What Did We Learn

[Luvnit2]

I learned players can get better quickly, the OL play was stellar against maybe the best front 7 in football. Those who said Suggs will get 4 sacks need to eat some crow. Those who said Hopkins is a scrub, well he replace Price and did a very good job against great nose tackles. Congrats OL, keep getting better every week.

We learned this team had a great draft in 2018 already. Price, Bates and Hubbard will help anchor this team for years. We learned Shaun Williams is better than most of us thought, great game last night Mr. Williams.

We learned again this team can overcome adversity, the Ravens got within 5, had all the momentum and then AD led the offense on a crucial long field goal drive. It gave our defense a blow they needed and put us by 8. A rested defense comes back out and Williams sacks and strips Flacco for the game winner.


We learned so much more about our team in prime time. What did you learn?

[lone bengal]

I am optimistic but I'm i'm not gonna go over the top. I agree Williams had a great game, think he had extra motivation probably felt he let his team down last week by getting ejected and he was well rested. My observations ....

- I never root for injuries but MJ getting hurt might not be a bad thing If that's what it's gonna take to get Hubbard and Willis more snaps
- I think Lazor does a good job calling the game and getting everybody involved. All three tight ends got involved, Uzomah made some nice plays.
- Gio is a gamer, guy always makes plays and we didn't miss a beat when Mixon went out
- I keep thinking to myself during the game image what this offense would be like if Ross starts making plays, he needs to step up and if he does this offense will be hard to stop.

[Tomkat]

(09-14-2018, 09:08 AM)lone bengal Wrote: - Gio is a gamer, guy always makes plays and we didn't miss a beat when Mixon went out

Absolutely NOT true.   The offense did not move the ball nearly as well when Mixon went out.
I love Gio, but they need to find some DIFFERENT ways to get him the ball, as he's not a 
"run through the pile" kind of back.

[Big Boss]

Pleasantly surprised by how well Hopkins performed coming off of the bench. Didn't allow any sacks, no snap issues. Huge sigh of relief.

[Au165]

I learned that Bill Lazor understands how to scheme pressure. I have been banging the table for more boot actions and let Dalton and his quick release basically account for the end man. Last night you saw it multiple times and Dalton did well with it. Also interesting to see a lot of the window dressing movement Lazor was running. A lot of people don't understand, but that stuff is slowing down defenders as they have to process what that motion means to the play.

I learned that Bates could be the best player from our 2018 draft class and that is saying something. He gets one interception and nearly snags two more. I knew last week he didn't get to show much because of the lateral nature of the Colts offense. I am looking forward to his play over the next couple weeks as we run through a gauntlet of vertical offenses.

I learned our LB group has some serviceable depth. While they aren't stars Evans, Vigil and Nickerson can get it done. It makes me feel better that if Brown or Burfict go out later in the year we can at least make do.

I learned our depth at TE may be the best in the league. Laugh if you will but I am fine running any of our three TE's out there at anytime and expecting positive results. CJ Uzomah is worth resigning now as I think he has finally learned how to play TE.

[corpjet]

(09-14-2018, 09:12 AM)Tomkat Wrote: Absolutely NOT true.   The offense did not move the ball nearly as well when Mixon went out.
I love Gio, but they need to find some DIFFERENT ways to get him the ball, as he's not a 
"run through the pile" kind of back.

Agree the offense wasn't the same with Gio in there in the second half.

To start off 2-0 with both being AFC games and one being divisional, we couldn't ask for a better start.

We have to be impressed with what we have seen thus far, we are only going to get better.

[Au165]

(09-14-2018, 09:24 AM)Big Boss Wrote: Pleasantly surprised by how well Hopkins performed coming off of the bench.  Didn't allow any sacks, no snap issues.  Huge sigh of relief.

He had some issues in run blocking, but that is to be expected a bit playing from a different position than normal. To snap the ball then move laterally is difficult to do.

[Luvnit2]

(09-14-2018, 09:24 AM)Big Boss Wrote: Pleasantly surprised by how well Hopkins performed coming off of the bench.  Didn't allow any sacks, no snap issues.  Huge sigh of relief.

