10-22-2018, 08:52 AM
(10-22-2018, 08:03 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: As soon as we lost to the Steelers, every sane fan knew we'd be 4-3 after last night, right? KC is a super bowl contender with one of the best QBs in the NFL and nearly endless weapons for him. Our offensive line was never going to allow us to keep up with him, even if our defense did get a stop or two here and there.
I actually prefer an ass whooping to a close back and forth game. That may sound totally backwards, but at least now you don't have to agonize or kill yourself over a single play (like we did against the Steelers). It also may actually ignite a spark in these players to go out and start playing like they have a pay check to earn or something.
This is still a 4-3 team with a very good chance at making the playoffs and, before last night, our offense was working really well for us.
I am officially on the "Austin needs to go" train though. That guy is way too ready to give up the short stuff and then hope it doesn't turn into long stuff (which, with this team's tackling technique, it will). I want to see someone willing to play aggressive press coverage on 3rd down.
MAKE THEM EARN THE FIRST DOWN.
Austin's defense hands out 3rd down conversions like they're candy on Halloween night. It's ***** embarrassing.
I went to bed at the half because I knew we weren't going to make any adjustments in the 2nd half and seeing the score this morning I was pretty happy with that decision.
On 6 days we got the Bucs at home. It'll be a good opportunity to get back to our winning ways and, at 5-3 at the halfway point in the season, we should be feeling pretty good about this team.
I know the sky may seem like it's falling, but if you came into this game expecting us to win (or, really, even compete) then you were living in a dreamworld anyway. I think it's best we rip this bandaid off now. The Bengals are a good team. We are not a great team. It's about progressing towards something meaningful and we've done that so far this season. Our defense is trash, but their performance just last year indicates that this is primarily coaching. Hopefully, we fix that sooner than later and we can get back to our traditionally sufficient defense.
Until then, try not to dwell on this loss too much. No matter what the final score is, an L is exactly the same as any other L (in the same portion of the season).
Think its more the manner of the loss and that now going into the midway point these issues are now becoming long term trends....we either address them in the bye week or accept we are going to be a win one - lose one type team rest of the way.
Yes, they were massively exposed by a very talented KC team (on offense anyway) but the weak LB play, poor tackling, 3rd down, lack of consistent running game , receiving threats beyond AJ,Boyd, patchy Special teams play ,etc have all been there before.
Looking forward to our coaching staff getting some time to re-group over the bye week post tampa
