Where was Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry? Covered. That's where

by Josh Kirkendall on Sep 13, 2009 8:10 PM EDT in Game Recaps

One of the more pressing questions during the Bengals 12-7 loss is, where the hell went Chris Henry? With 11:23 left in the first quarter, the Bengals lined up at their own 13-yard line on third-and-nine. In shotgun, Carson Palmer turned and threw to his right, where Henry sat in a wide-open zone caught the pass, picked up 18 yards and the first down. Bengals fans cheered. Palmer's back, we shouted. However, in the remaining 56-plus minutes remaining in the game, Henry wasn't just shutout for the rest of the game, he wasn't even the intended receiver -- unless you want to include the hail mary to end the game.

Player	Target	Rec.	Yards
Andre Caldwell	8	6	54
Chad Ochocinco	7	5	89
Laveranues Coles	5	1	11
Cedric Benson	4	4	32
Chris Henry	2	1	18
Daniel Coats	2	1	16
Brian Leonard	2	2	24
Jeremi Johnson	2	0	0
J.P. Foschi	1	1	3

So, what happened with Henry? It wasn't like he wasn't on the field, he was. When it was evident that Laveranues Coles just wasn't playing at the top of his form, Henry often lined up opposite of Chad Ochocinco. In the words of Carson Palmer, Henry had a ton of routes going deep and the Denver Broncos anticipated this.

Carson Palmer:

“They weren’t going to let the ball go over their heads. They played two deep safeties — as deep as a safety that I’ve ever seen. Their mind set was to not let us throw the ball downfield. We tried to a number of times, but you just can’t force it. We had Chris on a number of deep routes, but if he’s double covered ... You have to take your shots when the shots are there. You can’t take shots just to take shots. They came with that mindset, and they did a good job. They have two really good cover corners and an experienced safety in (Brian) Dawkins. They lined up 25 yards deep and started backpedaling. They weren’t going to let the ball go over their heads. They wanted to keep the ball in front of them, and they did a good job of that.”

Marvin Lewis:

“I think one ball and one catch is a pretty good day. You can’t tell who is going to get the ball thrown to them. They’re playing the coverage and the quarterback is going to deliver the ball based on the coverage. You aren’t going to be able to dictate the number of balls a receiver is going to catch in a day.”

The greater question heading into week two is, should we be more worried about Laveranues Coles? Carson Palmer says, "I don’t have a worry in the world about Laveranues. He dropped the ball, but I missed plenty of balls, we missed blocks — a number of things happened offensively. Knowing Laveranues, and knowing the type of pro he is, he’ll come in with the right type of mindset and shake it off. You won’t see that from him again.”

On the bright side, Chad Ochocinco seems to be on track, already beating his season high 79 yards receiving against the Colts a year ago with an 89-yard effort on Sunday. And Andre Caldwell is going to be a good one.

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Comments

Throwing into triple coverage sure worked out for the Broncos....

sometimes you have to take shots – even in coverage – depending on the situation. I don’t know, third and long at midfield – why not throw it deep to Henry to see if he can outjump the defender(s) or draw an interference.

Or better yet – design some routes to get Henry the ball on shorter plays. At the end of the day, Carson has to get the ball to playmakers like Chris Henry. Brat needs to start designing offensive packages to get players the ball rather than sticking to a formulaic (let’ stay balanced…) approach.

"Ryan, Things in here don't react too well to bullets." - Marko Ramius

by TarZander on Sep 13, 2009 8:14 PM EDT reply actions

bratkowski’s key flaw has always been his inability to adjust to defenses. a coordinator worth his salt would’ve found holes in the coverage and exploited them. i found them, and i was several hundred feet above the field.

by Raging Clue on Sep 14, 2009 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Coles

It’s too early to tell, but it’s looking like signing Coles was an offseason blunder.
8 5, Henry, and Caldwell look to be in much better form, and with Jerome Simpson having potential, do we really need Coles.(particularly when he’s dropping multiple balls) Had his salary been used to go get a guard or center, we would have been much better off.
The only excuse is that there are questions of Johnson’s and Henry’s stability and Caldwell and Simpson’s inexperience, but there is always risk. I would have felt much better with Matt Birk mentoring Luigis, or having Jason Brown being the center of the future.

by R.F. Mehl on Sep 13, 2009 8:38 PM EDT reply actions

hmmm, i believe i said this on thursday..........

