A FEW MO' THINGS, 11/12/12 EDITION
Throw the ball to this guy, and good things tend to happen....

What the hell was that, where did it come from, and can we get more?

Most Bengals games usually raise some questions, usually about why we continue to invest so much time, emotion, and in many cases dollars, into this franchise. Sometimes we ask why Marvin threw a challenge flag, or what the coaches were drinking when they should've been game-planning and scouting.  Other times we ask why certain players do things that make us want to inject household cleaning products into our veins.

Not today.  What the hell was that, where did it come from, and can we get more?

The Bengals played their best game in years yesterday, finally beating an elite-level team, and doing so in such convincing fashion that it was hard to tell which team was defending a championship. 

While the Bengals did great things all afternoon, this game was won in its first ten minutes. 

By the 5:34 mark of the first quarter, the Bengals had already thrown the ball toward AJ Green five times, including once for his tone-setting 56-yard touchdown.  For all the talk of the other wide receivers, and for as frustrating as the lack of running game has been, this offense begins and ends with the Dalton-to-Green connection.  Establish it, make the most of it, and everything else will fall into place. 

Everything fell into place yesterday.

Just as important though was what the defense did.  Their first three-and-out might not have felt big at the moment, but gave the Bengals a chance to quickly build on both their momentum and their lead.  And after the Tate fumble, the kind of play that usually turns games in the other direction for this team, the Bengals' defense held the Giants just that field goal.

And don't forget Adam Jones' punt return.  Twice this season, PacMan has made a big special teams play early on in eventual Bengals wins.  There are few players in the league as explosive or as fun to watch as Adam when he has the ball in his hands, and when he's made plays, the team usually responds.

The first ten minutes or so didn't just set the tone, they decided the game.

That's not to say there wasn't more. Yesterday's win had contributions from all over...the four second half turnovers by the defense, the way they used both Sanu and Peerman, the fact that Dalton finally found Gresham where he's at his best - in the red zone, a consistent pass rush, great pass protection (Dalton hit just one time), and a quarterback who looked the part, with Andy sliding out of trouble, going through progressions, and most important, finding that synergy with the team's best player.

They weren't perfect, but they were close.

What does it mean?  I really have no idea.  Had this performance come a few weeks ago, we'd be giddy.  Now, we're left clinging to the notion that the next few games at least have some meaning.  A loss yesterday would have pretty much extinguished whatever flicker of hope was left for this season.  A win doesn't exactly propel them back into the middle of the AFC playoff race, but they've at least given themselves a chance to jump back into it. They need some help - they're a game and a half out of the final playoff spot behind Pittsburgh, who'll probably win tonight - and they'd lose tiebreakers to Miami, and right now at least San Diego. More important than any of that, they need to find a way to bottle the way they played yesterday and take it with them to Kansas City next week, then go on a roll after hopefully getting back to .500.

I'm not sure they can do that.

But I'll give them credit for this: Last week Bengals players and coaches talked at length about the positives they took from how they played against Denver.  And I made fun of them for it. But at least they built upon whatever gains they made in a loss and applied them to getting a much-needed, potentially season-saving win.

I'm still not sure what the hell that was yesterday.  I don't know specifically where it came from.  But I do know that I'd like some more.

-Maybe it's me.  I've now missed five home games since 2001.  They've won them all.

Yesterday - Bengals stun the Giants as I call poorly handle play-by-play duties for UC basketball.

12/27/09 - Bengals beat the Chiefs as I watch the game from New Orleans while nursing a massive hangover.  Good guys clinch the division

9/27/09 - Bengals come from behind the beat the Steelers.  I watch the game at the station, preparing to host the postgame show.

12/26/04 - Bengals beat the Giants.  I watch the game in New York, with UC's appearance in the Fort Worth Bowl earlier that week screwing up my previous plans.  Giants fans get mad at me as I taunt them.  I was a jerk when I was 27.

12/30/01 - Bengals beat the Steelers in OT, in a game I remember for Neal Rackers missing an extra point more than anything.  I watched this from Cleveland after seeing the Bearcats play in the Rock And Roll Shootout, an event that needs to come back, the night before.

No TV meant no DVR, so I watched my first condensed game on NFL Rewind on NFL.com.  Watching a three-hour game when you already know the result, especially in the middle of the night, has to be painful.  Watching a game in 32 minutes, especially when the good guys play so well, is kinda fun.

-Other Perspectives.....

From George Willis of The New York Post....
Tom Coughlin had surveyed all the stats and then the weather, deciding that if the Giants won the opening toss, they would defer and elect to kick off to the Bengals to start the game. His decision seemed logical, but it would have devastating results, providing the impetus for one of the worst performances by a football team under his watch.

“I really wanted the ball in the second half,” Coughlin said after the Bengals crushed the Giants 31-13 yesterday at Paul Brown Stadium. “There’s quite a differential between the number of points we had scored in the second half (128) and the number of points they had scored in the second half (84). I also wanted the wind.”

By the time the second half began — with the Giants going three-and-out — the game was essentially over. The Bengals held a 17-6 lead and more confidence and momentum than a team that had lost four straight games could have ever imagined.

