HavePityPlease

Good lord they just had an automatic flag call on or something... sad but hilarious

If I'm not mistaken that play relied on the rule that was created after Tyler Eifert caught the ball in mid-air, crossed the goal line then fumbled it (IIRC). It was ruled that he never made it to the ground (to "survive" it) so it's a fumble. I do believe that play was cited as a reason why they made it "cross the plane only", regardless of where your body is.

I guess we're back to "oh yeah we need a better draft position" play calling. Glad he remembered? I guess?

Who the fuck thought that was the play to call? Jeezus I guess they've given up on the season? Going for it on 4th on the first drive of the game, trying a stupid trick play with the backup QB?

Wow a successful counter run, never woulda thunk it

The distribution was there but at least a few times the primary target was that (little used) receiver - but as you say he checked down a couple/few times but that's not a progression read, that's a safety valve.. Granted he did go through progressions at least a couple of times, but his lack of ability in this was (very unfortunately) most obvious on the game-deciding INT where it was a telegraph from start to finish. Thankfully the broadcast showed a wide-angle replay and we saw that Pittsburgh played that throw all the way, which resulted in Sample being embarrassingly open on the other side - and, if progressed to would have resulted in a walk-in TD.

Not that Charles Davis says anything beyond regurgitating football rules and basic facts, but in his desperation to make that call sound awesome he basically explained that Hudson interfered with the Stealers receiver. On defense. Because the call was bullshit.

This, folks, is "the tilt". They pick up the flag on an obvious call to force a heavy momentum turn in favour of the Stealers, then make a chincy call against the Bengals to keep it going. Classic.

Jeezus H fucking christ that was the most obvious hold in the history of the NFL and they pick up the flag? I guess "the gambling" needed some TLC...

This is it right here folks, this is why the game isn't worth watching anymore, much like other sports: "The next question is whether the NFL will do anything about it. Given the current extent to which gambling and gambling money have become intertwined with football, the league definitely should." That's right everyone, the important decisions should be made around how much it affects the gambling. Oh well, it was a good run.

The question I have is, under what rule did the refs just "check it"? It wasn't a change of possession, it wasn't a score, and I didn't see anybody throw a red flag/challenge.... ?

Good observations, I agree that Chido has been hot and cold this season and Scott is a failure. Ossai never really did a whole lot before so I wasn't expecting much but agreed he's just invisible. The second-level tackling has been a problem all year, if teams manage to block (or hold) our DL in the run game they will get decent if not obscene yards. This is what losing our two starting safeties has bought us. Tee I'd give a bit of a pass because he got hurt early but he has played somewhat soft anyway (I suspect he's trying to preserve himself in case he's a free agent). I think the OL unit suffers from Volson being a liability and Cappa I suspect hasn't completely recovered from his more recent injuries (he loses his footing a lot). Karras I'm very happy about, we've had too many sorry C's for me to ignore what he's brought to the unit. Overall they need improvement here, but somehow it's still the best line Joe has had.

Aren't you the guy who keeps saying we should trade Higgins for a first and draft his replacement? I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. I disagree with that in no small part because a draft pick is a complete unknown, but when do they even have a window for that? He made the catch with three guys around him and Joe throwing back into traffic that kept the one drive going in the 4th. He blocked his ASS OFF all day long, I was surprised more people haven't said anything about it, I guess most wouldn't pay attention. Turner saved the game and gave Joe a chance to win it in the final drive. He has been spectacular in coverage for a second round rookie, the only other people I've heard echoing what you're saying above are announcers who, when seeing Turner either allowing a catch or making a nice defensive play, have begun always making the claim that "teams keep testing him". If that is the case he's passing with flying colours, and he will always get passed on like everyone else. Chido got burned the most yesterday, and FWIW Turner's PI call was nonsense - it could have arguably been called offensive PI (which is what I thought it would be when they threw it). We are seeing typical ill preparation that has plagued the Taylor era and granted was also a prominent attribute of the Marvin era. Most teams have some issues with players they haven't faced or prepped for before (e.g. rookie QBs, the Mike Whites of the world) but the best coaches adapt on the fly, and we don't have much of that. Lou has been pretty good with it but his zone schemes have openings just like all do. The Bengals issue often is lack of pressure which allows those openings to be exploited. Their OTs yesterday owned our rushers and their interior guys just held all day and our interior guys are too slow to recover. Both of our lines need improvement, that's where we'll be able to maintain effectiveness.

Seems like a dumb challenge. Why wasn't the LT called for grabbing Trey by the shoulder pads and throwing him? lol

The replay they showed didn't look like a false start at all, looked like normal movement. Bills sold it.

There was a moment on a punt or kick coverage situation where I saw Anderson go down after he was (from my perspective) dirtied by someone. I wonder if that was when it happened?

Well in the most simplistic case we'd go with the automatic "Irvin 'Perv' Smith Jr.". His actual nickname is apparently the variants "Swervin Irvin" and "Irv 'Swerve' Smith Jr." So following naturally from that you could go with: 1. Skid 2. Skid Mark 3. Flaming Car Wreck

Jeezus who was that Bengal that just got crack-back blocked on the screen? Head hit pretty hard on the ground...

Perfect form tackle - ROUGHING lol

? Irv Smith just kinda blew that

That was a fantastic route

By any modern measure that's not a catch at all, not even close. We'll see if they decide to tilt it.

For those (like me) who like to track how deeply into "rigged" the NFL might be getting, you might enjoy (hate to enjoy?) this: