In honor of one of Dave Lapham's favorite quotes, "Take a bow" recognizes the top performers from week 1.

Take a bow (in no particular order):

[b]Andy Dalton[/b]- No rushing attack to speak of. The pocket afforded to Dalton...well, let's say you could fit five of them inside what was afforded to Brady last night. Without AJ Green. Without his starting LT. With a rookie at X. Dalton stayed cool under pressure and had a great game against a really good defense. Keep it up, Andy. Your first experience with an offensive head coach is going to be a very good one.

John Ross- I don't care what has happened in his first two seasons under Marv. In his FIRST GAME under ZT, with no AJ drawing coverage, he showed his potential impact on this team. He didn't let an early drop and an NFL rectal on a reviewed catch (WTF were they looking at?) affect him. And Dalton kept going to him. The funny part? I STILL don't think they have tapped what he can do on screens. That first TD? The second would-be tackler wouldn't have got him in flag football. Hilarious. Way to prove the doubters wrong, John.

The offensive line, in particular, Michael Jordan. Never heard the rookies name, and that is what you want on the offensive line. Amazing start for the rookie. Can't wait to see the PFF rankings here. Bobby Hart, John Miller, and Trey Hopkins deserve credit here as well. Andre did his best in a tough situation and was getting destroyed by Clowney....but who doesn't? Here is what I saw: They were challenged early, and beat badly in the early parts of the game, but they didn't get frustrated and quit...they adapted. They got better as a unit as time went on. The rushing attack was stymied by Seattle's insistence of staying in a 4-3 base look and they dared the Bengals to beat them in the air. Pass blocking is harder than run blocking and most offensive linemen would tell you they would prefer to hit the opponent rather than catch. They had to pass block 51 times and Dalton rarely got him. Major props, fellas.

Sam Hubbard- This guy would be talked about like Clowney if he played for any other team. He came in stronger, faster, and with an attitude. His play raised the standard for the entire defensive line. And Wilson's knee hit on what should have been a THIRD sack for Hubbard. He also did a fantastic job of sealing the edge when Russell kept the ball. I would give him the game ball.

Preston Brown, Nick Vigil, and Jordan Evans- They used to call the offensive line in the 90s "The M&M Boys" for "Much Maligned". That is these guys. Our worst position group stuffed the #1 rushing offense in the league last year to the tune of 2.9 ypc. I heard boos in the stands as their run KEPT GETTING STUFFED. Great job, guys.

Coaches- The right scheme. The right attitude. The right use of the roster. I believe we will also see this scheme change from week to week (or even at halftime? ) without BS excuses like "we don't have time to change, we just need to tackle better". I have said for years that this team had the talent but was hamstrung by the poor coaching. No more. Thank you, coaches. I could almost picture Marv's dazed look while being curb-stomped if you weren't here.

I think all of the John Ross truthers can take a bow too. I know you, and Nate have been pretty vocal in his defense. For all we know yesterday was an anomaly, but he finally showed up. I didn't think he had it in him.

I agree with all that.

I have a big hats off to Coach Lou. This defense played fundamentally sound and tackled like pro's. That was lost on us the last couple years especially last year. What a big difference.

(09-09-2019, 08:52 AM)jason Wrote: I think all of the John Ross truthers can take a bow too. I know you, and Nate have been pretty vocal in his defense. For all we know yesterday was an anomaly, but he finally showed up. I didn't think he had it in him.

I think using him to run verticals and take the top of the defense, but give him a few targets in the red zone when he was the #9 pick in the draft is the same as buying a Ferrari and using it to run to the grocery store that is a mile away but walking on long trips.  

I thought Trey Hopkins was superb.

He was good last year and earned the starter role but going to Seattle with the noise, new scheme and to new guards either side...he was exceptional getting them lined up and i don't think we got a false start.

The Bengals look like a team that fits the "modern" schematic blue-print to win against teams like the Chiefs, and Patriots. I do not predict the Bengals will make the playoffs or even if they do, win in the playoffs this year. Nevertheless, the coaching staff is getting the absolute most out of the talent they have.

The coaching staff have adapted the play-book around player personnel. The new defense looks damn right scary. Once the team establishes the rush, they look unstoppable.

Give ZT a couple more drafts and the Bengals will be formidable against upper echelon teams.

The offensive line gave up 5 sacks and got very little push on running plays. Dalton did have time to throw on a decent amount of plays though.

(09-09-2019, 09:12 AM)sonofstat Wrote: I thought Trey Hopkins was superb.

He was good last year and earned the starter role but going to Seattle with the noise, new scheme and to new guards either side...he was exceptional getting them lined up and i don't think we got a false start.

Hopkins played great.

Maybe fans can chill out now about Price. They beg for competition, then get it and then trash the guy that gets beat out. Maybe, just maybe Price will also step into a role soon, maybe he is not bad, Hopkins is just very good.

