Revisiting 5 keys to Bengals' victory over Chiefs

The Bengals defeated the Kansas City Chiefs at home by a final score of 36-21. The game could have been much closer if the Chiefs could have found a way to put the ball in the end zone. Instead, they settled for seven field goals, the most field goals the Bengals have ever had committed against them.

1) Pressure Alex Smith

If you look at the stat line, Alex Smith seemed to have a pretty good day. After all, he threw for almost 400 yards with no interceptions. What he failed to do was put the ball into the end zone and also came up empty on some critical third down plays in the game. Much of this was because of the pressure the defensive line put up.

The Bengals finished the day with 5 sacks, there were also many pressures of the quarterback that didn't allow for the wide receivers to finish their routes before Smith had to get rid of the ball. Domata Peko had a huge game and owned two sacks himself.

2) Stop the pass rush

Andy Dalton was not sacked. Some of this was because of the blocking he was given from the offensive line, tight ends and running backs. Dalton also had a great day of recognizing the pressure. One of the biggest plays of the day was when Dalton was rolling out of the pocket and hit Brandon Tate for a long touchdown.

Another huge play was when Dalton was able to avoid the sack and loss of yards by flipping the ball short of the running back. This is maturity that seems to be new with Dalton this season and he is staying very confident and relaxed in the pocket.

3) Throw away from Sean Smith

It didn't appear that the Bengals shied away from any particular player on the Chiefs. I noted several times during the game when Dalton was scanning the field on his passes and if a player was open, he would find them. This was the case on the throws to both Brandon Tate (which resulted in a touchdown) and Rex Burkhead's 27-yard reception.

4) Get off the field

This was the most frustrating part of the game on Sunday. It seemed the Bengals allowed the Chiefs just enough cushion on third down for them to convert. The Chiefs entered the game with the worst third down conversion rate in the NFL and enjoyed a 43 percent conversion rate against the Bengals. Had the defense done a better job of getting off the field on third down, this game would have been ugly.

5) Tackle

I'll start by saying the defense did tackle fairly well. However, a bigger problem is beginning to emerge for this defense. The short game for opposing offenses is wide open. This can lead to 3 yard passes stretching for 30 yard gains.

The tackling was sound, the position of the linebackers was not. This is something the Bengals will want to fix.

Here were some of your thoughts from the comments on the site:

Dalton needs to keep making good decisions and distributing the ball..........

This keeps our drives going and our defense rested. Win the turnover battle here and we win the game, might not be pretty…….but who cares if we win. - The Van Buren Boys

Dalton is a QB in the Process of finded out who He is?

How does he stand against others - Chili Dog

We need to recognise blitzes

And have the hot receiver ready to make the plays. KC rushes there outside guys wide and deep and we should be able to run against that - bengalsfan339