See Bengals fans, I told you not to panic. They got clubbed by Baltimore, but they did some positive things in the opening week Monday-nighter in a lion's den on the road. The offense made the plays they needed to make to hold off Cleveland and showed a little explosiveness while they were at it. The defense getting lit up by the child-man, Brandon Weeden, and his rag tag crew of butterfinger bandits (and oh yeah, Trent Richardson too) was a little unsettling, but the Browns had nothing to lose. All the pressure was on Cincy and they picked up the "W". Next, they picked up a road win spoiling the grand opening of Washington's "RG3: The Greatest Show on Earth" production. The offense overcame a sloppy pick 6 and BenJarvus Green-Ellis's first ever fumble to hang 38. Admittedly, the Redskins defense has been hit hard with injuries and has a less than stellar secondary, but again the Bengals flashed some firepower with three 40+ yard TD's. The offense hasn't had that kind of snap in it in a while. They still have a long way to go and they need to prove they can do it against stiffer competition, but the seed is there. We'll see if it grows. The defense gave up another truckload of points, but had a good first half and showed signs of life. What a difference having Carlos Dunlap back makes, and how about Michael Johnson notching three sacks? More importantly, week 2 was better than week 1 and week 3 was better than week 2. Like I said, they don't need to look like contender yet. Eek through these first six games, try to get healthy, and work out all the bugs for the meat of the schedule.
Unfortunately, this weekend might be a tough test on the road for the second straight week facing Jacksonville, a team that is probably a slight step up in competition from what they've faced the last two games. Cincy's cornerbacks haven't exactly set the world on fire and they can't seem to get healthy. Jason Allen is doubtful again this weekend and Nate Clements and Leon Hall are also gimpy. If the corners have been average at best, the safeties have been a car crash to the point that the Bengals went crawling back to Chris Crocker this week for relief. I don't know if they can pull through this weekend, but if they can swing two out of the next three I think they'll be in a good position.
A few quick notes from elsewhere in the league..
Wild Wild West:
How about that NFC West? It wasn't too long ago the West had been so consistently bad in recent years that pundits started grumbling about the league needing to consider taking away guaranteed playoff spots for division winners. All of a sudden, the NFC West might be the class of the NFL. The offensive firepower is so-so, but it's not a stretch for them to claim three top-five defenses. Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago, and Dallas have to be in that conversation, but San Francisco, Seattle, and Arizona are right there with them. The 49ers were on everyone's radar and Seattle drew some preseason buzz, but Arizona is the team turning some heads. Many, including myself, considered the Cardinals a bottom feeder. I knew they had some players on defense (although LB Daryl Washington snuck past me. I didn't know how good he was, but by all accounts he is playing as well as anyone right now), but the way their offensive line and quarterbacks looked they seemed destined to fall apart once the season started. The defense has been ten times as good as I could have imagined and the offense has fed off the D and done just enough to win. My apologies Cardinals fans. Your squad has become the darling team of the 2012 season.
Good For Kolb:
Speaking of which, congratulations Kevin Kolb! For a guy that has been followed by a rain cloud for the past few years, he seems to have finally caught a break. He was anointed the starter in Philly before almost immediately losing the job to Michael Vick due to injury. Philly shipped him to Arizona where he muddled through the lockout shortened preseason in a new system, got dinged up behind that sloppy offensive line, and looked ineffective. Even though it seems like Kolb has failed as a starting QB a Rex Grossman-like number of times, that was pretty much it. That brings us to this year where he was edged out in a QB competition with John Skelton. It's a now now now league. When players like Cam Newton put up big numbers right out of the gate, it's hard for teams to be patient with somebody like Kolb. Some kids crawl before they walk. Some kids army crawl. Some kids run right away. Kolb has taken an awful lot of scrutiny for simply crawling before he walks. It's nice to see the guy get another chance and do something with it. He popped off the bench to lead a fourth quarter comeback in week 1. He played game manager while the defense did their thing in New England. And he looked outstanding in what had to be a gratifying win against his old team in week 3. We'll see if he can keep it going, but so far so good.
The Replacements:
The saga is over. Now we can go back to hating the normal refs. Personally, I was more annoyed with all of the whining about the replacements than the actual effects on the games. Of course they weren't going to be as good. Of course things were going to slow down. With all of the overblown hyperventilating about player safety and the integrity of the game, I'm not sure what people wanted the league to do. The lockout was an annoyance, but it was a necessary evil. Everyone kept saying it's not that much money, the NFL should just give in. Are you kidding?? They were separated by
50 million dollars. I don't care how much revenue the league has, it's
not like they would have just eaten the cost. They would have charged it
directly back to you and me in ticket prices and T.V. contracts. Neither side was going to budge without the pressure of what happened last Monday night. I'm glad the league held strong. I don't understand why the refs got such a free pass in this whole thing. It takes two to tango. They received a standing ovation upon their return Thursday night. If I were in the stands, it would have been nothing but boos from me.
That's all for this week. Sorry this is late. I couldn't take my eyes off the Ryder cup. WOW, what an exciting sporting event.
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