Jets Game Recap/Analysis

[Zins30]

LOL. From the ESPN chat during the game....

 

Coley Harvey:

This is a grown-man, old-man, Hulk-Hogan-man win right here. Dominating.

[texbengal]

LOL. From the ESPN chat during the game....
 
Coley Harvey:

This is a grown-man, old-man, Hulk-Hogan-man win right here. Dominating.

Hulk Hogan was a man? Wow. Who knew?

[Bengals1181]

Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesThe Bengals have won four in a row and are all alone in first place in the AFC North.

CINCINNATI -- By virtue of their opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals were streamed live Sunday afternoon into millions of televisions, computers, tablets and mobile devices within the largest media market in North America. 

Many New Yorkers may have been thrown off by what they saw. The team some still know as the Bungles wasn't bumbling and fumbling its way up and down the field at Paul Brown Stadium. Instead, they were defending their home turf for a fourth time from another solid conference opponent. 

If you haven't paid attention to one of the league's hottest teams, maybe now you will. With a 49-9 thumping of the New York Jets, the league's best-kept secret suddenly is out. 

After such a performance, the Bengals surely will be more closely scrutinized. Can they handle the increasingly brighter lights they'll see in the coming weeks? Can they handle being front and center this Thursday when they play on one of the league's biggest regular-season stages at Miami? Can they handle the added pressure that comes with being a team that, for now, just doesn't know how to lose? 

 

More importantly, can they handle being declared an elite team? 

"We got to," Pro Bowl tackle Andrew Whitworthsaid. 

At 6-2 and in the middle of a four-game winning streak, the Bengals are an elite team. If last week's win was a "grown-man" win, this one was a Herculean victory. It was the ripped-up, muscled-up version of the nail-biter they pulled out seven days ago. 

It was something else, too. 

"It's a huge confidence builder," nine-year veteran cornerback Chris Crocker said. "There aren't many games like this. You don't get a complete victory when you just smother the team. In all phases, we played very well. The thing that I'm most proud of is when we came out into the second half, we really put the pedal to the metal and we didn't allow them to get back into the game. I'm not really worried about how fast we're going to play at the start of the game. 

"It's about when we do get up, how we're going to play. Because that's been the thorn in our butts this year." 

Until Sunday, the Bengals weren't able to close out a victory this easy. Aside from the 10-point win over Pittsburgh that wasn't much in doubt, the Bengals have won games this year that needed some sort of heroics at the end of regulation or in overtime. The ability to pull out such contests should help once the postseason begins. 
 

Part of maintaining what has so far been playoff-caliber football is to maintain the focus that has led them to this point in the year. 

 

"When the schedule came out and before we started OTAs, they knew what this season was going to be about," coach Marvin Lewis said. "We're at a five-game stretch where four of them were on the road. We had to really buckle down and go at it." 

Lewis credited veterans such as Crocker and Whitworth for keeping his mostly young team on task. 

That youth is the combination of second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-year players who are making major contributions. It's players such as quarterback Andy Dalton, who threw for 325 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. It's others such as receiver Marvin Jones, who set a franchise record by catching four of Dalton's touchdown passes en route to a banner eight-catch day. 

What may come as a surprise to those who caught the Bengals for the first time Sunday is the play of Dalton, a former second-round pick long derided nationally for his apparent weak throwing arm, and Jones for much of the past month. Jones now has a touchdown reception in each of the past three games, and Dalton has become the ninth quarterback since 2001 to pass for 300 yards and three touchdowns in three consecutive regular-season games. 

The more the Bengals can get this type of production from their youngest stars, the more attention they will garner. 

"We're very good. But we have to play like that," Crocker said. "We can't just go out there and know that we're good. Teams aren't going to to lay down. We have to take it each week. If we come out here with this type of mindset that we did [Sunday], and play with this type of effort and energy, and play together in three phases, good things will happen for this team." 

Good things have been happening, all right. But a few more Herculean wins are necessary for the Bengals to hold on to this elite status that the rest of the country is beginning to see.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/cincinnati-bengals/post/_/id/2326/bengals-jets-nfl-winning-streak-roll-sustain

[VonBlade]

The thing that makes me laugh/angry is that the NFL website was full of Jets stuff all week, then by halftime you had to dig VERY deep find even a hint that we were fucking playing, let alone whooping the Jets. You can't sweep it under the carpet because it doesn't suit your propaganda.

[Bengals1181]

Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle13m

Bengals cornerback Adam Jones felt that Jets wide receiver David Nelson was playing dirty. http://sbn.to/16gtOwq 

1. Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle1m

   Gruden wasn't impressed with Marvin Jones during pregame warmups; suffered shoulder injury last week. http://sbn.to/16gvRAw 

    

   Expand
2. Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle10m

   Marvin Jones is tied for fifth in the NFL with seven rec. touchdowns; only four players have more rec. touchdowns than Jones right now.

    

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3. Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle11m

   As of now, A.J. Green is second in the NFL with 734 yards receiving, less than 100 yards off Calvin Johnson who had a monster game Sunday.

