5 up, 5 down Seattle Version

[theJ]

5 up

1. Andy Dalton in a modern offense - looked overall pretty good.
2. John Ross - dynamic, explosive, game changing.  All the things they thought he might be when he was drafted.
3. Defensive line - Great pressure, did a great job limiting Carson and Wilson.
4. Sam Hubbard - special mention on the D-line.  He was good.
5. The offensive gameplan overall - great job keeping Dalton relatively clean and opening up opportunities to move the ball.

5 down

1. John Ross - too many drops
2. Randy Bolluck - you can't miss that 45 yarder man, that was the game
3. 3rd quarter offense - did a great job moving the ball, but not so great capitalizing on points
4. Offensive line - ok job not allowing sacks, but during those last two drives of the game you could clearly see their inability to protect when there was no threat of the playaction
5. Aggressiveness at the end of the game - they should have went for it.  They needed a 3 and out anyway, so what's the difference between your own 44 and their 25?  Only difference is you get one play offensively to try and move the ball.  I otherwise had no issue with their aggressiveness, so it's a bit of a nitpick.

[INbengalfan]

33 minutes ago, theJ said:

5 up

1. Andy Dalton in a modern offense - looked overall pretty good.
2. John Ross - dynamic, explosive, game changing.  All the things they thought he might be when he was drafted.
3. Defensive line - Great pressure, did a great job limiting Carson and Wilson.
4. Sam Hubbard - special mention on the D-line.  He was good.
5. The offensive gameplan overall - great job keeping Dalton relatively clean and opening up opportunities to move the ball.

5 down

1. John Ross - too many drops
2. Randy Bolluck - you can't miss that 45 yarder man, that was the game
3. 3rd quarter offense - did a great job moving the ball, but not so great capitalizing on points
4. Offensive line - ok job not allowing sacks, but during those last two drives of the game you could clearly see their inability to protect when there was no threat of the playaction
5. Aggressiveness at the end of the game - they should have went for it.  They needed a 3 and out anyway, so what's the difference between your own 44 and their 25?  Only difference is you get one play offensively to try and move the ball.  I otherwise had no issue with their aggressiveness, so it's a bit of a nitpick.

Pretty much agree, but man, I have to add Erickson for the fumble.  i get that those happen, but there were two flags thrown right in front of him, and yet he still turned back into the middle of the field trying to get more yards, yards that would have been negated by the penalty.  Just not smart.  If the flags had been where he couldn't see them, fine.

[theJ]

Just now, INbengalfan said:

Pretty much agree, but man, I have to add Erickson for the fumble.  i get that those happen, but there were two flags thrown right in front of him, and yet he still turned back into the middle of the field trying to get more yards, yards that would have been negated by the penalty.  Just not smart.  If the flags had been where he couldn't see them, fine.

Forgot about that one.  Plus a few questionable returns and fair catches.  A bad game for him.  I don't understand why Cooper or Phillips didn't take any punts.

[SmittyBacall]

49 minutes ago, INbengalfan said:

Pretty much agree, but man, I have to add Erickson for the fumble.  i get that those happen, but there were two flags thrown right in front of him, and yet he still turned back into the middle of the field trying to get more yards, yards that would have been negated by the penalty.  Just not smart.  If the flags had been where he couldn't see them, fine.

I don't think a coach will tell you to give up on a play just because you see a flag. I don't fault Erickson at all for trying his best regardless of what could be.

[Johnny Nix]

I thought the coaching staff was #1 positive. 

Dalton looked sharp, if not for the weather there in the 3rd quarter I think we would have had another TD or two. 

 

Overall huge improvement from last year. 

[SmittyBacall]

Up

1. Zac Taylor. I'm all in on this guy. Overall we were more than competitive on the road in Seattle against a future playoff team. You couldn't really pick a tougher environment to begin the Taylor era and we played really well. It was the first Bengals game I actually enjoyed in a while. The offense is a breath of fresh. Loved the attacking mentality and willingness to throw deep and not playing conservatively with fear of losing. The offensive line looked solid and you could tell nearly all of that had to do with his game plan alone of using a ton of play action to slow down the pass. It's a nice change of pace instead of just lining up and "needing to execute better - ML". We need to get Mixon rolling put it's tough to do against that front with our starting 5.

