0-8, Let's Celebrate!

There is no better of a way to get to that halfway point in the season than with the worst loss of the year to a team that only had two wins previous to the meeting themselves. It was a 29 point drumming that saw no offensive touchdowns from the Bengals the whole game. Poor Dave Lapham was thinking that the Bengals were going to score a touchdown for the first time all year in the first quarter, before the toothless Bengals had to settle for a field goal.

What can I even say about this team that has not already been said? Not only said, but beat to death. I guess I can say that this was just a beat down in ever respect of the game. Marvin and crew were out coached, and the players were playing the most un-inspired football I have ever seen. I mean it looked like the Texans were the Globetrotters and the Bengals were whatever team was getting paid to go out and get embarrassed that week. Which brings me to another point, what are the Bengals getting paid for? Antwan Odom and Robert Gathers are making huge money to not do a damn thing. The Bengals might be the worst evaluator of talent at defensive end ever. They over drafted Justin Smith to under produce. Justin was a great man and a good player, just not what we needed out of a number 4 overall pick, he never even got into double digit sacks for a single season. Every year after that we have drafted at least one defensive end, none of which have panned out. We did throw allot of money at Robert Gathers though, after what would appear to be a fluke season of 10.5 sacks.

The play that really summed up this season so far for me though was watching Jonathan Joseph play two hand touch with Kevin Walter. I mean the Bengals tackling has been terrible all year and really for the last ten years that I can remember. it is like they are being coached to throw shoulder pads at the offense, or just push them out of bounds. It is a rare occasion to see a Bengals player hit someone and wrap. I was taught that in pee-wee football, but somewhere along the line they stopped listening and focusing on trying to make Sports Center highlights with "big hits." But to watch Jonathan Joseph completely loose focus and try to "down" a guy that was up and running was just embarrassing. It really sums up the whole season; lack of focus, lack of killer instinct, lack of passion, lack of want. So instead of just giving up a big play we let them have 6 points off a touchdown because the Bengals players have quit.

Observations.

1. The Bengals are late. They are late to get pressure on the quarterback, they are late swarming to the ball, they are late covering receivers. Time after time They seem to get to were they are supposed to be a second too late. They hit the quarterback after he releases the ball, I am still waiting for the roughing the passer flag that is long over due. They seem to get to the receiver after he is turning to head up field. Am I wrong or isn't the point of coverage to try and stop the pass from completing? It seems like they are being coached to stop them from scoring after they catch the ball. And in the running game after three people either miss or over pursue then they will finally arm tackle or throw their shoulder pads at someone, but not tackle properly.


2. Ryan Fitzpatrick and Ryan Freel are the same person. Neither are gifted with superior athletic ability, but they both will give you 100% when they are in the game. Ryan Fitzpatrick has not won a game that he has started in the NFL and this will not change anytime soon. It is strange to watch him, because I silently root for him because I know he is trying, he is just not very good.


3. Cedric Benson had 8 rushes for 41 yards at half time. Strange, seeing those number you would have thought that perhaps they would have tried to run the ball more often. I mean at the half they were only losing 14-6, they could have still tried to run the ball.


4. When do we get to see Anthony Collins? I am tired of having to watch Levi Jones and Stacy Andrews get beat, or get false start penalties because they know they are going to get beat.


5. Dexter Jackson looks horrible. He looks slow and old. I would rather have Marvin White in there making mistakes and learning than have to watch Dexter Jackson get beat deep, or pile on as the 4th person to make the tackle and be the first to celebrate. What is the point of having him in there at this point? He does not help and Marvin, "The Future," is not learning a damn thing except how to guard the water bottles.

What got me through the game.

Matt, my brother in law, took video footage of Brian, my other brother in law, singing and "dancing" in his bedroom. Easily some of the funniest stuff I have ever seen, and way more amusing than the game. As a matter of fact I kind of blanked out the entire third quarter laughing hysterically at the videos. All the sudden it was 28-6 Houston and I had reached a level of apathy that I thought I would never reach, I had just missed an entire quarter and I didn't even care. Not only that, but I would have rather been playing Guitar Hero World Tour that came out that day. WOW.

Over/Unders

1. Three and Outs; 4

Not covered. They only had three three and outs for the game. Not bad right? Add that to the three turnovers and it starts to get messy.

2. Special Teams Blunders; 3

Not covered. They only had one real glaring Special teams blunder that I can remember. But then again I did black out for a quarter. It was on the 4th play of the game where they allowed the Texans to return a punt for a touchdown.

3. Play Clock Blunders; 2

Again not covered. But as I said in my last post game blog, Marvin only likes to kill the time clock when the game was on the line. And anymore the game is over after the kickoff.

Game balls.

1. Matt, for that awesome video footage of Brian singing and dancing.


2. Jonathan Joseph, for reminding us that we are never too old, or get paid too much money to play two hand touch.


3. My wife's crazy Aunt, who did not give the creepy back scratch to my father in law this weekend and saved me money in therapy bills later.


4. Who ever TPed my in-laws house this weekend, well done!

Halfway to the dream 0-8. I am trying not to get excited, but I think they have a real shot at it now. Houston and Kansas City are the biggest obstacles this year to going 0-16 and we got by Houston in a big way. Since the Chiefs are the last game of the year I imagine this team to be so demoralized that they might not even show up, hell they are barely showing up now! The only excitement that I can muster for the rest of the year is to see who will win first the Bengals or the Lions. I give the edge to the Lions since they made a huge step this year and fired Matt Millen and the Bengals have yet to do a damn thing. keep that ship on a steady course Marvin, don't you dare rock the boat.