[Bengals1181]

3. Marvin Jones, Cincinnati Bengals receiver: Someone caught four touchdown passes for the Bengals and it wasn't A.J. Green! Jones was the primary beneficiary of a stunning offensive explosion that put up 49 points against the New York Jets' usually respectable defense. Sunday's scoring output doubled Jones' total in his first 18 NFL games. That's right. Before Sunday, Jones had scored four touchdowns since the start of the 2012 season. 

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/96502/nfl-week-8-sunday-studs-and-duds

[mullichicken25]

 

And 8 targets, 8 catches.

I certianlly feel stupid for thinking Jones didn't have good enough hands to be a consistant #2 in the NFL

[mullichicken25]

 

• 

  Marvin Jones TD III

  (1:11) Posted 1 hour ago

  Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Marvin Jones makes a great catch for his third touchdown of the game.

• 

  Marvin Jones 45-yard catch and run

  (0:45) Posted 1 hour ago

  Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Marvin Jones puts on some spectacular moves on his way to a 45-yard gain.

• 

  A.J. Green 53-yard reception

  (0:43) Posted 1 hour ago

  Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green beats New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie downfield for a 53-yard catch.

• 

  Marvin Jones TD II

  (0:34) Posted 1 hour ago

  Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Marvin Jones finds pay dirt for the second time in the game, giving the Bengals a 21-3 lead in the second quarter.

• 

  Marvin Jones TD I

  (0:38) Posted 1 hour ago

  Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton finds wide receiver Marvin Jones for a 9-yard touchdown.

 

can we take a minute to acknowldge Andy Dalton's Ball placement on these plays.

 

The back shoulder throws to Jones on TDs 1&2 were a thing of beauty. Not to mention the perfect placement on the 45 yard catch and run.

 

He also dropped the rock right into AJ's hand in double coverage...fucking beautiful

[Bengals1181]

Marvelous Marv Rex Jets

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first three touchdown catches were nice. Two were of the back-shoulder variety and one was an A.J. Green-acrobatic-dance-9.5-from-the-Olympic-judge to keep both feet in.

But the fourth touchdown catch that put Marvin Jones in the Bengals record book ahead of Green, Chad Johnson, Isaac Curtis, Eddie Brown and all the other great Bengals wide receivers is what the man now nicknamed Marvelous Marv is all about.

Late in the third quarter of Cincinnati's improbable 49-9 victory Sunday over the Jets at sold-out Paul Brown Stadium and quarterback Andy Dalton looking at a second-and-six from the Jets 6, Dalton went to his left to hit Jones on a quick-hitter behind the block of tight end Tyler Eifert.

 

With safety Jaiquawn Jarrett barging in and grabbing at Jones's waist as he caught the ball, Jones spun out of his grasp and crashed into the end zone to pluck the record with the hard-nosed 15.4 yards per catch that has defined his sophomore breakout season.

 

"He was just looking at the coverage and the guys were off," Jones said of Dalton. "It wasn't like 'Let's get him another one.' "

That's not the way the Bengals do it around these parts, where they like to believe any of their six wide receivers could have a big day such as the one Jones enjoyed against the NFL's fourth-best defense. Even after his record and career day with eight catches for 122 yards, Jones has the fifth-most catches on the team with 24, the same as Eifert.

"That's the thing. This whole week everybody said, 'You never know who is going to get the ball,' " Jones said. "You run every route like you're getting the ball. That's what we do anyway, but sometimes you have to expect the unexpected. I'm glad it was mine today."

But he leads everyone with seven touchdowns, two more than the two-time Pro Bowler Green. And Jones has done it with a brew of toughness and speed that offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said the coaches saw on his tape from the University of California.

"You don't know about guys from California," Gruden said with a smile, invoking the finesse stereotype.

"I don't know anything about that," said Jones, finally able to take off his undershirt an hour after the game to reveal his injured shoulder. "I mean, where I'm from, the people I'm around, we're tough."

When Gruden showed up Sunday, he didn't know if Jones was going to play. When he saw Jones in warmups, Gruden wasn't sure that Jones should go and he told wide receivers coach James Urban, "Let's keep an eye on him. He's a little banged up."

Jones practiced only on Friday last week after landing heavily on his left shoulder catching—of course—a touchdown last week in Detroit and Gruden observed, "He didn't look himself. He was sore."

But on Sunday, Green was recounting Jones's toughness.

"Marv comes out to play every week; every week he goes out with a chip on his shoulder," Green said. "It's good for a young guy to have that mentality. He's banged up, but that's one guy who's going to fight no matter what. He's not going to miss a game."

Not another game where a team is going to decide if it is going to double anybody, it's going to be Green. He laughed when asked if defenses are going to start shading him.

"You never know," he said. "Whatever they do, I'm sure we'll have a good game plan."

The Jets, though, pretty much covered everybody man-to-man, and Green burned them for two plays of 53 yards on the way to 115. Jones, meanwhile, keeps proving he's a handful in man coverage after beating a variety of New York defensive backs for six touchdowns in the last three games.

