Peter King ranks the Bengals 15th in his "Fine Fifteen" writing, "I'm not a Bengal buyer." Oh, c'mon Peter. We put on the best games each week. What do you want? Blow out victories? That's not our predatory instincts work. We like to sucker you in before going in for the kill. That's the Bengal tiger way. How do you not buy into this? I guess he makes that apparent when no Bengals makes out his first quarter NFL awards. We'll win every award at the end of the season. That's just how we roll.
Pete Prisco recognizes our predatory instinct, saying the Bengals have "played close in every one of their games, and now get a chance to show they are for real when they go to Baltimore to play the Ravens. Carson Palmer has played big with the game on the line this season." He ranked us 11th while Pro Football Talk jumps us as high as eighth.
The Bengals were one of two teams that won on the road last weekend. The other was the New York Giants.
The Bengals may have shutdown Braylon Edwards and Greg Jennings this year, it's the rookies that are beating up our secondary, writes Joe Reedy.
...or the second straight week a rookie wrecked havoc on the secondary. While Pittsburgh’s Mike Wallace, a third-round pick, did the honors last week, it was Cleveland’s Mohamed Massaquoi who did it this time with 148 yards on eight receptions.
Rich Gannon didn't like it when the Bengals called timeout with seven seconds left in overtime to attempt a 31-yard field goal attempt. He didn't like it because it gave Joshua Cribbs a shot to return a kickoff. In overtime. Sudden Death. Honest mistake.
Clark Judge writes:
Gutsy, gutsy, gutsy. In a season where too many coaches play not to lose, Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis stands out for taking a chance -- and I mean spitting in the face of everything we're told about conventional coaching. Believe me, with fourth-and-11 at the Cleveland 41 and a minute left in OT, there are plenty of guys who would've punted and settled for the tie. Not Marvin. Maybe it's because he tied Philadelphia last season, or maybe it's because he just ran out of patience. All I know is that he and the Bengals are tied for first in the AFC North, with a win next week putting them alone at the top.
Lewis actually was going to punt it, if not for Carson Palmer and Andrew Whitworth. But Lewis saw the football decision most of all (so he claims).
Q: How did you weigh the differences between punting, or going for it on fourth down in overtime?
ML: "I thought either way, we’d get the ball back. The only way we wouldn’t get the ball back would have been if we gave them the ball right there, if we didn’t convert it. I thought if we punted the ball, we’d get an opportunity to get the ball back by pinning them down there. They had no timeouts left, and we had two. If they threw one incompletion, we were guaranteed to get the ball back with a considerable amount of time. Had they not had an incompletion, we would have had the ball with some time left on the clock. Either way, there was an opportunity to get the ball back."
Who Dey Fans are like us. Yes, the Bengals have struggled a lot. Yes, they've look beatable. However, they are 3-1. Nate agrees.
The Cincinnati Bengals are 11th in ESPN's Power Rankings. If ESPN says so, it must be true.
James Walker says that the Bengals special team's stock is dropping. I have to concur. Walker is also surprised the deep pass hasn't returned yet.
The Ravens could be without offensive lineman Jared Gaither this week.