Tackling was great. Guys played tough and stayed focused. A lot of Bengal haters jaws dropped yesterday. Wish we could have pulled out a victory, but after seeing these guys play like they did, this loss is not hard to stomach. This is the beginning of something pretty awesome.

(09-09-2019, 09:19 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The offensive line gave up 5 sacks and got very little push on running plays. Dalton did have time to throw on a decent amount of plays though.

Time to give up your crusade and bashing of the OL. They went into loudest stadium in the NFL, no false starts and hed their own. They did run well, but I am no expert but maybe Seattle took away the run as a big part of their game plan.

They did help AD throw for over 400 yards and that included numerous dropped passes. We know you have belittled the line all off season. Give them credit and admit maybe you were wrong.

(09-09-2019, 09:25 AM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Time to give uo your crusade and bashing of the OL. They went into loudest stadium in the NFL, no false starts and hed their own. They did run well, but I am no expert but maybe Seattle took away the run as a big part of their game plan.

They did help AD throw for over 400 yards and that included numerous dropped passes. We know you have belittled the line all off season. Give them credit and admit maybe you were wrong.

He had a fair assessment in that post. Though the pass blocking was adequate a majority of the time (shout out to Bernard for making some great blitz pickups), 5 sacks is still way too many.

Take note folks ..Seattle was getting booed quite a bit throughout that game by their own fans despite winning. What that means really is even if the other team is doing GREAT, making big defensive stops, offensive plays, etc, every fan base is going to blame their own team for being lousy..  Apparently there's some aversion to acknowledging the other team is actually pretty good. Nope, no matter what blame your own team when things go wrong!
This is an outrage! I can't believe Bengals get ANY praise against a good team! ... On the other hand...

Honestly I was just hoping they wouldn't be embarrassed, and boy am I happy with the result. It's disappointing they couldn't pull it out, but Week 1 in Seattle is a pretty steep hill to climb. I've been cautiously optimistic about Ross, but he blew me away. He was ballin' out there. I was hoping he would have a decent game and start showing some of his potential, but damn. Props to Andy as well, he played a fantastic game.

I suddenly have a pretty good feeling about this season. I won't get my hopes up for a playoff run, but I'm happy to see the discipline has improved, with a few exceptions (I'm looking at you Dre), and a completely different look to the offense. They played aggressively, instead of the passive Marvin-Ball style that had long grown stale.

(09-09-2019, 09:19 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The offensive line gave up 5 sacks and got very little push on running plays. Dalton did have time to throw on a decent amount of plays though.

his quick release was keeping their defense off balance for a while

(09-09-2019, 08:55 AM)bengaloo Wrote: I agree with all that.

I have a big hats off to Coach Lou. This defense played fundamentally sound and tackled like pro's. That was lost on us the last couple years especially last year. What a big difference.

I want to take Lou Anarumo somewhere nice for a big Italian dinner. I’ve never seen such an off-season turnaround.

Meanwhile, the Stealers and the Browns each lost by 30.....

I thought all the coaches did a great job yesterday! A plus to them! I think I only questioned 1 decision and that was the 4&1 we went for. It was the right decision and right play, but wrong RB I thought. Perinne, I thought would have been the better option in that situation. The guy is a bulldozer.

(09-09-2019, 10:12 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Meanwhile, the Stealers and the Browns each lost by 30.....

If any "analyst" had to guess which team in the AFC North would lose by 30 it would be the Bengals before yesterday...

I can't wait for next week.

(09-09-2019, 09:50 AM)Earendil Wrote: Honestly I was just hoping they wouldn't be embarrassed, and boy am I happy with the result.  It's disappointing they couldn't pull it out, but Week 1 in Seattle is a pretty steep hill to climb.  I've been cautiously optimistic about Ross, but he blew me away.  He was ballin' out there.  I was hoping he would have a decent game and start showing some of his potential, but damn.  Props to Andy as well, he played a fantastic game.

I suddenly have a pretty good feeling about this season.  I won't get my hopes up for a playoff run, but I'm happy to see the discipline has improved, with a few exceptions (I'm looking at you Dre), and a completely different look to the offense.  They played aggressively, instead of the passive Marvin-Ball style that had long grown stale.

This is exactly what being a Bengals fan is all about right?   I mean, the fact we screwed up a win isn't that embarrassing.   Hell, we are giving kudos to a left guard that had his ass handed to him all day and our QB didn't break his hand when he threw the ball to their offensive lineman this time.  Something he has a penchant for when big wins are on the line, not that it's the only trick in his repertoire.  

I know we never planned for a rookie to start at guard and only has to because our personnel director has been horrible drafting.  So, I suppose it could have been worse.  Dalton didn't win us the game like a good QB would, and our line was almost mediocre.  Yay! 

So notable things week 1

No run Game

Career attempts and Yards for Andy Dalton

John ross looks like a 1st round pick.... (WOW) If he gets the drops fixed who knows where the ceiling is.

No real complaints about the OL except run blocking against one of the better Dlines in the league...

DL Looked Great...… (Big turnaround for a Defense with pretty much all the same pieces)