He went after New York's first-rounder on the first one, cornerback Dee Milliner, on a nine-yard back-shoulder, and did the same thing to cornerback Darrin Walls, a 2012 free agent from Notre Dame, from six yards out. Then with 16 seconds left in the half, Jones got position on veteran safety Dawan Landry on the sideline in the end zone and Dalton sidearmed it over Walls and into Jones's window just before he fell out of bounds.

Then Jones broke the tackle of Jarrett, a 2012 free agent of Temple, as Jones finished his tour through the spectrum of NFL DBs.

 

"He’s really comfortable with what we’re doing," Dalton said. "He understands running routes, and knowing that, 'OK, if this guy is playing me this way, I’m going to run my route like this.’ That just comes with the time of playing and seeing different looks. He’s had the potential since he’s been here. I think he’s just comfortable with everything that we’re doing and everything that we’re asking him to do.”

 

Never was that more apparent than on the first two touchdowns when Jones and Dalton executed the current rage among quarterbacks and their targets by going "back shoulder," the ultimate weapon against one-on-one. Since it is underthrown to the back of the receiver, it's far enough away from the defender.

"It’s about trust and feel. We all do a good job in practice. The receivers are getting on board with the back-shoulder throws," Jones said. "It’s a hard throw to stop. When you're in cahoots with your quarterback doing those things, it's hard to stop. We know. Normally when the cornerback is looking at you and not the quarterback, it's like stealing."

The Dalton Gang puts in extra time to plan their highway robberies.

"Sometimes on Thursdays, Saturdays and on Fridays we have extra meetings, just with us — the quarterbacks, receivers, running backs and tight ends," Jones said. "It’s just having that extra time to see the game through each other’s eyes and be really confident and comfortable in what the plan is and what we have to do. That’s big, and that’s something that Andy’s been doing a good job of, and getting us all in and all ready to go.”

Jones not only became the first NFL player to score four touchdowns in a game since Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did it on Nov. 18, 2007, it was the first time he ever did it anywhere. The closest he came was in college when the Orange County native came home as a sophomore and scored two touchdowns in the first half against UCLA. That was it.

And could there be anyone more unlike Moss or Owens? Or for that matter Chad Johnson, the last Bengals receiver to catch three touchdown passes in a game and the man for whom Lewis was traded since he arrived via the Patriots 2012 fifth-round pick?

The most controversial thing the 23-year-old Jones did Sunday was to keep his gloves instead of giving them away like he usually does.

"Maybe I'll frame them," he wondered.

There was also a birthday party to plan and a Halloween jaunt to prepare. He'll be home Friday from the Miami game when his youngest son has his second birthday. But he won't be there Thursday night when four-year-old Marvin Jones III tries to Trick or Treat again.

"Last year it was 37 degrees, so his perception is it isn't very fun; he doesn't like it," Jones said.

Sounds like a Jets DB trying to cover Dad.

 

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Marvelous-Marv-Rex-Jets/f73c4501-7549-4775-97f7-dcdf144ab345

[Bengals1181]

tv announcers recap the game

 

 

 

Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle20m

VIDEO: Booth recap of the Bengals and Jets http://sbn.to/1buWFNe 

[WRAPradio]

The thing that makes me laugh/angry is that the NFL website was full of Jets stuff all week, then by halftime you had to dig VERY deep find even a hint that we were fucking playing, let alone whooping the Jets. You can't sweep it under the carpet because it doesn't suit your propaganda.

 

 

I was looking forward to all of the Jets coverage, but now I can't find any.

[Bengals1181]

The enormity of what the Bengals had just done Sunday at sold-out Paul Brown Stadium against a Rex Ryan defense seemed to hit the X-and-O men before everybody else.

After Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton had thrown for five touchdown passes and 325 yards to put the Bengals in the middle of the AFC playoff picture at 6-2 at the halfway point with a 49-9 victory, even offensive coordinator Jay Gruden seemed taken aback that his offense racked up 402 yards against the NFL's fourth-best defense.

"Not many people can put up a performance like this against a Rex Ryan defense. I don't think many people will," Gruden said. "It's a great tribute to what he did in the passing game and the running game and the protections."

Ryan, one of the more respected defensive minds in the game, couldn't remember anything quite like it.

"We got beat in every coverage known to man—five touchdown passes, I don’t know how many times that’s happened in my lifetime—not very often," he said.

It's the kind of game the Bengals thought they could put together, but one the playoff teams of 2009, 2011 and 2012 never really did. But this one ...

 

Safety Chris Crocker, one of Sunday's many stars with a 32-yard interception return for a touchdown on the first snap of the second half, has been in the middle of those three teams and he sensed he had seen something special.

 

"You savor moments like this," Crocker said. "In 2009 we knew we were good, but we didn't know how good we were until late in the season and we were suffocating people. It reminds me of that season.

"You get to about the eighth or ninth game and you are what you are. We're getting to that point at knowing what kind of team we are. We're pretty good when we want to be. We're pretty doggone good. I think we're more talented than 2009. Look at the receiving corps. Look at our first-round DBs. And we were healthy. Now we're relying on our depth. We have to rely on our depth and we're still really doggone good."

