membengal Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 I was too hasty in joining the chorus calling for your head.Nice job pulling together a D that all of a sudden reminds me a ton of the D's that he had in Philly. Nose for the ball, aggressive hitters aiming to cause fumbles and well-timed blitzes.They are young and have overcome a lot of injury to make real improvement. Gives me a ton of hope for this team's future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Next_Big_Thing Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Our secondary is playing as well as any unit in the league. If the front 7 continue to improve, I'm excited since we are talking about a bunch of rookies and second year players. Yeah, there are some vets, but it looks like we are playing better with Landon Johnson, Caleb Miller, Elton Patterson, etc. And what's with Clemons? Did this dude just realize he gets paid to hit the QB? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 I get the feeling that when we look back on this season next year, we're going to find that Denver taking Tony Williams out, and Powell getting hurt, were blessings in disguise. Not that I wanted to see Tony or Carl hurt, but let's face it, we all knew these guys weren't exactly top-shelf d-linemen. The only reason Tony is still on the team is because Daryl Gardener couldn't play, and Powell is a career backup.Since they've gone out Moore has been solid, Askew is contributing, and most importantly, the Powell injury has forced them to move Clemons inside from time to time and put Jumpy Jr. in, and he has been a threat to the QB that's making D's choose between stopping him or Justin Smith. And as a result we are getting more pressure, more sacks, and more bad passes thrown that can be knocked down or picked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Next_Big_Thing Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 I get the feeling that when we look back on this season next year, we're going to find that Denver taking Tony Williams out, and Powell getting hurt, were blessings in disguise. Not that I wanted to see Tony or Carl hurt, but let's face it, we all knew these guys weren't exactly top-shelf d-linemen. The only reason Tony is still on the team is because Daryl Gardener couldn't play, and Powell is a career backup.Since they've gone out Moore has been solid, Askew is contributing, and most importantly, the Powell injury has forced them to move Clemons inside from time to time and put Jumpy Jr. in, and he has been a threat to the QB that's making D's choose between stopping him or Justin Smith. And as a result we are getting more pressure, more sacks, and more bad passes thrown that can be knocked down or picked. I agree Joisey!How many bowls of Wheaties is Clemons eating lately? I like the lineup of Smith, Clemons, Geathers, and Askew for the future! With Landon Johnson getting better and taking over for Hardy, Simmons, and Nate Webster, and with Williams, Kaesviharn, James, Ratliff, and Oneal in the secondary, it's going to be a good young defense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkendall Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 How do you guys forget fast as feathers Geathers? He's contributed two sacks in as many weeks including a forced fumble against Dallas... Definitely Geathers and Langston have me currently satisfied about the state of affairs on our defensive front. I'm curious though, is the superior game-play a result from a rejuvenated defense or just horrible offenses? A mixture of both? What are your guys' thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyline Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 How do you guys forget fast as feathers Geathers? He's contributed two sacks in as many weeks including a forced fumble against Dallas... Definitely Geathers and Langston have me currently satisfied about the state of affairs on our defensive front. I'm curious though, is the superior game-play a result from a rejuvenated defense or just horrible offenses? A mixture of both? What are your guys' thoughts? A mixture of both...especially yesterday. The Bengals D' benefited from quite a few plain old botched plays on the part of the Skins. Dropped passes, poorly thrown balls, etc. The Bengals D played well, but had the Skins shown any competency whatsoever on their end, this game would have been much tougher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
membengal Posted November 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Well, less competent offenses helps, but, BUT, in the past we have also jump-started such offenses, so I am pleased to see them do what they needed to, to keep such offenses suffering.Geathers is unreal off the corner. Have we had an End with a first step like that? Ever? With him on one side and Justin on the other, that is a bona fide pass rush coming from the front 4, particularly when you factor in Clemens. It's nice. Justin made a nice play around Chris Samuels, who is a fine OT. Langston Moore looks like a keeper.Really, this should not be entirely surprising to me, as ML built a phenomenal line in Baltimore over the years with guys who were not household names coming out of college. This is really nice to see.Couple that with the secondary play (really, when was the last time you saw a deep pass and didn't panic) and we seem to have the base of something good growing here.Landon Johnson plays LB like an angry bullet. I would love to see them spend their 1st rounder on a LB next year, and find one more DT in free agency. The base is getting there, it gives me hope for the next several years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkendall Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 I guess a good indictation of our defense will be on display against Pittsburgh Sunday.On a sidenote, sports is looking very good Sunday. Bengals vs. Pitt -- Bucks vs. Miiiichigan -- and (for some of us) the final race of the season. I think Super Bowl weekend has some competition this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 I'm curious though, is the superior game-play a result from a rejuvenated defense or just horrible offenses? A mixture of both? What are your guys' thoughts? I'd go with "a mixture of both." On the one hand, both the 'Boys and the 'Skins offenses can be charitably described as anemic. They're Nos. 30 and 31, respectively, in the points scored (only Miami is worse, and even then Miami has scored just 2 fewer points than DC and 18 fewer than Dallas). So they're pretty bad.On the other hand, the Cowboys came into Cincy averaging nearly 20 points a game and DC was averaging about 15. We held them to 3 and 10, respectively. To me, that suggests that we did more than just rely on the other team to fail; we actively went out and shut them down.Two encouraging things: First, the Bengals, again, did not give up the big play. I've maintained all season that the D is not as bad as it seems, but that they kept making that one or two mistakes a game -- Jamal Lewis' 75-yard TD scamper, Andre Davis' 99-yard TD reception, etc. -- that caused an otherwise solid defensive effort to go for naught. One Lewis-like scamper from Portis yesterday and they win may well have gone poof. But they didn't give that up.Second, the already-mentioned contributions by the kids. Look at yesterday's numbers, the top defender was Landon Johnson, 8 tackles, 1 assist, 1 sack. Madieu 7-1-0. Moore 3-0-1. Geathers 1-0-1. Ratliff 1-0-0. Askew 0-1-0. That's a combined 20 tackles, 3 assists, and 3 sacks by our first and second year guys. Stop and read that again. 