Marvin has the Bengals doing what he intended

[BengalByTheBay]

I know you are pretty much a homer (and i would consider myself one too), but if you watched the first 2 games, Cleveland and Minnesota were running very well in the 1st quarter, only to fumble the ball. Now if the opposing team is going to fumble the ball every time they start running it well, then we are fine. However, i believe the Bengals defense looks much better than they may be.

This is the second strongest impression I have about our defense after week 2. The strongest is that we have caught the interceptions and picked up the fumbles handed to us. However, both teams have run strongly at us and we are not that different than last year at this point. The good thing is that we should be able to continue to gel on defense with the next few weeks before we have to get up into the Rats and, more importantly, the Squeelers. This d is young and improving, but we are soft against the run still, especially in the middle of the field. (Billy's "bend but don't break" comment is pretty much on the money IMO.)

[Columbusbengal]

The good thing is that we should be able to continue to gel on defense with the next few weeks before we have to get up into the Rats

The Rats running game hasn't looked very good the first two weeks - however, they have played good defenses (actually, I wasn't sold on the Colts actually have a "good" defense until they looked just as good yesterday). Jamaal Lewis must have gotten rusty in prison.

[HoosierCat]

Memo to the "we started 2-0 in 2001 and went down the drain" worrywarts from DDN columnist Tom Archdeacon...

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/cont...y/0919arch.html

Tom Archdeacon: New Bengals in ambush mode

By Tom Archdeacon

Dayton Daily News

CINCINNATI | The scene at the end of the game was almost surreal.

With play halted for the two-minute warning, there was Bengals receiver Chad Johnson — a young African-American from inner-city Miami — on the field dancing to that old beer drinking polka — In Heaven There Is No Beer that was being piped over the PA system to the giddy, orange-towel-waving fans.

Right above Johnson, the jumbo scoreboard atop Paul Brown Stadium burned with an even more unimaginable sight:

Cincinnati 37, Minnesota 8.

That would be the final and it could have been much worse if the Bengals hadn't taken points off the board with their inordinate number of penalties and then, at game's end, shown mercy and kept taking a knee.

This was a Vikings team that had stirred some preseason talk about this being a Super Bowl year. As for the improving Bengals, they're still a franchise that has missed the playoffs and hasn't had a winning record since 1990.

But no matter how hard the Cincinnati players and coach Marvin Lewis tried to temper any revelry about their 2-0 start, it was obvious Sunday that things are changing for the better here. This is a good team in the making — with the emphasis on team.

The ghosts of seasons past are gone.

No more Corey Dillon sitting at his locker scowling about another big day wasted, No more Takeo Spikes so disgusted, he just wants out. No Akili Smith forgetting plays as he stands behind center and no David Klingler being turned into a quarterback pinata game after game. No more Carl Pickens in a season-long war with one of his linemen. No more Pickens, Dan Wilkinson and others in open insurrection in the locker room. No more Dave Shula being disrespected on the sidelines, no more Dick LeBeau looking like he was living out the final hours of a death sentence on those very same Bengals sidelines.

"A lot of the guys who were here when this team never won big — when so many things went wrong — they're gone now," said cornerback Deltha O'Neal, the former Denver Bronco, who had three interceptions in what was a seven take-away day for the Bengals defense. "There are only a few guys left from the old days. Most of our guys now came from other teams and have been part of successful traditions. Winning is something that comes natural. That attitude is taking root. I feel a chemistry here."

There have been other 2-0 starts in recent years that never turned into anything. But as a whole, these players are better, their coaches have a firmer grip on the situation and there is a different attitude, something tackle Willie Anderson, in his 10th season here, is helping foster.

He and defensive tackle John Thornton had a big hand in getting the Bengals to skip individual introductions before the first two games this season and instead run into the stadium together.

"You look at the good teams around the league — especially the Patriots — they have name guys, but none of them act bigger than the team. Instead of individual, everything is collective as a team. It's like getting Michael Jordan to play defense. Once he said he would, you had to play defense if you were a Chicago Bull. That's why we went in as group today. We're all in this together."

Johnson said it worked: "Today it seemed like the defense was trying to match everything we did on offense."

As Anderson put it, "This was one of the biggest wins this team has had collectively in a long, long time around here."

While the Bengals dominated every facet of Sunday's game — they amassed 504 yards of offense and picked off Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper, a record five times— afterward they dismissed the good start.

"We don't want to jump to any conclusions yet," said safety Kevin Kaesviharn. "We don't want to start thinking we're better than we are because that will set us up for failure. But do we believe in ourselves? Yes. Do we have what it takes to do something special? I think so."

If you watched the start of the game you know so.

On the second play from scrimmage, quarterback Carson Palmer lofted a long pass that Johnson — who had been needling Vikings cornerback Fred Smoot in print in days prior — gathered in for a 70-yard touchdown. While Johnson victimized former Ohio State star Antoine Winfield, not Smoot, the play rattled the whole Vikings defense.