Depth? The club's third wide receiver, Marvin Jones, set a franchise record with four touchdown catches. Not two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Green.

"That’s tough to get, especially in this league. The last time I've seen something like that (four touchdowns) is in high school," said Green, who still managed his third straight 100-yard game. "We have to play like this every week. We're not going to put up all these points every week, but we've got to be consistent. That's what separates the good teams from the great teams is that consistency on offense."

And, the Bengals went into the game without their best cornerback, Leon Hall, and in the first half lost their starting middle linebacker, Rey Maualuga, with a concussion, and their left tackle, Andrew Whitworth, with a knee injury and still put together their most complete victory of the season. The Bengals also generated the most points in the A.J. Green-Dalton era, racked up their biggest margin of victory since Sam Wyche waved goodbye to Jerry Glanville at the end of the 61-7 rout of Houston in 1989, and extended their streak to holding foes without a touchdown at PBS to nine-plus quarters.

In fact, the Bengals went the entire month of October without giving up a touchdown after giving just a total of four field goals to the AFC East Patriots and Jets.

"This is a veteran team, but when you're talking about veterans you're talking about guys with three, four, five years. They're still kids. They're not even in their primes," Whitworth said. "We feel like the best is in front of us as long as we get better every time we step on the field. That's what we believe."

Dalton, who turns 26 Tuesday, celebrated his last game as a 25-year-old in his 40th NFL start in memorable fashion when he devastated the Jets in all areas of the field. Not only did all five career-high scoring passes come from within the red zone, he threw a pair of 53-yard bombs to Green while upping his passer rating to 116.7 in the Bengals four-game winning streak. He also put up five touchdown passes against the Jets for the first time since Dan Marino in 1988.

(Why not? It's the first time the Bengals have been 4-0 at home since the 1988 AFC championship season of 1988.)

The kid who's not supposed to be able to throw downfield is averaging 9.5 yards per pass since the last loss in Cleveland on Sept. 29. Dalton's season passer rating has zoomed to 99 with his yards per attempt now up over eight yards.

"It starts up front with the protection," Gruden said after DaIton got sacked just once and that on a rollout. "The protection is giving him a chance to see the defense, seeing coverages and getting the ball to people. Whenever your quarterback has success like that, unless he's running around with his head cut off, it's because of your offensive line and tight ends."

With 11 touchdowns and three picks in the month of October while hitting 68 percent of his passes, Dalton is on the hottest stretch of his career with three straight 300-yard games with at least three touchdown passes and he's been barely touched in the last two while getting sacked twice.

"This is where I want to be and how I want to be playing. It’s tough to do, but you have to be consistent with it. There’s times where you can have a big game, but the great players in this league consistently do it. That’s what I’m striving to be," Dalton said. "Our offensive line has played great; shoot, this whole year, much less today. I feel like I didn’t even get hit out there. They’re a big part of it. They’re a big part of the success in the passing game and everything we were able to do. They did a really good job today.

"I’m playing with a lot of confidence. I’m seeing things out there. There’s a lot that’s put on me. I feel like I’ve gotten better as time has gone on. There’s a lot of work that I’ve put in to wanting to be able to play like I’ve been playing the last couple of weeks. And all of the work is paying off.”

Dalton may be torrid the last couple of weeks but for the last year he's been leading the Bengals to where they haven't been in decades. Put together this 6-2 start with last year's 7-1 finish and the Bengals are 13-3 in their last 16 games and Dalton's career record is 10 games over .500 (25-15) with the best winning percentage in Bengals history.

"He just comes in every day and goes to work," Green said. "He doesn't care what the media or anyone says."

And Dalton has done it in a variety of ways. Last week the Lions dared him to beat them with eight in the box and he did with his career-best passer rating of 135.9. On Sunday, the Jets dared him to beat them deep with their one-on-one press coverage and with the line giving him time Dalton uncorked five passes of at least 24 yards while getting completions to seven different receivers. The Jets opted to rely on their four-man pass rush more than Ryan's signature blitzes, but like it has all month against some nasty defensive lines the offensive line responded.

"It was important to take some shots. We have so much respect for their defense that the 15-play, 80-yard drive was going to be damn near impossible," Gruden said. "We thought we had to get some chunk plays. We saw some looks we had the ability to do that and luckily we took advantage of them. One-on-ones and some of their quarters coverage where their safeties were kind of tight and we took advantage with routes over the top of them. It was good to see."

It was so efficient and good that Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis thought back to quarterback Troy Aikman's Cowboys of the '90s when he compared his club's concept of balance and how the Bengals have top players at the same positions.

"They had guys like Michael Irvin and (Jay) Novacek and Emmitt Smith and they had a quarterback that played within himself and delivered the football brilliantly all the time," Lewis said. "And that 's what you want. I think we have some other pieces that we can keep developing."

Lewis called Sunday his team's most complete game of the season. He wouldn't say that it was the most complete of his 11 seasons, but with a two-and-a-half game lead over the idle Ravens in the AFC North, it was certainly effective.

