Chargers @ Bengals Pregame Chatter

[HoosierCat]

Just a schedule addition, if the Bengals win they play in Foxboro Saturday the 11th at 8:15 pm.

[HoosierCat]

Bengals open as 7.5 point favorites.

[WhoDey93285]

Would it he a jinx if I went ahead and requested off work for Sunday the fifteenth? (I work thirds so I would have to take off to watch game.)

[WhoDey93285]

I meant the 11th not the 15th.

[COB]

I can't stand Rodney Harrison either, and whatever he says or doesn't say has no effect on me. That's how little I think of him. Meanwhile Collinsworth makes a little remark under his breath like he did a couple Sundays ago, "because they're the Bengals," and I'm still a little irate.

Having said that, it is a completely legitimate opinion Harrison voiced. Dalton has a track record in playoff games - not good. He just played in a playoff-like game, heck it was a playoff game for Baltimore, and he threw 4 picks.

Harrison is just saying, I'll believe it when I see it. 7.5 is a huge number for an NFL playoff game. He should probably see it next weekend.

[gregcook68]

Having said that, it is a completely legitimate opinion Harrison voiced. Dalton has a track record in playoff games - not good. He just played in a playoff-like game, heck it was a playoff game for Baltimore, and he threw 4 picks.

Harrison is just saying, I'll believe it when I see it.

Yes, I know Andy and the Bengals will never get ANY respect until they win a playoff game, but here's the thing. Like Hoosier said, interceptions hurt ALL NFL QBs Rodney, no big revelation there.

Also, even though Peyton HAS won playoff games, and a SB, he is 0-1 in Denver with an 'across the body' interception against Baltimore that lost the game for them last year.

I didn't hear Dungy mention that last night when he said that there was no AFC team that had a dominant enough defense that could stop Peyton. He never mentioned how suspect Denver's defense is.

[HoosierCat]

Having said that, it is a completely legitimate opinion Harrison voiced. Dalton has a track record in playoff games - not good. He just played in a playoff-like game, heck it was a playoff game for Baltimore, and he threw 4 picks.

Yup, and they still won. If the bland universality of Harrison's "analysis" isn't enough, consider that as an analysis of yesterday's game, it's just flat-out wrong. Yesterday was a rare exception to the rule that turnovers will kill you. If he had said something like, it's all about the offense's ability to keep bouncing back, or all about the D's ability to bail them out, he would have at least said something applicable to the game. Instead he produced a bromide that didn't even apply!

Any commenter on this forum could do better.

[gregcook68]

Having said that, it is a completely legitimate opinion Harrison voiced. Dalton has a track record in playoff games - not good. He just played in a playoff-like game, heck it was a playoff game for Baltimore, and he threw 4 picks.

Yup, and they still won. If the bland universality of Harrison's "analysis" isn't enough, consider that as an analysis of yesterday's game, it's just flat-out wrong. Yesterday was a rare exception to the rule that turnovers will kill you. If he had said something like, it's all about the offense's ability to keep bouncing back, or all about the D's ability to bail them out, he would have at least said something applicable to the game. Instead he produced a bromide that didn't even apply!

Any commenter on this forum could do better.

Normally, Paul Brown is right. "Football is a game of errors. Whoever commits the least usually wins". Even though yesterday was an exception to the rule, the final TO war was 4-3. We only lost the TO war by 1 and still won the game going away!

[HoosierCat]

Having said that, it is a completely legitimate opinion Harrison voiced. Dalton has a track record in playoff games - not good. He just played in a playoff-like game, heck it was a playoff game for Baltimore, and he threw 4 picks.

Yup, and they still won. If the bland universality of Harrison's "analysis" isn't enough, consider that as an analysis of yesterday's game, it's just flat-out wrong. Yesterday was a rare exception to the rule that turnovers will kill you. If he had said something like, it's all about the offense's ability to keep bouncing back, or all about the D's ability to bail them out, he would have at least said something applicable to the game. Instead he produced a bromide that didn't even apply!

Any commenter on this forum could do better.

Normally, Paul Brown is right. "Football is a game of errors. Whoever commits the least usually wins". Even though yesterday was an exception to the rule, the final TO war was 4-3. We only lost the TO war by 1 and still won the game going away!

Don't forget that ludicrous 10 yard punt, whic may as well have been a turnover. I think that was the only one that led to a TD. So maybe it all comes down to the punter not epically failing at the one thing he was hired to do!

