GAME: Bengals vs. Falcons
WHEN: Sunday, 1:00 p.m.
BROADCAST: FOX. Broadcasters are Dick Stockton, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver.
SBNation: The Falcoholic
PERSONNEL: Ahmad Brooks is starting at middle linebacker and Brian Simmons back to strong-side. Chris Henry is back. Reggie McNeal will be the third quarterback and Glenn Holt and Ethan Kilmer will round up the wide receivers position.
4:04: Game over. Palmer rolled out left, with a three man rush, and Palmer lost the ball on the hit. Horrible. Bengals lose 29-27. I need to take a shower.
4:02: 11 seconds clicked off the clock after Ratliff played dancer on the punt return.
4:01: Falcons are getting ready to punt with :30 left in the game.
3:57: After Dunn was stuffed, the clock will go down to the two minute warning. We need a turnover.
3:56: Play action roll out left completing a 22-yard pass to Crumpler... first down.
3:55: OK. Dunn runs for one yard and the Bengals call their final timeout. Then the Falcons set up and call their final timeout. All that's left is two downs and nine yards and a two minute warning.
3:42: Lap says the Bengals should on-side the kick. Two minutes later he said the Bengals MUST kick it deep. I love Lap.
3:52: First play, Palmer drops back and throws to Chris Henry very deep who had space on the guy covering him. 55-yard pass. OK, the Bengals down 29-27. Holy CRAP. This is totally a Madden-like play. Awesome. OK, on-sides?
3:50: BENGALS TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3:48: Atlanta obviously wanting to milk the clock, run Norwood twice for six yards. Then in shotgun, Peko and Justin Smith sacked Vick forcing the Falcons to punt -- who just called a timeout with 4:02 left in the game. They still have yet to punt the ball.
3:42: After Chad Johnson converted a 20 yard pass for first down on third and nine, the Bengals go 2-yard pass to Henry, incomplete and then sack. Punt. With 5:30 left in the game and the Bengals inability to stop the Falcons offense, I think this game is close to being over.
3:31: OK, Bengals finally stopped the Falcons from converting a third down (3rd-and-19). But they called a run so I suppose the Bengals defense stopped them -- even after a 10-yard hold. The Falcons kicked a field goal putting the deficit at 9... 29-20.
3:27: Atlanta had 3-5. Vick throws a 13 yard pass to White. First down. Falcons are 7-10 on third down.
3:26: On third and 16, the Bengals offer no pass rush as Vick scrambles around. Vick motions to receivers to alternate routes and finds White for a 21 yard pass. Nice. Atlanta is 6 for 9 on third downs. We can't stop the Falcons offense.
3:20: Bengals go three and out. Punt. First off, the Bengals called an end around that lost seven yards (T.J.). Then Carson Palmer was called for a false start -- forgot the snap count? On second and 22, Palmer dropped back and completed a 15 yard to Chad -- ran deep then out and dragged feet in bounds. Then as per Bob Bratkowski, he calls a horrible play in the worst situation. On third and seven, Brat calls a WR screen pass to Henry that gained two stinking yards. Horrible call. Let's not even go into the fact that Henry hasn't had much PT in the past month. Note to Bob, if you have seven yards to go on third, then call a play that goes somewhere around the first down marker. Just a thought.
3:14: Atlanta, by benefit of a generous call from the ref, scored a touchdown. Ahmad Brooks was called for roughing the passer, driving the quarterback into the ground. Another horrible ref call. These guys are terrible. Brooks hit Vick right after throwing and tackled him. Driving into the ground only applied here via gravity. Just horrible. The call came after a 22-yard pass to Crumpler. Anyway, after the touchdown, the Falcons missed the extra point on a botched hold. Falcons leading 26-20 and the Bengals just called a time out on kickoff return because they had 10 men on the field. Need aspirin.
3:07: Nice job Shayne. Kick a field goal to tie the game then kick the ball out of bounds at the 4 giving Atlanta the ball at the 40. Why push Atlanta back? The Bengals can't stop the Falcons offense on third downs ANYWAY so this will just give the defense less time on the field and the offense the ball back. OK, that sounded a bit bitter. Sorry.