"I hope these guys don't start drinking the Kool-Aid," Crocker said with a smile. "Just stay with the grind."

 

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Points-made/584d462b-abc2-467a-9fa8-5b0bdb32f39b

[Bengals1181]

Dan Hoard ‏@Dan_Hoard1m

New York Post's Mike Vaccaro on #Bengals pass protection yesterday: "Dalton could have played in a tuxedo."

[Jamie_B]

ha, didn't even think about that.  The Bengals defense outscored the Jets offense.

 

 

 

Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle1h

Bengals defense retakes the lead over the Jets... 14-9.

SiriusXM NFL Radio ‏@SiriusXMNFL2m

#Bengals WR Marvin Jones scored 4 TDs today and is live on The Sunday Drive with Steve Torre & @BillLekas

 

 

:lol:

 

That hadn't crossed my mind either....

[scharm]

 

Dan Hoard ‏@Dan_Hoard29s

Here's the big question after #Bengals 49 Jets 9: What does the back cover of the New York Post look like? pic.twitter.com/m0Ezz1VExF

 

 

 

 

Awesome

[Bengals1181]

1. Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle5m

   Oh, and Adam Jones was second on the team in tackles.

    

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2. Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle6m

   When Jets QBs targeted receivers that Adam Jones covered, they completed five for 29 yards with a passer rating of 16.7. Great game.

    

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3. Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle16m

   Brandon Thompson led the entire defensive line with four combined tackles (equaling the total of Atkins, Peko and Dunlap combined).

    

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4. Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle18m

   Michael Boley, who replaced Maualuga in the second half, finished tied for fourth with five tackles.

    

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5. Josh Kirkendall ‏@CincyJungle21m

   How good was Dalton? Had the interception been an incomplete pass, Dalton's passer rating would have been a perfect 158.3.

[Orange 'n Black]

From Grantland:

 

Perfect Day

The unlikely winner for biggest blowout of the season showed up this week, as the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Jets 49-9 at home on Sunday, becoming the first NFL team this season to win by as many as 40 points. The Bengals were admittedly favored in Vegas by six points heading into the tilt, and there are easy tidbits to point to that paint a bizarre, unsustainable picture of the victory, but they mask the bigger picture. This was a very good win from a very good football team. Both the performance and the Bengals themselves are likely underrated.

Start with the goofy stuff. Cincinnati created two Geno Smith pick-sixes in this game, with the rookie becoming the first quarterback to do so in 2013.² Smith was even pity-benched for Matt Simms in the fourth quarter. The Jets won the time-of-possession battle, holding the ball for 33:17, which should tell you how useless that statistic is. The Bengals' defense held the Jets to 3.7 yards per play on 65 snaps, which is one of the best performances you'll see all year, even though Cincy lost star corner Leon Hall to a torn Achilles last week.

Even more noticeably, the Bengals had an out-of-nowhere star on offense. Wide receiver Marvin Jones had four career touchdowns through his first 18 games as a pro, but he followed that up Sunday with a shocking four-touchdown performance, catching all eight passes thrown to him for 122 yards in the process. Jones became the first player to pull this off since Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did it on the same day in 2007, and Jones is just the fifth player this millennium to haul in four receiving touchdowns in one game. It's dangerous to extrapolate a future from one game (see: Flynn, Matt), but there are reallyno busts on this list of four-touchdown receivers. The worst player to pull this off might be Marcus Robinson, and Robinson's nine-year career would be a very happy pull for a fifth-round pick like Jones. Jones spent most of his day picking on whichever Jets cornerback was opposite Antonio Cromartie, starting with rookie first-round pick Dee Milliner before Milliner was benched.³ Replacement Darrin Walls wasn't much better.

Get past the tidbits, though, and there's a lot to be impressed with here. The Jets, for one, aren't slouches. Beating the Falcons in Atlanta and the Patriots in Jersey would have been a pair of much more impressive feats before the season, but New York was a 4-3 team when it traveled to Cincinnati on Sunday, and there was little to suggest it should have expected to receive such a shellacking.

Furthermore, what the Bengals did on offense against this Jets defense was even more noticeable. Sure, Cincy got two pick-sixes to aid its points total, but it still finished with 35 points across eight offensive possessions before it brought in Josh Johnson in the fourth quarter. That total includes five touchdown drives, a 63-yard drive that ended with a fourth-and-1 stuff, a freak interception on a defensive linemen tip drill, and one three-and-out. That's 4.4 points per possession against what had been the league's fourth-ranked defense per DVOA heading into the week, one that had been allowing just 1.7 points per possession.

