Bengals, Bills, and "tipping point" games

[fredtoast]

As a Bengal fan I have watch a lot of "painful" games, but very few have been worse than the Bills game in '07. Bengals came into that game struggling at 2-5, but they were still a one point favorite over the 3-4 Bills who had one of the worst offenses in the entire league (They would finish 30th in both yards and points scored). The game was tied after one quarter 7-7, but then the Bills offense just rolled the Bengals. They drove down the field at will and ended up with 479 yards and 25 first downs. They controlled the ball for 10 minutes more than the Bengals, outgained them by almost 200 yards and scored 33 points. It was one of the few games where I honestly felt like the Bengals gave up. After that game our defense was giving up almost 400 yards per game and was on track to not only be the worst in the league, but also one of the worst in the last decade.

In all fairness that defense was so racked with injuries that Robert Geathers was playing SOLB, but the next week the Bengals shook up thier starting defensive lineup. Geathers was moved back to DE and Rashad Jeanty was made the starter at SOLB. Landon Johnson was moved from WOLB to MLB and Dhani Jones, who was signed off the street after the season started, was inserted as starting WOLB. Deltha O'Neal was benched for rookie Leon Hall.

Now some of these moves were possible because of players like Jeanty returning from injury, but the results were incredible. Through the Bills game the Bengals were allowing 397.1 yards per game and the team was 2-6. Over the final 8 games the defense allowed 300.4 yards per game and the team finished 5-3.

I don't want to see the Bengals get humiliated this Sunday, but if they lose again it is clear that this season is a loss. I realize the SFCN is pretty weak this year, but a 3-6-1 is better off looking to the future instead of trying to make some miracle run to get nito the playoffs.

[Pat5775]

I was at that game. The first Bengal game I'd ever been to... It was a nightmare. The Bungles made an appearance and overall completely sucked against JP Losman. They had the lead at halftime and somebody (I think Antonio Chatman?) brought back a kickoff for a TD and did a pathetic roll-dive into the end zone. That's the only highlight I can remember. They were thoroughly embarrassed and as you said, they just gave up.

The overall experience couldn't have been much worse. Chad got carted off the field after getting his head sandwiched between two Bills DB's. Buffalo overall has got some awful fans. I had garbage flying over my shoulder all game long (I didn't even say a word to anyone). I figured Cincy would be neutral in buffalo but I was treated like a jets/dolphin/patriot fan. I saw at least ten fights. I saw a grown man toss beer in a child's face as he was leaving the stadium holding his mothers hand. I was called a "Bengal f***ot" by the same skinny punk surrounded by his 3 obese lackeys. Our car broke down. Our friend Sean puked all over the car... I never thought I would have a worse experience at a football game.

Then I went to the Steelers game @ Pitt in 2011 

Haven't been to a live game since