Go Saints!

[BuckWoody]

We need to let Carson do the playcalling and keep the no huddle... nothing better than a QB draw with Carson in the first half on like the 3 yd line

Also, 111 yds for Rudi and 275 yds for Carson is just about optimal balance. 3rd down QB draw aside, I thought today's game was very well called.

I heard a few folks talking about that draw this morning and I think it was a busted play. Watson was supposed to slip over and take that ball on the delayed handoff and he screwed it up. Carson made a quick motion like he was getting ready to hand it off then saw his back wasn't there and made the best of it. I don't think that play was ran as called from Bratkowski.

In other football news, McNabb is out for the season with a torn ACL.

swirl...swirl...swirl...swirl...gurgle...gurgle... gurgle...glub...glub...plop. That was the sound of my fantasy season going down the drain.

[traderumor]

Don't get me wrong...I love Marvin but, I mean, for a guy that's supposed to be a defensive guru...dude, you'd think he could come up with some kind of a scheme that limits the other team to, I don't know, 400 yards passing...maybe?

Again, Marvin's responsibility for the D is personnel and hiring the D coordinator. He would have to fire his D coordinator and take over the duties himself to invoke the "thought he was a defensive guru" line. His responsibilities changed, now his job is to draft and sign the right personnel and hire a good D coordinator, or be the D coordinator himself, which is not desirable so that he can captain the ship. Do you want the captain of the ship to work just with the rowers? Meanwhile, the ship has veered off course and is going to fast and is about to run into some rocks.

[macro]

Maybe I should have instead said that "moving the ball on offense" shouldn't be a problem for the Saints. They didn't score many points, but Drew Brees' 510 passing yards set a franchise record, and the Saints had almost 600 yards of total offense. There's not a worse defense in the National Football League right now than the Cincinnati Bengals'.

The new rankings are out, and the statistics now bear out my opinion from yesterday. The Bengals are now ranked dead last in the NFL in overall defense and dead last in the NFL against the pass. FWIW, six teams have allowed more points than they have.

Will Bresnahan be back as defensive coordinator?

[TeamSelig]

We basically ran all the way down there to the goal line, and then ran on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd down. Each time we were shut down easily. All we had to do was run a PA in there somewhere and we've got 6 more points.

[Redsland]

I think Carson's playcalling in the No Huddle was leading to a lot of the problems with the stagnant offense. Before last week's game it was reported Bratkowski would have more play calling responsibility. I think that's the reason you're seeing more attacks vertically.

Also, 111 yds for Rudi and 275 yds for Carson is just about optimal balance. 3rd down QB draw aside, I thought today's game was very well called.

I thought they moved the ball well, but the Bengals have an incredibly simple offensive scheme, and I can't figure out why other teams are letting them get away with it. Only Bill Belichick seems to have noticed that:

- When the Bengals line up in the I formation, four times out of five, they hand off to the deep back and run up the gut.

- When the Bengals line up in any other formation, including the offset I, four times out of five, they pass.

- When the Bengals audible at the line of scrimmage, four times out of five, it's to a run.

- Every game will feature exactly two end-arounds (which Dick Enberg will refer to as "reverses").

- Despite the fact that the I formation is our base running formation, when passing out of it, play action is to be used only once per half.

- First down is a good time to run. If that play leads to second-and-long, that's an even better time to run.

Other observations:

- When Carson misses, he misses high. If you can pressure him within a Cover 3 scheme, you'll get some chances to intercept misses and tips.

- We have a 1,400-yard running back, but never run sweeps. It's always between the tackles. Yesterday we ran two sweeps total. One was a slow-developing play out of the I that was doomed from the start. (If you usually run up the gut out of the I, why would you show that look and then run something that takes longer to develop?) The other sweep turned into a 22-yard gainer for Rudi. Use this weapon more.

Given the Bengals' iron-clad tendencies above, I have no idea how Rudi is able to do what he does, or why the rest of the offense performs as well as it does. It should be easy to figure out when to put nine guys in the box, when to blitz, and when to play straight-up. But somehow they're able to get it done.

[SandyD]

This was in the Times-Pic today.