The end of this game – an “embarrassment” cornerback Terence Newman would call it – pretty much summed up the day for Dalton and the Bengals.
With just over 30 seconds left a young woman wearing a purple knit cap, a black leather jacket and a sudsy grin made a wobbly sprint from the end zone all the way to midfield and right up to Dalton, where she managed to give him a pat in the back and a bit of a squeeze before a huffing security guard finally caught up to her and escorted her off the field.
“She said, ‘Nice to meet you,’” Dalton said with a bemused shrug afterward.
On the next play – the last of the game – Zach Kerr, the Colts 335-pound backup defensive tackle repeated the move on Dalton, but without the niceties. He slammed the Cincinnati quarterback down for the last sack of the day, a final, jarring punctuation on a 27-0 domination by the Colts.
It was the first time the Bengals had been shut out in nearly five years, the last blanking coming in the final regular season game in 2009, a 37-0 loss to the New York Jets at the Meadowlands.
What makes Sunday’s loss more stunning is that earlier this month the Bengals were 3-0 and being talked about as Super Bowl contenders.
Since then they’ve gone three games without a win.
They were blown out at New England, suffered a gut-punch of a tie against Carolina at Paul Brown Stadium and then Sunday went belly-up like one of those old Bungles teams from a generation past that couldn’t do anything right.
“This is not how we play football,” Newman said. “It’s embarrassing. We flat out got embarrassed today. There’s nothing else I can say about it.”
At least he talked.
Several of the other Bengals veterans who usually have plenty to say fled the dressing room without talking to the media throng. Maybe they too were embarrassed. They should be.
The Bengals had just 27 total yards in the first half – that’s the fewest by any NFL team in a half in more than a year. They never crossed midfield until 11:14 of the fourth quarter and only ran eight plays all day in Colts territory.
Cincinnati converted just one of 13 third down attempts , had just eight first downs to the Colts 27 and Kevin Huber had to punt the ball away 11 times, tying a Bengals franchise record.
After the game Bengals coach Marvin Lewis summed up his team’s effort, saying his offense “couldn’t attack” and his defense – once it lost a couple of key starters – ended up “playing from our heels.”
In the process Cincinnati made Colts running back Trent Richardson look like the Alabama All American he once was and not the Cleveland Browns discard he had become.
He finished with 118 total yards (77 rushing, 41 receiving) and fellow back Ahmad Bradshaw added a combined 88 yards. And Colts quarterback Andrew Luck completely overshadowed Dalton. throwing for 344 yards and two touchdowns.
Part of the Bengals problem is injuries. They were again without their two top receivers, A.J, Green and Marvin Jones, and Sunday they lost linebacker Vontaze Burfict (cervical strain) and cornerback Leon Hall (back strain) to injuries, as well.
Burfict’s situation is especially troublesome. He suffered a concussion in the first game this season and another in the second. He’s missed playing time because of them since and last week he was in and out of the lineup because of jarring hits.
He lowered his head to tackle the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Luck and the hit left him sprawled, then sitting in pain on the field. Once he was helped to the sideline, he never returned.
Lewis again tried to say as little as he could about Burfict’s health issues.
“A cervical strain is what it is,” he said before moving on to another question.
Newman, the oldest Bengal, a guy in his 12th season playing NFL defense, touched on the subject a little more:
“I don’t know what happened. He said it was a stinger. But you’re always worried when a teammate gets a couple of concussions. I don’t know if the stinger is related or not. He’s a great football player and to lose someone like that is heartbreaking.”
He said the guys who filled in for Burfict, Hall and the other injured players have to step up: “They’ve got to know they’re here for a reason. They have God-given talent and coaches saw that talent. Now you’ve got to trust in yourself.”
He talked about guys trying to do too much and ending up not handling their own assignments: “You start to press. The biggest thing is we’ve got to keep believing in each other. … Guys just have to step up and play some football and understand, ‘Hey, you’re not a rookie (anymore) when you’re out there playing.’
“We’ve got to get our confidence back. Coach said we have to play like our hair’s on fire. I don’t have any hair,” he said rubbing his shaved head, “but got hair on my chest, I guess. So I’ll play with my hair on fire.”
If Newman’s tone hinted at the urgency that is here for this floundering team, Dalton took more of a Pollyanna approach.
He did say that this was “a wake-up call,” but then said there’s “no reason to be concerned. We’ve had too much going for us and too much at stake. It’s still a long season left. … It’s not that we’ve lost our swagger, but we’ve got to play with it every week.”
And the Bengals didn’t have it Sunday. Even the woman who accosted him on the field sensed that.
“Did she try to give you a kiss, too?” Dalton was asked.
The question took him aback a bit: “Aaah, no, no.”
Then again why would she waste a smooch?
No kiss was turning this frog into a prince.
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