Bengals' Issues

[Stripes]

I think our biggest problem as a team is our ability to stop runs on the perimeter. We saw a lot of Fred Taylor reminiscent cutbacks from Willie Parker against the Steelers, and because of overpursuit, he was able to pick up much bigger yardage than he should have. Geathers continues to be devoured in these situations, and Duane Clemons wasn't much of an improvement. Justin Smith has been holding his own all year, and in my opinion is the defensive MVP up to this point. The defensive tackles both had abysmal games as well this week, as Bettis was unstoppable in the middle.

What do you all think is our biggest issue at the moment, or which needs fixed first?

[TJJackson]

I think our bigest problem is inability to deal with adversity.

Chad scored - it was a bad call, and so of course he didn't get credied with a score on a beauty of a catch - and then it was like the team went into a child-like funk of self pity.

They played well right up til the "chad scored-no he didn't" play. It all fell apart after that.

[PMThor]

I call BS Tj. We didn't really deal with adversity at all. That wasn't the problem.

This poll is messed up though. You cannot pin it on one thing only really. Our run D, both inside and outside, was very lacking. I blame this on inexperience. Lots of cutback runs point to both difficient inside run D AND outside run D. They chewed us up. Everyone knows what our first and second round picks are next year. We knew what was coming, and we couldn't stop it. We just don't have the players up front right now....

[CBin2k7]

After a while you can't blame the problems of the run D on inexperience. These guys are football players and should be able to make football plays. On Parker's long TD run, it was painfully obvious how slow Odell reacted and didn't fill the hole. By him being a split second late, Parker was able to get to the next level, a poor attempt at a tackle by Ohalete and you got a TD.

I have been Geathers biggest defender, but today he really disappointed me. When he has an opportunity to make a play in the backfield he rarely does. The DT's still get no penetration at all.

Another problem is a lack of depth and playmakers along the D-line, is their anyone besides the Smith boys on that line that makes any plays. In contrast, I was watching the Bears today and their D-line goes 8 players deep.

Askew, where is he? He can't be any worse.

[richmond_mat]

I'm most disappointed with the play calling. Bratkowski likes to use the entire playbook instead of the few pages that were working well. It seemed like we could have run the ball alll day long against a defense that was scared of the pass. Their corners were out and we were running it that way effectively. Don't get me wrong, I love a forty yard pass play, but I'd just as soon get 4-6 yards every play, keep the chains moving and the ball away from the other team.

The squeelers made halftime adjustments to their defense that took away the pass and boner brat didn't adapt.

and yeah, the third down penalties hurt really bad.

on another note, Randy Cross was really annoying. I'd rather go to the dentist than listen to him call another game.

On parker's long run, I thought Odell filled the wrong gap.....he won't make that mistake again.

[smith288]

Cross wouldnt admit he was wrong with the Chad Johnson catch "no catch" play... that ball was not moving one iota yet he kept on his story like a child.

Admit the ball didnt move like a man.

Also...I dont think the video was conclusive enough to say otherwise. Unless they have high speed camera's at the endones, there is no way to conclusively know if the hand was out of bounds before the elbow.

Instant replay stinks sometimes because the evidence isnt enough yet the referee still overturns stuff.

I think the Henry drop deflated the Bengals more than that crap overturn.

[Stripes]

I think our bigest problem is inability to deal with adversity.

This is probably the biggest problem, and leads to everything listed. The defense was unable to step up at any opportune times, and the offense had zero poise. Carson was even shaky in the pocket, and could have finished this game with a good 4 or 5 interceptions.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

I'll agree with dealing with adversity. However, this is the first week the Bengals have fallen behind and just plain failed to come back.

We need a defensive tackle and more experience at linebacker.

To everyone jumping and crying: 5-2 is STILL 1st in the division and the second most wins of any other team in the league. It's still Playoff bound. It's still an upgrade from the past and forward movement.

Most everyone early on this season said "I'll be happy if we get to the playoffs". Now suddenly because we came out of the gates strong, and then lost 2 tough games people are saying we suck? Folks, our linebackers will mature next year and get it done. We'll get Madieu back and it will make a huge difference. Our offense will be together for several more years. It'll come.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Oh man. You just should have left it at stop the run period!

[ArmyBengal]

If we are talking about just yesterdays game, there should be a "ALL OF THE ABOVE" choice, because we couldn't do anything right !!!

WHODEY !!!

[Kirkendall]

The inside is where we gave up our biggest yards per rush... see my post-game (shameless self-promotion) on the front page. Same problem as always, poor defensive tackle play, over-pursuit by our linebackers, lack of run support by our safeties.

But this happened against the Steelers, with Big Ben only lost one game in two years, so we shouldn't be too worried. Yea it sucks we lost the biggest game of the year, but by no means did these issues dominate any week of our discussion. But I'm not worried. I challenge any team to do a fraction of what the Steelers did against us. My money is that if they tried, they'd lose.