[gregcook68]

Having said that, it is a completely legitimate opinion Harrison voiced. Dalton has a track record in playoff games - not good. He just played in a playoff-like game, heck it was a playoff game for Baltimore, and he threw 4 picks.

Yup, and they still won. If the bland universality of Harrison's "analysis" isn't enough, consider that as an analysis of yesterday's game, it's just flat-out wrong. Yesterday was a rare exception to the rule that turnovers will kill you. If he had said something like, it's all about the offense's ability to keep bouncing back, or all about the D's ability to bail them out, he would have at least said something applicable to the game. Instead he produced a bromide that didn't even apply!

Any commenter on this forum could do better.

Normally, Paul Brown is right. "Football is a game of errors. Whoever commits the least usually wins". Even though yesterday was an exception to the rule, the final TO war was 4-3. We only lost the TO war by 1 and still won the game going away!

Don't forget that ludicrous 10 yard punt, whic may as well have been a turnover. I think that was the only one that led to a TD. So maybe it all comes down to the punter not epically failing at the one thing he was hired to do!

Thanks to the Pittsburgh thugs!!! Huber will be sorely missed and I just hope Powell doesn't have to punt very much, and when he does he can punt like he did on the other two he had yesterday!

[ArmyBengal]

Shannon Sharpe was also on there running his mouth about how if Dalton has a game like this against a playoff team, they won't win.

Another example of saying something totally stupid.

These people just hate to see the Bengals and Dalton doing well.

It's not that i'm excusing 4 INT's and we've mentioned that Dalton still has room to improve, but DAMN.

No mention of him taking the team to 3 consecutive playoffs, which has never been done in franchise history.

Franchise passing records being set ?? Who cares ??

At least acknowledge what he has been able to accomplish.

Don't get me wrong, something he still needs to accomplish is doing better in the playoffs and getting a win would help that, but they are dismissing him.

Lastly, Burfict is an absolute animal.

[membengal]

For the record, Dalton and the offense turned the ball over on four consecutive posessions in the 2nd quarter against the Packers this year, fell two scores down, and Dalton led two nails drives in the second half anyway to give them a chance to win.

They have won games like that against playoff teams. Analysts are lazy. I would prefer they not put themselves in this position, but they also have more practice than most at digging out from such a game.

[gregcook68]

For the record, Dalton and the offense turned the ball over on four consecutive posessions in the 2nd quarter against the Packers this year, fell two scores down, and Dalton led two nails drives in the second half anyway to give them a chance to win.

They have won games like that against playoff teams. Analysts are lazy. I would prefer they not put themselves in this position, but they also have more practice than most at digging out from such a game.

His key trait and the word is 'unflappable'!

[Stripes]

Dalton does owe a lot to the defense for holding Baltimore to 9 points off of those 4 picks. But he still gave us the lead with the bomb to AJ and certainly played his part in Marvin's highlight catch.

I think the 4 picks were as much about Gruden going balls to the wall with his playcalling (producing good results as well as bad) as they were about Dalton. The first one was just a great play by the DB. The second was an awful throw. The third was a gamble and it backfired. The fourth was a poor playcall.

[Sea Ray]

Dalton does owe a lot to the defense for holding Baltimore to 9 points off of those 4 picks. But he still gave us the lead with the bomb to AJ and certainly played his part in Marvin's highlight catch.

I think the 4 picks were as much about Gruden going balls to the wall with his playcalling (producing good results as well as bad) as they were about Dalton. The first one was just a great play by the DB. The second was an awful throw. The third was a gamble and it backfired. The fourth was a poor playcall.

The 4th one was Dalton's playcall. The first one was a horrible decision by Dalton. You don't throw a jump ball on 1st and ten

[HoosierCat]

I thought that last pick was just a clusterfk from start to finish. First, you don't line up with en empty backfield on first and goal from the one. Even if you are going to throw the ball. Gruden has to nix that to start with. Then when Dalton gets the snap and drops, there is only one guy going out to look at and he is blanketed. You can't throw it on a rope there. In fact you can't throw it all, except to throw it away. Finally, on the receiving end, AJ has to prevent that catch, instead he just basically stands there. I have no problem dumping the lion's share of blame on Andy for the pick, but the play was a hot mess all around.

[ArmyBengal]

Based upon what Gruden said about that play, i'm trying to figure out why they didn't call a timeout.

He said he saw the defensive lineup and they should have called something else. It was his call not Dalton's.

At that point in the game, going up another TD would have made the use of the timeout irrelevant.

It was a lazy throw on the part of Dalton, but one that still would have been a TD had Green not been equally lazy waiting on the ball.

