Bengals Banter: Madden and Munoz like the Bengals chances to make the Super Bowl
by Josh Kirkendall on Dec 16, 2009 10:40 AM EST
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PrintIt's being reported that apparently Mike Zimmer wasn't contacted by the University of Cincinnati. How do these things start? Not that it matters. Cincinnati hired Butch Jones, former head coach at Central Michigan -- same place that the Bearcats found Brian Kelly. Sticking it to a Michigan school? That's just deliciously evil.
Both John Madden and Anthony Munoz likes the Bengals chances... to make it to the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl?! Yes, the Super Bowl. Are we really thinking about the Super Bowl? I'll frackin' take it.
Dave writes there's that there's one easy step to fixing this offense. Stop the penalties. The Bengals committed three false starts, two encroachments and 12-men on the field against Minnesota. That's 30 yards worth of penalties on mental mistakes.
A local man will create the statue for the John Madden Most Valuable Protectors Award.
Bobbie Williams was named for the Ed Block Courage Award.
Thought of the day: The ability to throw the football so well for two undefeated teams in New Orleans and Indianapolis isn't a trend. It's the exception.
With Chicago, Oakland and Pittsburgh left on their schedule, Geoff Hobson believes that the Baltimore Ravens could run the table and win out.
James Walker wonders: "There is something to be said for sticking with what got the Bengals to 9-4. But what happens, like in the loss to the Minnesota Vikings, when a team just as physical won't let Cincinnati run it 30-35 times?" Walker also thinks that the lack of a deep ball could be costly for Cincinnati.
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Bengals cut Purify to re-sign Shaun Smith
RT @joereedy #bengals re-sign DT Shaun Smith and release WR Maurice Purify
PFT article
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/12/16/shaun-smith-returns-again/
Guess this means Simpson gets activated?
The Bengals have a better chance to lose out than win out.
And having a good passing team be undefeated, yeah that’s the exception. But just having a good passing team? Not really. Let’s list them… in no particular order… Philly, San Diego, Minnesota, Dallas, Green Bay, NE Patriots, Baltimore, NY Giants, Arizona, San Fran (recently at least), Miami (ditto), Atlanta, Houston, Indy, NO Saints.
Notice something about that list? It’s 16 teams long. Half the league. Notice something else? Eight of them are all-but guaranteed to take up two thirds of the available playoff spots, and two more have a very good chance of getting in. Notice something else? Only three teams in that list have a losing record at present, and none has lost more than 7 games (yet at least). That’s only three more than us. Notice something else? Two of them have already beaten us this year, and a third is extremely likely to join them shortly. Notice something else? We only beat two teams on that list, and both of them helped us out a bit with some self-destructing. Oh and in the process of beating them, we had equal or more passing TDs than rushing in all three games.
The idea that this is not a passing league is self-deception at best, idiocy at worst. You HAVE to be able to pass the ball. You don’t necessarily have to be explosive. You don’t have to do it all the time. But you have to be ABLE to do so. And right now at least, we aren’t.
Your passing list
WHat is your criteria for good passing teams?
You list Miami, but Henne has only been the leading passer in a game twice this year. You list Balitimore, but Pittsburgh has passed better this year.
I would define good passing offense as 250 yds a game through the air. This leaves Indy, NE, NO, HOU, SD, Cowboys, Cardinals, Giants, GB, PHI, and MIN. Of these, 3 have to pass well, because they can’t run well, INDY, SD, and the Cardinals. The Pats can’t win on the road. The Cowboys and Giants may be falling apart. The Texans will finish last in their division. and only the Saints and Vikings are what I would consider complete teams.
The Bengals are 5-2 in Games in which Palmer out throws our opponent. They are 4-2 when our opponent out throws Palmer. Culter had more yards than Plamer, but we put up 45 points.
If we win this week, we will be sitting at the number 2 seed in the AFC and number 4 seed overall. one of the top 4 teams in the NFL. I know that we are 2-2 in our last 4 games, and both losses were on the road. But I believe that if we run the ball, get pressure, stop the run, avoid presnap penalteas and turn overs we will win. these are things that we have done all year in our wins. At the end of the day, yards aren’t important, execution is.
Last year we were the 6th worst team in football, now we are playing to be the 4th best.
