Game thread: Bengals and Steelers - part deux

[Johnny Footstool]

And none of those fumbles resulted in a TO. The fumble TO was Ward's. Parker's second fumble was a helmet on ball collision.

Right, but it does prove that the Bengals' knack for turnovers isn't all luck. They are actually skilled at stripping the ball and intercepting passes.

[wheels]

Oh man.

Yesterday's win seems to be one of those games that we'll think of years and years from now.

Like the 81 Freezer Bowl, and subsequent Super Bowl (I was seven, and locked myself in my closet at halftime so nobody could see me cry), the 88 AFC Championship and Super Bowl, the 61-7 win over Houston, The Last Playoff Appearance, and the "You Don't Live in Cleveland" game.

Wow.

I'm just realizing this.

[wheels]

Right, but it does prove that the Bengals' knack for turnovers isn't all luck. They are actually skilled at stripping the ball and intercepting passes.

I think there's some validity to that.

In most games, the opposing team will make a mistake or two, and the team with good ball awareness and positioning will take advantage of them. It's mostly a by product of good coaching.

But there's also a luck factor involved, and I'm not sure a gawdy +24 turnover ratio is something that can be counted on and repeated from year to year.

I'm enjoying it this season, and the defense will get better with a healthy Madieu Williams, and hopefully some productive accquisitions, along with continued maturation from guys like Thurman and Pollack next season.

[traderumor]

I think there's some validity to that.

In most games, the opposing team will make a mistake or two, and the team with good ball awareness and positioning will take advantage of them. It's mostly a by product of good coaching.

But there's also a luck factor involved, and I'm not sure a gawdy +24 turnover ratio is something that can be counted on and repeated from year to year.

I'm enjoying it this season, and the defense will get better with a healthy Madieu Williams, and hopefully some productive accquisitions, along with continued maturation from guys like Thurman and Pollack next season.

Most of the margin is INT's (skill), not fumbles (more luck involved).

[traderumor]

There's a good reason for that. It helps them figure out how to put the helmets on. "Logo goes on the right."

That would explain why the Browns have to go over that in training camp, then. You just don't want guys with their facemasks guarding the back of their head.

[CrackerJack]

So you and I are the same age. I remember the BBSs. I had a 300 baud modem back in the late 80s and I can remember thinking that I had something fairly high tech. I remember one board boasting that they had a 1 meg hard drive. Now that's some massive storage space.

You could go into a record store and still find records. Most of the aisles were full of cassettes, with the LPs off to the side and a really small section with those new CDs.

I had a VCR that had a remote with a really long cord that plugged into the front of the machine.

I think I once paid about $10.00 for a blue seat at a Reds game.

And when San Francisco won the NFC championship so they could play the Bengals in the Super Bowl, I was so glad because I wanted payback from '81. I HATED San Fran back then, and the result of the '88 Super Bowl only cemented it. There is a part of me that still wishes they were playing well so that we could play them in another Super Bowl soon and have a chance for a payback.

Hehe, I hear ya.

I had a 14.4k modem and it was blazin! My PC only needed 4MB's of RAM, and my Mac had a 33mhz processor - and it cost me over $2,000, and that was a few years after 1990.

The term DVD did not exist.

Reds' tickets were $5 for the upper red and the both teams played at Riverfront and of course the Reds' just won a WS and were supposed to dominate the 90's.

Mason OH was still a cow town with a lot of fields and empty spaces.

Football players still wore neck rolls and hip pads.

Cars came with ash trays by default still, and people smoked en masse in the hallways between classes at NKU where I went to school.

[westofyou]

And when San Francisco won the NFC championship so they could play the Bengals in the Super Bowl, I was so glad because I wanted payback from '81. I HATED San Fran back then,

Try moving there after 81 and living with that for 10 plus years.

I STILL hate them.

[OldRightHander]

Football players still wore neck rolls and hip pads.

Cars came with ash trays by default still, and people smoked en masse in the hallways between classes at NKU where I went to school.

I remember the hip pads. I was just a kicker in HS and I still had to wear them. I never wore the neck roll though.

I was at NKU from '88-'91. It seemed like everyone smoked all over campus and I had to hold my breath in some of the hallways.

[westofyou]

people smoked en masse in the hallways between classes at NKU where I went to school.

