A FEW MO' THINGS, 12/3/12

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

-Previous Bengals teams lose that game.

Previous Bengals teams give the ball away three times and lose.

Previous Bengals teams conclude seven straight drives with, in order, an interception, a field goal, a punt, an interception, a fumble, a punt, and another punt, and get beaten.

Previous Bengals teams would've played poorly for significant stretches and paid the price.  Previous Bengals teams would've been given yet another fourth down gift and given it right back. Previous Bengals teams would've given up the touchdown at the end of the half.  Previous Bengals teams would've still been looking for the go-ahead score that didn't come.  And previous Bengals teams wouldn't have forced critical turnovers in season-defining moments.

Previous Bengals teams didn't win when they weren't at their best.

The Bengals didn't play well offensively yesterday.  There were the three turnovers, there were several drives that never even got going, and they rarely connected for big plays in the air.

And from the 7:30 mark of the first quarter to the 7:42 of the fourth, the Bengals scored a whopping three points.

And they still won the damn game.

They're different.  And while the sheer ineptitude of the Chargers (best sign anyone has taken to an NFL game this season seen at the game yesterday: "I'm Norvous."), had a hand in it, this team's defense, right now, is playing than any D we've seen from any previous team.

In four games, the Bengals have given up two offensive touchdowns.  The opposition had hardly been elite, but in this day and age of video game offenses, to play sixteen quarters and give up two touchdowns is no small feat. 

Neither is turning 3-5 into 7-5.

They're 7-5 primarily because of their defense. 

Phillip Rivers and company had no chance, not against arguably the most dominant Bengals defensive line ever, not against a front that allowed almost nothing on the ground, and not against a defense that seized the moment in the final drives of each half. 

Terrence Newman and Vontaze Burfict combining to save a touchdown was the kind of play previous Bengals defenses usually gave up scores on.  In a game where points were at a premium, I can't help but wonder how the game would've changed had the Chargers gotten six.

Instead, the defense kept the game manageable and bought Andy Dalton and Benjarvus Green-Ellis time, time to string together the scoring drive of the season to date, a 14-play, 55-yard stroll down the field that featured no play longer than nine yards and that had to feel like slow death the Charger fans who've come to expect the worst in the game's biggest moments.

Those might have been season-defining moments for the Bengals.

Because of them, the Bengals finish the third quarter of the season unbeaten, and they go into the final four games armed with a defense playing unlike any that we've seen in orange and black for years.  With Pittsburgh's win in Baltimore, and with the Bengals' next two games looking very winnable (the Philly game scares me), that matchup at Heinz Field on December 23rd sets up as the most meaningful Bengals/Steelers game since the '05 playoffs. 

Previous Bengals teams would've stood no chance of winning games like one. 

As we saw yesterday, these guys aren't like previous Bengals teams.

-Butch Jones might be the next head coach at Purdue.  He might be the next head coach at Colorado.  Maybe he'll take both jobs as a testament to his ability to multitask.  And UC could very well be looking for a new head coach very soon, maybe as early as today. When we have something of substance, I'll talk about it.  We don't, and no amount of speculation is as silly as coaching speculation, so until then, I will focus on this guy....

(I'd like to credit the photographer who took this.  Any idea who did?)

We were in the UC football broadcast booth in Hartford on Saturday, and by we, I mean the UC broadcast crew.  The Bearcat/Huskies football game, which was actually a surprisingly entertaining football game, was playing out in front of us.  But our attention was divided between that, and the Cincinnati/Alabama tilt playing out on the tube.

When Cashmere capped off an otherwise bad afternoon with his game-winning J, football listeners heard four men audibly yell "YEAH."

Professionalism be damned.

If the Bearcats are as good as I hope they are, Cashmere's shot to beat Bama won't be the signature moment of the season.  Hopefully that comes much deeper in the season in a game with much higher stakes.  But Wright's bucket felt big, not just because it won a game for UC, one where the Bearcats, at least offensively, clearly were not at their best, but because UC fans needed something to feel really, really, good about.

It was a rough week to be a Bearcat fan, with the focus of many on things far beyond the basketball court or the football field.  It seems like sports to a backseat to athletics, sports being the games we love and athletics being the business of making them less fun than they should be.

Yelling "Yeah," or however UC fans reacted to the buzzer-beating shot had to feel cathartic.  It did for me.

And it didn't hurt that the shot came in front of a good crowd, one that from a distance seemed as into the game as any we've seen in a long time at Fifth Third.

The game, the win, and the shot, might not have meant that much in the grand scheme.  It won a home game in early December against an unranked team.  At the same time, for a fan base that's had better weeks, it felt like one of the most meaningful moments in recent, or even not-so-recent Bearcat sports history.

-I've watched each of UK's last two games.  I've seen Wildcat players who look very unsure of what their roles are. That's completely understandable. Having Archie Goodwin with the ball so often, is not.

-Oh yeah, back to Butch potentially leaving UC.  The idea that UC will have a hard time finding a new football coach is simply asinine.  There will be no shortage of qualified candidates interested in the gig.

And let's look beyond Kerry Coombs. I like Kerry, a lot.  But if you're in love with him one day being the head coach at UC, then you want him at Ohio State for while, deepening recruiting pipelines, learning from Urban Meyer, and working as part of a major, nationally relevant college program.

-Javon Belcher was mentally disturbed.  You have to be to commit the acts that he did.  I wonder how well it would've played in his locker room had he been forthcoming with some of the issues he was dealing with.  I get the sense, understanding the culture of pro sports teams, that he would've had an easier time coming out as a gay man than as a man with severe mental issues.

-More later.  Should be a fun week with the Bengals playing well, UC's coaching situation, the winter meetings, and hoops heating up.  We get started at 3:04 today on ESPN153 with #MoHawkMonday.  It's the most wonderful time of the year....