Week #4 5 Up and 5 Down Bengals Win 1-3

[VigilantZombie]

24 minutes ago, Lambert44 said:

The Ravens defense is very average this year at best. Maybe that game plan wont work but the Steelers should be able to move the ball

on their defense, whatever their game plan may be. 

 I mean I guarantee the game plan we used against The Bengals is not working against the ravens I don't care how average is their defense is The Bengals are terrible.

And while the Ravens secondary may be playing average right now they're anything but average.

[jebrick]

I think Rudolph is fine.  here is a fine comparison to Ben and Rudolph in their first 2.5 games.

Quote

I agree with those that believe that it is only fitting to compare Mason to Big Ben's first 2.5 games.

So, let us look at what both did in their first 2.5 games, with the realization that the first game they played in came because the starter went down, hence why I refer to it as a half game.

Ben

41 of 67, for 513 passing yards, 4 TDs, 3 INTs, 61.2%, 7.66 yards per attempt, 86.3 passer rating

Mason

50 of 74 for 515 passing yards, 6 TDs, 2 INTs, 67.6%, 7.00 yards per attempt, 103.2 passer rating

Yes, Ben went 2-1, Mason went 1-2.

Ben had the benefit of a WR crew that had Ward in his 7th season, Plaxico in his 5th season, and Randle El in his 3rd season.

Mason has JuJu in his 3rd season, Washington in his 2nd season, and Johnson as a rookie.

Ben had a red hot Duce Staley who in his first 7 games that season had 4 games over 100+ yards, and two other games where he was over 91+ yards. He got hurt in that NE game and Bettis came on and rushed for 940 yards that season, Willie Parker had 186 yards and averaged 5.8 yards a carry, a teaser of what was to come from him the next season. But that year, Ben has a seasoned RB group, Bettis, Staley, Haynes, with a rookie Parker.

Mason has Conner in his 3rd season, Samuels in his 2nd year and Benny Snell in his rookie year. Nix is the real experienced pro and he is hurt and will most likely miss 5 games.

Mason is playing with a very young team at the skill positions. It isn't that the Steelers are protecting Rudolph per se, it is that they are doing what they have to because of the entire youth of the team at RB, at WR, at TE, not just because they have a young QB.

Just like in 2004, Mason will get better and better and the skill position players will too. What I don't understand is how people can't see the disadvantage that Mason has compared to when Ben was starting out in 2004. Ben was able to rely on a strong defense, did have a veteran WR group, did have a veteran RB group. It was a perfect situation for a first time QB to come in and learn on the job.

Mason has none of those benefits, he has injuries at FB and TE, he has inexperience at WR and RB, young players that have much to prove themselves. And yet through it all, Mason is playing pretty well. He does not look overwhelmed and while he may be in a 'Mitch Tribisky' type of training wheels program right now, I think they steadily get him up to speed as the games fly by. By week 12 maybe we will get a better idea of what Rudolph is as an NFL QB.

 

[jebrick]

1 minute ago, wwhickok said:

 I mean I guarantee the game plan we used against The Bengals is not working against the ravens I don't care how average is their defense is The Bengals are terrible.

And while the Ravens secondary may be playing average right now they're anything but average.

Bengals defense is far better than their offense.  They have some really good players on defense and 2 outstanding CBs.  LBs are their weakness and they opted to die by that big package.

[VigilantZombie]

Just now, jebrick said:

Bengals defense is far better than their offense.  They have some really good players on defense and 2 outstanding CBs.  LBs are their weakness and they opted to die by that big package.

Every one of them looked like a pile of dung on monday

[Lambert44]

22 minutes ago, wwhickok said:

 I mean I guarantee the game plan we used against The Bengals is not working against the ravens I don't care how average is their defense is The Bengals are terrible.

And while the Ravens secondary may be playing average right now they're anything but average.

They have given up 500 yards back to back weeks.

[VigilantZombie]

13 minutes ago, Lambert44 said:

They have given up 500 yards back to back weeks.

Doesn't mean Earl Thomas, Jimmy Smith, etc arent good. You've gotta look at the volume of passes being thrown. 

Also one advantage we have is...Baltimores Pass rush sucks.

[3rivers]

18 hours ago, FourThreeMafia said:

Maurkice Pouncey is an average center now.   Nothing more.  He gets blown up and stood up way too often for the highest paid safety in the league.

What the hell is going on with James Washington?   I know we havent been throwing downfield much, and thats his thing, but they need to get him involved.

Fithcner called a decent game, but the Bengals made it look better than it was.     They still need to trust Rudolph more.   I get what they are trying to do, but he needs to be able to move the ball downfield. 

 

they might have done the bungles play calling to throw off the ravens. Thats all I can think, unless tomlin didn't trust the OL vs the bungles front which could be a possibility . Next they need to win vs the ravens, but how will they do it we will find out.  Nobody knows what to expect with this team with the new QB etc. It might help being less predictable