on essentially two plays, did a solid job of stopping the guy who's on the cover of Madden 12. They did not allow McCoy to do a Steve Young impersonation. Rey showed good command of the D, assuring they were usually where they should be.

The offense, even though not a "real" west coast offense yet, got touches to Scott, 25 to Benson, found Gresham often and even overcame a slew of drops by Simpson. Livings, Cook, Boling (a rookie) and Fat Andre looked downright nasty paving the road for Benson to mash into the second level. I did not even curse Livings name once!

All of this and they did not run out of gas, even with missing essentially the whole offseason program designed to keep them in shape.

I'm just not seeing the downside here. Not seeing it.

[redsbengalsbucks]

Really the most disapointing thing I saw was Leon Hall playing very average. He has slowly become a liability in coverage, what happened to him?

[gregstephens]

Waiting until the following day to comment as I tend to do, here's what I saw:

1) NO delay of game penalties OR time outs wasted to prevent said penalties.

2) ONLY ONE false start penalty, and given that Flesh Zepplin has had limited playing time in two years, that doesn't bother me a bit.

Obviously Palmer was the cause of the first above. I'm beginning to think he was a major factor in number two as well. Palmer, since 2006, was always hesitant, nervous and antsy at the line. I think he may have actually caused many of the false starts we've been blaming the line for for years. I think directly he was the cause because of how long he took to get snaps off, and how often he was still making adjustments and audibles at the last second. Indirectly, I think the line sensed his hesitancy and it threw off their timing.

Bottom line, a rookie quarterback and a bench warmer career second stringer managed to keep the line more disciplined than Palmer ever did. I think that speaks volumes about Palmer, Dalton and Gradkowski.

That said, I'm firmly in the camp of not trading Palmer. First, anyone that thinks the Bengals are getting a first or second round pick for Palmer is out of their minds. While there are some desperate teams out there, I think those teams would rather chance getting a Luck or that kid from Boise State before pissing away a high pick for Palmer. If the GMs and head coaches in the NFL watch our game yesterday, I think they see as many flaws from Palmer as they would benefits from Dalton. So, why get a fourth or fifth round pick that usually, for the Bengals, end up being a running back or defensive player that gets cut anyway? Let him retire. We don't pay him and the realistic odds of us getting 'value' for him are slim and none anyway.

Also, the defense looked great. Granted, it was just the Browns, but I'd rather have them look great against the Browns than look crappy. Leon Hall's first half coverage was probably the most concerning thing I saw all game from the defense.

This team is much better than the experts expected. Not saying they are the Pats yet, but they got stuff to build on.

Bottom line...I was happier than I've been with this team in years.

[princeton]

Whats wrong with cook???

who was supposed to block the DT on the play where Dalton was injured? I've looked at video a few times; Boling ignores the DT to fire out on blitzing ILB (who backs off). Andre looks first at DE, who plays soft as he's chipped by Gresham before Gresham goes on a pattern, then Andre puts in a belated hit on the DT. Cook is even later than Andre on the DT. RB completely ignores the DT who's about to plow through his QB.

ugly play by the Bengals. Going to get their QB killed.

[HairOnFire]

Whats wrong with cook???

who was supposed to block the DT on the play where Dalton was injured? I've looked at video a few times; Boling ignores the DT to fire out on blitzing ILB (who backs off). Andre looks first at DE, who plays soft as he's chipped by Gresham before Gresham goes on a pattern, then Andre puts in a belated hit on the DT. Cook is even later than Andre on the DT. RB completely ignores the DT who's about to plow through his QB.

ugly play by the Bengals. Going to get their QB killed.

Yup. My guess is Boling attempted to block the wrong man on the play, but I admit I'm just guessing.

Overall the O-line and all of the secondary blockers played extremely well save for a few blowups, most of which were instantly forgettable because there was no lasting impact. But there's the rub, because a single blown block on Phil Taylor can have plenty of long-term impact.

