First and foremost, I hope Trent Green bounces back quickly. On the play, Green rolled out right trying to escape pressure in the pocket. As he was sliding down, giving himself up, Robert Geathers popped the quarterback. At first I thought the Bengals got away with a non-called personal foul. But the speculation from both the CBS booth and the Bengals radio guys is that Eddie Kennison was innocently trying to block Geathers (he was in mid-flight directly behind Geathers). At the moment Green went down for the slide, Geathers was already falling down. The collision forced the back of Green's head to slam into the ground knocking him out cold.
I understand the anger Chiefs' fans may have. As I've said a few times, I think it was a bad deal because of circumstance. I liken it to Carson Palmer's injury last season where Kimo fell into his knee snapping the ACL and MCL. No one believed it was on purpose or malicious against Palmer like I don't believe Geathers was on purpose or malicious on Green.
Should the penalty have been called? Perhaps. I've seen players blocked into a sliding quarterback before get called. Do I think Geathers should be blamed? Absolutely not. But I would understand the Chief fans frustration in the whole thing.
MORE GAME IMPRESSIONS
- It must be a contract year for Justin Smith who had three sacks, a forced fumble and recovery (more below).
- The victor for best running back between Larry and Rudi Johnson goes to #32. Rudi, four yards shy of 100, scored on a 22-yard run. The touchdown put the Bengals up 10-3 and Cincinnati never looked back. Larry, while gaining a lot of total yards, really didn't factor in on this game until Cincinnati went into prevent. In the second quarter, L.J. only had one carry.
- It's nice to have Madieu Williams back, isn't it? Williams had a couple of special teams' tackles, a few broken up passes, an interception, and beautiful tackles on Larry Johnson. Sadly, the interception was followed up with a three-and-out by the Bengals offense.
- The Bengals defense scored seven sacks -- three by Smith, two by Robert Geathers and one by John Thornton and Domata Peko each.
- The Bengals special teams was awesome. Shayne Graham, the best FG kicker in the NFL, was perfect (three for three). Graham also had three kickoffs that went into the end-zone -- two for touchback.
- Tab Perry had a nice day. Along with his 48-yard kickoff return yards, Perry had two receptions for 44 yards; that's 92 total yards.
- Two things that stood out I thought should be criticized. The Bengals only converted 4 of 13 third downs (missing T.J.) and lost the time of possession battle (28:03 to 31:57). The longest drive by the offense lasted 5:03. Only one other drive lasted longer than 3:34. I understand the no-huddle offense has almost everything to do with it, but the offense didn't do much in the second half -- including milking the clock.
- Where was #15? Palmer threw three times to Chris Henry and completed only one for -5 yards. T.J. was sorely missed. Chad touched the ball only one time in the second half; a six-yard end-around.
- Levi Jones had one of his worst games I can remember. I wonder if the sprained ankle he suffered against Washington isn't truly healed. The guy he blocked on pass protection had a couple of hits on Palmer, including a sack. On the sack, Jones was late to react to Allen; Jones was either looking at a blitzing linebacker, or just reacted slow to the snap.
- Where was #99? While David Pollack did make his way on the field, he was a non-factor all game.
- The Bengals offense had four three-and-out possessions. I'd like to see the offense do a better job consuming clock down the stretch of a game.
I have two "game over" moments. The first was Kenny Watson's eight-yard touchdown. On first-and-goal from the Chiefs' eight-yard line and 1:11 left in the first half, everyone thought pass. The Bengals offense set up in shotgun and Palmer pitched left to Watson for the touchdown putting the Bengals up 17-3.
My second "game over" moment was the injury to Trent Green. When he unfortunately went down, it took the air out of the stadium and the team.
YOU'RE A DOPE
My "You're a Dope" award goes to Sammy Parker who single-handedly destroyed a Chiefs' drive. It's awfully difficult for a player to get called for offensive pass interference. It's like traveling in the NBA -- the rule is there and all but hasn't been called since the Clinton administration.
Parker committed pass interference that set up a second-and-fourteen. After the legendary Kyle Turley committed a false start, Green passes on 2nd-and-19 to Parker who lets the ball go through his hands into the mitt of Madieu Williams.
On the first play of the next Chiefs' possession, Parker was called for ANOTHER offensive pass interference. It's nearly impossible to be called for one offensive inference, but two? The second one didn't hurt the Chiefs nearly as much. But still, two?
GAME BALL
My offensive game ball goes Rudi Johnson. Last season Cincinnati went 9-0 when Rudi carried the ball 20 times or more. He carried the ball 28 times for 96 yards and a touchdown that put the Bengals up for good early in the game.
My defensive game ball goes to Justin Smith. Smith had three sacks that ended three Kansas City possessions; his first forced a Kansas City punt; his second forced a fumble that he recovered; his third was on fourth down that ended the Chiefs second to last possession.