Just the Facts

[Wraith]

I am certainly glad I watched the game on sunday, aside from the fact that it is always fun to beat the Browns, if I hadn't watched the game and turned on Bengals talk or read posts on this or other forums I would have thought we had lost.

I keep hearing that somehow a week one win by 14 points just wasn't enough. what exactly do you want?

Here are the facts, of the 15 games played to this point 5 have been won by the road team. Of those 5 road wins New Orleans, Dallas, and Tampa Bay were all games decided late in the fourth quarter. Only two of the five were blowouts those being Cincinnati and Indianapolis and while the Indy win was much more impressive because of the caliber of their opponent the score was just 3-0 at the end of the third quarter. In all the NFL only the Cincinnati Bengals put away their opponent on the road before the third quarter was at an end. The Bengals were up 17 points on the road with over 6 minutes to go in the third then coasted from there allowing a FG in garbage time.

As far as Carson Palmer making mistakes at the end of the game, yeah the QB rollout up 17 points in the fourth quarter was dumb, yeah the throw in the endzone after that was even dumber but ask yourself, "When did these events occur, was the game on the line when he made these mistakes, when the game was on the line did he make ANY mistakes?" Palmer was playing in garbage time he was reckless but when we needed him to be great he was. I could honestly care less if he throw an INT in the opponents endzone leading by 14 points with less than three minutes to play, I could care even less that he tucked the ball and tried to run for it leading by 17 with 6 minutes to play (provided he didn't get hurt) IF when the score was 10-10 in the second quarter he leads us on a 91 yard 10 play drive where he goes 5-6 and follows that up with a drive with a 7-7 perfomance in leading another TD drive to start the 3rd quarter which sealed the game.

Carson was magnificent on Sunday and if he lays like that the rest of the year...he will be an All-Pro and we will have a playoff team. He is after all the third leading passer in the NFL (3rd in yards AND third in QB percentage, first in completion percentage)

Yeah it was against the Browns, Blah, Blah, Blah...ask St. Louis and Denver how hard it is to win on the road in the NFL. This was a division game, a rival game and a game that has been hard for the best Bengal teams to win. If anyone has a significant issue with how we performed on Sunday they either do not understand the realities of the NFL or will never be happy. If you are the former I hope I added insight, if you are the later your hopeless and I will not bother to let such small mindedness affect the way I feel about the team and its chances to succeed this year.

[Humanzee 5000]

Nice. We should hang out sometime. I made a similar post with some different points!

Thank you for your undying optimism in such a close gmae (ha ha)

[skyline]

I'm as optimistic as anyone about our season, and I'm very pleased that we got the win in week 1.

Still, I would not call this game a blowout, and I would not say that we put it away in the 3rd quarter. I think the Browns were always 1 or 2 big plays away from getting right back into it. 1 or 2 plays that actually happened, but were thankfully called back due to stupid penalties on their part.

[Kirkendall]

I keep hearing that somehow a week one win by 14 points just wasn't enough.

Someone said that? Isn't a win good enough?

Who ever said that before, step up and admit it... c'mon!

[Wraith]

"I think the Browns were always 1 or 2 big plays away from getting right back into it. 1 or 2 plays that actually happened, but were thankfully called back due to stupid penalties on their part. "

Were they? We moved the ball at will, do you think that if the game were closer we wouldn't have kicked that field goal at the Browns 20 yard line to end the game rather than going for 4th and 8? Do you think we wouldn't have pounded the ball using our running game to score rather than have Carson throw the pass that resulted in his one INT since they were powerless to stop our inside running game all day? What plays are you referring to, the INT that was called back...ok that is one (one doesn't cut it remeber we are up by 3 scores until there was only 3 minutes left in the game). If you talking about the kick return well, uh, if the Browns had not comitted that penalty the play would have never happened since the player who was blocked in the back was in perfect position to make the tackle or at a bare minimum slow the play down where the lanes that were exploited would have been well and truly shut. IMHO this was a blowout we just stopped pushing for scores after we got up by 17, my contention is if they had scored even one touchdown on a sustained drive we would have pushed harder but their lone TD was the result of a freak schematic problem that resulted in a DT (Robinson)covering a WR (Jackson), that formation was taken out of the playbook and burned in effigy after the TD I'm sure since that formation did not appear again.

[vettespd20]

Great post I was thinking the same thing. Hell a few years ago every one would have been so happy just for an win at home more less an away game against a division team on opening game. People need to stop being to crazy about this. WE WON AN OPENING GAME AWAY AGAINST A division TEAM, AND LOOKED GREAT!!!! Oh ya as for the minor mistakes IT WAS THE FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON!, Carson showed great leadership and will be a star

[kingwilly]

Any win vs a division foe is like 2 wins. Any win on the road is like 2 wins. I am the happiest guy around today! Don't get me wrong, the Bengals were the better team and the better team prevailed.

BUT do not look past the little stuff because you can bet the coaches won't.

Yes, Palmer had a 107.xyz pass rating. He has made fantasitc progress since the NYJ game last year. But recognize that he still regressed at times that in a game vs a better team could have been deadly. At times he was unstoppable but it only takes a few bad plays/decisions to F up an otherwise great effort and chance to start fast in the division. Luckily those mistakes were either called back or came when we had the game under control. Some of it was a slip, some was mental, some was bad playcalling but all should be addressed.

Do you think ML is going to say, "Well, but his pass rating was 107+, that's damn good plus its only Cleveland and we won!" F-no. He's going to say, let's watch the film and pick apart the mistakes till we are blue in the face.

