05-14-2016, 12:50 PM
Wow! How did I forget about that game?
Firstly, another win for the Bengals who are yet to be behind in a game and while it was a mostly comfortable win we did give the Chargers an opportunity to win it in the last minute. This is a theme we'll see more about in the rest of the season - surely we can do better than handing the ball back to the opposition with 60 seconds left and hoping they don't score?
On to the detail...
I feel the Chargers have just shown the league how to beat us. Pretty much every throw was short and their passing game went through their backs - Melvin Gordon in particular. Our linebackers are just not good enough to cover the short stuff and Burfict is still not back from his microfracture surgery. Leveon Bell will be excited to face us having seen what Gordon did.
Our offense, on the other hand, was fascinating to watch. The amount of misdirection, screens and option runs we used really forced the Chargers defense to play honest, opening up the short and medium routes for Eifert and Green. The long bomb TD to Marvin Jones was a great example of this as the safeties left the middle of the field to cover up near the line and Jones simply blew past his man for the score. I don't know who'll be fulfilling this role this year - I hope we don't end up regretting losing MLJ.
Jeremy Hill, after such a good first game against the Raiders, seemed to go into full meltdown here. His questionable first fumble coming when his knee was caught underneath him and can be forgiven, but to drop the second one on a perfect toss from Dalton was inexcusable. His running already looked nervy after the first fumble so will this game haunt him the rest of the season? Gio ran and caught and ran some more, however, so we're still looking good in the running game. Shame about the minor holding call against Kroft that cost Gio his TD.
Speaking of holding... this was the game that reminded us that Holding is actually a penalty. SD were pinged for holding over 5 times and the Bengals also had a few thrown on them. The first step burst of Geno was giving them fits, resulting in 4 sacks for the D. This was the game where it became clear that GENO IS BACK! and he is QUICK.
It was also the game of:
- the Jake Fisher catch! (Sadly never to be repeated)
- Nugent missing a field goal
- Dre Kirkpatrick inexplicably giving Malcolm Floyd a simple walk-in TD on a double move
- Vinnie Rey with the walk-off interception
I really enjoyed that game! Next up: @Baltimore in week 3...
Firstly, another win for the Bengals who are yet to be behind in a game and while it was a mostly comfortable win we did give the Chargers an opportunity to win it in the last minute. This is a theme we'll see more about in the rest of the season - surely we can do better than handing the ball back to the opposition with 60 seconds left and hoping they don't score?
On to the detail...
I feel the Chargers have just shown the league how to beat us. Pretty much every throw was short and their passing game went through their backs - Melvin Gordon in particular. Our linebackers are just not good enough to cover the short stuff and Burfict is still not back from his microfracture surgery. Leveon Bell will be excited to face us having seen what Gordon did.
Our offense, on the other hand, was fascinating to watch. The amount of misdirection, screens and option runs we used really forced the Chargers defense to play honest, opening up the short and medium routes for Eifert and Green. The long bomb TD to Marvin Jones was a great example of this as the safeties left the middle of the field to cover up near the line and Jones simply blew past his man for the score. I don't know who'll be fulfilling this role this year - I hope we don't end up regretting losing MLJ.
Jeremy Hill, after such a good first game against the Raiders, seemed to go into full meltdown here. His questionable first fumble coming when his knee was caught underneath him and can be forgiven, but to drop the second one on a perfect toss from Dalton was inexcusable. His running already looked nervy after the first fumble so will this game haunt him the rest of the season? Gio ran and caught and ran some more, however, so we're still looking good in the running game. Shame about the minor holding call against Kroft that cost Gio his TD.
Speaking of holding... this was the game that reminded us that Holding is actually a penalty. SD were pinged for holding over 5 times and the Bengals also had a few thrown on them. The first step burst of Geno was giving them fits, resulting in 4 sacks for the D. This was the game where it became clear that GENO IS BACK! and he is QUICK.
It was also the game of:
- the Jake Fisher catch! (Sadly never to be repeated)
- Nugent missing a field goal
- Dre Kirkpatrick inexplicably giving Malcolm Floyd a simple walk-in TD on a double move
- Vinnie Rey with the walk-off interception
I really enjoyed that game! Next up: @Baltimore in week 3...