I had a prof at UC that let us smoke in class, she did as well.

[Johnny Footstool]

Most of the margin is INT's (skill), not fumbles (more luck involved).

Don't forget the fact that the Bengals are tied for an NFL-low 13 giveaways. They protect the ball like crazy.

[westofyou]

Don't forget the fact that the Bengals are tied for an NFL-low 13 giveaways. They protect the ball like crazy.

Johnny haven't you been listening?

The Bengals suck and are lucky.

[Johnny Footstool]

The Bengals suck and are lucky.

Jason Whitlock, is that you?

[SteelSD]

Terrific- a Browns and a Steelers fan discussing how good the Bengals are. How is the view today boys? 2 back with 4 to go? Don't like your chances, do you? Oh- and good luck against the Bears next week (the Bengals beat them, if you'll remember).

As soon as Pitt had to start a single game with Tommy Maddox at QB, I knew they had issues. In fact, I knew they had issues when the decided that Cedric Wilson was their #2 receiver and that Larry Foote was allegedly an answer at ILB. You don't need to try to trash talk. I completely understand (and understood) what Pitt's outlook was from the get-go.

Well, they lined up pretty well against the Colts, didn't they?

Or weren't they healthy and playing good football?

Pittsburgh did? What? Did you actually watch the Pitt/Indy game???

Look- you can come up with whatever diatribe you want, the Bengals did well today, especially playing on the road. To somehow suggest that they were lucky because Pittsburgh shot themselves in the foot or was playing poorly coming in...I mean, c'mon, that pretty much describes 95% of every team's losses.

I "suggested" nothing of the sort. Cincy quite obviously deserved to win that football game. However, if you think allowing 31 points to THAT offense bodes well for the future, you've got quite the skewed outlook on things.

You're just mad that the catapult you use to jettison that lard butt Bettis didn't work this time.

Weak.

Pittsburgh was playing poorly coming in for two reasons: one, they didn't have Roethlisberger when they lost to Baltimore. Secondly, they ran into a team named the Indianapolis Colts last week. Most teams have come up weak against them, haven't they? And both of those games were on the road.

They lost to a putz of a Baltimore team and played stupidly against the Colts. The offense has been sputtering for quite some time now- particularly their offensive line.

I'm not buying this woe is me over the Steelers.

They are something like 28-2 with Big Ben playing, so to beat them was simply awesome.

And a bunch of those wins didn't happen this season. See, THIS season isn't LAST season. That's kinda' easy for most folks to figure out. It's not the same team. THIS season's Pitt team deserved what they got on Sunday.

Sounds like someone is making excuses after taking a big swig of sour grape juice.

Actually, all I was doing was giving an assessment of where Pitt currently is. You're reading far too much into things.

Oh yeah, those awful Steelers. They just play bad fundamental football. They just lost their first road game in over a year, probably, and they went to the AFC championship game last year. Yeah, they're just terrible.

I tell you, if they constantly shoot themselves in the foot, they better get some target practice- quick.

Pitt does play bad fundamental football at the worst possible times. And again, LAST season isn't THIS season. LAST season, they were good enough to overcome that. THIS season, they are not. That's not a difficult concept for most folks to grasp. You, however...

[SteelSD]

Tab Perry dragged a guy 25 yards, and you want to say he didn't do anything to earn the return? Dude, I respect the hell out of you, but whatever.

I was talking about the initial coverage- not Ike Taylor's tackle attempt (there was no way he was going to drag down Perry with Perry having a full head of steam). Certainly Perry did a nice job on that.

The coverage itself was awful. Perry did nothing to break that run but simply head to the sideline and turn down the field. Kickoff coverage has been a serious issue all year long for Pitt- particularly (and don't ask me why) after scores. They've consistently handed points back to their opponents because of poor coverage all season long, so I wasn't at all surprised when they didn't contain Perry. That's all I was saying- that I wasn't surprised because it's something Pittsburgh isn't good at.

[wheels]

Most of the margin is INT's (skill), not fumbles (more luck involved).

Agreed.

Those corners aren't the fastest guys in the league, but their ball skills are as good as it gets.

Btw...I'm not saying the Bengals have been lucky at all.

Can't always count on turnovers is all.