My out on a limb, lofty prediction

[derekshank]

Firstly... congrats to the Colts. They're for real. They won't go undefeated... and we showed some serious weakness in their D... but I think that it probably says more about Carson Palmer and our O-Line than it does about their defense. They are probably going to the superbowl. This just seems to be their year.

That said... I don't look for the silver lining, and there is no such thing as a good loss... but we showed that we can hang with anyone in this league. We went step for step with the best offense in the league... and we won't be facing another offense anything like the Colts again in the regular season... so our D should get back to normal starting next week.

So... here's my prediction. The Bengals will not lose another regular season game. We will show we are for real by beating both Pittsburgh, and KC, and will finish 13-3 with a 6 game winning streak going into the playoffs... Anybody with me, or are you still in mourning for losing the the best team in the NFL?

We're the real deal. While losing this game to the Colts crushed me as an Indiana resident... it shows that we have more talent on the field than any other team we will face this year. Seeing how afraid the Colts were of our offense (so that they were going for an unnecessary 4th and 1) shows me that we're ready to take that next step... We'll be the Colts of next year... But this year, we'll be 13-3. Not too shabby. (Unless I'm a bigger homer than I thought)

[bengalboomer7]

i was gonna start a new thread but this is a good place for it.

I'm proud of our boys today. We never flinched. Came back from 14-3, 21-10, and 35-17 to continue making it a game. it was a playoff atmosphere out there and the Bengals kept coming. Here's just a few things i noticed

1. At half the Bengals had 7 penalties for 70 yards, Colts had like 1 for 5. Those pass interference calls were ridiculous. And the offsides at the beginning was really delay of game. The refs willl NEVER cost you a game, but it certainly looked like they weren't rooting for us.

2. Two players on D that stood out to me was Justin Smith and Deltha O'Neal. Smith is one of the few Dlineman to get to Peyton and he was in the backfield making stops all game. Deltha wasn;t mentioned much cause he was locked up on Marvin who also wasn't mentioned much. I have said this for weeks now, I want Pollack back at fulltime DE. My fantasy front four is Pollack, Geathers, Andrews, and Smith.

3. Gotta agree with Derek's comments. Not only did they go for it, but later in the game they continued passing instead of running out the clock. I remember Dungy sending out the punt team and Peyton just waving them off to go for it. Sometimes I wonder if he just is their offensive coach too BTW, Third and one when you know you have two chances to get it and you don't run Rudi once. In fact, you throw a pass and then run a sweep

I'm proud. We showed we can run with anyone and somehow the Bengals take some confidence out of this game. Difference in the game is the experience. The colts didn't make hardly any mistakes and we did. Six more games to go, so let's turn our attention to some turkey and next weeks game

BTW, hell of a game

[walshfan]

Firstly... congrats to the Colts. They're for real. They won't go undefeated... and we showed some serious weakness in their D... but I think that it probably says more about Carson Palmer and our O-Line than it does about their defense. They are probably going to the superbowl. This just seems to be their year.

That said... I don't look for the silver lining, and there is no such thing as a good loss... but we showed that we can hang with anyone in this league. We went step for step with the best offense in the league... and we won't be facing another offense anything like the Colts again in the regular season... so our D should get back to normal starting next week.

So... here's my prediction. The Bengals will not lose another regular season game. We will show we are for real by beating both Pittsburgh, and KC, and will finish 13-3 with a 6 game winning streak going into the playoffs... Anybody with me, or are you still in mourning for losing the the best team in the NFL?

We're the real deal. While losing this game to the Colts crushed me as an Indiana resident... it shows that we have more talent on the field than any other team we will face this year. Seeing how afraid the Colts were of our offense (so that they were going for an unnecessary 4th and 1) shows me that we're ready to take that next step... We'll be the Colts of next year... But this year, we'll be 13-3. Not too shabby. (Unless I'm a bigger homer than I thought)

[Junglelove4]

I was actually thinking the same thing, I think if this team plays to its potential or at least close to it, we can win out the regular season. And also you have to figure the only game we will be an underdog for is the Steelers game (Maybe KC, but I kinda doubt it).

[Jet23]

I think the game validated the Bengals offense as #2 in the NFL. I am disappointed in the D, but I believe the 45 points was more indicative of just how great Manning & Co is rather than how terrible our D is. I too thought Justin played a great game. And I can not say enough about our OL. I have been critical of them this year, but they kept us in the game.

As much as anything, I believe this loss illustrates how badly we miss M. Williams. Manning was picking them apart, but hey they will go down as one of the greatest offenses ever. I would rank them right up there with the 1999 Rams.

[walshfan]

Bengals and Jags will be the wildcards with Bengals playing first game in Denver....

[AMC]

It may sound funny, but I STILL don't think the Bengals have played their best ball yet. I think they are yet to peak. I think it started this week possibly.

I'm with you derek. I think even though they lost, it could provide momentum. It would take something special to beat that Colts team playing the way they are.

[HoosierCat]

So... here's my prediction. The Bengals will not lose another regular season game.

If the offense keeps playing like they did yesterday...I can see that.

[Stripes]

I think we will finish the regular season 12-4 or 13-3, easily. We'll win one of the Steelers/Chiefs games, and I don't see why we can't win both. The last two seasons, right around week 11, we have hit our stride and started playing our best football. Yesterday, we hung right in there with the team that WILL win the Superbowl this year, and showed some excellent offensive firepower. The defense was a gonner before the game even started, it was the freaking Colts. They'll be alright.

[BengalByTheBay]

This seems as good a place to post this though as any. The last several weeks preceding the bye our offense seemed like it just could get it hitting on all cylinders. Ill-timed penalties, some close calls or a bad timing play seemed to be all that was keeping us from really stepping on the gas. I'll go back to the Squeelers game -- two strong drives right out of the box and 3 points to show for it. We just didn't seem to be putting it together. Then we get this game where they show that when it's clicking -- we're basically unstoppable. No, the Colts don't have the best defense in the league and yes, they are overrated by the hysterical sportswriting crowd (on defense I mean), but they are not horrible either. We made them look stupid. The O line absolutely shut them down. While I don't think we're going to put up this many points the rest of the year, I think we're rapidly getting the offense where it needs to be.

On the other side of the ball -- yes, we basically continue to suck. We are not as bad as it looked, however. Indy's game plan was clearly to put the maximum amount of pressure on our d and keep it red-lined all day. I think this was their most concerted effort of the season. Until late in the game there was not even the pretense of any ball control from Indy. They tried to get yards in bunches and score every time possible. I think we saw their best game and stayed in there.

This relates to this thread because ----- if we can keep up this offensive effort, I think we have a very good chance to beat Pitt. Yes, they have a better d than Indy and it's certainly going to be a different game. But Rudi had good success against them and we can definitely play that game as well. If the line can give Palmer this kind of time against Pitt it won't be close -- we'll destroy that secondary. We were not able to do it before and they got pressure on Palmer (and some lucky breaks) and that was the game. With the Rats having saved their one good game of the year for Pitt and, by odd chance, actually getting the win this time, we are in a much better spot than I thought we had reason to hope for (I did not think we could beat Indy -- sorry guys). Incidentally, if this team is motiviated and needs the win vs. KC week 17 and THIS offense shows up -- they're in for a very long day.