Cincinnati Bengals
A lesson learned, a standard set
By Scott Priestle, CNATI.com Posted January 9, 2010 11:01 PM ET
The offensive line consistently opened holes and the running back was decisive through them. The defensive front was aggressive and the defensive backs were suffocating. The quarterback was a ringleader more than a star, but he took command when necessary.
It has been the Bengals' ideal all season: to win with defense and a running game, no matter how ugly the game becomes. It was their envy Saturday.
The New York Jets wore down the Bengals with their physical offense and gifted defense, broke a few big plays and pulled out a 24-14 win in an AFC wild-card playoff game.
After orchestrating a stunning makeover in style and in the standings, the Bengals must watch the remainder of the postseason and wonder what might be. The Jets proved over the past two weeks that they are what the Bengals aspire to be, and next week they will be where the Bengals aspire to be.
"The bar has been set," safety Chinedum Ndukwe said. "Now we have to push off from here."
When coach Marvin Lewis addressed the team immediately after the game, he pointed out that the Bengals are among the youngest teams in the league. He emphasized what they could become with an off-season of growth and the normal personnel changes.
Over the past month, it has been easy to see what they are not. The Bengals lost four of their final five games, all against playoff opponents. The steadily improving defense allowed a few big plays and the steadily degenerating offense struggled to produce them.
The Jets had a 39-yard run Saturday and passes of 43 and 45 yards, both on play-action rollouts to a wide open tight end. Quarterback Mark Sanchez completed 12 of 15 passes with an efficiency rating of 139.4. Bengals running back Cedric Benson broke a 47-yard touchdown run and finished with 169 yards, but quarterback Carson Palmer completed only 18 of 36 passes with an efficiency rating of 58.3.
"Obviously we have some work to do," offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said.
Bob Bratkowski
As most coaches do, Bratkowski was quick to say he must watch the film before making a judgment on the loss Saturday, and he was reluctant to grade the season in general. He spread the blame for the poor passing game among every offensive position.
"Any time right after you lose a game you feel like you didn't make enough progress," Bratkowski said. "But at the same time, I'm very proud of the entire group to get us here tonight. Are we satisfied with that? No way. But we fought like son-of-a-guns all year, swept the division and got us to this point. That's a good thing."
The Bengals used this year to transition from a high-octane passing team to one that wins with defense and a clock-eating running game. Palmer showed flashes of his old form during a few late-game drives early in the season, but he looked ordinary in back-to-back losses to the Jets.
The rookie Sanchez was sharper Saturday.
With the game tied at 7 in the second quarter, he threw a 14-yard pass to Jerricho Cotchery on third-and-12, then threw a 45-yard TD pass to Dustin Keller on the next play. Sanchez faked a handoff, and the Cincinnati defense was so consumed with slowing the running game that Keller got behind the linebackers with only open turf around him.
Sanchez set up a touchdown in the third quarter by completing a 16-yard pass on third-and-6 deep inside Bengals territory. He and Keller hooked up for a 43-yard completion on another play-action pass in the fourth quarter, which set up a field goal.
"It's tough when everybody is playing the run and then all of a sudden you see the quarterback running out of there with no one around him," defensive tackle Domata Peko said.
The big plays have been a point of emphasis on defense the past two seasons, so it was a bruise to players' pride.
"If a guy is wide open, it's a missed assignment," linebacker Dhani Jones said. "Things like that happen, but obviously you can't have those in critical situations, especially in the playoffs. They made more plays than we did, and it showed in the score."
Carson Palmer
The Jets out-gained the Bengals by 72 yards and held the ball for six minutes longer. Perhaps the most glaring statistical difference was in the passing game: The Bengals, with a $100 million quarterback and two former Pro Bowl receivers, averaged 2.8 yards per pass attempt; the Jets, with a rookie QB, averaged 12.1 yards per attempt.
"That offense is built for Sanchez," Bengals linebacker Brandon Johnson said. "He's not required to do a lot. He doesn't do anything, really. I mean, he hands it off and he fakes hand it off and throws to wide-open guys. At least that's what he did tonight."
The Bengals now have an off-season to ponder how their own offense can become so smooth and their defense so reliable.
"This is a steppingstone," receiver Andre Caldwell said.
"We have a lot to build on," linebacker Keith Rivers said.
"How can you not like the foundation and the things we've done?" Jones said. "We've done a lot of phenomenal things. We just didn't do that one phenomenal thing that we needed to continue."
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Categories: Cincinnati Bengals, Featured Stories, News
Tags: Bengals, Carson Palmer, Jets, Mark Sanchez
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