3:05: Bengals score a field goal and tie the game at 20. On the drive, Kerney was called for roughing the passer. Nice. Any way, I think Bob remember that Rudi was on the team calling his number five times. Reggie Kelly made a nice third down reception continuing the drive early -- empty backfield, Kelly was the third receiver, inside. He just ran to the first down marker and turned around. The drive went 10 plays for 62 yards.
2:58: KK is out for the game. He tried to make a play on a deep incomplete pass. He dove trying to pick off the pass and came up limping. He's having an MRI scan now.
2:52: The Bengals defense SUCKS on third down. On third and nine, Vick drops back and again, scrambles around causing defenders to come up. Michael Jenkins saw this and just ran straight towards the end zone. Vick, with nice touch, floated the ball into Jenkins who scored. Tory James... what can you say? Is it his fault that he was behind and late on the play? Or is this just a play created by the threat of Vick? Either way, if this Bengals defense can't stop third down attempts being converted, we will lose. Bengals losing 20-17
2:48: I won't be too critical because it IS Michael Vick. But Landon Johnson has missed entirely too many tackles.
2:45: Well, the Bengals went three and out. Nice. Palmer, play action to Chad, on first down. Chad beat Hall deep but Palmer over-threw. Then on second, Rudi ran up the middle losing a yard. After Eric G. false started (I though it was Bobbie Williams if that matters), Palmer threw a deep pass to Chad who ran a deep in route. He had position and was open but Palmer threw it poorly. On this play, a Falcons defender hit Palmer low that prompted Troy Aikman that it should have been called for hitting the QB low without being blocked into. Another bad call by the refs?. And suddenly the Bengals offensive line is doing a horrible job protecting Palmer. He's getting blown up nearly every play. How about running a little bit Bob so they don't tee off our quarterback.
2:39: The last time Rudi Johnson carried the ball was the final play of the first quarter. He was absent in the second. We've started the second half.
2:34: Here's a quick note for ya. If you're are using FireFox 2.0 (like me) with NFL.com's Gameday (like me), then the pages aren't refreshing regularly. Odd.
2:30: Numbers at the half:
Palmer, 13/21, 131 yards, touchdown.
Vick, 12/18, 158 yards, touchdown.
Rudi, 6 rushes for 34 yards. Sadly, the Bengals offensive coordinator only rushed Rudi one time since the first drive.
T.J., five catches for 68 yards.
Chad, 2 catches, 19 yards and a touchdown.
Falcons rushed for 75 yards.
Bengals will get the ball back at the start of the second half.
2:27: Falcons ran two plays within 10 seconds -- a dump off to Dunn and a hail mary that was knocked down by Brian Simmons. Game is at half-time
2:24: OK, Bengals had less than two minutes. They still ran a 11 play drive for 48 yards. A lot happened (will recap later this evening). Chris Henry had two passes go his way -- he ran the wrong route once and failed to go after another pass that could have led to a big interception. Bad effort. Shayne Graham kicked a nice 51-yard field goal. Automatic. Bengals lead 17-13.
2:13: On the first play inside the two minute warning, Vick drops back and passed to Alge Crumpler who had Dexter Jackson AND Kevin K. covering. KK did his best Ohalete impression and Crumpler scored the touchdown. Bengals still leading 14-13.
2:10: Meet Jerious Norwood. On this drive, Norwood has picked up 49 total yards (three receptions, two carries). The Falcons are currently threatening as we hit the two minute warning. On the 32 yard pass out of the backfield to Norwood, Landon Johnson had a shot but had a horrible angle of pursuit.
2:00: BENGALS TOUCHDOWN! Chad Johnson has a nice little "Cha-Cha" dance as Lap called it. Hell yea! What a drive. Eight plays for 80 yards. HELLO CHRIS PERRY. He carried twice for 11 yards and caught an 11 yard pass. T.J. caught a pass for 19 yards and ran for 10 on an end-around (GREAT BLOCKING BY CHAD!!!). Chad caught two passes. He caught a seven yard pass on a hook route. But the touchdown pass was awesome. It was a simple quick pass and Chad faked out Webster, BAD. Bengals leading 14-6. The offense just did what they wanted on the Falcons defense. Chris Perry made his presence known and T.J. did what T.J. did.
