I haven't read any of the threads since yesterday, so I don't know what narratives are being pushed, but I figure I'd get my thoughts out there now before they're twisted by all the said narratives.

First, I absolutely HATE losing to the Steelers. I'd rather we constantly lose to the Browns than lose to the Steelers so much. When we went got the go ahead TD, I was ecstatic and had a small glimmer of hope that the defense could pull off a miracle only to see my hopes shattered like my toilet bowl after eating Taco Bell for a week.

In the Game Day thread, much blame was being thrown around and I'd like the record to show, Your Honor, that blame for this loss lies squarely with the following:

1) Marvin "Merv" Lewis. How can one team dominate another so? I'd say ask Merv but he'd just giggle and say we need to do better, then giggle some more before clapping and saying "Let's go!" Merv is a decent-to-good head coach. If he would actually learn from his mistakes an dbetter himself - like he expects of his players - he could actually be an elite head coach. But, after 16 years, it's apparent that we're ALWAYS going to have time management issues, poor or no halftime adjustments, poor 3rd quarter showings, and lackluster play in opening day games and after bye weeks while he's the head coach. Maybe in 20 years when we FINALLY have a new head coach, we'll be able to celebrate a playoff win.

2) Offense. Think about this. The offense got more yards on that final drive than they did in the rest of their 2nd half drives combined. That's embarrassing. Maybe if they actually used Mixon more often, they would've done more, scored more. I blame Lazor unless something comes out that says Merv forced Lazor to do things differently.

3) Defense. Defense was getting a lot of flak in the game day thread and SOME of it was definitely deserved. But, for the most part, the defense held up enough that we could've won had the offense decided not to take a siesta in the 2nd half. Of course, then there's that final drive... I think if Teryl "Needs to be fired ASAP" Austin doesn't call an out all blitz, we hold the Steelers to a FG and depending how much the defense bends there's a better than normal chance that their kicker blows the kick. As it is, WHY THE @#$! DO YOU CALL AN ALL OUT BLITZ THERE?!!

4) Officiating. For the most part, the officiating was ok. Missed calls that benefitted both teams. And no, I'm not talking about the "pick" (because, let's be honest, even without the pick, they're scoring a TD on that play because of the stupid, effing ALL OUT BLITZ!!!!). I'm talking about the lack of holding on the same play they called Dre for defensive holding. Now, I didn't see Dre's play nor a replay so I won't comment on the veracity of that call, but there was an OBVIOUS offensive holding on that play that should've been called. Let me tell you, if I can see the play happen live on a shitty internet stream, there's absolutely no excuse for an NFL ref to miss it. If Dre did hold, then that play should've been re-run with offsetting penalties.

4b) Kinda goes with this, but I find it interesting that the team that heading into this game was called for the most penalties in the league had exactly 0 offensive holding penalties called. I refuse to believe that Pitt's OL is so good that Geno or Dunlap could get zero pressure all game long unless there's something going on.

Special teams is probably the only aspect of the Bengals that didn't do anything to negatively contribute to the loss.

With those said, considering we "almost" won,, as long as we don't play Pittsburgh, I think we could win a game or 2 in the playoffs. But, seriously, Austin has to go.

(10-15-2018, 02:24 PM)PhilHos Wrote: 4b) Kinda goes with this, but I find it interesting that the team that heading into this game was called for the most penalties in the league had exactly 0 offensive holding penalties called. I refuse to believe that Pitt's OL is so good that Geno or Dunlap could get zero pressure all game long unless there's something going on.

I agree it was a team loss.  Too many small mistakes at bad times in a game against a team where small mistakes always matter.  That said, Pittsburgh didn't have zero holding penalties.  They had 3, one on Jessie James and 2 against Kameron Canaday. But Canaday is a long snapper so those must have happened on special teams plays.

I came on here to post a thread but I'll just say my peace here.

Nothing is going to change until MB and ML are no longer running the show ! It's that simple.

We can't beat the big boys when it matters, and this game mattered. We could have put the Steelers in life support and moved into the drivers seat in the division. And for the umptenth time under Merv we spit the bit.

All the blah blah blah about the Oline, Dline, penalites, play calling, OC, DC, and on and on ad nauseam is just noise. We're never going to be able to take the next step under this crew. IT AIN'T HAPPENING

KC just fought NE down to the wire @ Foxboro. You really think this team under Merv could go into NE and play them down to the wire in a game that mattered ?

Oh we'll win some games thru the regular season remaining, end up 9-7/10-6 possibly squeak a wildcard ? Wouldn't surprise me if we don't make it though. Which I figured this year wasn't the year anyways. BUTT.....

Yesterday proved to me beyond any doubt a Merv coached team is just not going to get r done when it has to - period.

That's all

Coming in to the year did anyone honestly expect us to sweep the Steelers? I feel like some sort of weird expectations swept everyone up making this loss seem worse than it is. Coming in to the year I figured we'd need to split with them, where that win comes from means little to me. Nothing that happened yesterday changed anything for me about the season. I still think we are a 9 or 10 win team that has serious offensive line issues and trouble getting off the field on 3rd down. People got too wrapped up in the hype, but I am confused a bit why all the sudden after two back to back losing years people thought we were all the sudden contenders. I think we are still a year away and that is fine.

