There are times that Paul Daugherty frustrates me. Well, not frustrates. That would make it sound like I take sports to a level of seriousness that obsessionism can't excuse. But there are times that I also nod in agreement. One such time is yesterday's TML in which Daugherty reacts to the level of cynicism that Bengals fans have shown even after beating the Baltimore Ravens.
Reading and listening to comments after the 15-10 W, you’d have thought The Men had lost. Never underestimate our town’s ability to look on the dark side. Basically, it went like this: We won, but Palmer sucks.
A win is a win. It comes with no style points, at least not around here. I’m all in with the spin. You beat the Ravens by keeping their defense calm. No turnovers, no big plays. If that means looking like a Caretaker QB, that’s what it means. The win looked like a lot of the wins last year. Sort of basic and a little dull. Palmer did not exploit the one big edge the Bengals had: The mediocrity of B-more’s back four. Same as last week.
+ The SB Nation Power Rankings are out. Cincinnati jumped two spots back to 16 while Baltimore lost six positions, finding themselves ranked eighth. The Steelers are the highest ranked AFC North team having beaten (barely) the Titans and the Falcons.
+ Joe Reedy released his report card from the Bengals 15-10 over the Ravens. No offensive unit received a grade higher than a C+ and the defense all graded out between A- and a B-.
+ Since Jonathan Fanene is down with a hamstring injury, Michael Johnson worked most of his snaps as a defensive end against the Ravens.
+ As we posted earlier this morning, the Bengals have won six of 13 games against rookie quarterbacks during the Marvin Lewis era. The six wins came against Kyle Boller, Eli Manning, Kyle Orton, Charlie Frye, Brock Berlin and Matthew Stafford.
+ Carson Palmer sat down with Matt Ryan, Matt Schaub, Trent Edwards and Josh Freeman to answer a few questions from Pete Prisco.
+ Clark Judge writes that in his "last three games against the Bengals, Flacco looks more like Joe Schmo, with two touchdown passes and eight interceptions ... and, oh, yeah, three losses."