After the Cincinnati Bengals got embarrassed by the
Houston Texans by a score of 31-10 at Reliant Stadium, many Cincinnati fans are
livid.
“Why didn’t our team show up? We are so
much better than this!”
First off, let’s take a step
back. The Bengals had a good season by all accounts this season—they drafted a
franchise quarterback in Andy Dalton as well as A.J. Green, a Pro Bowl wide
receiver who is virtually impossible to cover; The Bengals made the playoffs
despite being in a division with two of the best teams in the NFL, the
Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, who both finished 12-4. Marvin
Lewis has secured at least a few more years in Cincy by having his young team
buy into his system. Even Mike Brown showed promise for the future by
permitting a buy one, get one free deal for the final regular season game.
However, we need a reality
check. The Bengals finished the regular season 9-7, only one win away from
being an average team. If Cincinnati was 8-8, the Bengals’ season would have
been considered very mediocre. The Bengals only beat one team with a winning
record. While Cincinnati was competitive in all but one of its regular season
games, a brutal 35-7 loss at Pittsburgh, the Bengals’ only win against a team
that finished above .500 came against San Francisco early in the season. Two
losses to Baltimore. Two losses to Pittsburgh. Let’s not get carried away with
ourselves—Houston beat Cincinnati in Cincinnati without Andre Johnson. So
considering that Saturday’s loss was in Houston, it was the franchise’s first
playoff berth, and Andre Johnson was in the lineup, it is not surprising that
the Texans won by a much larger margin in their second meeting with Cincy. The
Bengals had their opportunities to win the game but three plays in the middle
of the game decided the outcome.
Mike Nugent’s 50-yard field goal miss. Great teams take advantage
of every opportunity, especially scoring opportunities. Trust me, I know 50
yards is a long way. I would be lucky to make a PAT. Reliant Stadium had a
closed roof, so there was no wind. It would have given the Bengals the lead.
Missed field goals have a similar effect as turnovers. It keeps point off the
board for the offensive team and gives the team on defense a chance to have
good field position to start their own scoring drive.
J.J.Watt’s pick six. To clarify for everyone, this interception was
99% a great play by Watt and 1% Andy Dalton’s fault. I would say 110% and -10%,
but that is absurd, negative numbers wouldn’t make sense in this context. There
might be five players of any position that would have caught that pass. Watt is
a former tight end so he has better hands that most defensive ends. He has some
serious cat-like reflexes. Watching the play on TV, the camera man had started
panning the camera twenty yards downfield only to find out that the ball was
actually moving in the opposite direction, in Watt’s hands. That was simply a
great play by a talented rookie who you could make a case for an All-Pro bid.
Chris Crocker’s dropped interception. The Bengals were down 17-10
at halftime and were forced to punt on their first drive of the second half. Crocker
completely fooled rookie quarterback T.J. Yates and jumped the wide receivers
route. There was no Texan within ten yards of him. He would have caught the
ball around Cincinnati’s 45 yard line with room to run. But in usual Bengals
fashion, Crocker decided to wear his sandpaper gloves to the game and ended up
deciding that the turf would rather have the ball than him. Pacman Jones was
injured a few plays later and the Texans immediately took advantage of the
injured corner by going deep to Andre Johnson for an easy touchdown. Even
though Johnson was not playing 100% due to a hamstring injury, he made a
fantastic double move that left Jones in the dust and the safety covering over
top had no chance at breaking up the play.
The Bengals were not able to
step up to the playoffs. The Texans made exceptional plays and Cincinnati made
mistakes. If these three plays had gone the other way, the Bengals would have
been up 13-10 instead of being down 24-10. Once Houston had a two touchdown
lead at home, the game was over for Cincinnati. They had too many blows to
their morale and weren’t making the big plays that the Texans were. Stay
positive Bengals Nation. Cincinnati made the playoffs with a rookie quarterback
in one of the toughest divisions. The team is young and has two first round
draft picks in the upcoming draft. Andy Dalton has postseason experience and
look for the Bengals to be a favorite in the AFC for years to come.
