The Browns are getting housed. The Titans looked pretty bad too and Vince Young sprained his knee. Hopefully, we’ll have the Kerry Collins show next week. Today was bad, but we have 15 more games to prove it was a fluke.

is how this essentially same line- Willie being mostly MIA- gave up just 17 sacks all year in ‘07, and that was with the Bengals behind a great deal forcing obvious passing situations. That tells me the ability is there, so what gives? Coaching? Mike Brown? Some of that Fernald contamination buried beneath the practice field? I mean, it just makes no fucking sense. Bratkowski is the closest thing to an answer I can come up with. He was here before Marvin. He’s still here. He’s still calling the same plays he’s always called- in the same order apparently.

As to a fluke, this was potentially the worst team we’ll face all year and we not only didn’t win. Outside of the defense, we didn’t even show up. I kept imagining that, if all our offensive players were miked, it would sound something like this:

“Oh my god, oh my god, look where that guy is lining up!”
“Oh my god, oh my god, there’s one more over here!”
“What are we gonna do?!”
“I think I just wet myself…”
“Oh my god, oh my god, what if they blitz again?”
“Don’t let me get hurt, don’t let me get hurt, don’t let me get hurt…”
“I told you, it’s ‘Chad Ochocinco’!”
“Has anyone seen Willie?”
“Oh my god, oh my god, here they come again!”

If you’ll pardon the expression; fucking pussies.

…somebody figured out how to defend Michael Jordan (Dumars was the only one who could do it, but the point is, somebody figured it out!). After a while, somebody figured out how to play Graf. And Becker. And Sampras. Somebody figured out how to solve the 46 Zone (oh, wait…actually that was Walter Payton…once Buddy Ryan went to Philly and tried to install it with defensive personnel that weren’t the ’85 Bears!).

Anyway, the point is, the Bengals had an offense that nobody could stop…in 2005! Brat’s been calling the same offense years after Eric Steinbach went to a division rival…and Big Willie is now playing for a division rival…and however-many-other cap casualties and wayward former Bengals have been scattered hither and yon across the league.

They’re onto us!

(…as I hear the collective voices of CincyJungle respond in unison: “Oh…ya THINK???”)

Your best chance is to be over the top aggressive. Stretch the field early. The Ravens love the play in front of them. Your receivers can scare a team into mediocrity. Double, triple coverage..doesn’t matter just throw it deep beyond everything incomplete. The deep thought needs to be instilled. It wasn’t on Sunday and the Raven’s lined up and T’d off from the ladies pins. That game was not as close as it sounds. We went dime before the half and you marched right down and kicked 3. Rex has a bad habit of going prevent or dime on final drives. The opponent scores everytime because the Raven’s need to attack. Sitting back kills them. I see Norv Turner hasn’t shaken that habit either. His tin men stood still when the Panther’s won on the last play. He cost the Redskins many games playing scared prevent. It’s drives me crazy to see a team dominate and then change it for the defining series. Actually, it’s just stupid.