where was Ray-Ray?

[pickle man]

Didnt hear his name called much today.

[HoosierCat]

Eric Allen on espn touches upon that in a note accompanying the Bengals-Ravens recap:

Bengals at Ravens: How do you explain the Ravens defense giving up 24 fourth-quarter points?

The Ravens are still a solid defensive team with good personnel, but their talent is now distributed in the secondary. They no longer have the dominant front line that was their staple during their Super Bowl season. That has created a mini-domino effect on the defense because they can't dominate opposing offensive lines and keep them off LB Ray Lewis. He's much less effective when he's not able to roam freely and cause disruptions in the running game and passing attack. That's why the Ravens were unable to stop the Bengals when it counted.

Eric Allen played cornerback for 14 NFL seasons with the Eagles, Saints and Raiders. He's a regular contributor to Insider.

This jibes with what most Bengals fans thought about our own D at the start of the season, namely that without some dominant DTs, an undersized MLB like Nate Webster (and Ray Lewis is not any bigger) was going to struggle to make plays. Seems as good a theory as any, IMHO.

[jamesbrooks21]

Didnt hear his name called much today.

Very true, for awhile I didn't even know he was playing. I thought he might have got arrested before the game.

[Art Vandalay]

The murderer was definitely there. I think he had 7 or 8 tackles which is pretty good. How could you not feel his presence with only 56 yds for Rudi? An another note, I am surprised CP was about to trash the Ravens def. backfield so easily.

Art, Latex Salesman

[LABengalsFan09]

Is it just me or does CJ repeatedly burn McAllister & Reed, he breaks their ankles all over the place with his sharp cuts and has them falling over themselves trying to shadow him. There were at least four plays yesterday Palmer hit Houshmandzadeh, but in the background CJ was running free downfield. The guy is truly 7-11! :player: :player:

[RedsFan75]

I was watching one play, when I saw McAllister line up to bump and run CJ, and I was paying attention thinking CJ was going to get around him easily so I wanted to watch it. It turned out to be a running play, but before the camera shifted, I noticed that at the snap of the ball McAllister looks like he reaches out and punches CJ in the chest.

Guess he was tired of getting beat.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

What I like is that TJ thinks he is just as good as CJ. He demands excellence of himself, and when Carson gets him the ball, he delivers on his talk.

We have a great lineup of receivers... now we just need to keep them.

[jamesbrooks21]

How could you not feel his presence with only 56 yds for Rudi?

He wasn't solely responsible for that, just when you watch the Ravens play the announcers are usually all over his ballz but I didn't hear very much yesterday.

[kingwilly]

Yes, CJ and Tj had big time games yesterday but let's not forget how McCallister and the Ravens D shut us down with regularity over the past several years. They may not be as vaunted as they once were but they are still tough.

This game, to me, was a turning point for the Bengals O. They came alive and won a game that they could very easily have lost. that is big.

The Ravens D had a great game going for 3 quarters. We could move the ball until about the Ravens 30-25 yrd line. then we would sputter. Only in the 4th qtr did we really catch fire.

I think we are seeing a combination of all things Marvin at the end of the game: The attitude, conditioning, execution, leadership and accountability. Add thoase up and we get a win.