| 28 September 2011
And the real Cincinnati Bengals stood up and exposed themselves to the world last Sunday.
Everything was in place for a win, but the Bengals found a way to lose 13-8 to the San Francisco 49ers.
Let’s see, some of the major advantages Cincinnati had in this contest:
* A West Coast team coming to the Eastern Time zone to play a 1 p.m. local game.
* The Bengals playing in their home opener. (Albeit in front of some empty seats.)
* Cincinnati going on an impressive drive to open the game offensively, and the defense coming out looking like it would dominate as well.
* Playing against Alex Smith.
* Playing against a rookie NFL head coach.
* The 49ers seemingly giving the game away with a Frank Gore fumble deep in 49ers territory in the fourth quarter.
However, proving that they are much closer to pretender than contender this season, the Bengals fell apart down the stretch and saw the 49ers get out of town with a victory. Cincinnati twice settled for field goals after having a first-and-goal situation. It was also horrible on third down where it converted just 1-of-10.
Also, Brandon Tate likely has the lowest football IQ of any player in the history of the game. (And as Bengal fans, we know James Brooks was illiterate when he played. Nice education you get there at Auburn! War Eagle.) No wonder a good team like the Patriots wanted nothing to do with him. Tate’s latest blunder was fielding a punt (which likely would have been a touchback) at the 5 against the Niners. Tate is also well known for returning kickoffs from 9 yards deep in the end zone and then getting tackled by the first defender down the field around the 12. He’s bad. Typical Bengals pickup. They will always take sizzle over steak.
This week’s game against the visiting Buffalo Bills should be interesting. The Bills are flying high and are the darling story of the NFL after a 3-0 start, including their thrilling win over the Patriots last week. But they’re not as good as they’ve played and I bet the Bengals hang with them.
Vegas agrees. The Bengals are only 3-point dogs.
As for Andy Dalton, I’m not down on him at all. He’s a rookie quarterback and there are going to be struggles. Even the best-of-the-best struggle when forced to start as rookies. Right Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning?
Also, the Bengals got an absolute steal when Dalton fell in their lap in the second round. He was the fifth quarterback taken in the 2011 draft. FIFTH. Cam Newton was No. 1 overall. Alright, that makes sense.
Then Jake Locker went No. 8 overall to the Tennessee Titans. What? Exactly. Did the Titans not actually watch Locker play while he was in college at Washington? And they felt so good about the pick that they went out and signed Matt Hasselbeck to be their starter.
Then Blaine Gabbert went No. 10 overall to the Jaguars. That made sense. Gabbert was actually projected to go higher than that and the Jags needed to turn the page on the David Garrard era.
Then Christian Ponder went No. 12 overall to the Vikings. What? Exactly. And they felt so good about the pick they went out and signed the washed-up/fat Donovan McNabb … and still haven’t changed to Ponder despite McNabb continuing to prove he sucks. Ponder’s not even ready to go in there and hand the ball off to Adrian Peterson?
So, to get Dalton with the No. 35 overall pick of the draft was borderline amazing considering that general managers of other teams were popping their shoulders out of socket reaching for mediocre quarterbacks like Locker and Ponder.
Dalton will be fine. He’s the least of the Bengals’ problems.
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