1:51: Nice job by the Bengals defense... no, GREAT job by the Bengals defense. First off, Geathers (read below). But the Falcons picked up the first. Then, after an incomplete, Dunn runs and cuts back to the left stopped by our badass safeties. Both of them. Jackson fired up. Then on third down, Vick steps back to pass and then gets happy feet. As he rolls and runs around like a headless chicken, he fumbles the ball. A Bengals defender picked it up but lost the ball. Atlanta picked up the fumble. Bengals have the ball.
1:47: GEATHERS! Naked boot leg to the right and Geathers knocked him down. Nice, Falcons lost a yard -- at least. Geathers speed impresses the hell out of me.
1:42: After Palmer overthrew Chad, the Falcons defense was called for off-sides setting up 2nd and 5. Rudi ran to the right, stiff armed a defender but was dropped by Brooking. On third and three, Palmer dropped back and threw to T.J. On the pass, Brooking was on T.J's back, clearly hitting him early, causing an incomplete. No call. Refs are terrible today... Bengals punt. Falcons have the ball.
1:39: End of the first Q. Palmer is 5/7 for 37 yards. Chris Henry picked up 15 yards on this drive. He found a gap in the coverage and picked up another five yards or so. Also, Palmer overthrew Chad that was nearly picked up off by Webster -- just went through his hands.
1:35: The Bengals defense, as true to this season, allow a ton of yards, but prevent the opposing offense from scoring touchdowns. The Falcons ran an 11-play drive for 55 yards eventually failing right before entering the red zone. About the time the drive stalled, on first down, Peko dropped Dunn for only a one yard gain. Peko was man on man with his blocker, shed his blocker and dumped Dunn. Then on second down, Shaun Smith caused Dunn to redirect into a tacklers picking up only two yards. Then on third down, Vick went deep to White who fell down. No penalty. Also on the drive, Jenkins picked up 18 yards but it was called wrong. Jenkins' first foot fell out of bounds. Another reason the NFL needs to adapt the college replay system. Bengals leading 7-6.
1:22: More to the point, the Bengals offensive line is dominating. On none of Palmer's pass attempts was he pressured. The line is opening up huge holes for our boy Rudi.
1:21: Guess what. The Bengals just DOMINATED the Falcons defense. Rudi Johnson ran five times for 32 yards and scored the game's first touchdown. Palmer went 4/5 for 22 yards. The Bengals picked up five first downs on the opening drive -- two by way of Falcons penalties. Nice start. Bengals lead 7-3 after the ten play, 74 yard drive.
1:16: Palmer passes to Rudi for five yards. Whitworth BURIED Karney.
1:14: Hah. Palmer connects with Rudi after Palmer had a million years to pass (no pressure). Then Rudi runs for over 10 yards. Note: Bengals offensive line is dominating early.
1:10: Chris Perry on kickoff return? Nice.
1:09: After an incomplete, Dunn ran for seven yards outside to the right. On third down and three, Vick dropped back and didn't find anyone at first. The Bengals defensive front got to Vick while still in the pocket -- Vick threw it away. NO GROUNDING???. Falcons kick the field goal and lead 3-0.
1:06: Vick had a naked boot leg to the right and picked up 14 yards. Didn't look like anyone on defense was shadowing him.
1:03: Atlanta has the ball. Bengals wearing all black today.
1:02: Nevermind. He changed it back.
1:00: Chad, seriously, has "Ocho Cinco" on the back of his uniform. Wow.
12:20: On the Atlanta front, P.J. Alexander will start at right guard for Kynan Forney. Chauncey Davis will start at Left End for Patrick Kerney who's starting for the injured John Abraham.
11:50: I'm going to do things different this week. I'm going to post the game log (i.e. blogging the game) here on the main post and then push it to the "read more" link after the game. As always, the Gameday post is where we banter and complain about the best team in the NFL. Who-Dey.