quick thoughts on the bengals

[Hoopsdoc]

Leonard’s a keeper but he’s literally the only one on defense, outside of Geathers and Hooker. At least, so far. Turay showed nothing. Basham shouldn’t be on the roster.

I guess Al Woods is ok. Him absolutely abusing Price on the int was my favorite play of the game.

[DrSpaceman]

Originally Posted by sherck

Most of the high points hit. My 2 cents:

- Lots of missed plays could/would have swung the outcome of the game:

--- Luck's INT with zero points off the turnover right off the bat
--- Adam V's missed FG. Had CIN only been up by 1 instead of 4 at the end of the game, then play calling could have been different in order to only get in FG range instead of needing a TD. Sure, 55 yards is a long way but it was darn makable for him.
--- Terrible DPI call on Wilson
--- Doyle's fumble
--- At least once but I believe twice, Colts in 3rd down with 2 to go and Luck heave hoes the ball at least 20 yards downfield for incompletions. GET THE FIRST DOWN!
--- Multiple defensive penalities on one of CIN scoring drives gifting the TD in the 2nd half.

Any one of those situations become a Colts positive instead of a Colts negative and that ball game gets won.

- I love that Luck completed 3 or more passes to 7 different receivers. I was concerned that early on his return, he would force the ball to his safety blankets of Hilton and Doyle only.

- 3 tackles, 3 TFL, 2.0 sacks. That answers the question of why Marqus Hunt made the roster at DE.

- I wonder if a fully ready Walker at MLB makes any difference over Moore. Our middle was weak yesterday.

Walk Worthy,

That was a bad and uncharacteristic kick by AV, but it was 55 yards. That's a questionable coaching decision. May have been better going for it on 4th down. With a team with a poor D and a better, at least, O, I think we are going to have to take some gambles like that on 4th down to win games.

The first and last turnovers were the killers though. You can't get the ball in the red zone and not score. Happened twice, difference in the game and you can't blame the defense for that. Especially when you have a QB that is supposed to be one of the best in the league and a TE you just paid huge money to keep a year ago.

[HoosierinFL]

Originally Posted by DrSpaceman

That was a bad and uncharacteristic kick by AV, but it was 55 yards. That's a questionable coaching decision. May have been better going for it on 4th down. With a team with a poor D and a better, at least, O, I think we are going to have to take some gambles like that on 4th down to win games.

The first and last turnovers were the killers though. You can't get the ball in the red zone and not score. Happened twice, difference in the game and you can't blame the defense for that. Especially when you have a QB that is supposed to be one of the best in the league and a TE you just paid huge money to keep a year ago.

it was 4th and long, so that was unlikely. But they called a high risk high reward play there on the WR screen on 3rd down which went for 0 yards. A 5 yard gain up the middle would have been better. Wouldn't have got the first but would have been the difference in the miss.
It's asking a bit much to ask a 45 year old kicker to hit from 55. He hit all the others.

[DrSpaceman]

Originally Posted by HoosierinFL

it was 4th and long, so that was unlikely. But they called a high risk high reward play there on the WR screen on 3rd down which went for 0 yards. A 5 yard gain up the middle would have been better. Wouldn't have got the first but would have been the difference in the miss.
It's asking a bit much to ask a 45 year old kicker to hit from 55. He hit all the others.

I thought it was 4th and medium, like 4 or 5, not long.

[rcubed]

I liked seeing a competent game plan from a competent staff. I think Luck will thrive in this system. That said, I think we need to get used to seeing some bonehead decisions from Luck, its just in his nature to be aggressive and gets caught up in the moment on certain plays.

Hines could become a really nice weapon.

Defense is going to be an issue this year.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by DrSpaceman

I thought it was 4th and medium, like 4 or 5, not long.

Play by play says it was 4th & 14. Hines ran for 4 yds on 1st, then Luck was sacked for an 8 yd loss on 2nd.

Seems they need to figure out what the tell is on some of the screens. IIRC there was another play earlier in the game where they dumped the RB (Hines I think) for a loss on a screen. For some reason Cincy was all over those two plays. Could have been lucky reads but they were blown up as well as you ever see screens blown up. Makes me think they weren’t exactly surprised. Anyone remember the other play I’m thinking of or am I mistaken?

