Bengals Recap

[Greythan]

Gnash teeth here.

[Fooleeze]

I think it's pretty clear the priorities for the next offseason. WR, OL, and Offensive Coordinator. And if we don't re-sign Hillis, then RB as well. We need reliable receivers who can gain separation AND catch the ball consistently. And our QB needs the time in the pocket to be able to execute the plays. He went back today to getting mauled on seemingly every play. He deserves a badge of honor if he makes it through this season.

As for OC, that's the second time this year we've lost a game because we settled for a Field Goal in a tight game. We went conservative when more than anything we needed to get first downs and points on the board. 55yd field goal into the wind? Yeah, that sounds like a great idea.

[Greythan]

Greg Little took several steps back today. I counted at least 4 and as many as 6 drops. Horrid.

Colt looked okay. I just can't understand what happened to the offense in general after looking pretty decent in the first half. Shurmur couldn't make any adjustments to what the Bengals defense did after half time and it showed.

Same story on defense. Jauron's defense did its usual bang up job against the run in the first half. In the 2nd? They just laid down in pass defense. I'm glad we drafted Jabaal Sheard. Kid had a sack and 2 tackles for a loss. We do not have a RDE on the roster. Its a joke. An absolute joke.

LB's? An area for serious upgrading next year. We're too small and not athletic enough. A real back combination.

Haden got roasted by Green. I guess it goes to show what a top 10 CB means to you when you are facing a top 10 WR. I know I'm being harsh, but Green's big catches directly won the game. A true shutdown corner doesn't give up multiple big catches. Maybe 1 per game. Maybe.

Hagg showed why he was a late round pick. Did have one nice pass defense late in the game after getting roasted 4 times by TE's prior.

Anyone who doesn't want Hillis on the team is stoned. Guy makes us a much more difficult team to defend. We do need a "dash" to compliment our "smash", but losing Hillis just means we're missing yet another piece.

MoMass. Does this guy actually play WR? Anyone watch him in the corner of the end zone on one red zone play where McCoy is extending the play with his feet? MoMass is doing some type of samba dance with one DB conceding himself to coverage.

Finally, as I mentioned in the other thread, Shurmur's play calling at the end of games will never lead to more wins than losses. At best his approach will yield a 50/50 result and so far he's 0-2 in my book. Can't call back to back running plays especially when the second is a toss sweep to the short side of the field with Hillis as the ball carrier. No imagination. The one pass I'll potentially give to him is that he may know that pass plays are fated for death since he doesn't have any receivers and/or his QB can't get the ball to them.

[Sez.EJ]

1st half was great other than getting gashed on a few long runs. But no real complaints.. DL got great pressure on Dalton.. Did ok in the 2nd half too.

2nd half. Our OL from the first half of the season showed up. The Bengals were just much more inspired than we were the 2nd half. Our OL got dominated in the second half... Dropped passes are maddening. We can never seem to cover good TE's. Colt made a really bad decision on the INT when he rolled out.. He gut stuck in the gut trying to heave one.. and it came up way short because he got hit. thus the INT.. . That ball should have been thrown away. Hillis is still the man.. re-sign him and get him locked in. Pashos and Lauvoa are going to get Colt killed. New RT and RG this offseason. Pinkston still struggles a bit but not like earlier in the year. McCoy was OK. Dropped passes... execution execution execution.. Phil.. gotta make that kick. WR's.. F for the day.. We need upgrades... LB's.. D- today.. We need upgrades.

2nd time this year we let the Bengals off the hook..

[BrownieBornAndRaised]

Can't be too harsh on Phil with that kick. It was a 55 yard field goal attempt. His career long is only 56 yards. and the snap was bad it rolled to the holder.

Originally Posted by Sez.EJ

Phil.. gotta make that kick.

I just want to know why the team that showed up to play in the first half didnt come back out in the second half? The first drive we actually stretched the field a little bit and it resulted in a TD.

[Riffer X]

Pontbriand has lost it, big time. Most of his snaps the last month or so have been off, especially high a lot. He is in one of those Steve Sax style slumps and may never come out of it.

[SoCalBrownsFan]

Pointbrand should be cut....he's lost it. 2 rolled snaps have cost the Browns critical fg's. I used to defend him but he ain't cutting it anymore. And Little has stone hands.

[Enigmatic Evil]

It was like, as soon as I praised Greg Little's play in the chat box (late 1st quarter), he became Braylon Edwards out there. Some of those drops were horrid.

Brownie, I'm wondering the same thing, what the hell happened at half time?

[Jax Dawg]

It seemed like Shurmur and the Browns started celebrating the win during the halftime speech. Browns got outscored 16-3 in the 2nd half and the 6 drops by Little were drive killers/momentum killers. He needs to pull his head out of his ass and catch the damn ball. I hated the idea of trying to set up a long FG attempt into the wind late in the 4th quarter. You have to know the %'s are low to make it whether or not you have a bad snap and when you don't make it the opponent only has to go 25 yards to set up their own game winning FG.

2nd time this year the Browns beat the Bengals for most of the game only to lose late in the 4th quarter. Shurmur has to keep doing what was working for the whole game late in winnable games instead of playing close to the vest in the "safe" prevent mode.

[Riffer X]

Little cost us huge today. He put us in so many longer down and distances with his drops that it screwed up any rhythm we got going and allowed Cincy to defend more aggressively.

Here's the thing, I am not so sure it is just him being a rookie, I think we may have another of a long line of dropsies guys ala Braylons, Tim Carter, Bryant, Dr. Q, Northdrop etc. etc. These types kill offenses, especially precision types designed for the short passing game to keep the chains moving.

I'm not feeling it with Little at all. This may be a career long thing, and I swore this team would not allow that to happen again. These sort of guys lose games over the course of a season. If you watch, even some of his grabs seem to be almost luck, he rarely is totally clean with his catch.

[nickers]

Greg Little looked like he was hungover out there...seriously!

[Greythan]

I'm sick of trying to defend any player on this team.

However, did anyone notice the number of times Dalton dropped back, locked on to his primary read (who was running a deep pattern), and simply threw the ball out there? Why is it I usually see McCoy hesitate on his primary read and have to quickly start through his progression?

Is it because McCoy is chicken shit and doesn't trust his popgun arm? I guess its a possibility.

Is it because his primary read is RARELY ever open enough to justify taking a shot? Seems like a reasonable possibility too.

I just can't seem to get over how utterly talentless this roster seems to be. Compounding issues for me is the FO's apparent lack of concern over this issue and forcing me (a paying customer) to waste my time and money on this product.

This shit better result in a playoff berth next year. I'm not seeing ANY method to this madness.