Bengals @ Ravens Game Thread

[Stripes]

Class move by the Ravens to dump his ass and take the huge cap hit.

[ArmyBengal]

I know the NFL and Ravens are saying they never saw the video, but I personally find it hard to give them credit at this point.

I simply think they had nothing else to do but what they did. Forced hand. Did someone really think she fell and hit her head or something ??

Everyone and I mean everyone could connect the dots with this and I view it as the team and league trying to save face.

Had this not come out, everyone would have been more than ok with letting him ride out that weakass punishment and hope it went away.

Maybe i'm overreacting, but I don't truly think so.

[Earendil]

Goodell should go down for this. There's no way on earth the NFL hadn't seen the video before TMZ leaked it.

Then again, my "Goodell hate" is well known, and could be clouding my judgement.

[HoosierCat]

Oh, they saw it, I 100% guarantee it. They were just hoping no one else would ever see it. Fools.

ETA: speaking of fools, face, meet palm:

/>http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24701298/fox-friends-jokes-on-ray-rice-incident-the-message-is-take-the-stairs

[gregcook68]

Ravens cut Ray Rice.

Do you think they would have cut him if they hadn't had the production from Forsett yesterday?

[volcom69]

They had to cut him they had no choice, same with the NFL. This should have been done awhile ago in my opinion after they saw Rice drag her body from the elevator. What the hell did they think happened in there? This is long from over, and if they find out the Ravens or they NFL saw that video and did nothing, well let's just say I don't think it's over.

Now after that video there needs to be a trial and Rice needs to go to jail like a normal guy.

[Stripes]

I don't have any idea whether the Ravens or the league saw the video, but I do think they'd know better than to just HOPE it doesn't leak. This is 2014.

[HoosierCat]

Unfortunately Rice already cut a deal with prosecutors. There can't be a second trial, that would be double jeopardy.

No one to blame but Rice for all of this, but I'll say this about Goodell: he effed up massively. Had he given Rice a serious punishment to start with, maybe the guy's career wouldn't be basically over today.

[volcom69]

Unfortunately Rice already cut a deal with prosecutors. There can't be a second trial, that would be double jeopardy.

No one to blame but Rice for all of this, but I'll say this about Goodell: he effed up massively. Had he given Rice a serious punishment to start with, maybe the guy's career wouldn't be basically over today.

Double Jeopardy that was a great movie.

I didn't know he cut a deal, that's bullcrap!

[HoosierCat]

TMZ claims it will release evidence tomorrow that the NFL had the video but turned a blind eye.

If that's the case, wave goodbye to GOD-el.

[volcom69]

Oh wow yep and I believe that, and also thinks the Ravens knew as well

[HoosierCat]

TMZ again:

/>http://www.tmz.com/2014/09/09/nfl-ray-rice-video-elevator-attack-fiancee-casino-footage/

Not as bad as the original allegation but still pretty bad. Basically the NFL either tried really hard not to find out what happened or just didn't want to know.

The ice under Roger's feet is getting awfully thin.

[ArmyBengal]

Like I said, f*ck both the league and the Ravens on this one.

More needs to come from this. If the allegations made by TMZ are accurate, Goodell needs to be fired.

That's a failure of massive proportions.

[HoosierCat]

OK, we are now officially moving into "farce" territory: NJ state police say NFL doesn't even know what police department handled the investigation.

/>http://deadspin.com/new-jersey-state-police-say-nfl-statement-is-inaccurate-1632438139

So I have a question for Roger: besides go to football games and announce picks at the draft, what do you do all year to earn those phat stacks? And how do I get that job?

[Earendil]

This is turning into a Tornado of Stupidity^TM.

[redsbengalsbucks]

Re Gresham from ESPN and PFF:

Tight end Jermaine Gresham was on the field for 61 offensive snaps. He ran 31 routes while run and pass blocking on 30 more plays. He received a 0.6 overall grade.

Notes: Gresham had two plays that had a negative impact for Cincinnati's offense. He committed a false start on the first drive that didn't end up hurting the offense. The Bengals got two first downs on the drive after the infraction. Later in the first half, though, as he was running a drag across the field near the goal line, Gresham cut short his route. He stopped when Dalton delivered a pass to an empty space where it appeared Gresham was supposed to continue running toward. Had that been a completion, Gresham would have easily scored, and the Bengals would have gotten a touchdown much sooner than the fourth quarter. Two plays after the incompletion, they settled for another field goal.

Then this about Dalton:

Dalton was hardly pressured. When he did take blitzes, Dalton was 6-of-9 with 118 yards and a touchdown.

Notes: It didn't appear much fazed Dalton as he stood tall in the pocket whether he was pressured or not. The mix of short, intermediate and timely deep passes worked well for him.

People can say what they want, but I don't care for Gresham.

I heard Dalton sucked under pressure. Here's to hoping the above continues.

Oops forgot the link:
/>http://espn.go.com/blog/cincinnati-bengals/post/_/id/10946/bengals-russell-bodine-jermaine-gresham-pff-week-1-win

How is it that Atkins is the only DL to get positive pass-rush numbers when Gilberry had 1.5 sacks and seemed to be on top of Flacco a few other times?

[HoosierCat]

How is it that Atkins is the only DL to get positive pass-rush numbers when Gilberry had 1.5 sacks and seemed to be on top of Flacco a few other times?

Because at the end of the day, PFF's numbers are still opinions, not facts. They are built by someone sitting there watching a game play by play and deciding if player X did his job or not. That isn't to say the grades are useless, just that they reflect what one guy thinks. And in this case, I think PFF's guy needs to watch more film.

[Earendil]

PFF is a good resource, but it cannot be the only metric you use to evaluate a player. Sadly, a lot of people forget that.

[COB]

Mike Zimmer hates the PFF grades, and that's good enough for me to do the same.

[skyline]

Going back and watching the game, I was struck by how many dropped passes there were by the Ravens. The first half may have looked quite a bit different had they not had bricks for hands.

I also really enjoyed watching Margus Hunt play. There was a kick return, in particular, where Hunt just grabbed Jacoby Jones, who was trying to run past him, and flung him down like a sack of flour.

[Earendil]

Hunt is quickly becoming one of my favorites, mostly due to plays just like that. He is beastly strong.

[ArmyBengal]

I hate seeing the clips i've seen about how the game would have been different had the Ravens WR's held onto the ball.

Really ?? Well flip that coin again. The game would have been REALLY different had the Bengals converted redzone trips into TD's on even 2 of the 5 trips.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda. 1-0 and i'm happy.

[Stripes]

My favorite thing about Hunt is how every other player looks like a munchkin man from Oz when he is on the field.

[HoosierCat]

Wave goodbye to Roger Goodell, folks. He is well and truly f**ked, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

AP has the smoking gun: a law enforcement official says the elevator tape was sent to the NFL in April, and they have a voicemail from the league office confirming receipt of the video.

BOOM.

[skyline]

Wave goodbye to Roger Goodell, folks. He is well and truly f**ked, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

AP has the smoking gun: a law enforcement official says the elevator tape was sent to the NFL in April, and they have a voicemail from the league office confirming receipt of the video.

BOOM.

He'll find a scapegoat.

So and so got the video, but buried it. The higher ups had no idea.

So on and so forth.