FanPost

Playoff Post Mortem

I am a first time poster here, and I'm sorry this is so long, but I think the Bengal's disappointing return to the playoffs, and the near term future it portends, require a few observations.


This end to the season is really a let down after the way the Bengals started things off, and it will be hard to get over. Still, after the bleak showing in week 17, it was a nice surprise to see in the early going last night that the Jets were a team that the Bengals were capable of beating. It was all the more disappointing, then, to see the game slowly slip away.

Almost all of the coverage of the debacle that I have read so far has focused on Carson Palmer's poor performance and Shayne Graham's two missed field goals, and I want to address those, but I think the most overlooked takeaway from this game is a sense of missed opportunity from a total stud performance from Cedric Benson. I have to confess that over the season I was never sure how much credit to give Ced for the success of the Bengals running attack, but last night I was convinced of his value. It was clear that Benson was making extra yards on almost every play. His heads up, and high energy running was keeping the Bengals' offense in good situations throughout the early going until the score forced the Bengals to abandon the run.

The play where Ced rolled all the way through a tackle, got back up and turned a loss into a six yard gain put a smile on my face that even the dismal outcome of this game could not entirely erase. The long touchdown where Ced's burst into the backfield turned a long run into a breakout for six was heroic, and single handedly dragged the home team back into the game.

The Bengals will have a big list of contract issues to sort out this off season, but I think getting Benson signed up for a longer term deal has to be a priority on that list right up there with trying to retain Mike Zimmer and getting long term deals for Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph.

The second issue that stood out in last night's game was how stout the defense seemed when they weren't giving up 50-yard plays. I think that this indicates that last week's undermanned defensive showing drew a schematic over-reaction in this game. Still, It was very satisfying to see the Jets inside running game and wildcat plays totally bottled up. It was all the more impressive considering that it was accomplished despite the heavy toll of defensive injuries that had drained the defense over the season, and which was added to by the loss of Rashad Jeanty on the opening kickoff.

I don't quite understand the breakdowns that allowed the huge Jet plays that doomed the Bengals last night -- I can't remember any time when an opposing team's defensive reactions has ever opened up the kind of vulnerabilities that the Jets exploited for fistsful of easy, untouched touchdowns from midfield in these two games. Considering the anemic performance of this Jets offense against the Falcons a few short weeks ago, I don't think these let downs can be chalked up entirely to a superior opponent.

The same has to be said for the sterling performance of Jets' rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez. Credit to the kid for coming through in the big game, but years of watching sub par signal callers produce Hall of Fame-worthy numbers against the stripes has taught me that these standout performances can almost always be chalked up to the failure of the Bengals' pass rush to inspire the kind of fear of imminent destruction that was so evident in Carson's "awkward" pass attempts over the past two weeks.

That brings us to the play of the Bengals' hundred million dollar man. Plenty of type has been devoted to the awfulness of the Bengals passing attack even before this game. Carson was off target all night, and appeared to be completely driven to distraction by Rex Ryan's aggressive blitzing -- even when no blitz was forthcoming. This is especially disappointing, given that Benson's success in the running game almost certainly created a situation where even a modest success passing the ball would have stretched the Jets' defense enough to allow the Bengals to move the sticks consistently in the critical second and third quarters.

Palmer's failure seems to have inspired uniform distress in Bengal fandom, with some posters on this and other boards going so far as to call for the Bengals to spend a high draft pick on a quarterback either to replace Palmer or to push him. I don't think -- and I expect the Bengals won't think so either -- that the situation is quite that dire. Clearly, this season's Carson Palmer was not the same elite level passer that lit up the league in 2005 and 2006, but in the interim he has matured into a seasoned leader, and is the heart of this team. Replacing or undermining him, even if you could find a suitable alternative, would disrupt the strong core of a team that has a window of opportunity over the next two-to-three seasons to put together an elite and consistently dominant squad. Palmer's performance last night was not good, but except for the fact that he was not able to put together one sharp drive at the end when it was needed, it was pretty close to the caliber of passing play that got the Bengals a home playoff game to begin with. That is to say it was almost good enough.

Off target and out of sync has been pretty much the norm for Palmer's passing game over the healthy portions of his last two seasons, but I really think that it isn't anything that can't be fixed with pretty much the same personnel next year. I think that the Bengals just really need to spend more time working on it with all of the principals together in next year's camp. The line play will only benefit from greater personnel stability, and Palmer just needs to get familiar with this cast of receivers so that he knows who he can count on in what situations. I think that the combination of the rush-centric scheme, Palmer's post-injury rustiness, his preseason ankle injury, and the loss of Chris Henry just kept the passing game off-kilter enough that he never was able to get into his rhythm. Maybe Palmer needs more practice reps than other quarterbacks. Whatever the case, I think there is ample evidence that he and the current receiver corps actually have the needed skills to be a dangerous complement to a strong running game. I think it will fall on the coaching staff to find a way to allow these guys to develop a successful, and consistent rhythm. It would help matters greatly if the team could find a big, fast, deep threat to pick up where Henry left off.

That leaves us with Shayne Graham's problems last night. Everything I've read and seen leads me to believe that Graham is an accurate kicker, and a good teammate and citizen. Still, I think it is pretty close to the point where we have to recognize that the guy just is never going to be reliable in critical situations. Maybe as a Bengal he just hasn't had enough chances to succeed with a season on the line, but at this point it seems like -- no matter how good his season average is -- he is always going to miss when put in a situation where he can extend the season. He choked twice at the end of 2006, when any win would have returned the Bengals to the postseason, and twice last night when the team was struggling offensively, and desperately needed the points. The unfortunate thing about this situation is that there is nothing that Graham can do in the off-season, or even in the early going of the regular season, to demonstrate that he can get past this problem. Add to that his inability to consistently kickoff deep, and I think there is a strong case for looking for a new kicker. The run and defend-the-run game plan cannot succeed without a reliable field goal kicker. When the whole idea is to beat the other team by three points, every three pointer is going to be critical.

Ultimately, I think that most of the parts the Bengals will need to improve next season -- in what figures to be a tougher division -- are already in place. This is a young team that I think will benefit greatly from another year of experience together. With that being the case, I think the team can focus its draft and free agency efforts on one or two big upgrades and, on improving depth overall. While they are at it, it would be nice if the team would address some of the long standing deficiencies that hold the team back every year, like building a practice bubble, but I'm not holding my breath on that. Experience has taught all Bengal fans to be wary of the "next year will be better" mantra, but I think there is real evidence that this year that can be the case.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.