Bringing Bronco love from 1,112 miles away

by Troy Hufford on Sep 13, 2009 9:46 PM EDT up reply actions

your week is done, go ahead and go back to MHR

"Ghiaciuc's play was a distraction"

by Joe Goodberry on Sep 13, 2009 10:36 PM EDT up reply actions

+5 no more broncos comments.. you showed how lucky you are, now peace!

by 80%OFTHETIMEIMRIGHTEVERYTIME on Sep 14, 2009 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree with Tar...

6 trips inside Bronco territory in the first half (every possession) and 1 trip to the Red zone which culminated in a botched FG.

I still feel sick over the way this game ended, but how can they not call at least 1 play to just have a go at the end zone from 40 yards out on 3rd down the 4th or 5th time in Broncos territory. Just take some risks deep after trying the same tired approach and failing 3, 4, and 5 times.

by cmick on Sep 13, 2009 8:39 PM EDT reply actions

I still don't understand why were not a Pass First offense

by Jaydolla on Sep 13, 2009 9:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Neither do I

I know marvin wants to get back to AFC north smashmouth football, but I remember watching the games in 05 and all you heard was how the run game was predicated on the deep pass. We used to pass first, then run it down their throats. now, it’s run it 25 times even if it’s not working.

by brandone on Sep 13, 2009 9:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Not even sure AFC North is smash mouth anymore anyway

Big Ben and Flacco each throw for over 300 yards.

Blogger at CincyJungle.com -- SB Nation Cincinnati Bengals blog.

by Josh Kirkendall on Sep 13, 2009 9:34 PM EDT up reply actions

If teams are playing 2 deep safeties, as Carson contends, we need to be able to run the ball successfully, or else Palmer is going to be trying to squeeze ball into tight holes all year, and there are going to be a lot of interceptions.
In the Pit-Ten, the titans were playing 8 men fronts the whole game, which is why the steelers threw as much as they did.
If we want to win with this lineup, we have to be like the 06 Colts and just make teams pay if they are sitting deep in coverage.
Someone like Andre Smith, with a full pre-season under his large belt would have perfect for this.

by R.F. Mehl on Sep 13, 2009 9:50 PM EDT reply actions

Henry

Here’s my thought. Henry is in the last year of his contract. Mikey and Marvin want to keep his receptions low and talk down about him so they can re-sign him for minimum cash. They know he’s good and want him and Caldwell to be their long term guys so they don’t want him holding out for a big contract. Just a thought.

by smoormandiddy on Sep 13, 2009 9:57 PM EDT reply actions

good theory, but unlikely

If there is no CBA next season, then Henry would be a restricted FA. So he would only make about $1.8m

"Ghiaciuc's play was a distraction"

by Joe Goodberry on Sep 13, 2009 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Doubt it.

I doubt that Marvin and Brown are that manipulative when there’s so much pressure on them to win. Furthermore, I haven’t a doubt in my mind that both want to win — in Brown’s case, he just doesn’t know how to (and maybe he never will).

Furthermore, Henry was on the field more than enough. I doubt that Palmer would be so willing to avoid throwing Henry the ball because of these reasons. Palmer is under a lot of pressure to win also.

I realize you’re just thinking outside the box here. But I don’t see it.

Blogger at CincyJungle.com -- SB Nation Cincinnati Bengals blog.

by Josh Kirkendall on Sep 13, 2009 10:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Agreed

It is very unlikely, just one of my few conspiracy theories on why this team can’t get over the hump.

by smoormandiddy on Sep 14, 2009 8:04 AM EDT up reply actions

this has been a bad day

Bengals lose, i lose in fantasy, and i cant find my cat

"Ghiaciuc's play was a distraction"

by Joe Goodberry on Sep 13, 2009 11:10 PM EDT reply actions

I have your cat.

Blogger at CincyJungle.com -- SB Nation Cincinnati Bengals blog.

by Josh Kirkendall on Sep 13, 2009 11:30 PM EDT up reply actions

i found him Josh, no thanks to you

"Ghiaciuc's play was a distraction"

by Joe Goodberry on Sep 14, 2009 9:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Me too

OSU loss, Bengals loss, College Fantasy football loss, and I need Tomlinson to score more points than Rivers to prevent a sweep in Pro Fantasy Football.

by jim0ijk on Sep 14, 2009 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Broncos Fan here

It sucks to lose. Especially when you lose on a “fluke” play. But you guys fought really hard. It seemed that we could not cover Ochocinco. Your DLine was overpowering our OLine more often than I ever imagined they could. My guy Dumervil could not get around Whit. For the first game of the season I thought both teams never gave up and played a heck of a game.

Going forward I think both of our teams need a lot of work. Best wishes next week in Green Bay!

by Endzone on Sep 14, 2009 1:27 AM EDT reply actions