Bengals Second Half Excitement Falls Two Points Short

by Josh Kirkendall on Sep 18, 2011 7:25 PM EDT

The defense was feeling the momentum as well, forcing the Broncos to punt from their own eight-yard line after consecutive three-and-outs. What could have been defined as the biggest play of the game, Denver punter Britton Colquitt punted the football 82 yards to the Bengals 10-yard line. The punt was negated after a personal conduct forced a re-kick. Colquitt's second punt only went 57 yards, that was returned 16 yards by punt returner Brandon Tate. Instead of starting at their own 10-yard line, the Bengals offense started on Denver's side of the field.

With eight straight failed third down conversions, Dalton takes the third down snap with 4:09 left in the game and is flushed out of the pocket. Rolling out to the right, Dalton tries to pick up the first down, falling a yard short. Do the Bengals go for a 51-yard field goal attempt or continue with their field possession game with a Kevin Huber punt?

Neither.

Biggest Play of the Game II? Fourth and one, and nine straight failed third down conversions, the Bengals line up at the Broncos 36-yard line. The Bengals line up in big formation, fake the hand off and run a naked boot leg to the right. Defensive end Robert Ayers didn't bother going for the fake, drilling Dalton as he spun around to find A.J. Green in the flats. It was all for naught. Incomplete pass and the Broncos have the ball.

After being called for an offensive holding, the Broncos start from their own 28-yard line. After consecutive short gains, the Bengals used their final two timeouts setting up a third-and-14 with 2:50 left in the game.

Big Play of the Game III? On third down the Broncos run to the right and Rey Maualuga attempted a tackle for loss in the backfield. He misses, but McGahee goes out of bounds giving the Bengals all of the time they could have lost if the clock kept rolling.

However the Bengals started their next possession from their own five-yard line with 2;25 left in the game. Andy Dalton completes consecutive passes to tight end Jermaine Gresham and A.J. Green for 13 yards respectively as the two minute warning arrives. A handful of players later, the Bengals are in third and two. Andy Dalton in shotgun with Brian Leonard to his left, takes the snap and looks left and finds A.J. Green on the sidelines three yards beyond the line of scrimmage. It's the first third down converted in the game by the Bengals with 1:03 left in the game.

Then it went down hill.

With :57 left in the game, Andy Dalton is sacked on second down followed by an incomplete pass over the middle to Jermaine Gresham that was batted away. With 19 yards to go on fourth down and :30 remaining in the game, Dalton takes the shotgun snap and rolls out right. A.J. Green runs down the right sidelines and Dalton's pass is over the receivers head, turning the ball over.

Bengals lost in a massive second half effort where the Broncos scored on big plays, compounded by the Bengals inability to convert on third downs Sunday. Yet we can't help but think of what happened if the Bengals converted their two-point conversion midway through the third quarter.

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Comments

Disappointing

Bengals had all the chances to win, smh.

by DTFCPDX on Sep 18, 2011 7:26 PM EDT reply actions

look at the long history of losses in Denver you'll see a few of those

same thing in Oakland.

by occams_tiger_teeth on Sep 18, 2011 7:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Big Plays

The Crocker mistake killed us…Dalton looks like the real deal….

by ticalcaldwell on Sep 18, 2011 7:27 PM EDT reply actions

Shoulda let Nuge try it, I think he would've nailed the 54 yarder (like the 55 yard fg in the pre-season)

I really dis-like Marvin sometimes

"You don't live in Cleveland, You live in Cincinnati"-Sam Wyche
"I promise to throw interceptions for touchdowns just as good as he did" -Jordan Palmer

by TennBengalfan on Sep 18, 2011 7:30 PM EDT reply actions

With the play they called

wtf was that.

by occams_tiger_teeth on Sep 18, 2011 7:32 PM EDT up reply actions

This team looks much better than most people thought it was going to look.

by Craig Conrad on Sep 18, 2011 7:31 PM EDT reply actions

I think it's more fair to say

Dalton looks better in his first two games than what one would expect for a rookie QB and Green looks like one of the better rookie WR in a while as well. I’m surprised by that at least.

But: The Bengals still don’t get much push from their lines (either O or D), and their safeties are still terrible (Crocker is a joke), and Clements looks like toast far too often.

by occams_tiger_teeth on Sep 18, 2011 7:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........................

hate to lose those. On the plus side Dalton and Green couldn’t have looked better in the first half. Very disappointed we couldn’t convert on those short yardage plays, we have to be able to get 1 yard more often than not. That’s what killed us right there.

by The Van Buren Boys on Sep 18, 2011 7:32 PM EDT reply actions

2nd half I meant above.............the offense didn't have a pulse in the 1st half.

by The Van Buren Boys on Sep 18, 2011 7:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Wasn't Clements called for PI on a similar play?

All we can expect is consistecycy

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

by TarZander on Sep 18, 2011 7:32 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

Painful

But the future looks bright.

by StillmissinOdell on Sep 18, 2011 7:36 PM EDT reply actions

so am I the only one confused on what to feel.

On the one hand we lost hate to lose those close ones. But Im excited after ever week it seems like these kids gain more chemistry together. They’re gonna be dangerous…

by pendragon13 on Sep 18, 2011 7:36 PM EDT reply actions

I agree...... It's bittersweet

"You don't live in Cleveland, You live in Cincinnati"-Sam Wyche
"I promise to throw interceptions for touchdowns just as good as he did" -Jordan Palmer

by TennBengalfan on Sep 18, 2011 7:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Shouldve started AJ on my fantasy team.

by pendragon13 on Sep 18, 2011 7:39 PM EDT reply actions

+1

and Dalton

"You don't live in Cleveland, You live in Cincinnati"-Sam Wyche
"I promise to throw interceptions for touchdowns just as good as he did" -Jordan Palmer

by TennBengalfan on Sep 18, 2011 7:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes

We should have taken a shoot at the FG !.

