Steelers @ Bengals Pregame Chatter

[COB]

More fuel for the best internet war ever. Measured by espn's QBR stat, Dalton is the No. 2 QB in the league right now.

Nice ranking. Glad to see ESPN had Dalton 3 spots ahead of Peyton Manning after that crappy 7 touchdown performance he had. Eat s**t, ESPN, you couldn't rank rutabaga at the county fair.

[COB]

In the future it would be much appreciated if you would craft your complete response with samples from your in-depth collection of romance novel illustrations and decades-old SI covers. Makes it easier to follow your claims that Andy Dalton is in a class with Ben Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner.

#1

#2

[skyline]

In the future it would be much appreciated if you would craft your complete response with samples from your in-depth collection of romance novel illustrations and decades-old SI covers. Makes it easier to follow your claims that Andy Dalton is in a class with Ben Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner.

#1

#2

[TJJackson]

ESPN had Dalton 3 spots ahead of Peyton Manning after that crappy 7 touchdown performance he had

Yeah, thats pretty cray-cray (as my ten year old daughter would put it)

[HoosierCat]

Redman keeps the starting RB gig in Pitt for now, despite sucking Sunday.

/>http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000242030/article/isaac-redman-to-keep-pittsburgh-steelers-starting-job

Game is sold out.

/>http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/09/10/bengals-sell-out-home-opener.html

CBS experts love Cincy in this game.

/>http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/features/writers/expert/picks/straight-up/2

[Kazkal]

Even after losing we still getting love in power rankings.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/shutdown-corner-nfl-power-rankings-much-weight-week-071322265--nfl.html

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/74595/power-rankings-no-10-cincinnati-bengals

[Kazkal]

For what it's worth, football outsiders' rankings put Dalton at 8 for the week, which sounds a little more reasonable. All the rest of the division's QBs finished in the bottom five.

Probably more reasonable, yes.

That said, if you don't believe the two INTs were his fault (and I don't), then he had a pretty freaking fantastic game. His completion percentage was nearly 80% for crying out loud, and he didn't spend the whole game dinking and dunking.

People still don't think he's the guy, and I get it. But you've got to score 1 in Dalton's favor after this one. We'll see if he can sustain it.

Red Messiah has comith.

[HoosierCat]

From Mcallister' twitter:

Whit described knee injury as a "re-tear" in camp, saying he had to start all over with rehab. #Bengals

So it looks like speculation after the HK ep showed him with a new knee bandage was correct. He deferred to Marvin as to when he would play. Good thing Collins appears to have stepped up.

[volcom69]

From Mcallister' twitter:

Whit described knee injury as a "re-tear" in camp, saying he had to start all over with rehab. #Bengals

So it looks like speculation after the HK ep showed him with a new knee bandage was correct. He deferred to Marvin as to when he would play. Good thing Collins appears to have stepped up.

Marvin said in his pressed that Whit has a chance to play this week, sounds like a bunch of smoke.

[ArmyBengal]

Seems like they were closer with the comment of "He should play sometime this season".

[HoosierCat]

This struck me as odd. From Bouchette's twitter about two hours ago:

Ben Roethlisberger given the day off for "personal reasons.'' Told nothing serious and he will return Thursday.

Then about 45 minutes ago:

Ben just showed back up to practice.

Curious...

[kingwilly]

More fuel for the best internet war ever. Measured by espn's QBR stat, Dalton is the No. 2 QB in the league right now.

That is interesting.

It also shows half of the top 10 are the young guns: Luck, Dalton, Kaepernick, Newton, Wilson....

[Kazkal]

This struck me as odd. From Bouchette's twitter about two hours ago:

Ben Roethlisberger given the day off for "personal reasons.'' Told nothing serious and he will return Thursday.

Then about 45 minutes ago:

Ben just showed back up to practice.

Curious...

2 hours from now,It's been reported that big ben has raped another woman in a sleezy bathroom.

[HoosierCat]

Whitworth claims he's close to returning to practice.

On Monday, Marvin Lewis was optimistic that there was a possibility Andrew Whitworth could play Monday night against the Steelers. Two days later and after the Bengals had a walkthrough, Whitworth said he was close to making a return to practice but that he was waiting to be cleared.

“When the doctor clears me, I’ll be allowed to go. No matter how much I argue with him he’s going to have my best interest at heart. As soon as they give me the green light, I’ll be out there,” Whitworth said. “I’m just concerned about the moment right now. That’s his job. That’s why they have him. Trying to take care of you and keep you here for a long time. Not just one week.”

Whitworth did say that he has been close for awhile but also did share for the first time that he had a setback early in training camp and that he had a second procedure done. Whitworth had knee surgery back in February to take out scar tissue in his left knee.

“I had a little re-injury and we set the timeline all over, got that situation fixed and now we’re close to being back to ready. … It was a totally different episode that caused another injury because you’re already dealing wth something that already has been worked on,” Whitworth said. “The quicker you go post-procedure, you’re endangering yourself, so we had to give ourselves a little time to heal and as soon as we’re ready were ready. It’s Marvin’s call.”

Sounds like it will be AC again vs. Pitt and given how well he played against the Bears I'm not worried.

[ArmyBengal]

I was just wondering what the Bengals think at this point about Collins.

He will turn 28 this year and Whitworth is going to be 32.

How quickly do the big guys lose a step ??

I'm not asking for Whit to be shown the door, but you see where i'm going.