3 reasons

Dropped passes

No pressure on Ben

Pathetic tackling.

(10-15-2018, 03:04 PM)fredtoast Wrote: 3 reasons

Dropped passes

No pressure on Ben

Pathetic tackling.

With all of that, it was still 21 to 20 Bengals with just over a minute to go.

A Teeter/Totter ending similar to the Atlanta game.

Having the ball last with enough time meant the win.

Let's just round up the 2 minute drill and say the defense failed miserably.

The end.

(10-15-2018, 02:36 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: I agree it was a team loss.  Too many small mistakes at bad times in a game against a team where small mistakes always matter.  That said, Pittsburgh didn't have zero holding penalties.  They had 3, one on Jessie James and 2 against Kameron Canaday.  But Canaday is a long snapper so those must have happened on special teams plays.

Allow me to clarify, I meant holding called on the offensive line (LS doens't count. :tongue:)

(10-15-2018, 03:04 PM)fredtoast Wrote: 3 reasons

Dropped passes

No pressure on Ben

Pathetic tackling.

Yeah, but sometimes I like to cut loose with my words, man.

(10-15-2018, 03:10 PM)depthchart Wrote: With all of that, it was still 21 to 20 Bengals with just over a minute to go.

A Teeter/Totter ending similar to the Atlanta game.

Having the ball last with enough time meant the win.

This is why I still have hope for the coveted playoff victory. 

(10-15-2018, 03:04 PM)fredtoast Wrote: 3 reasons

Dropped passes

No pressure on Ben

Pathetic tackling.

That's pretty much it. 

(10-15-2018, 04:20 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: That's pretty much it. 

I would only add our inability to run the ball and/or our unwillingness to run, they go hand in hand. Mixon had  11 carries = recipe for loss.

(10-15-2018, 04:30 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I would only add our inability to run the ball and/or our unwillingness to run, they go hand in hand. Mixon had  11 carries = recipe for loss.

Agreed. I almost made a thread about this. Lazor just isn't running enough. The success has been there, which makes it even more frustrating. Mixon is averaging 4.7 per tote. Run the damn ball. 

(10-15-2018, 04:39 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Agreed. I almost made a thread about this. Lazor just isn't running enough. The success has been there, which makes it even more frustrating. Mixon is averaging 4.7 per tote. Run the damn ball. 

He seldom runs it twice in a row, if ever. 

If Mixon only gets 11 carries against KC, we will have no chance.

(10-15-2018, 04:39 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Agreed. I almost made a thread about this. Lazor just isn't running enough. The success has been there, which makes it even more frustrating. Mixon is averaging 4.7 per tote. Run the damn ball. 

I didnt get the empty back sets on second down early in the game. At least have the threat of Mixon in the backfield even if Andy does motion him wide.

(10-15-2018, 04:39 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Agreed. I almost made a thread about this. Lazor just isn't running enough. The success has been there, which makes it even more frustrating. Mixon is averaging 4.7 per tote. Run the damn ball. 

Spot on

Getting away from the run and Dline getting absolutely zero pressure on Big Jen was the thing !

Dalton played a hell of a game, one of his best I don't care what the stats say. If we could have/would have ran the damn ball it probably was a W

Like you said - RUN THE DAMN BALL Lazor

(10-15-2018, 04:45 PM)Synric Wrote: I didnt get the empty back sets on second down early in the game. At least have the threat of Mixon in the backfield even if Andy does motion him wide.

I hate empty back sets with a passion ! 2, 3 times a game just to mix it up  ? sure

A staple of the offense ? NO WAY MAN

(10-15-2018, 04:39 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Agreed. I almost made a thread about this. Lazor just isn't running enough. The success has been there, which makes it even more frustrating. Mixon is averaging 4.7 per tote. Run the damn ball. 

We started the season running more but I think losing Price (which has crippled us trying to run inside) combined with the incredibly poor defensive play has gotten them playing every game in shootout mode - they (rightly) have zero trust in the defense to hold so they feel like every drive must be a TD and can't risk run plays with small gains. 

(10-15-2018, 04:52 PM)Joelist Wrote: We started the season running more but I think losing Price (which has crippled us trying to run inside) combined with the incredibly poor defensive play has gotten them playing every game in shootout mode - they (rightly) have zero trust in the defense to hold so they feel like every drive must be a TD and can't risk run plays with small gains. 

But if you have a bad defense, running becomes even more critical if you want to keep your defense off the field.  A three and out with two incomplete passes is hardly the way to eat clock.  It'd be different if we weren't averaging over 4 yards a carry.

(10-15-2018, 04:45 PM)Synric Wrote: I didnt get the empty back sets on second down early in the game. At least have the threat of Mixon in the backfield even if Andy does motion him wide.

Me either.  I put up a "Pound. The. Damn. Rock." post in the Gameday Thread.  What do we do?  Come out with an empty backfield.