What’s my criteria? I don’t have any. I was listing teams that appear to play well in the passing game. That’s not something you can define with stats. Miami doesn’t have stats but when they do pass (in recent games at least) they do pretty well at it. Not great but at least decent. Most of the others are far better than even that.
The cowboys are falling apart, but the Giants aren’t. Yet, at least. Maybe they will, but they already DID fall apart and got it back together to at least some degree. The Texans have this nice little problem to have, they play the best passing time in the AFC twice a year. If they finish last it won’t be by much, and they were in pretty much every game they lost. That’s a hell of a lot better than getting blown out because we can’t pass the ball anymore. Oh and just in case you forgot, they blew US out too.
Oh and of those three who “have” to pass, name one of them who won’t win its division. And I’m really going to laugh if SD runs all over us this weekend. They aren’t great but they can do it better than you seem to think.
And you conveniently ignore GB and Philly. How are they not complete teams? They can run. They can pass. They can play at least adequate defense. Sure Philly didn’t play much Sunday night, but you try playing defense on a wet soggy field. If you survive five minutes without breaking a leg you get a cookie.
And you dismiss the Ravens way too fast. They pass the ball because they can (most of the time). Pitt passes because they can’t run the ball anymore. There’s a big difference between those two.
Right now, we’re beyond merely “not good” at passing. We’re incompetent. And this weekend is a good foretaste of what’s to come in January (assuming we even make it). If we get blown out again because we can’t pass, remember what I said. Defense is important. Nay, it’s critical. Running is important too unless you have the best screen game in the universe, and even then it’s still better to have it. But passing is also important too, and we don’t have it at all right now.
Giants have lost 6 of their last nine and one of those was a win over the Cowboys who can’t win in December.
If they do you may laugh at me.
I did ignore Philly and GB, their defenses keep them from being complete but I had little to say about their offenses.
Until we lost Henry we passed better than the Ravens. Flacco has more INT and less TDs than Palmer.
I agree that we need to get better a throwing the ball, but penalties and turn overs lost us the game on Sunday, not the passing game. No one throws well on 3-15. We were in the game until Leonard fumbled, giving up a TD, and the Franchise kicked the ball out of bounds giving up a TD. After that Minnesota dictated the game. With Henry, we probably win the game anyway, like we did against Baltimore or Pittsburgh.
sorry to rain on your parade but....
Pittsburgh ranked 22nd in total offense last year with just 311.9 YPG and 21 PPG.
206.3 passing YPG, just 19 passing TDs and 15 INTs good for 19 in the league.
their defense? no. 1 across the board.
you do not HAVE to be able to pass the ball to win the Super Bowl.
I didn’t say you had to be good. Must less the best. I said you had to be CAPABLE. I was very explicit with the wording I used. Right now we are simply incapable of throwing the ball (and completing the pass in the process) to generate enough yards to even compete, much less win.
you do not HAVE to be able to pass the ball to win the Super Bowl.
… but that’s exactly what they did in the superbowl ;)
I guess a winning record brings out freaks.
Esteban
Seriously, there shouldn’t be one false start on 85. How many does he have this year? Child, please.
who dey
IMO the current NFL has evolved to a passing orientation. Those who argue otherwise are ill informed. To those who want to argue run vs pass go ahead an argue. What is apparrent is that the best offenses are balanced and can do both well though one may predominate.
For what it is worth, I think the Bengals would have won that SB if Munoz plays the whole game. Anyways good luck the rest of the year.
Passing
Definitely have to be able to pass. Not be dominate, but able to produce. That being said, I’d rather have a dominate running game than a dominate passing game.
Wide receiver group
I know it is a little early talking about this now, but I am looking forward to the offseason! Would be nice to get some new TEs and WRs. Coles needs to go and all of the TEs. If Chris Henry is our only deep threat, the depth must be really bad at WR. Not pleased with the offensive coordinator. Having a solid running game does not equate to every series containing run, run, pass. He started to mix it up a little in the Vikings game but way too late.
I do agree that the penalties are making it harder for the passing game to get going. During the first half it seemed we were playing against ourselves instead of the Vikes D.
Was anyone else mad that they didn’t let Benson get 4 more yards against the Vikes?
I hope Simpson is ready to go. Could use a WR to help spread out the D.
I do think we are matched well against San Diego. Their running game sucks and our run defense and third down D is stellar (although it didn’t seem like that against the Vikes). I would imagine they will send more on blitzes which should help with turnovers.
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