That leads to a scary truth: Andy Dalton might actually be the guy in Cincinnati. We were all calling for a step forward from Dalton this season, and while it's unfair to use a guy's numbers right after he has a big game, they are a noticeable step ahead of where he was a year ago:

Year Cmp% Yds/Att INT% TD:INT Passer Rating 2011 58.1% 6.6 2.5% 20:13 80.4 2012 62.3% 6.9 3.0% 27:16 87.4 2013 65.6% 8.1 2.5% 16:7 99.0

Dalton was completing 65.9 percent of his passes and averaging 7.7 yards per attempt heading into this game, so it's far from a one-game creation. And yes, Dalton is still benefiting from playing with A.J. Green, but he's playing better when he's not throwing to his star receiver. Green is averaging just more than 30 percent of the pass targets and receiving yardage, just as he did a year ago, but Dalton is doing much more with the other guys in the offense. During his rookie year, Dalton completed 58.6 percent of his passes to non-Green receivers; that rose to 63.7 percent last year and a whopping 70.2 percent this year. He's averaging 7.8 yards per attempt on those throws, well ahead of his 5.8 YPA figure from his rookie season or his 6.4 yards per attempt a year ago. If this is the real Andy Dalton, he's good enough to lead Cincinnati a long way.

And Cincinnati is likely to play a meaningful role in the playoffs. The win over the Jets takes the Bengals to 6-2, with wins over the Patriots and Packers. With the Steelers and the Browns in shambles, it appears that the Bengals' only competition for the divisional title comes from Baltimore, and Cincinnati is already 2.5 games ahead of the Ravens with two games between the pair to come.

What's even more subtle, as Chase Stuart noted on Twitter, is that the battle for the third seed in the AFC is going to be more important than normal. Assuming that one of the AFC West juggernauts claims the league's top seed, it'll get a first-round bye. The Bengals, if they win the division, will likely be competing with the Patriots and Colts for the second, third, and fourth seeds in the AFC. If the Bengals don't earn the other first-round bye, they're going to really want that third spot. Why? Because the fourth seed in the AFC will likely be hosting the Chiefs or the Broncos in the wild-card round, which seems like a bad matchup. Compare that with the third seed, who will likely host the Dolphins, Ravens, or Chargers. I know who I'd rather play.

There's still a half-season to go and a lot of football to be played; after all, the Bengals were 3-5 this time last year and still managed to make the playoffs. At the moment, though, it sure seems like Cincinnati is one of the four best teams in the AFC. Sunday's win was a refresher of how dominant it can be at its peak.

[Bengals1181]

Jake L ‏@Jake_NFL17m

Marvin Jones was targeted more times than AJ Green for what I'm assuming was the first time that's ever happened.

[|High School Harry|]

 

 

I was looking forward to all of the Jets coverage, but now I can't find any.

For your (our) amusement... from a S-U-C-K-S JETS board:

 

 

Snuka1

15 hours ago

 

 

 

The whole team stunk. The secondary was picked on like a school bully. First Milliner then Cromartie. The Oline was soft. Running gamee non existent.

Milliner was benched after Jones juked and burned him on a long run after catch leading to one of his touchdowns.

[Bengals1181]

ReFo: Jets @ Bengals, Week 8

Steve Palazzolo | October 28, 2013

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Two trends continued on Sunday as the Cincinnati Bengals took another step toward establishing themselves as one of the league’s best while the New York Jets pushed their win-one, lose-one streak to eight straight weeks. The Bengals showed everything that’s made them one of the favorites in the AFC with the added bonus of stellar play from quarterbackAndy Dalton and the continued emergence of WR Marvin Jones as the clear No. 2 option to WR A.J. Green. Jones caught four of Dalton’s career-high five touchdown passes as the Jets simply had no answer for the second-year receiver. With the win, the Bengals move to 6-2 with full control over the AFC North.

On the other side, the Jets remained status quo with a dud following a big win. They seem to play better in an underdog role and every time they re-gain the nation’s attention, they’ve been unable to maintain any momentum to put together a winning streak. They fell behind early and were simply overmatched in a futile comeback attempt consisting of scattered field goals. If the Jets truly hope to make a move in the AFC this season, they must overcome their even-week blues and figure out a way to perform when expectations are at their highest.

Here’s a look at the performances that shaped this AFC battle.

New York – Three Performances of Note

Coverage Woes

It really didn’t matter who was playing cornerback for the Jets, the Bengals receivers were making plays all over the field. Just days removed from explaining why CBs Dee Milliner andAntonio Cromartie were grading worse than their coverage stats, they went ahead and justified their poor grades with the coverage stats to match. Milliner (-4.4) was the biggest culprit as he surrendered four catches on five targets for 108 yards and a touchdown. Those numbers don’t even include his worst play as he got torched by WR Mohamed Sanu with 12:32 to go in the first quarter, but Sanu was unable to haul in Dalton’s pass that likely would have gone for a 56-yard touchdown. Milliner’s afternoon lasted only 29 snaps before he was replaced by CB Darrin Walls.

Cromartie’s numbers looked a little better as he gave up one catch on four targets, but he was at least partially responsible for two separate 53-yard gains to WR A.J. Green and even benefitted from a Green drop that would have been another big gain at the 11:46 mark of the third quarter. Cromartie also picked up his fifth defensive pass interference penalty of the season on a go-route to Sanu.

Beyond Milliner and Cromartie, the starting safeties as well as nickel cornerback Kyle Wilson(-1.3 coverage) all graded negatively in coverage as it was just an overall bad day for New York’s secondary.

