Gonna be a long year.

Damn, I think we would have pulled it off

HOLD onto the darn ball. Luck wins that for us if he doesn't fumble. I have ZERO doubt.

But it is, we sucked ass in the second half, just like last year. It's no different.

Jack Doyle so overrated lol

I blame this all on Colts & Orioles for starting the game day thread a day early.

and the pick made it so they had to have a TD at the end...took at least 3 points off the board.

Fucking Doyle, that fucking sucked

No Vinateri wins it for us if Luck isn't throwing carelessly in the 1st damn quarter.

Already -17 in the 4th quarter this year.

Apparently it's going to take more than a new coaching staff to completely kill the lay down and die in the 4th quarter culture that was developed under the previous regime.

Seems like we’ve seen this before, leading at half but in the end it winds up a loss!!

Hard to argue. Once again a tale of two halves.

Marked improvement from last year. Real coaching staff. We're going to lose double digit games again but I think we'll see progress rather than regression.

The defense is just SOOOO bad.

Remember, the Bengals had the worst offense in the league last year.

We may end up with one of the worst defenses of all time.

Luck played well. Especially given the fact that it was his first game since 2016. Stop trying to just solely blame this on him.

I'm not fully excusing the interception, but you're obviously wanting to blame this only on one player.

We are in a true rebuild and are playing a lot of kids. At least it's interesting this year. I still think 6 wins.

How many times was he sacked??

Not even. I'm deflecting it off Doyle. There are plenty of dumb mistakes that made the game close. Just another game where Luck has to save the day from chaos he started.

Yep. Not sure how we can win more than 3-4 games with this D.

Two. Plus 2-3 that didn't count because of roughing penalties.

Hard to believe Hankins, Simon, and Anderson wouldn’t have helped.

Freakin Ballard.

This division is not unwinnable. Jax did not look dominating today. Tacks have not played well so far. Houston lost, and it was only close because a NE guy muffed a punt to give them 7 late.

They are who we thought they are.....a team in full rebuild. Still, with Luck and competent coaching we will win more than last year but probably not make the playoffs. Still, I enjoyed watching this team a hell of a lot more than last years team. Also I think AC is the second most important talent on this team behind Luck. He needs to get his ass out there and play the next 15 games or Andrew will get broken again, even with this new scheme. Andrews best and worst skill is never giving up on the play. Go Colts!

Feels like 6-10 team to me.

To think we have to go to Washington and Philly the next fortnight. *Gulp*

I don’t know where you see 6 wins, but I like your optimism!! I think after the Patriots game, most of us will be looking forward to the draft.

Just good to see Luck back. Don't want him passing 53 times a game though, even if many of them are short crossing routes and passes to RBs.

60 yards rushing first half and about 0 second half.

You can't be surprised by the defense.

I like some things that I saw from the offense, though.

The game was a success. Luck survived. It set the bar for where this team is. There is some talent but obviously it isn’t harnessed yet. Yes we lost in the second half but not like we did last year, I hope. This early in the year with such a young team making halftime adjustments are going to be more difficult than with veteran teams. We should improve. If not we have issues. Still looking forward to the year and watching progress being made.

Playcalling seemed to change in the second half.

Ok, I like and agree with some of what you said, however, how is blowing a second half lead not the same as last year?

That is similar, but how it played out was different. AV missed a long FG to set up a short field. Maybe he should not have been asked to kick it, but it was maybe a yard short, so if he hits it, we likely win this game. Further, Doyle dropping the football with us close to a winning score is not like last year, is it?

Lucks interception Doyle fumble Odd play calling in Red Zone and the penalties on the last Cincy TD cost us the game. The defense... while not stellar... played well enough to win except for some stupid penalties. It will be different when we play the Pats Eagle etc but there is more to blame than the defense

The D gave up 330 yards.

Jax gave up 324 today to the Giants
Houston gave up 389. Albeit to the Pats
Browns gave up 472 to the Steelers
Steelers gave up 327 to the. Browns
I’m sure I can find others but again the D is not all to blame

You mean Doyle's fumble is different than Brissett throwing an interception? Ok I guess it's not similar then...

Fair enough. I apologize for the hostility of my original response to your post.

Luck is a talented QB, but for a guy with a rep for being so smart, he sure does make some dumb ass throws.

To be honest, Peyton made some head scratchers in his career, too.

and takes bad hits. I still don't think he plays next week.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a concussion, at the least. That (dirty)hit by the Bengals safety was vicious.

haha why wouldn't he play?