1. The Battle of Ohio sort of felt like a preseason game or a scrimmage.
I don’t mean that as a slam on the Browns, but it was hard to draw many hard and fast conclusions about the Bengals from the way it played out because of the personnel Cleveland trotted out there. (OK, that’s probably a slam.)
Andy Dalton continues to have a strong season, and A.J. Green is still a beast. The offensive line is still questionable, but Jeremy Hill looked like he was reading holes better and cutting more decisively before he was injured.
🚨 HAIL MARY ALERT! 🚨
Are you kidding?!?
just came down with the catch of the YEAR. 😱
— NFL (@NFL)
2. The Bengals still don’t look like a playoff team.
So this was a good reset week to get ready for the rest of the season. The defense faced some things it probably wasn’t expecting, but that was still a poor performance overall. The ability to cover tight ends and backs is a real concern.
One of the youngsters we were watching, Dre Kirkpatrick, seemed to do some good things, but the Browns receiving corps doesn’t present much of a challenge with Terrelle Pryor less than 100 percent.
Right tackle Cedric Ogbuehi set the edge on some big runs but was still in and out of the game with some pass protection issues.
3. Hue Jackson’s genius showed.
The Browns were badly outgunned, especially down to their fourth quarterback, but their head coach Hue Jackson still managed to give the Bengals plenty of different looks to defend.
He manufactured more offense than that team had any business developing.
Truly getting a team over the hump is hard and depends on some things often out of a coach’s control, but I have little doubt he will make Cleveland at least respectable again in the future.
Credit: John Grieshop
Credit: John Grieshop
4. The Ravens continue to fade.
The Bengals moved into a tie for second place in the division with the Ravens, who have lost four in a row. Turns out their 3-0 start was as fraudulent as it appeared.
5. The Steelers lost, too.
Landry Jones threw for 281 yards in place of the injured Ben Roethlisberger, but Pittsburgh lost its second game in a row, this time 27-16 to the Patriots. Not long ago it looked like they might run away with the division, but Roethlisberger’s knee injury figures to cost them a couple of games they would have otherwise won.
6. Jay Ajayi is on a tear.
One of the Bengals’ wins suddenly doesn’t look as pedestrian. The Dolphins beat Buffalo 28-25 one week after handling Pittsburgh.
Jay Ajayi went over 200 yards in both games, becoming the first player to do that in back-to-back outings since Ricky Williams. The only other players to have back-to-back 200-yard games are Earl Campbell and O.J. Simpson.
Credit: Allen Eyestone
Credit: Allen Eyestone
7. The Sunday night game was another dud.
I love a defensive struggle as much as the next guy, but Arizona-Seattle was not a thing of beauty.
The kicking woes in overtime were actually pretty amusing, though.
For all the talk about why NFL TV ratings are down so far this season, the most obvious answer is poor quality of games in prime time.
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