For example, the Bengals FB had a monster game overall, but flat out whiffed on at least two blocks he both could and should have made. Yet after each blowup Pressley throws crucial crushing blocks on the very next play, resulting in 1st downs each time.

As for what I learned from the game, I'd say I learned mostly nothing. After all, I already knew Carlos Dunlap was a monster, and I was already on record for wanting a 3rd QB added to the roster. Better yet, I already knew the Cleveland Browns are the most pathetic franchise in the NFL.

On to Denver.

[Spor_tees]

Whats wrong with cook???

who was supposed to block the DT on the play where Dalton was injured? I've looked at video a few times; Boling ignores the DT to fire out on blitzing ILB (who backs off). Andre looks first at DE, who plays soft as he's chipped by Gresham before Gresham goes on a pattern, then Andre puts in a belated hit on the DT. Cook is even later than Andre on the DT. RB completely ignores the DT who's about to plow through his QB.

ugly play by the Bengals. Going to get their QB killed.

Yup. My guess is Boling attempted to block the wrong man on the play, but I admit I'm just guessing.

Overall the O-line and all of the secondary blockers played extremely well save for a few blowups, most of which were instantly forgettable because there was no lasting impact. But there's the rub, because a single blown block on Phil Taylor can have plenty of long-term impact.

For example, the Bengals FB had a monster game overall, but flat out whiffed on at least two blocks he both could and should have made. Yet after each blowup Pressley throws crucial crushing blocks on the very next play, resulting in 1st downs each time.

As for what I learned from the game, I'd say I learned mostly nothing. After all, I already knew Carlos Dunlap was a monster, and I was already on record for wanting a 3rd QB added to the roster. Better yet, I already knew the Cleveland Browns are the most pathetic franchise in the NFL.

On to Denver.

You will see less of Carlos Dunlap next week because with all the press he is getting he won't practice hard.

It sure is amazing what a difference having a true FB can make in the running game. I wonder if Pressley can catch the ball very well, it's something that needs to be utilized if they are going to run an effective West Coast offense. And yes, the Browns blow monkey nuts.

[kingwilly]

Whats wrong with cook???

who was supposed to block the DT on the play where Dalton was injured? I've looked at video a few times; Boling ignores the DT to fire out on blitzing ILB (who backs off). Andre looks first at DE, who plays soft as he's chipped by Gresham before Gresham goes on a pattern, then Andre puts in a belated hit on the DT. Cook is even later than Andre on the DT. RB completely ignores the DT who's about to plow through his QB.

ugly play by the Bengals. Going to get their QB killed.

On that play, Dalton also bears some blame. He was holding the ball that second too long quite often. I imiagine that he will get faster in his reads and decisions but he was often late to pull the trigger, which cost many completions.

I'm not going to bash Cook/Boling/Fat Andre for literally on botched play, where the QB had happy feet and couldn't make up his mind. The hit was not ovrly violent, just that the defenders helmet hit the back of Dalton's hand.

[derekshank]

On that play, Dalton also bears some blame. He was holding the ball that second too long quite often. I imiagine that he will get faster in his reads and decisions but he was often late to pull the trigger, which cost many completions.

Many completions? He only had 5 incomplete passes, and off the top of my head I know of at least one drop from Gresham and one from Simpson that were placed perfectly.

So... worst case scenario, he was responsible for 3 incomplete passes.

Regardless, I don't think Dalton was holding on to the ball too long. The TD to Gresham was a great example. The design of the play appeared to be playaction, then quick pass to Whitworth. The Browns defense defended it well, so Gresham adjusted his route. The O-line gave Dalton a full 3 seconds to make his decision.

In a situation like that, Dalton shouldn't force the ball somewhere too quickly. A sack is better than an interception. Dalton didn't panic even though the play took a long time and didn't go according to plan. He didn't perceive pressure that wasn't there (like many rookie QBs tend to do). He stood in and surveyed the field.

Good composure. Good decision making. Good Touchdown.