2. Defense as a whole. I knew the offense should improve under Taylor but wasn't expecting that from the defensive side. We played phenomenal. There is nothing like playing great defense. I almost forgot what 3 and outs felt like. Night and day from last year. Dunlap and Hubbard impressed me the most but nearly everyone made at least one play. Play calling was very good as well; there were some first down blitz' that hit home.

3. John Ross. I want to see him do it more consistently before I crown him anything, but he played pretty well. He made a couple blunder drops and got lucky on his deep ball before the half which should have been at least swatted down. I don't know if he'll ever iron out the inconsistencies but it's nice to see we're giving him the ball with confidence. I can live with this version of him.

[theJ]

1 minute ago, SmittyBacall said:

3. John Ross. I want to see him do it more consistently before I crown him anything, but he played pretty well. He made a couple blunder drops and got lucky on his deep ball before the half which should have been at least swatted down. I don't know if he'll ever iron out the inconsistencies but it's nice to see we're giving him the ball with confidence. I can live with this version of him.

He's going to have some boom or bust games for sure.  But with the way they used him yesterday, he's going to be involved even after Green comes back.  Had 12 targets yesterday, which will obviously go down with a healthy Green and a more balanced attack (51 passes yesterday).  But get that guy 5-7 targets/game and he can change some games with his speed.

[theJ]

Also, i think the dropsies with Ross will stop.  He was clearly a little too amped because of how long he's had to wait to play any meaningful snaps.  They just need to be patient with that.  I expect that if he stays healthy, we'll see that clear up by mid-season.

[SmittyBacall]

3 minutes ago, theJ said:

Also, i think the dropsies with Ross will stop.  He was clearly a little too amped because of how long he's had to wait to play any meaningful snaps.  They just need to be patient with that.  I expect that if he stays healthy, we'll see that clear up by mid-season.

Let's hope so.

[fluhartz]

This was about as happy as I could be with a loss. The energy this team had on both sides of the ball was great to see.

Them going for it and scoring at the end of the first half was about the greatest thing ever. Everyone here knows ole marv would have sit on his hands and clap clap clapped his way to the second half.

[INbengalfan]

2 hours ago, SmittyBacall said:

I don't think a coach will tell you to give up on a play just because you see a flag. I don't fault Erickson at all for trying his best regardless of what could be.

OK, but when has a flag thrown down field after a punt is caught ever been against the kicking team?  They are always against the return team.  So in general I agree, but not in this exact circumstance.

[INbengalfan]

1 hour ago, theJ said:

Also, i think the dropsies with Ross will stop.  He was clearly a little too amped because of how long he's had to wait to play any meaningful snaps.  They just need to be patient with that.  I expect that if he stays healthy, we'll see that clear up by mid-season.

Plus playing in Washington for the first time since college.....

[SmittyBacall]

2 minutes ago, INbengalfan said:

OK, but when has a flag thrown down field after a punt is caught ever been against the kicking team?  They are always against the return team.  So in general I agree, but not in this exact circumstance.

You're right, but it's not always on the return team which is why I don't fault him to playing to the whistle. You just don't know and you don't take the risk of giving up on the play if it turns out the penalty went the other way. Or maybe he didn't even see the flag as he was focused on the actual return. You play to the whistle. If he didn't fumble it, or he steps out of bounds, or the penalty was against Seattle we wouldn't be having this discussion.

[THE DUKE]

I didn't get to see much of the game, but the little I did see Hubbard looked dynamic at DE.  A good problem to have, but what do you do with 3 good DE's?  I suppose if each of Dunlap and Hubbard play about 70% of the time, that still leaves 60% of the game for Lawson.  Try to keep all 3 of their legs fresh.

[theJ]

1 hour ago, THE DUKE said:

I didn't get to see much of the game, but the little I did see Hubbard looked dynamic at DE.  A good problem to have, but what do you do with 3 good DE's?  I suppose if each of Dunlap and Hubbard play about 70% of the time, that still leaves 60% of the game for Lawson.  Try to keep all 3 of their legs fresh.

You do what Marvin always did and play one of them inside on rushing downs.