[princeton]

Whitworth's lost a step already. he needs to hold onto what's left.

the two things that you really like about Whitworth are that he plays every game, and that he holds his guy off for a short time on EVERY play. But he's less valuable if he's going to be less durable, plus it's not hard to envision another tackle that would give Dalton more time than Whit does. finally, his run blocking is not much.

I was hoping that the offseason surgery would rejuvenate him, but instead it looks like it'll be another slow slog of a season for him.

[HoosierCat]

Here's the kicker:

Whit is scheduled to make $5 million a year through 2015.

Collins is a free agent in March.

[kingwilly]

I don't agree that Whit has lost a step.

Also, until now he has been very durable. Not quite ready to send him to the junk pile. He can go to LG in order to prolong his career once he does lose a step. I think he can play another 4 years.

Having Collins is underrated as faw as value. Look at the line issues on other teams... Collins will be in demand at the end of the year. Maybe time to get him long term?

[volcom69]

It bothers me that Collins is one of our best O-lineman, and will soon see the bench. I really wish there was a spot for him out there somewhere.

[volcom69]

As far as the game goes, to me they have to win this game. Dalton needs to have another great game, this time against steelers who he usually sucks against. If they can't win this game as much as I don't want to admit it, they maybe in trouble.

Time for Bernard to start, and Law Firm to spell him. After last week it shows Bernard needs more touches. I just worry the coaches won't give him that chance till later, or till it's too late.

O-line keep pass protecting like last week, Andy looked comfortable, and at his best. Dalton could have completed 34 passes last week if it wasn't for drops/ints that were not his fault. Run blocking needs to be better!

Defense time to earn your money, and I really do think they need to dictate this game. I want to see big sacks, and how about some turnovers. Better coverage from the secondary, and quite leaving guys wide open.

[Stripes]

More fuel for the best internet war ever. Measured by espn's QBR stat, Dalton is the No. 2 QB in the league right now.

Nice ranking. Glad to see ESPN had Dalton 3 spots ahead of Peyton Manning after that crappy 7 touchdown performance he had. Eat s**t, ESPN, you couldn't rank rutabaga at the county fair.

ESPN's "Total QBR" thing is completely worthless.

[HoosierCat]

I don't agree that Whit has lost a step.

Also, until now he has been very durable. Not quite ready to send him to the junk pile. He can go to LG in order to prolong his career once he does lose a step. I think he can play another 4 years.

Having Collins is underrated as faw as value. Look at the line issues on other teams... Collins will be in demand at the end of the year. Maybe time to get him long term?

I have to disagree with your disagreement. The knee was clearly bothering Whit last year. And this latest setback doesn't exactly fill me with confidence that there won't be more problems going forward. We saw from 2006 to 2008 just how fast knee and foot injuries can end a tackle's career.

All that said, I'm not ready to junk Whit either. 70 or 80 percent of Whit is still better than half the LTs in the league. But at this point its too early to make any kind of call. Whitworth could get back into the game in the next couple weeks and be fine. Or this could drag on. Well see.

I would love to get AC locked up long term, but the more he gets out there and plays like he did Sunday, the higher his number goes. And the Bengals still have AJ and Dalton extensions to contend with. If Whit gets back out there and plays well, I think Collins walks and the Bengals pick up a young prospect in the first three rounds in April. But if Whit cant get out there, or gets out there and isn't effective, or gets hurt again...things could change.

[HoosierCat]

Why do the Steelers suck this year? Why, because their coaches are out late drinking and partying!

/>http://deadspin.com/todd-haley-autographs-a-bar-napkin-chiefs-suck-1294253164

[combatbengal]

Whitworth's lost a step already. he needs to hold onto what's left.

the two things that you really like about Whitworth are that he plays every game, and that he holds his guy off for a short time on EVERY play. But he's less valuable if he's going to be less durable, plus it's not hard to envision another tackle that would give Dalton more time than Whit does. finally, his run blocking is not much.

I was hoping that the offseason surgery would rejuvenate him, but instead it looks like it'll be another slow slog of a season for him.

The issue with Whitworth is that he's not on the field doing his job because of an injury! Secondly, he seems to get a lot of penalties when he's in the game. Last season he was getting almost a penalty a game!! Now, don't get me wrong, he's a leader in the locker room for us and does protect our QB, but he has to be on the field to do that!

With that being said, I thought Andy had pretty good protection last week. Made me sick that the announcers kept talking about how clean his uniform was at the end of the game, which jinxed us, because he got sacked, after they kept saying that!

[combatbengal]

As far as the game goes, to me they have to win this game. Dalton needs to have another great game, this time against steelers who he usually sucks against. If they can't win this game as much as I don't want to admit it, they maybe in trouble.

Time for Bernard to start, and Law Firm to spell him. After last week it shows Bernard needs more touches. I just worry the coaches won't give him that chance till later, or till it's too late.

O-line keep pass protecting like last week, Andy looked comfortable, and at his best. Dalton could have completed 34 passes last week if it wasn't for drops/ints that were not his fault. Run blocking needs to be better!

Defense time to earn your money, and I really do think they need to dictate this game. I want to see big sacks, and how about some turnovers. Better coverage from the secondary, and quite leaving guys wide open.

I totally agree with you; Bernard needs more touches. Last season, I thought we made a mistake with the Law Firm because he wasn't getting any yards until the end of the season. It was funny that he never fumbled until he came to us too! If it weren't for penalties last week, Bernard would have had some good yards!!