Arkansas Bengal Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 No easy explanations for Bengals' struggles Kevin Goheen FOX Sports Ohio OCT 19, 2014 7:25p ET Kirk Irwin / Getty Images North America Giovani Bernard is hit as he tries to catch a pass from Andy Dalton against the Colts. INDIANAPOLIS -- Describing 27-0 is easy. Embarrassing is one word that repeatedly kept coming up in the Bengals post-game locker room after what the Indianapolis Colts did to them at Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday afternoon. Explaining 27-0 is something altogether different. There were a lot of exasperated looks on the faces of players and coaches after the Bengals were shut out for the first time since the 2009 regular season finale, 37-0, at the New York Jets. That was a rollover game in which the Bengals had already clinched a division title and home playoff game so they rested most of their starters. No one was resting Sunday. They only played like it. "They played well and we didn't execute," said quarterback Andy Dalton. "We got beat in every part of it offensively. We were terrible on third down and so you put it all together and you get a game like we had today." The Colts outgained the Bengals 506-135, one week after the Bengals put up 513 yards in a 37-37 tie against Carolina. It's the second-lowest offensive total since Marvin Lewis became the head coach in 2003, ahead of only that 2009 Jets game when they amassed just 72 yards of offense. Beyond that, you have to go back to the Akili Smith-led Bengals of 2000 to find such futility. The Bengals were held to 94 yards by Baltimore -- whose defensive coordinator at the time was one Marvin Lewis -- in a 37-0 win on Sept. 24, 2000, in what came to be Bruce Coslet's final game as head coach. Coslet resigned the next day. Those Bengals were bad, however. They were on their way to a 0-6 start while being outscored 143-37 and being shut out three times. This offense might be without wide receivers A.J. Green and Marvin Jones and tight ends Tyler Eifert and Alex Smith but it still came into Sunday with the No. 5 ranking in the NFL. It was first in the league averaging more than seven yards on first down, while Indy was allowing 6.35 yards on average on first down. The Bengals gained eight yards on nine first down plays in the first half. They were a little better in the second half but still finished the day averaging just 3.0 yards on first down. That led to converting just one of 13 chances on third down. The Bengals went three-and-out on their first eight possessions and 10 times overall in 14 drives. Kevin Huber set a career high with 11 punts. He did average 50.7 yards on those kicks, which helped soften the field position advantage the Colts had all game. They missed on their first 11 third-down chances before Mohamed Sanu beat coverage to haul in a 32-yard pass in the fourth quarter. That snapped a streak of 20 consecutive failed third-down attempts on the road for the Bengals, dating back to the third quarter of the season opener at Baltimore. They are now 5-of-34 on third-down on the road this season. They've been outscored 86-24 in their last 10 quarters on the road. "I don't know," said Sanu. "We're just not converting. We're not making plays when we should." The defense, which has been missing in action the past two weeks, actually kept the Bengals in the game at halftime. They trailed 10-0 but it could have been worse if not for a pair of fumble recoveries and holding the Colts without of third-down conversion on six tries. The ineffectiveness of the offense and injuries to linebacker Vontaze Burfict and cornerbacks Leon Hall and Terence Newman during a game in which linebackers Rey Maualuga and Emmanuel Lamur were already unavailable to play eventually caught up to the defense. Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck threw for 344 yards and two touchdowns while the Colts ran for 171 yards. The Colts averaged 6.5 yards on 78 snaps and held the ball for nearly 40 minutes of the game clock. The Bengals had 54 offensive snaps and just eight first downs. "We have to play through everything and continue to fight no matter what the scoreboard was or the situation was," said linebacker Jayson DiManche, who made his first career start in place of Lamur. "I think we had a great week of preparation but it's unfortunate it didn't show up today on the field." In the last three weeks the Bengals have gone from being the final undefeated team in the AFC at 3-0 and playing well enough that many national observers viewed them as the best team, the most complete team, in the league to one that is now struggling to regain its sense of self. The loss at New England and this one to the Colts could have ramifications in the AFC playoff picture down the road but the way this team is playing there's no need to contemplate January. "Sometimes they have great game plans. Sometimes everything is just a bit off," said right guard Kevin Zeitler, who was playing for the first time since suffering a calf injury in the second game of the season. "That's the best way to describe it â everything was just a bit off. We never had a real chance to get going all game. The way I see it, it is what it is. As rough as it's going to sound to you guys, on to the Ravens. Learn, move on. We can't stand back and look back at these last three games. We have to move forward and figure out what we have to get figured out." http://www.foxsports.com/ohio/story/cincinnati-bengals-nfl-struggles-101914 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|SF2| Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Are those chicks above wearing Depends? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|schotzee| Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 When teams say they had a great week of preparation, what does that mean exactly?Seems rather irrelevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|schotzee| Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 Figure out what we need to get figured out? Uh , that's not exactly reassuring talk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 seems easy to me 1. defense is missing all linebackers and key line player back after bad knee injury 2. offense missing only weapon that makes them not 1 dimensional short pass only offense.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FulcherVulcher33 Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 The #1 problem is a coach who is as clueless as the 1995 movie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Bunghole| Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 It's a combination of all of the above. A perfect storm of ineptitude by all parties involved... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FulcherVulcher33 Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 It's a combination of all of the above. A perfect storm of ineptitude by all parties involved... Hit the nail on the head Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|SF2| Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 I would add that our offensive line simply is not at good as many here think. Its average and the fact that Dalton releases the ball so quickly has hidden this fact. Watching Rapistberger and Fitz last night, I was surprised just how long both were willing to hold onto the ball to make a play (sometimes ending in a sack) while Dalton just doesn't do it often. The line below says it all. What is troubling is Indy game planned for this and we never made adjustments. Of the 41 passes quarterback Andy Dalton attempted, only seven of them traveled in the air more than nine yards. The Bengals were committed to using screens and other short-range passes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scharm Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 Injured and the Coaching staff was outmatched. I don't think it's really that hard to figure. 1. New England - out classed coaching wise on the first series. You had players out of position everywhere and it happened the majority of the night on defense. Increased stupidy by Hue to keep up-tempo when they needed to be settled. 2. Carolina - Sending your ends after the dive back and putting the ball in Cam's hands thinking a LB could stop him was dumb. It is even dumber when you realize crashing your ends sent a free blocker to the second level to block the LBs assigned to stop Cam. Panthers were also able to get a free blocker in Olsen on the LBs. 3. Indy - Just don't get this lack of running attempts after the first series when it was evident the Colts were pinning their ears back. Another dumb move was to stick with up-tempo when you aren't completing passes. Just kept handing the ball back to the league's top offense going against a unit missing it's entire LB core. Dumb. I guess it's the bravado thing to not admit what injuries can do to a team but they are a factor. Atkins, AJ, Burfict represent the team in the league's top 100. Can't play like a top 100 player when you aren't on the field or recovering from a knee injury. Other key contributors are gone. It sucks. Not sure if they'll ever recover for this season but it's a HUGE factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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