After watching the press conference this morning on NFL.com (http://www.nfl.com/videos/cincinnati-bengals/0ap1000000083432/Bengals-postgame-press-conference if you've not seen it) Marvin talked about having Andy play within his limits. Sure, Andy was getting pretty generous with the pigskin lately but he could still have a hot offense going when the play calling was creative. It begs the question of why wasn't the play calling more ballsy last night? Throw in a wildcat, run a reverse, run a sweep, get creative with the routes, do something to get a play. Not only was the bag of tricks tied shut and locked in a safe, but the deep plays were also in that safe.

AJ had a safety over his head all night, which means had we gone deep to maybe someone else that the passing game could have been more effective. I don't know if it was being without Binns, or if the coaches just didn't trust Andy throwing it, but deep balls didn't happen. Could an interception have happened? Yes, it could have, but at the same point in time they were not playing for a deep ball at almost any point. Baby Hawk is admittedly too short to be a reliable deep threat. He has the speed, but you can't expect him to win if you throw one up to him, and I don't think the coaches trusted Whalen enough to go beyond 10 yards. Tate just doesn't seem to fight for position enough to win a battle (see the slant route against Cleveland where Andy was picked off for 6) to be worth putting out there. Marvin Jones has talent, but we've seen a very small sample size. Finally Sanu apparently has the Dunlap problem of bad practices so Marvin automatically won't put him in until things get desperate or it is a play designed for him.

At some point, I do have to question whether or not it is the receivers or the coaches though. Simpson disappeared at number two, but light up brighter than Christmas when he played number one. Binns is there and gone, much like Simpson was last season and no one other than AJ seems to ever go deep enough to concern opposing defenses. Defenses are compressing, and Andy can only make them back off with a long one to AJ. Everyone knows it, so double AJ and if you're talented enough he'll only get one or two grabs, while everyone else isn't a threat so long as your aggressive enough. We're getting predictable and the game plan needs to open up more, or the coaches lack of trust in the other wide receivers will kill our season.