Bad Geno

Sunday was Geno Smith’s worst game as a pro as poor decisions proved costly. He threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns, though he receives varying degrees of blame for both. The first interception was the first play from scrimmage in the second half as Smith tried to hit WR Jeremy Kerley on an out route from the slot. As he delivered the ball, slot CB Chris Crocker broke hard on the pass and outmuscled Kerley who had slowed down on his route. Now a well-run route doesn’t ensure a positive play for the Jets as the throw was still forced and Crocker likely had a play on the ball either way, but the pick-six is not solely on Smith. The second interception, on the other hand, is on the rookie quarterback who made the mistake of throwing late and across the field. Given over three seconds in the pocket with 13:24 to go in the game, Smith threw to the left sideline well after his initial reads were over. CB Adam Jones made the break on the ill-advised pass to give the Bengals their seventh and final touchdown. That pass proved to be Smith’s last of the day to conclude an outing that saw him complete only one of more than 10 yards while forcing too many throws in to coverage, beyond just the interceptions.

Wilkerson and Harrison Stout in the Middle

Even in the losing effort, there was little running room for the Bengals as DE Muhammad Wilkerson and DT Damon Harrison continued their stellar play. Wilkerson was the Jets top defender at +3.9 as he notched three pressures (a sack, a hit, and a hurry) on 31 rushes while adding two stops in the running game on his way to a +1.5 grade in that department. He also came home with an interception as he read a WR screen and picked off the errant throw from Dalton. As for Harrison, he continued to impress as a run defender grading at+3.2 with four stops. It’s been nearly impossible to run at him this season as he’s shed many an interior lineman on his way to a league-leading +22.3 grade against the run, and he showed that ability on the Bengals’ first snap from scrimmage and later at the 12:28 mark of the third. Perhaps even more impressive, though it came with the game out of hand, was Harrison’s play with 9:41 to go in the game as the Bengals tried to run away from him and he easily disposed of RG Kevin Zeitler’s cut block and tracked to the play down from behind to get in on the tackle for a loss. Despite the lopsided score, Wilkerson and Harrison both came to play.

Cincinnati – Three Performances of Note

Dalton’s Best Game as a Pro

Though our ears have been saturated with discussions about “elite” quarterbacking, the last two years have shown that a strong team combined with a four-game hot streak under center is enough to land a Super Bowl title. That’s all the Bengals should be hoping for out of Dalton at this point as he’s not going to be knocking down the doors of the league’s best by year’s end, but if he can at least go on a run at the right time, the Bengals have as good of a chance as anyone to compete for a championship.

So while a one-game sample is never enough to pass judgment, Dalton at least showed that he’s capable of carrying a team on his back. His +5.2 grade was a career-high as he solved the deep passing conundrum at least for one day as he completed 3-of-6 for 130 yards, but he easily should have had more if not for two drops on well-placed deep balls to Sanu and Green. Other than his interception to Wilkerson, it was an efficient, decisive day for Dalton with some big-time downfield throws sprinkled in. Just enough to whet the appetite of Bengals fans while still raising the caveat of overreacting to a one-game sample.

Jones Dominates the Action

The Bengals’ passing game deserves two sections all to themselves after Jones’ special afternoon saw him grade at +5.7 to knock on the door of our Page of Fame for wide receivers. He caught all eight of his targets for 124 yards and four touchdowns. Perhaps the most impressive part of Jones’ game was the variety of skills he showed in dominating Jets’ defensive backs. His first two touchdowns came on back-shoulder fades while his third needed some nifty sideline work to keep his feet inbounds on a corner route. He also showed his after-the-catch ability on a 45-yard reception with 7:18 to go in the second quarter as he ran a curl route, broke free from Milliner, and made two Jets defenders miss before getting tackled. His last touchdown was more of the same as he took the quick screen and broke aJaiquawn Jarrett tackle on his way to the 6-yard score. The never-ending search for a No.2 wide receiver opposite Green may have stopped on Jones as he’s now put together three straight strong games, including this dominant gem, despite seeing a limited number of snaps.

Well-Rounded Effort on Defense

There were a number of strong performances on Cincinnati’s defense, led by LB Vontaze Burfict and Adam Jones. Burfict made plays in all phases of the game as he graded at +2.2in coverage, +1.7 against the run, and he notched a pressure as a pass rusher. He did a great job running the seam with tight end Jeff Cumberland to knock away a pass with 11:00 to go in the second quarter. Jones had the aforementioned pick-six on his way to a +4.4grade in coverage that included three stops in the passing game. He nearly had two interceptions as Smith was late on the comeback route and Jones broke on it to break it up, but he was unable to make the catch. In addition to Burfict and Jones, Michael Johnson(+3.1), George Iloka (+2.5), and Crocker (+2.1) all had strong afternoons.

Game Notes

-  None of the Bengals’ offensive linemen graded positively in the running game as that was the one area where the Jets had the edge.

-  Jets LG Brian Winters graded at -3.7 in pass protection as he surrendered two sacks, a hit and three hurries on 46 attempts.