I agree on Hopkins. He looked good at center in preseason, but I just chalked that up to preseason.

[Luvnit2]

No injured Brown, no Burfict, no problem. The young LB's are getting better and gaining valuable game experience. I will add no Rey, so he is injured on the young are better right now.

[lone bengal]

(09-14-2018, 09:12 AM)Tomkat Wrote: Absolutely NOT true.   The offense did not move the ball nearly as well when Mixon went out.
I love Gio, but they need to find some DIFFERENT ways to get him the ball, as he's not a 
"run through the pile" kind of back.

He made some nice catches out of the backfield to convert 1st downs. Mixon could be a top 5 back this year so obviously he could never replace Mixon. It’s nice to have depth at the position Incase of an injury.

[*bengalfan74*]

Not to listen to the national media "experts" they had the Ravens D the 85 Bears and Flacco a shoe in for MVP this season. JK I already knew not to listen.

Williams is better than I gave him credit for he had a good game.

I have some hope for the Oline.

Like you or someone said in another thread Dalton plays near his best in the hurry up style offense. I think if they had used it again sometime there in the 3rd qtr. we would have scored again.

There's nothing wrong with Bullock.

Dunlap is a beast, very disruptive throughout the game. Like lonebengal said it was probably a good thing MJ went out, he's totally ineffective as a DE. Hope he's ok but they've got to quit running him out there at DE as a starter. Half a dozen snaps a game as a spell for someone perhaps but base D regular player he doesn't cut it.

[thillan]

First off, what a great win. Baltimore is a GOOD team this year, and that was an impressive showing by the Bengals. Now for some things I saw:

- We underestimated how good our receiving core could be. Boyd is playing like a legit #2, and Ross really isn’t playing too bad. I just think he isn’t getting enough targets to feel comfortable.

- I’m most excited by the fact that this team is able to stop the momentum! The Ravens were showing all the signs of a comeback, and both defense and offense stepped up in big situations.

- I think I’m 50/50 on the decision to pass when we were up 28-7 with around 1:20 left in first half. I would’ve rather ran the ball, make them use timeouts, and force Flacco to drive the field since we got the ball in the 2nd half anyway. But we can’t say Marvin was passive!

- I know AJ played out of his mind.. but I think Mixon is our MVP. My god does he take over a game. I’m so happy we have this kid, he is SPECIAL.

- Dre played better than I expected. And it’s cool when you notice that you saw Dre on the screen all night, but I saw WJ maybe 2-3 times? Crabtree was silent when he went to WJ3.

I could say more, but it was just a great all around game. Those 2 wins were important, because Carolina and Atlanta and going to be TOUGH! If we win one of those, we are doing really well.

[Au165]

Side note, Carlos Dunlap already has 4 tipped balls in 2 games. His career high is 15 for a season and he could definitely beat that. It's a huge dimension to his game that lets him impact a play even when he can't get top the QB.

[BengalD]

My ex-boss just walked by (I'm a test engineer in the space / missile field work in Huntsville, AL) and told me AJ green just scored again. Guess this team is on the radar now.

[grampahol]

We learned AJ Green only got 5 receptions for 69 yards and will be benched for every Baltimore game . What a scrub, huh? 

Ok, that's not what I'm really thinking, but for the naysayers out there now you have a reason to sound ridiculous..ONLY 5 RECEPTIONS for ONLY 69 YARDS! Why, that's undrafted rookie territory! 
See how easy it is when you omit the part about 3 TDs? 
And let us not forget that Andy ONLY threw for 265 yards and ONLY hit on 24 of 42 passes.. Unacceptable mediocrety says the naysayers. And if you don't believe the naysayers just listen to the poopooers..because poopooers are never wrong ...right? OBVIOUSLY Joe Fake-o had a much better game 32 of 55 for 376 yards... I mean just look at the stats sheeple! I don't call him Fake-o for nothing you know . Now why can't we have a QB who crumbles like a dry wedding cake whenever he plays against our defense? 

[BURROWorBUST]

(09-14-2018, 09:12 AM)Tomkat Wrote: Absolutely NOT true.   The offense did not move the ball nearly as well when Mixon went out.
I love Gio, but they need to find some DIFFERENT ways to get him the ball, as he's not a 
"run through the pile" kind of back.

