Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'bengals'.
Found 2 results
-
Box score Callin 'em Out Week 6 grades Defense, A+: 54 plays, 135 yards (that's 2.5 yards/play), 8 first downs (5 passing, 1 rushing, 2 from penalty), 1/13 on third down, 0/1 on fourth down, 0/1 in the red zone, 0 turnovers, 0 points; first shutout since 2008, and that was an end of season game with starters on the bench I'm not even going to waste anyone's time by breaking this down by unit, like I usually do. Let's just set the record straight: I don't think our defense has ever played a game like this. Maybe the Chiefs game in the 2006 playoffs, but really, just complete domination for four quarters. Practically no yards for most of the game. They didn't come close to threatening to score until that 4th quarter possession, and that took an incredible catch from Sanu, between double coverage. Then, when they got down into the red zone, our guys made it very clear that this game would NOT be put up for grabs. The 4th and goal play saw immediate pressure on Dalton, and the only throw he had a chance at was well short of the end zone, with two guys making sure the ball wouldn't be caught. We hit their receivers all game long -- high, low, when the ball arrived, after the ball arrived, etc. Basically no yards after the catch. A ton of pressures, with four sacks and several more jarring hits. There was no run game. The run fits were pretty good, with some misses, but the linebackers and safeties cleaned those up with little trouble. I'm sure the long week helped (compared to the Bengals, who had a long overtime game on the road, then had to travel to Indy), but they were nothing short of outstanding, all game long. The only negative was Walden being ejected, but his replacement played well, so big deal. The defense gave no quarter, not even to the refs. Offense, B+: 78 plays, 506 yards, 27 first downs (15 passing, 11 rushing, 1 from penalty), 5/13 on third down (none in the first half), 2/4 in the red zone, 2 turnovers, 27 points; nice, balanced performance, but we struggled on third down for a lot of the game, and still gave the ball up QB: Not as sharp as he'd been in recent weeks, with some over/underthrows, some late throws, some hesitation to pull the trigger, late decisions to run or scramble, etc. One red zone play, he completely missed Richardson, who was wide open on the backside of the play for a TD (and if this play wasn't designed specifically to get Richardson open, then I don't understand the play; if it was, then I don't understand why Luck never even looked at him). Almost threw a really bad interception on a throw that made no sense in the red zone. And he was still incredibly productive. He dashed the Bengals, a typically capable defense, to pieces, despite leaving nearly a dozen plays on the field. Had 27 completions, several nice checkdowns, sliced up some zone coverage on intermediate throws, and made sure to get at least one deep one to Hilton, just in case anyone missed last week's highlight reel performance. Also, he knocked one of the most physical -- and dirtiest -- linebackers out of the game for a bit on an open field collision (that happens to be the play where he missed Richardson). B-, shows how good he is when he's on top of his game Backs / receivers / tight ends, B+: Running game: Really good game by both guys, and then Boom came in and finished it off. Richardson had a couple carries that looked like he didn't know what to do, and I blame him for the fumble, but the majority of his performance was very good. He hit the hole hard, got around the corner when it was time to do so, shook some guys with ease, and finished strong. Bradshaw did the same, and looked quicker this week than he has recently. I think the long week did him a lot of good. Bad fumble, again, but I get the feeling he'll straighten that out. And Boom was up to the second level in a flash almost every time he got the ball. B+, strong game, we probably should have run more; I hate fumbles Passing game: Dropped passes were not good to see. A couple of them were on Reggie, and after rewatching, it was pretty obvious that his arm was bothering him. Other than that, guys were getting open, making good catches, shrugging off defenders and picking up extra yardage in chunks, including Allen's big TD run. The backs did a great job of turning upfield after getting dumpoffs; Richardson undressed a couple of guys in the open field. Overall, we had 217 yards afer the catch, which is a testament to how hard guys were running with the ball. Great job by everyone. B+, let's fix the drops OL / blocking: There were some mistakes in protection, and it seemed like every one of them led to a QB hit. But there weren't that many issues pass blocking. Luck usually had more than enough time to throw. And the run blocking was on point as well. Again, some lost battles, which happens to even the best line, but we got push up the middle, sealed the outside so the backs could patiently wait for the play to develop, created running lanes... The pull blocking was very good, where it had been sloppy in the past. And my goodness, the counter blocking was devastating. Oh, and no snap issues from Harrison. This was a good outing for the line, against a good defensive front. A Special teams: Let out a 40 yard kickoff return, where McAfee probably should have been putting the ball out of the back of the end zone. And still very little return game of our own. Other than that, special teams was on it. AV was perfect, including a 50 yarder for the oldest player