-  The Jets blitzed Dalton on 17 of his 31 drop-backs and he finished with a QB rating of 140.6 and a PFF Grade of +2.7 on those plays.

PFF Game Ball

While Andy Dalton had one of the best performances of his career, it was Marvin Jones who stole the show with eight catches for 122 yards and four touchdowns.

 

 

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/10/28/refo-jets-bengals-week-8/

[Bengals1181]

CINCINNATI (AP) — Marvin Jones finally had his moment. Then another and another and another.

The unheralded second-year receiver set a Bengals record with four touchdown catches on Sunday as Cincinnati drubbed the New York Jets 49-9, a victory so lopsided that it'll turn some heads around the league.

So will the way the Jets' defense played.

Andy Dalton threw a career-high five touchdown passes against a defense ranked No. 4 coming into the game. The Bengals (6-2) did whatever they wanted against a secondary that was a step slow and out of place.

"This was just a statement game," Cincinnati defensive end Carlos Dunlap said.

Nothing went right for the Jets (4-4). Rookie quarterback Geno Smith had his worst game, throwing two more interceptions that were returned for touchdowns.

Five things learned from the record-setting game:

BENGALS ARE COMING TOGETHER: They've won four in a row, taking control of the AFC North. They lead the defending Super Bowl champion Ravens by 2½ games. Their victory on Sunday was their most lopsided during coach Marvin Lewis' 11 seasons.

"We're very good," said safety Chris Crocker, who returned Smith's first pass of the second half for a touchdown. "We're very, very, very good. But we have to play like it."

DALTON HAS ARRIVED: Most of the Bengals' questions heading into the season revolved around their third-year quarterback, who had struggled in the biggest games and had trouble completing long passes. He repeatedly threw deep against the Jets, coming up with one big play after another.

He's on the best run of his career, throwing 11 TD passes in the last three games. He became the first quarterback to throw five touchdown passes against the Jets since Dan Marino in 1988.

"This is where I want to be," said Dalton, who was 19 of 30 for 325 yards in little more than three quarters. "This is how I want to be playing. It's tough to do."

MORE THAN JUST A.J.: Jones' breakout game shows they've finally got enough other threats to complement All-Pro receiver A.J. Green, who had three catches on Sunday. Two of them went for 53 yards each.

Jones is the first NFL receiver with four touchdown catches in a game since Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did it in 2007. He had eight catches for 122 yards, both career highs.

"I think people will see that now we have the players that can do it and help a superstar like A.J.," Jones said.

GENO'S STRUGGLES: The rookie is making some very costly mistakes. He's had three interceptions returned for touchdowns in the last two games. Crocker returned his 32 yards for a score, and Adam "Pacman" Jones ran one back 60 yards. It was the first time Cincinnati returned a pair of interceptions for touchdowns in a game since 1984.

Although Smith has enjoyed some big comebacks, his inconsistency has contributed to the Jets' inability to win two games in a row this season.

"It's been up-down, up-down all year," said Smith, who was 20 of 30 for 159 yards. "That's the way it's been so far. Sometimes we do it, other times we don't. That's a part of developing consistency."

 

NOT THE WORST, BUT ...: It was the Jets' most lopsided loss since a 45-3 loss to New England in 2010, which coach Rex Ryan ranks as a low point.

"The loss to New England — 45-3 — felt worse," Ryan said. "On a scale of 10, this one's a 10. But that one to New England was like an 11. It's brutal."

That pretty well described the Jets' defense, which got shredded from the outset. Ryan benched cornerback Dee Milliner during the game because "he wasn't getting it done." Nobody else had a very good game, either.

There's a lot to fix before a game next week against New Orleans and quarterback Drew Brees.

"Well, if we don't play better than we did today, then hell yeah, that guy will break every record known to man against us," Ryan said. "So I think we'll play better."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.hubarkush.com/2013/10/28/5-things-to-know-from-jets-bengals/ay8twjw/

[Orange 'n Black]

-  The Jets blitzed Dalton on 17 of his 31 drop-backs and he finished with a QB rating of 140.6 and a PFF Grade of +2.7 on those plays.

 

Very nice!

[Bengals1181]

 

For your (our) amusement... from a S-U-C-K-S JETS board:

 

 

Snuka1

15 hours ago

 

 

 

The whole team stunk. The secondary was picked on like a school bully. First Milliner then Cromartie. The Oline was soft. Running gamee non existent.

Milliner was benched after Jones juked and burned him on a long run after catch leading to one of his touchdowns.

 

 

 

for those who want to freak out about Kirkpatrick, keep in mind, pretty much every young CB struggles early in his career.

[|High School Harry|]

 

 

for those who want to freak out about Kirkpatrick, keep in mind, pretty much every young CB struggles early in his career.

 

Milliner was the Jets first round 2013 draft pick, 9th pick overall and first cornerback drafted. 

 

Schooled his rookie ass.

 

Also heard twice the instruction Cromartie was given for covering A.J.: "pray"

[Bengals1181]

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