Yeah, I love Gio, but this is some truth right here. Mixon is even more special than alot of us thought when we drafted him. Watch the interview with him after the game. That's a guy I want in my huddle and in my locker room. Forget those "character issues." He's a good person who loves to play football. And he's damn good at it. 

[BURROWorBUST]

(09-14-2018, 10:26 AM)grampahol Wrote: We learned AJ Green only got 5 receptions for 69 yards and will be benched for every Baltimore game . What a scrub, huh? 

Ok, that's not what I'm really thinking, but for the naysayers out there now you have a reason to sound ridiculous..ONLY 5 RECEPTIONS for ONLY 69 YARDS! Why, that's undrafted rookie territory! 
See how easy it is when you omit the part about 3 TDs? 
And let us not forget that Andy ONLY threw for 265 yards and ONLY hit on 24 of 42 passes.. Unacceptable mediocrety says the naysayers. And if you don't believe the naysayers just listen to the poopooers..because poopooers are never wrong ...right? OBVIOUSLY Joe Fake-o had a much better game 32 of 55 for 376 yards... I mean just look at the stats sheeple! I don't call him Fake-o for nothing you know . Now why can't we have a QB who crumbles like a dry wedding cake whenever he plays against our defense? 

plus 4 TDs, 0 INTs and an 107.7 passer rating

[Joelist]

I was the one who brought up that when they went away from using uptempo offense was when they struggled. Really points matter more than anything so stay uptempo as often as possible.

[PV Bengal]

(09-14-2018, 09:49 AM)thillan Wrote: First off, what a great win. Baltimore is a GOOD team this year, and that was an impressive showing by the Bengals. Now for some things I saw:

- We underestimated how good our receiving core could be. Boyd is playing like a legit #2, and Ross really isn’t playing too bad. I just think he isn’t getting enough targets to feel comfortable.

- I’m most excited by the fact that this team is able to stop the momentum! The Ravens were showing all the signs of a comeback, and both defense and offense stepped up in big situations.

- I think I’m 50/50 on the decision to pass when we were up 28-7 with around 1:20 left in first half. I would’ve rather ran the ball, make them use timeouts, and force Flacco to drive the field since we got the ball in the 2nd half anyway. But we can’t say Marvin was passive!

- I know AJ played out of his mind.. but I think Mixon is our MVP. My god does he take over a game. I’m so happy we have this kid, he is SPECIAL.

- Dre played better than I expected. And it’s cool when you notice that you saw Dre on the screen all night, but I saw WJ maybe 2-3 times? Crabtree was silent when he went to WJ3.

I could say more, but it was just a great all around game. Those 2 wins were important, because Carolina and Atlanta and going to be TOUGH! If we win one of those, we are doing really well.

One of the things that many, if not most, board members have complained about in the past is that Marvin would tell the OC to go "conservative" at the end of the half and/or game.

We'd ***** and complain that when we had another team down, we wouldn't "step on their throat" and go for the kill. So Marvin had the opportunity to change the narrative last night ... and he took it. It didn't work out as planned, but at least he was aggressive.

My larger complaint, though, is that the team STILL let the Ratbirds back into the game at that point. The "D" couldn't get the job done when the Ravens got the ball back with 2:00 or so left to go. That's what concerns me the most.

[*bengalfan74*]

(09-14-2018, 09:52 AM)Au165 Wrote: Side note, Carlos Dunlap already has 4 tipped balls in 2 games. His career high is 15 for a season and he could definitely beat that. It's a huge dimension to his game that lets him impact a play even when he can't get top the QB.

I picked him for the game ball. Carlos has been ballin !

(09-14-2018, 10:32 AM)Shady Wrote: Yeah, I love Gio, but this is some truth right here. Mixon is even more special than alot of us thought when we drafted him. Watch the interview with him after the game. That's a guy I want in my huddle and in my locker room. Forget those "character issues." He's a good person who loves to play football. And he's damn good at it. 

I love me some GIO but Mixon has that extra ummph !