20-3-3 by five, count 'em FIVE rookies (none of 'em 1st rounders) and one second year 6th round pick who played 0 snaps all last year.I don't care who they got those numbers against, but you show them to any OC around the league and I guarantee they will scare the p*ss out of him. Not so much because of what they might do for the rest of the year, but if this is what they're doing now, imagine what they'll look like with a year of experience and training and conditioning under their belts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkendall Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Definitely a foundation in which we can build off of -- something we were a little more cautious at suggesting before the season started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevnz Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Definitely a foundation in which we can build off of -- something we were a little more cautious at suggesting before the season started. Actually Josh you are being polite. I believe there were a fair few people ripping every last player listed above. People were giving the draft an F...Well, anyone care to change that now? You don't even have to factor in we got Deltha in our draft class as well....I think one of the biggest knocks on the D so far has been the inconsistancy they have shown. However between injuries and youth it's to be expected. Now that they are getting that experiance hopefully the inconsistancy starts to go away. This D isn't a top ten D in regards to stopping yards, however they are keeping people out of the endzone, and creating turnovers better than any team in the NFL. That's probably more important anyway. Now they still need to show that they can stop the run. The last few weeks they have had sucess at stopping the run by keeping the other team from actually trying to run because they've had the lead. It'll be curious to see how they stand up when a team comes in committed to the run no matter what. Oh wait, that'll be this weekend. Cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobcat Bengal Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Definitely a foundation in which we can build off of -- something we were a little more cautious at suggesting before the season started.Actually Josh you are being polite. I believe there were a fair few people ripping every last player listed above. People were giving the draft an F...Well, anyone care to change that now? You don't even have to factor in we got Deltha in our draft class as well.... I didn't get to see much of the game on Sunday, but I am really pleased that our D is showing signs of improvement. Prior to the game, I was dreading us trying to stop Portis, and we did a damn good job of it. I told anyone who listened to me that our Secondary was the lone bright spot on our team Defensive wise, and even though the D seems to play more cohesively with each other, it remains that way.I was one of the people who was actually pleased at the draft. For one, getting that many players allowed us to shed some of the older Bengal players (Reinard Wilson, Ross, etc.) and infuse some new life blood into the team. Second, I know there were a TON of people wanting to know if Dillon would be traded, and even MORE were certain that we would be lucky to get a 3rd or 4th rounder for him. He (Coach Lewis) managed to pull of a savvy trade, albeit to the most dominating team in the AFC, and parlayed a trade to get a good CB, which we needed (and thought we would get with Chris......Gamb---Perry? WTF?) anyway, due to the unfortunate circumstances involving Dennis Weathersby. Cmon now, 11 players you keep from the draft? I'm not sure if thats a good or bad thing though. But its a whole side of a football.I'm loving these rookies, especially Madieu (I saw a lot of profile descriptions at footballhuddle before the draft started and the guy was GLOWING about him) and Jumpy Jr. Didn't get to see Matthias in action either....but I have the feeling that this years class is the foundation for many good things to come.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobcat Bengal Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 I think one of the biggest knocks on the D so far has been the inconsistancy they have shown. However between injuries and youth it's to be expected. Now that they are getting that experiance hopefully the inconsistancy starts to go away. This D isn't a top ten D in regards to stopping yards, however they are keeping people out of the endzone, and creating turnovers better than any team in the NFL. That's probably more important anyway. Now they still need to show that they can stop the run. The last few weeks they have had sucess at stopping the run by keeping the other team from actually trying to run because they've had the lead. It'll be curious to see how they stand up when a team comes in committed to the run no matter what. Oh wait, that'll be this weekend. Cool. Excellent point Kevnz. Those stats are so constrasting its retarded. We're dead last in run defense, but we haven't been getting scored on as much as you would think with those kinds of numbers, especially within the last two weeks (Man, I wish we could play the NFC East more often!) We're leading the league in TO's forced, which I'm sure any coach would be more than pleased with. I'm sure Coach Lewis is pissed about the Run D, but on the other side, his D is getting them back the ball. Kinda like a RB ripping off a 40 yard run only to have the ball stripped from him. Kinda misleading. So, its like, we're giving up tons of Run yardage, but they (the other team) aren't capitalizing or scoring on those yards, SIMILAR to our TO dilemna (like the 4 TO's in Cleveland) We're getting the ball back, but stalling our drives. I'm sure we all thought our offense would be a lot more potent this year, but its become painfully obvious this is a learning year for Carson. I'd be curious to see where we rank as far as points given up as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Next_Big_Thing Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 14th in the league 9th in the AFCNot great but not bad either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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