in the NFL. McAfee punted the heck out of the ball, and when I thought he had easily outkicked his coverage, the coverage busted their humps to get down the field and cover. Longest punt return was 8 yards. Pat continues to set the tone (had a tackle, for good measure), and special teams continues to get the job done. A- Coaching / playcalling / game management, A: I loved the safety blitzes, corner blitzes, the freedom for the secondary to play up on short passes, etc. Manusky is doing a good job of manufacturing our pass rush. Well-run and well-coached scrape/gap exchang on the read option. A, I hope the guys can continue to make these gameplans look good The offensive attack was very good. I thought we could have run more, but the passing schemes were excellent. More play action, which I love. Not enough rollouts, but that's okay. I especially like that Luck has a bit more freedom to make sight adjustments and throw the smoke route. B+, could use more run plays The game management was right on. No issue with use of timeouts. I wouldn't have thrown the challenge flag, but Pagano was right to do so. You never know when a botched snap, penalty or fumble might happen, and the play was fixed as a result of the challenge, so good for him. A Game ball: Vontae Davis He helped set the tone with the big hit on Bernard early in the game, played tight coverage for four quarters, knocked out several balls, including one that would have been a TD, and just terrorized the Bengals receivers from start to finish. Seven targets, two catches, 21 yards, no TDs. I hope he can keep playing like this. Next up, at Pittsburgh. It's the first Luck / Roethlisberger matchup. And Reggie might not play. Going to be a tough game, I think. GO COLTS!!!
-
By the way, I think we can all agree on this: Refs: F- (Not only did they completely rob us on the goal line play, but then they ignored the grounding later on. It's one thing to not call it because you missed it, but it's totally different when you say the QB was outside the pocket, when he didn't so much as take a step in either direction. Dalton went straight back, then threw the ball away. Jeff Triplette is the very embodiment of ineptitude.) Box score Week 13 grades Offense, C: 58 plays, 389 yards, 21 first downs (17 passing, 2 rushing, 2 from penalty), 2/10 on third down, 2/2 in the red zone, 0 turnovers, 28 points; we're not getting enough plays lately, mostly due to the inability to convert on third down QB: Much better performance this week. Not "too little," but definitely "too late." Nothing doing in the first half, due to a few missed/dropped passes (including the new hero, Da'Rick Rogers), and silly play calling. But Luck was taking shorter drops, more active in the pocket, even took off early when the pressure started collapsing. Still had a lot of pressure, but just handled it way better than last week. Missed an open Hilton on an early third down, instead forcing it in to Fleener for an incompletion, mostly because Fleener was past the marker and Hilton wasn't. This was Luck's best game in a while, and it's a shame that it didn't end in a win. I just would like to see him start a game the way he started in the third quarter. B, strong performance, just took too long to get it going Backs / receivers / tight ends, B-: Running game: There's not much to say. Ten carries, 31 yards, a couple nice gains, a couple bad carries. Just no real opportunities to do anything. I counted three trap plays, one for 7, one for 5, one four 4, and that means over 50% of our traditional rushing offense came on trap plays. So, trivia: Should we run more trap plays, or less trap plays? Anyways, more on that in coaching. I'm giving the backs a C+, they did all they could. Passing game: We shortened some stuff up this week. We also got DHB off the field a lot more, and the two guys splitting his time probably buried him at the bottom of the depth chart. Rogers and Brazill did what we've been hoping someone would do, step up and take on some of the burden of the passing game. Hilton and Luck should buy those guys something nice for the holidays, because things should be easier on both of them moving forward. Fleener made some nice grabs, and just seems more comfortable as a pro every week. Can't wait to see him and Allen together again next year. The backup tight ends did a reasonable job as well. I especially appreciated getting the backs involved in the passing game. Even though all but one of Richardson's catches came on the final drive, there was some effort to get him the ball earlier, and one of those went for 22 yards, which is his second longest play as a Colt. He and Brown had six targets apiece. B, we still need someone to do a better job on third down OL / blocking: I'm done blaming the line for this. It's incredibly obvious to me that our blocking schemes in the pass and the run don't fit our personnel. When we run zone plays, we have a chance, when we run power/man plays, we get stuffed. It's past time to adjust. The protection was about the same as last week, when I said that I blamed the QB more for the sacks and pressures, and as Luck played better, the line looked better. Still 4 hits, but that's better than the 42 last week (or so it seemed). C+, as much as the line HAS to perform better, they need to be dispatched more effectively by the coaching staff. Defense, D: 70 plays, 430 yards, 28 first downs (14 passing, 9 rushing, 5 from penalty), 6/12 on third down, 0/1 on fourth down (yeah, that's right), 4/5 in the red zone (yeah, you heard me), 0 turnovers, 42 points; don't get