But on the other hand, I wanna tip my hat to Dalton and the rest of the offense and the Defense for never giving up …… No more runs up the middle !!!!!!!!!!

by 77CincyRage on Sep 18, 2011 7:40 PM EDT reply actions

They were nervous to hand the reins over to Dalton...

And Ced wasn’t doing very well. He got stopped on like every short yardage play. If they would’ve started passing earlier and let THAT open up the run, instead of trying to force the run, it may have turned out differently. Hindsight /shrug

by Luke on Sep 18, 2011 7:41 PM EDT reply actions

Failure to convert in short yardage situations was killing us, and why not let Nuge kick the 50 plus yarder tahn go for it on 4th and 1??

There will be alot of second guessing but I take alot of positives out of this game, Dalton looked sensational at times: Beurlein was waxing lyrical about him. AJ Green….sweet mother of…wow! Jerome played well but should of caught the hot read on 3rd down earlier in the third.

Defense buckled it down later but denver took advantage of our over-aggression, with multiple zone runs/counters and misdirections; the first TD and the FG in drives in the first half were awfull,nowhere near enough pressure on Orton early although he was getting it out quick tbf. Crocker sold the jerseys on Denvers 2nd TD but unlike other Cincy Teams this bunch hung in there and didnt blink at 14pt or 9pt defecits. Are we a playoff team? No but we have true promise. Any news on Shipley??

by pilks1075 on Sep 18, 2011 7:43 PM EDT reply actions

Earlier in the 4th with Ro's drop.

Would have liked to see more B Scott and Gresham involvement

by pilks1075 on Sep 18, 2011 7:45 PM EDT reply actions

Donte Whitner in OT today

first play Dallas has it he bites and leaves a guy uncovered for 77 yards

by occams_tiger_teeth on Sep 18, 2011 7:46 PM EDT reply actions

A shame

That I feel more comfortable with rookies than I did all year last year. I know the game was a loss, but at least there were no temper tantrums on the field and our QB looked like he was trying to win the game.

by StillmissinOdell on Sep 18, 2011 7:47 PM EDT reply actions

GeoffHobsonCin Geoff Hobson
Shipley injury looks bad. Knee in brace on crutches
1 minute ago

by Cry on Sep 18, 2011 7:50 PM EDT reply actions

that sounds terrible

by occams_tiger_teeth on Sep 18, 2011 7:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Was afraid of that...

He didn’t look like he felt very good after he got hit.

by Luke on Sep 18, 2011 7:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Broncos fan here...

Just come by to say you guys have a hellva quarterback in Andy Dalton. he will make you happy in the future…And, yes we were very fortunate to pull that game off. Good luck in the future and kick the dog crap out Big Duffusberger…

by bfree2bronc on Sep 18, 2011 7:51 PM EDT reply actions

A PI against Gresham lucky

Just sayin.

Good game

by Oregonbengalsfan on Sep 18, 2011 7:52 PM EDT up reply actions

Great Game to Ya Broncos Fan too

by Touhue Cha on Sep 19, 2011 1:54 PM EDT up reply actions

My thoughts

The good: Dalton and Green, obviously. Simpson as well. MJ causing the fumble, and the defense improving as the game went on.

The bad: we should’ve beaten a team with this many key injuries, Mile High Jinx or not. And what happened to the run game and run D?

The weird: some of the offensive play-calling, trying the fourth-and-one instead of a FG. And why was Gresham getting ignored? Why no passes to Scott?

by Big Sky Bengal on Sep 18, 2011 7:53 PM EDT reply actions

they have to replace Crocker!

by occams_tiger_teeth on Sep 18, 2011 7:55 PM EDT up reply actions

"And what happened to the run game"

Joe Mays.

Managing Editor at CincyJungle.com -- SB Nation Cincinnati Bengals blog.

by Josh Kirkendall on Sep 18, 2011 8:17 PM EDT up reply actions

"Why no passes to Scott?"

Scott is arguably your worst pass blocker in the backfield. If the team is going to pass throughout most of the second half, you don’t want a bad pass blocker back there and therefore he probably isn’t in the game in the first place.

Managing Editor at CincyJungle.com -- SB Nation Cincinnati Bengals blog.

by Josh Kirkendall on Sep 18, 2011 8:19 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Peerman!!!!!!

Im certain he coulsnt do any worse than Benson.

by ddbumpus on Sep 19, 2011 12:37 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Short yardage and D

I really like Boling, but the Bengals’ best short yardage play is to the right behind Bobbie and Andre. Boling is young and doesn’t plow the lane like Bobbie. I think we’ll see an improvement when he returns.

I would like to see Leonard more involved. He is a strong runner, a good blocker and a great receiver out of the backfield. He could open things up a lot and slow down the opposing teams pass rush.

What the heck happened to the tackling? Maualuga? Crocker? (Who I believe may end up replaced by Mays, if Mays can ever get healthy)

I think the league is keen to the fact that the Bengals’ pass rush is good. As a result I believe we’ll continue to see short passes in an attempt to neutralize the rush. ESPECIALLY, if the secondary is playing soft. Would just like to see the rush result in more sacks. They are running around in the backfield, now put the QB on the ground.

In the end we saw a strong running team last week and against Denver the team showed what it can do in the passing game. Put the two together and this team could be dangerous offensively.

by WOOD98 on Sep 19, 2011 2:15 AM EDT reply actions