[duus]

Based upon what Gruden said about that play, i'm trying to figure out why they didn't call a timeout.

He said he saw the defensive lineup and they should have called something else. It was his call not Dalton's.

At that point in the game, going up another TD would have made the use of the timeout irrelevant.

It was a lazy throw on the part of Dalton, but one that still would have been a TD had Green not been equally lazy waiting on the ball.

Completely agree.

[Sea Ray]

Based upon what Gruden said about that play, i'm trying to figure out why they didn't call a timeout.

He said he saw the defensive lineup and they should have called something else. It was his call not Dalton's.

At that point in the game, going up another TD would have made the use of the timeout irrelevant.

It was a lazy throw on the part of Dalton, but one that still would have been a TD had Green not been equally lazy waiting on the ball.

Where did you get that impression? From what I've read, it was Dalton's audible:

Dalton threw another interception the next time Cincinnati had the ball, and tossed a third one on the Bengals’ first possession of the second half. His fourth interception occurred midway through the fourth quarter, when he audibled out of a running call on first down from Baltimore’s 1.

“I got a little greedy and tried to take a shot,” Dalton said. “I didn’t throw it how I wanted to. I should have run it in or handed it off.”

/>http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2013/12/30/records-offset-daltons-4-picks.html

[Sea Ray]

Based upon what Gruden said about that play, i'm trying to figure out why they didn't call a timeout.

He said he saw the defensive lineup and they should have called something else. It was his call not Dalton's.

At that point in the game, going up another TD would have made the use of the timeout irrelevant.

It was a lazy throw on the part of Dalton, but one that still would have been a TD had Green not been equally lazy waiting on the ball.

Completely agree.

It's not on AJ. He was covered. If you throw a pass on 1st and goal from the one that is dependent upon the WR outmuscling the ball from a defender then it's a bad play. There are much safer calls that could have been made in that situation. We have a line built for power running. We should have run that up the gut

[redsbengalsbucks]

Based upon what Gruden said about that play, i'm trying to figure out why they didn't call a timeout.

He said he saw the defensive lineup and they should have called something else. It was his call not Dalton's.

At that point in the game, going up another TD would have made the use of the timeout irrelevant.

It was a lazy throw on the part of Dalton, but one that still would have been a TD had Green not been equally lazy waiting on the ball.

I'd argue that running three plays for no gain and a FG there would have put a rather large nail in Balti's coffin. Just really bad coaching if you are going to let you QB make that kind of an error.

[gregcook68]

Based upon what Gruden said about that play, i'm trying to figure out why they didn't call a timeout.

He said he saw the defensive lineup and they should have called something else. It was his call not Dalton's.

At that point in the game, going up another TD would have made the use of the timeout irrelevant.

It was a lazy throw on the part of Dalton, but one that still would have been a TD had Green not been equally lazy waiting on the ball.

Completely agree.

It's not on AJ. He was covered. If you throw a pass on 1st and goal from the one that is dependent upon the WR outmuscling the ball from a defender then it's a bad play. There are much safer calls that could have been made in that situation. We have a line built for power running. We should have run that up the gut

I love AJ but I see some lackadaisical in him too. He himself said he should have come back or batted it down. He said the same thing on the sideline pick in Miami.

After the Miami game I was watching the Dallas game and saw similar plays twice.

Romo throws the ball off and the receivers came back. One was caught the other wasn't caught but wasn't picked either.

[HoosierCat]

I'd argue that running three plays for no gain and a FG there would have put a rather large nail in Balti's coffin. Just really bad coaching if you are going to let you QB make that kind of an error.

Situational football seems to elude both Dalton and Gruden at times, this being a prime example. But again, this also seems to be an organizational thing that predates them. Think about Palmer's last year here and all the dumb decision to throw, throw, throw when the score and the clock screamed run.

At some point you have to drop the buck on Marvin's desk. And I think we've gotten there.

[Stripes]

San Diego fans seem confident.

http://forums.chargers.com/showthread.php?t=100311

[essexjohnson]

AS far as the national "experts" comments go the team has brought it on itself

ever time we have a chance to make a statement we seem to fail

Sunday night in Pitt we lay major egg show no toughness can't score in the 3rd

yesterday we play dumb we were able to overcome it because we are at home and Baltimore is not a good team

to win in the playoffs which we are capable of we have to play smart and come out of the gate strong

only way to shut the critics up is to perform at level we are capable of over 2 or 3 games

I'm so ready to see it

hope this team is ready to do it