From Mark Hale of The New York Post....
A.J. Green didn’t need to duck yesterday. He also opted not to take any further shots at the Giants’ defense.

Green, the Bengals’ second-year wide receiver, said on WFAN last week the Giants have “a lot of holes in their defense.” It prompted Antrel Rolle to respond later that day: “I’ll talk with my pads come Sunday. ... If he sees me, he better duck.”

Yesterday, though, Green destroyed the Giants, catching seven passes for 85 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown just 2:26 into the Bengals’ 31-13 victory over the Giants. After the game, Green was respectful and insisted his comment was misinterpreted, while Rolle said everything was fine.

From Gary Myers of The New York Daily News....
The Giants were disgracefully bad in losing, 31-13, to the Bengals, a team that had lost four in a row. “I told the team we got into this mess together and we’re going to have to find a way to get out of it,” Tom Coughlin said.

Last year, the Giants lost four in a row after starting 6-2 before winning three of their last four, got hot in the playoffs and won the Super Bowl. But the four losses came against the 49ers, Eagles, Saints and Packers. All but the Eagles made the playoffs and regardless of record, Philly always plays the Giants tough. That’s a treacherous path the Giants took to get to the Super Bowl and not one they can count on again.

The loss last week to the Steelers was forgivable considering many of the Giants players were suffering along with so many others in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. And it was Pittsburgh, a very good team. But losing by 18 to the Bengals means Coughlin won’t be getting any time off during the bye week. Last week, Coughlin was angry the Giants let down fans looking for a break from the issues of the hurricane. This time, he seemed stunned.

From Clark Judge of CBSSports.com....
Yep, it was Cincinnati's A.J. Green who said, "I feel like [the Giants] have got a lot of holes in their defense" ... and that was before the game. People scoffed, but not anymore. I'm consulting him for stock tips.

From Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com....
Defenses can't keep A.J. Green out of the end zone. This time, the Giants made it easy on Green. Going uncovered (cornerback Corey Webster thought he had safety help deep), Green just had to wait for Dalton's pass to score a 56-yard touchdown. It's his eighth straight game with a touchdown catch. Only two players (Randy Moss and Antonio Gates) have had longer streaks over the past 10 seasons.

I'd keep going, but the only them NFL writers and bloggers seem to be harping on is that of the Giants continuing to suck during the month of November.

-It is absolutely silly to have a professional sporting event end in a tie.  That is all.

-On Friday I went to Philadelphia and crammed two cheesesteaks into my face and inched closer to my inevitable heart attack.  They were good.  On Saturday, 982 other people and I watched UC beat Temple.  That was better.

Here's a photo of Lincoln Financial Field I took minutes before kickoff....

I think it's a reach to automatically assume that the Bearcats would have beaten both Toledo and Louisville if Brendon Kay had played quarterback in those games, but it's only natural to wonder what would have happened had Kay been the guy all along.  And while Brendon wasn't spectacular, his play on Saturday makes you wonder what the coaches weren't seeing during the competition for the starting gig during training camp.

Cincinnati played one of their best two games of the season, and while beating Temple is nothing to do cartwheels over, the fact that they played so well and stayed so focused in such a dead stadium, does say something good about this team.

(There are high school teams that have more business playing in an NFL stadium than Temple University)

The offense is and should be about maximizing George Winn's productivity.  If he goes, this offense can go.  But there were certain things that Brendon Kay brought to the offense that had been missing nearly all season.  The deep ball returned, Kay's throws downfield were beautifully placed.  There were no picks, and you never really felt like Kay's decision-making, for someone with so little playing experience, was going to cost the Bearcats.  He was decisive.  When he took off to run, he did so with no hesitation.  And most important, the offense looked as stable as it has all season.

They're back in the hunt, and with Louisville dropping a turd in Syracuse, this Saturday's game against Rutgers is now huge, and will go a long way toward determining the Big East champion.  I don't know if UC would have beaten Toledo and Louisville if Brendon Kay had been at QB, but I do know that I feel a lot better about their chances the rest of the way with him at QB.

-You can't beat the Jacksonville Jaguars if you can't be the Texas A&M Aggies first, now can you?

-It was Tennessee-Martin, which is a dreadful basketball team.  And UC's first game was far from perfect - the had 19 turnovers, shot 55% from the free throw line, and the backups in the backcourt allowed some slippage in the second half.  But two things stood out yesterday....

1) The defensive pressure.  If the Bearcat guards play as tightly as they did yesterday - which will be much more difficult against better teams - they'll force even more steals than a year ago and they'll be able to push the ball the way they want to.  They completely took UTM out of their offense.

2)  Titus Ruble. The guy just looks the part, he's got a great ball fake, moves well without the ball, runs the floor, is a willing passer, and he played harder yesterday than anyone else on the floor.  He's the kind of guy UC hasn't had in years.  This looks like the kind of team UC hasn't had in years.

-I love the idea of using sports to both honor and entertain members of our military.  We can't do enough for those men and women.  But playing basketball games outdoors on aircraft carriers doesn't work. 

-More later, including #MoHawkMonday.  The Knicks are 4-0, by the way.  Hit play, turn up, and walk away....