Defensive line deserves game ball
The Bengals defense impressed more than anything in the victory Sunday at Kansas City.
Justin Smith is benefiting from the talent around him, which, he said, is better that any time in his six seasons. Plus Smith is pushing for a new contract. He probably made himself a few million dollars Sunday. If he reaches 10 sacks, the price to re-sign him will be even steeper.
What about the defensive line getting all seven sacks? The Bengals didn't blitz much at all. It's true that coaches get better with better players, but the improved play of the line as a whole and development of end Robert Geathers illustrates the consistently strong job defensive line coach Jay Hayes does.
Of course, as defensive guru Marvin Lewis pointed out to us in the postgame (he reminded us that the Ravens defense he coordinated went 60-some games -- it was 50 exactly -- without giving up a 100-yard individual rushing game) defenses play with 11 players. But some of the sacks were helped by glue-like coverage in the secondary.
Dexter Jackson brings an attitude and strong tackling. Madieu Williams' return makes a big difference in the run and pass games alike.
posted by Mark at 11:54 AM
3 Comments:
at 9/12/2006 2:42 PM 
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at 9/12/2006 11:01 PM 
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at 9/15/2006 11:37 PM 
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Post a Comment*when was the last time we had 7 sacks from the d-line?
my guess would be the WEBB defense, but that was in the early 80's.
Would be interesting to find out - might be surprised on the results.
KC without Green means Larry Johnson has no chance - defenses will crowd the line like crazy.
Congrats to the defense and special teams - makes life easier for that high-powered offense.
Mark,
Just a take about Sunday's game against the Chiefs and more particularly, the circumstances leading up to Trent Green's injury. On the drive, as you correctly pointed out in your game story, Green scrambled out of the pocket three times. On the first two, he gained yards and ran out of bounds. On the third, the injury occurred. Carl Peterson characterized the contact as "vicious," during a news conference Monday. The official scorekeeper in Kansas City wrote in the play-by-play compilation, "T. Green injured. BLOW TO THE HEAD." (caps in the original)
I have watched the replay a number of times, and I see no blow to the head or "vicious" hit by Robert Geathers. What I see is a fairly routine football play in which the back of a player's head makes violent contact with the ground resulting in a head injury immediately after being tackled.
I question how much deference anyone owes to Carl Peterson. Peterson, it will be recalled, wanted to alter the NFL playoff format last season to add a second Wild Card when his 10-6 Chiefs missed the playoffs. The 2005 Kansas City Chiefs are most definitely not the only 10-6 team ever to miss the playoffs. It has happened twice to the Bengals, once in the 70's and most recently in 1986. My point is simple about Peterson: he lacks a national focus and his observations deserve little or no deference and frequent refutation.
As for the Kansas City scorekeeper, I think it's a rather simple case of cheering from the press box and unprofessionalism. I think Robert is getting a bum rap in this whole deal. I think the whole event shows once again how worthless eyewitness testimony really is. What do you think?
Chip Lapp
Kenwood OH
Two Times in my lifetime the Bengals put together an above average defense - and - both of those resulted in AFC Championships!
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