me started... Defensive front: Kind of the perfect example of how minor mistakes lead to terrible performances. Stopping the run is like landing a plane; don't do one thing, and it's a disaster. For the most part, the run fits were excellent, and guys were doing a good job of getting to the ball carrier. We got penetration, and when we didn't, we at least created a wall for the back to try to get around. But then there were five carries by Bernard -- gains of 11, 19, 10, 14, and 20 yards -- that undermined the efforts of the defensive front on the majority of the other carries. If not for those five carries, the Bengals two backs would have averaged 3 yards/carry on 24 tries. We have to be more consistent on the edges. Montori Hughes probably played his best game in this one, showing quickness and power in the pass and run game. I'd start him over Moala from now on. As far as a pass rush, we simply didn't have one. Zero sacks, zero QB hits, probably 4 QB pressures. The plan is to get interior push, while Mathis beats his man. Well, we didn't get good push, and Mathis couldn't beat his man (mostly because he was in a reverse chin lock most of the game. Either way, we need to do better up the middle (Franklin gives us very little penetration), and we need a complimentary pass rusher. And then, on one of the few plays we actually got some pressure, the refs bail Dalton out by not calling the obvious grounding penalty. C-, can't make mistakes against the run, and we have to generate more pressure. Pass defense: This is getting painful to watch. The poor coverage is part of the reason the pass rush isn't getting home, by the way. No one could cover. We played off, and still gave up big plays. Davis got beat up the sideline, Butler got beat everywhere, Vaughn did his customary play off and give up crossing routes, then couldn't catch up and make the tackle, Bethea got beat by receivers, tight ends, and backs. We covered slot receivers with Landry, but from his safety position (yeah, 12 yards off the ball, and yeah, the Bengals ate that up). The few times we were near the receiver, we either dropped picks, or got called for PI or holding. Dalton sat back in his fortress and just picked us off, like a sniper, spreading the ball around to all his receivers. This is a problem of coaching and execution. I don't know what we're even trying to do anymore. D, 8 yards/attempt against Andy Dalton is inexcusable. Special teams: I said last week not to complain the next time AV misses a kick, so I'm not going to complain. That's what we get for overusing him last week. One bad punt, one punt that was too good, which led to a long return. The coverage messed up on a kickoff return as well. Sergio Brown is doing an incredible job as the lead gunner, and downed two inside the 5. B Coaching / playcalling, C-: I'm fine with the way we play the run. But I don't know what Manusky is doing with the coverage. Yeah, some guys are making coverage mistakes, and that's obvious, but it's also obvious that if you give up 10 yard cushions, a pro QB is going to find the open man before the pass rush can get there. Didn't we go through all this with Larry Coyer already??? I've defended Manusky plenty, but the decisions in the passing game make no sense, and they are making the pass rush ineffective, which is already a problem because we only have on pass rusher. D I hope the relative success we had with simple zone runs influences Pep and Pagano to yield. Can't force the ball up the middle, because it doesn't work. We have interior linemen who can't move their men off the ball, but they can hold the point, and Reitz, McGlynn and Link all pull pretty well, so why not run more off tackle, more traps, etc.? Stop running it up the backs of your interior linemen. It's stupid. And the passing concepts still need work, but there were some notable adjustments. Not sure if Luck was just more willing to get the ball to his receivers, even if they weren't down the field, but I do know that we called more slants and quick ins than we have in the past. Keep with this tweaks, and let the players make plays. C+ I don't understand why Pagano holds on to timeouts at the end of the half. This is the third game recently where he had a chance to stop the clock and get the ball with more time left, and he refused to do it. The offense wound up going three and out when they did get the ball back, so maybe it would have backfired, but I firmly believe that you have to give your offense a chance to get the job done. Luck has proven to be pretty good at the end of the half. Give him more chances. C- Game balls: Andrew Luck, took some time to get going, but he put together a solid game. We're probably going to need that second half performance every game for the rest of this season. Da'Rick Rogers, way to live up to the ridiculous hype. Robert Mathis Sack Watch: I guess he put this on pause so he could break Freeney's records in front of the home fans. He's still half a sack away from Freeney's single season Colts record and career sack total. Yes, we backed into the playoffs, but we're in there, again. After the 2-14 season, most people thought it would take at least 2-3 years to even sniff a wild card. Here we are, two years into the new regime, with two straight playoff berths. This is a good thing. Like I said last week, try to enjoy it. Next up, home vs. the Texans. They are a mess, but in many ways, so are we. And sometimes teams with interim coaches gain some spark and play better. I'd really like to keep the Texans from having a win in LOS. GO COLTS!!!