[DrSpaceman]

Originally Posted by rm1369

Play by play says it was 4th & 14. Hines ran for 4 yds on 1st, then Luck was sacked for an 8 yd loss on 2nd.

Seems they need to figure out what the tell is on some of the screens. IIRC there was another play earlier in the game where they dumped the RB (Hines I think) for a loss on a screen. For some reason Cincy was all over those two plays. Could have been lucky reads but they were blown up as well as you ever see screens blown up. Makes me think they weren’t exactly surprised. Anyone remember the other play I’m thinking of or am I mistaken?

Yes there were two at least, one early and one late, that were both like five yard losses. Both times the defender was all over the RB even before he caught it.

One of them at least I thought Luck should have just not even thrown it, just throw it away, he should have seen it wasn't going to work.

[GoBigBlue88]

Originally Posted by DrSpaceman

Yes there were two at least, one early and one late, that were both like five yard losses. Both times the defender was all over the RB even before he caught it.

One of them at least I thought Luck should have just not even thrown it, just throw it away, he should have seen it wasn't going to work.

Spot on. Luck needs to kill screens if they're not there. That's something Brady, Rodgers etc. do but Luck doesn't seem to understand in terms of living to play another down.

Reminds me that Colts screens were largely disastrous yesterday, largely because OL was a tell every time. Hopefully coaching staff sees something that obvious. You gotta engage off the bat and THEN release or the defense is gonna read it every time.

[omahacolt]

ok so i watched again. a couple times this morning and had some more observations.

1) i originally hated the webb signing. i just thought he was useless and we needed to let one of the young guys play. well with good and ac hurt we were lucky to have him. i still think Clark would be the better play there but we got by with Webb and i will take it.

2) autry was terrible. that dude couldnt get by anyone. he should not be a starter. hunt played the role i thought autry would have and did it better. de early and moved inside some on passing downs. made himself known. although that rt was not very good.

3) oline interior was good. i had no issue with kelly. nelson had some issues at times but that is ok. it is to be expected. slauson was a needed get. i really like that we are letting smith sit. the veteran presence is much needed.

4) ebrons td celebration was dumb. i have a feeling he will annoy me when he makes plays. and i expect him to make plenty this year. i wonder if he was getting punished for the 2 penalties. he didnt seem to be in nearly as much later in the game.

5) hines releasing late or running routes on a lber is going to be fun to watch. big play in the 2nd half for a 1st down where he beat the lber over the middle and turned upfield. easy pass getting chunk yards after catch.

6) 3rd and 1 and we give the edge for a huge run by mixon. this happened a few times but this was just unforgiveable. keep having the de go inside the tackle with nobody containing the edge. this happened right before the huge dpi call on wilson. we have to be able to get this cleaned up.

7) stunts dont work. we just run around and create a huge pocket for the qb. looked very familiar.

8) grant needs to keep being that guy. a safety blanket for luck other than doyle for 1st downs or just short positive yards.

9) smart football keeping us in 3rd and short or intermediate. how many years did we constantly face 3rd and 10 or 3rd and 8. this was refreshing and smart offensive football.

10) on the long td to green i am not sure where the coverage was. looked like cover 4 but i couldn't really tell from the tv coverage. he was right down the middle between the safeties so i think i am right. regardless it was terrible coverage. hooker stood there flat footed while green just came storming by him.

11) on the dunlap sack. we bring smith in as a te and put him right by haeg. haeg then helps with nelsons guy for no reason while dunlap just burns right by smith on the edge. there is zero excuse to for smith to let that happen. it was disturbing how poorly executed that play was.

12) screens, no gap integrity, and just plainly getting dominated up front. just like old times.

13) i changed my mind on the 3rd and 2 to grant down the sideline. not bad to get that on tape. to show that we will go down the field on 3rd and short. plus it was there. just didn't execute.

14) lots of mistakes. it will be fun watching this defense and watching if they get more fundamentally sound. but they suck. especially that dline.

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by GoBigBlue88

Spot on. Luck needs to kill screens if they're not there. That's something Brady, Rodgers etc. do but Luck doesn't seem to understand in terms of living to play another down.

Reminds me that Colts screens were largely disastrous yesterday, largely because OL was a tell every time. Hopefully coaching staff sees something that obvious. You gotta engage off the bat and THEN release or the defense is gonna read it every time.

our defense wouldn't read it