Anderson said: "Those defensive backs were riled up to stop Chad cause of all that talking that went on beforehand. And for Chad and Carson to come right out and go deep, it took their confidence. From there, Carson got everybody involved and Minnesota didn't know where we were coming from."

Like Anderson, linebacker Brian Simmons is a hold-over from the old Bengal teams and, while cautious in his praise, he sees a difference now:

"This team plays with a lot of confidence and doesn't get carried away with stuff that happens. A lot of times in the past, we found it was harder for us to respond to good things that happened to us. The bad we were used to, but when something good happened — when we won a football game — we didn't know how to follow it up. I think that's changing. I think the team will know how to respond."

That was obvious at game's end when Johnson's polka proved that heaven — while it might not have beer — was right here.

[BengalByTheBay]

Memo to the "we started 2-0 in 2001 and went down the drain" worrywarts from DDN columnist Tom Archdeacon...

Worrying is both reasonable and prudent. I was at that Chargers game....I still remember the feeling in the pit of my stomach as Kitna wandered out to run the O. Things have definitely improved.

[derekshank]

First of all, Minnesota's offense this year is not proven (they lost their best player and Culpepper looks lost).

I'll agree that Culpepper looks lost... but it is not as though Randy Moss was the only guy on the field last year. You can look at the other QB's Moss has made great, and I'll agree that Culpepper is overrated.

However, in 5 games last year, Moss did not play, and Culpepper averaged a passer rating of over 100 during that span. You can not argue that Culpepper doesn't know how to play football, just because Randy isn't there.

If Moss had been there, we probably wouldn't have held them to 8, but they certainly wouldn't have scored 37 either. Also, the fact of the matter is that TB has one of the best defenses in the league, so you can account for some of Minnesota's offensive impotency there.

So while we might not have been playing the Colts offense out there, the fact remains that we held a team to 0 points until very late in the game, and with ball control and high-scoring, we will give our defense a chance to gel, and gain confidence.

I wanted to see our offense lead the way the first few games, giving our defense a chance to get an identity. With the way we are currently playing, we should have no problem getting into week 5 undefeated, and with every game we play, our young guys are going to get better.

I'm not predicting superbowl here, but we could be very VERY good come playoff time. Our defense will be pretty decent by years end.. and maybe sooner.

[HoosierCat]

Memo to the "we started 2-0 in 2001 and went down the drain" worrywarts from DDN columnist Tom Archdeacon...

Worrying is both reasonable and prudent. I was at that Chargers game....I still remember the feeling in the pit of my stomach as Kitna wandered out to run the O. Things have definitely improved.

That they have...and that's why I don't think the comparisions to other recent 2-0 starts, particularly 2001, are applicable.

A quick look at the last two years under Marvin shows that if there is one thing this team doesn't lack any longer, it is resiliency. Losing streaks (and winning streaks) don't get in their heads any more. A loss doesn't send them skidding into a gawd-knows-how-many-weeks tailspin, nor does a win puff their heads up too big for their helmets.

If they should lose in Chicago...I fully expect they will bounce back, based not just on this year but the past two as well. I expect they will lose some games this year. I'm not ready to start talking playoffs...yet. But one thing I'm not worried about is a rerun of '01.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Offense cost us that game.

We ain't going to ever agree on this are we? I can see that already. So be it.

Maybe it's just easier for me to blame the defense, than to blame one of my favorite Bengals of all time Boomer Esiason.

Either way, losing that game left such a scar on my Bengal striped heart, that I doubt I could endure the pain of another, hence my "BLAMMO!! Brains everywhere!" comment.

Top 5? No, but they're coming. You can see it.

I can't. I'm really straining my eyes too, but still I can't see even a top 10'er. Maybe it's my glasses. Let me try yours HairOnFire. IMO you're one of the last ones around here who would wear any Rose colored ones.

Damn, I wanted a shutout so bad today it still hurts.

Believe me. It doesn't matter. All the people at work who are football (4 Cardinals, 3 Raiders, 2 Bronco's, 2 Dolphins, 1 Chiefs, 1 Redskins, and 1 Cowboy *fag* ) fans greeted me this morning at work here in Arizona with these following comments:

"Wow!"

"Holy s**t dude! Bengals 2-0!?!"

"You weren't kidding about Cincy were you?"

"Your Bengals sure look good this year!"

"They stomped the s**t out of the Vikings and made it look easy"

"Carson Palmer is leading the league in passing! He's going to give Peyton competition for the NFL's #1 QB!"

"Five INT's against Culpepper in one game is just insane!"

Needless to say I didn't leave my electronics bench for a while after that due to the huge chubbie that those remarks sparked to life in my shorts. This is a feeling I haven't felt in a long, long time.

I must confess it feels f**king GREAT!