Great defensive performance!

[walzav29]

They were up 34-0 and the defense relaxed and let 29 meaningless points get through. It was a great valuable lesson to not let up. I'm sure all week we'll read about how many points that the Bengals have given up to the Colts (Who Hasn't), and the Ravens. The Bengals beat the bejeezus out of the Ravens, and those were just garbage time points. The fact is they hung 400 yds on a top 5 defense for the 2nd time in a row. If the Bengals are beating Pitt next week going into the 4th quarter leading 50-0 and the final score is 50-34. I'll take it.

[derekshank]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves... We did put a pouding on their defense... but it was without Ray Lewis and Ed Reed... and mostly without Demps. It was impresive though... I don't mean to take anything away from them. We should be able to point plenty of points on anyone we play.

What does concern me though was how our defense let up at the end. We had the game in the bag for the most part... but we did let them get within 2 scores. At that point, the game was no longer a lock.

Our offense saved our butts again by driving down the field and scoring to put the game away... but the turnovers, and allowing quick scores to one of the worst teams in the league should worry us a bit.

Hopefully, as Lapham said, it would end up being a coaches dream. One in the Win collumn, but Lewis would still be able to chew his guys out. Hopefully it was another learning experience..

P.S. Is it just me... or is Pollack starting to play some decent football?

[dave]

P.S. Is it just me... or is Pollack starting to play some decent football?

Did he look good yesterday? I wasn't at the game and there's obviously a lot you can't see on TV. He had just one tackle, two assists, and a fumble recovery, though I also remember a few good shots at Boller toward the end of the game. Lap noted that he's clearly more comfortable going forward and rushing the QB than he is dropping back in coverage.

[walzav29]

He has not looked half as good as Thurman, and I have noticed Landon Johnson more so than Pollack.

[buck3y3d]

All the fans in my section didn't like the garbage time points. It was only a 13 point game with time for the Ravens to win. This should worry us, and should worry Chuck even more.

[derekshank]

Lap noted that he's clearly more comfortable going forward and rushing the QB than he is dropping back in coverage.

That's to be expected... and I don't think I'm ready to give up on him as a LB... but Mathis for Indy is leading the league in sacks in is much smaller than Pollack is... even now after he lost the weight.

I wonder if it might not be a bad idea to have him put 10 pounds back on, move him back to DE next year... He would surely have the skills to drop into coverage as a DE every now and then... and this could disguise coverages. He's definitely a good pass rusher though.

[Stripes]

I agree, you can't take much from giving up garbage time TDs, but the Steelers can. Let's hope Heath Miller doesn't run any corner routes against Ohalete, apparently those are certain touchdowns.

[HairOnFire]

P.S. Is it just me... or is Pollack starting to play some decent football?

It's not just you. Pollack generated outstanding pass rush heat on several occasions, recovered a fumble, and did a far better job of fighting off blockers in the run game. I was a little surprised his efforts didn't show up more on the stat page but he looked impressive everytime I noticed him and I did more of that than in previous games.

Can't really say he's coming on yet, but I was encouraged.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

He has not looked half as good as Thurman, and I have noticed Landon Johnson more so than Pollack.

Hrmn.... a defensive end being converted to a linebacker is having a worse year than the best linebacker in the draft starting at his natural position? Who'd have thunk it!

Of COURSE Thurman is looking better than Pollack this year. He was a better player in college. The only reason he dropped to us in round two instead of being the first LB taken long before out pick was questionable off the field issues which Marvin has obviously corrected.

Hrmn... Landon Johnson being noticed more often than David Pollack? Could that be because he is on the field more? Just maybe?

Pollack is improving, and will be a force next year.

[CincinnatiKid]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves... We did put a pouding on their defense... but it was without Ray Lewis and Ed Reed... and mostly without Demps. It was impresive though... I don't mean to take anything away from them. We should be able to point plenty of points on anyone we play.

I think Baltimore has maintained their top 5 defense status without Lewis and Reed for going on 6 games now. Sure they would be better with those two than without but having a top 5 defense is nothing to sneeze at. If the Bengals had a top 5 defense I would be making hotel and travel arrangements for Detroit right now.

[kingwilly]

I disagree. To me, he is totally anonymous on the field...granted his time is limited.

The fumble recovery shows the good insticts one would expect when a ball is loose but there were onyl two plays where I saw him aplly any pressure, whereas Geathers and Smith seemed to get heat one every other pass play.

Clearly his development will take time, especially with him at DE and backing up the more advanced (at this point) landon j. I am disappointed only in that they seem to be tinkering with him at DE and LB too much.

The garbage points got me all riled up. Our tuirnovers were to blame. Credit to the Ravens for not throwing in the towel. Boller usually makes about 4 good throws a game and the one over Tory to Clayton was about a ncie a toss he could make. The one over Ohalete could have been knocked away by a better COVERAGE safety, which clearly Ohalete has trouble with.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Pollack is going to be a good player, he's showing lots of flashes, it's obvious that he needs reps and experience to everyone.

The best thing I saw him do yesterday was push two o-lineman, literally, back into each other and then back into Lewis who had the ball and was looking for room - the hesitation and disruption he caused by doing that allowed someone else to come in and tackle Lewis for no gain. Just a smart, head's up play by Pollack...not nearly enough smart players on this team on defense.

Pollack has struggled in pass coverage - which is expected - and it almost seems like more of a mental error at times because he is late recognizing things still apparently, and thus is slow picking up on his coverage assignment, always a step behind dropping back into coverage.

The defense is and will be a problem the rest of the year - fast and athletic enough to make teams look silly one play - or give up a huge TD to just about anyone who is big and can get downfield the next.

I noticed 3 coverage culprits yesterday:

Ohalete

James

Simmons

All of them were soft in coverage and don't play the ball well. Simmons used to be great in coverage coming out of school - but he just does not look good anymore, despite his one big game this year coming not too long ago. James is overrated due to his INT's, which are commendable, and make him worthwhile since he does "something," but too often he gets beat as teams tend to avoid O'Neal often.

Caleb Miller also had to play a lot in the 2nd half for Simmons - and missed tackling Lewis more than once as usual.

I also remember seeing Odell looping all the way around the end on one play, and just missing Odell from behind up the middle by his shoestrings, and it ended up being a 10+ yard gain. Too much of that by Odell still - whiffing and missing and not getting to the spot - how good he could/will be if he tightens up his game and reads.

Shaun Smith once again did a good job soaking up blockers and making tackles early on I thought.

I still like Thorton's quickness and ability - he needs protection though. It's Robinson that is useless in this defense.

just my randomn thoughts...

[HairOnFire]

The best thing I saw him do yesterday was push two o-lineman, literally, back into each other and then back into Lewis who had the ball and was looking for room - the hesitation and disruption he caused by doing that allowed someone else to come in and tackle Lewis for no gain. Just a smart, head's up play by Pollack...not nearly enough smart players on this team on defense.

Yup, and that's exactly the type of play I was recalling when I mentioned how much better he looked against run blockers. All game long he'd either string a play out to the sidelines or gain enough push into the backfield to turn the play back inside, but most importantly....he wasn't getting engulfed or washed out by bigger players.