Do you think ML will say, "Well, that was a freak schematic problem, plus it was only Cleveland and we won and Carson's rating was 107+!". F-No he's going to break it down and see that Odell lapsed, KK could not get off his block downfield and Frisman flat beat Ratliff to score, formation be damned. It was a big play that they will work on preventing next time.

Do you think ML will say, "Well, the penalty called back that punt return so its a wash, plus Palmers rating was 107+ and we won!" F-No. He'll disect that play and find the issue to fix it.

I hope they first celebrate the win, then identify all the errors to be correct and re-inforce the things they did well...in that order.

[Kirkendall]

Of course they will, King. That's their job! That's their big bling bling... Our job is to point out how great our team is. Job well done on both ends...

[oldschooler]

We already did something that we didn`t do last year.

BEAT CLEVELAND IN CLEVELAND !

It was the Bengals first Opening Day ROAD

WIN since 1995. It was their first Opening Day

WIN period...since 2001. It was Marvin`s first ever

Opening Day WIN as a Head Coach. And it was against the Turds !

Palmer looked GREAT for his 14th NFL start.

He looked light years ahead of this time last year.

You guys go ahead a nit pick this WIN.

I`m just going to savor it.

[bengalindian]

"I think the Browns were always 1 or 2 big plays away from getting right back into it. 1 or 2 plays that actually happened, but were thankfully called back due to stupid penalties on their part. "

Were they? We moved the ball at will, do you think that if the game were closer we wouldn't have kicked that field goal at the Browns 20 yard line to end the game rather than going for 4th and 8? Do you think we wouldn't have pounded the ball using our running game to score rather than have Carson throw the pass that resulted in his one INT since they were powerless to stop our inside running game all day? What plays are you referring to, the INT that was called back...ok that is one (one doesn't cut it remeber we are up by 3 scores until there was only 3 minutes left in the game). If you talking about the kick return well, uh, if the Browns had not comitted that penalty the play would have never happened since the player who was blocked in the back was in perfect position to make the tackle or at a bare minimum slow the play down where the lanes that were exploited would have been well and truly shut. IMHO this was a blowout we just stopped pushing for scores after we got up by 17, my contention is if they had scored even one touchdown on a sustained drive we would have pushed harder but their lone TD was the result of a freak schematic problem that resulted in a DT (Robinson)covering a WR (Jackson), that formation was taken out of the playbook and burned in effigy after the TD I'm sure since that formation did not appear again.

I was gonna say just that. They never showed they were really capable of a big play, besides that long TD pass, which everyone knew that was not possible twice. So, it's pretty safe to say that the game was over at the beginning of the 4th. Blowouts are few and far between in the NFL with the level of talent among players, and a 14 point win on the road, even against the measly Browns, is impressive, though there are always things to work on.

[HoosierCat]

"I think the Browns were always 1 or 2 big plays away from getting right back into it. 1 or 2 plays that actually happened, but were thankfully called back due to stupid penalties on their part. "

Were they?

Yeah, they were. Our offense stalled about mid-way through the third. We had come out, staggered the Browns with a quick 10 points, and were in perfect position to deliver the knockout blow.

Instead, we started handing them opportunities to come back. First, the pick for a TD that got called back. Dodged a bullet there. But we give up a sack 2 plays later and end up punting 2 plays after that.

Next posession: 3 and out.

Next posession (following Ratliff's pick): Palmer sacked, fumbles, gives the ball right back.

Next posession: Palmer throws INT in end zone.

Fortunately for the Bengals, the Browns were unable to capitalize on our generosity, so on our next (and final) posession we could pound Rudi to run out the clock. There are many teams with much better offenses who would not have been so accomodating, I'm sure.

No one is saying this means the bengals suck. What it means is that there is still work to be done.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

As far as Carson Palmer making mistakes at the end of the game, yeah the QB rollout up 17 points in the fourth quarter was dumb, yeah the throw in the endzone after that was even dumber but ask yourself, "When did these events occur, was the game on the line when he made these mistakes, when the game was on the line did he make ANY mistakes?" 

The problem with that line of reasoning is that bad habits are bad habits, and they don't just occur at lucky points in the game. By the end of the game it was getting to the point of being practice, and I don't think it's OK to start playing sloppy and dumb just for fun. Particularly the scramble - if the game's out of reach, stay in the pocket, because if he goes down scrambling late in a blowout I'll be seriously pissed.

I have seen Carson make similar mistakes last year when the game did matter, so I don't think he's just deciding to play loose with the ball because it's not close.

And yes, I think he had a great game. I just want to see the mental gaffes tighten up, because he looks great otherwise.

[Kazkal]

Browns may be a team that is very lacking,but them @ home season opener vs a division rival even they can be scary.... alot of teams that wearn't suppossed to win won last week too.

49ers,Bucs and dolphins

[Wraith]

By midway through the third we were up 27-10 for the record the Brown did take advantage of the fumble they got a FG on the insuing drive. Again my assertion is we knocked out the Browns when on the first drive after halftime we marched down the field and scored a touchdown to bring us up 24-10...The Browns are not a big-play offense (Firsman Jackson, I know, even a blind squirrel finds a nut yada, yada, yada) and against us on that day had proven that they were incapable of building a sustained drive.

[Bwestbrook36]

i would say the game was a blow out because the only offense they had was one big play, and that was it. i watched the whole game as im sure you guys did they way we were playing i was never worried..ALL BENGAL FANS NEED TO RELAX cuz were in for a long fun ride, with im sure some minor bumps and maybe a dead skunk on the road.