Bengals vs. Houston (Rematch) Game Thread

[RiverRat13]

Beginning to think Dalton's ceiling is lower than we thought...

I've started to worry the same for a couple of months now.

[Sea Ray]

Terrible call. Fair catch much to late.

I do think it was a late fair catch call but he ran him over before the ball even got to him making the fair catch issue irrelevant. You're not allowed to do that even if no fair catch had been signaled

[Sea Ray]

Looking to the offseason, I want to see at least one pick on offense. We need someone who can create in open space and one of the players I would love to see is Tavon Austin from West Virginia. He could be an impact on special teams, be used out of the backfield, or opposite AJ Green. Upgrades at linebacker would be nice as well, especially given Maualuga's abysmal performance tonight.

Indeed we need a home run threat out of the backfield who can catch the ball. We also need LBs who can cover RBs and TEs. Don't you think Dalton would love to throw to wide open RBs and TEs like Schaub saw today?

[Sea Ray]

I've started to worry the same for a couple of months now.

I think Dalton needs to be pushed. I'd like to see them draft a hungry, athletic young QB this year (like a Colin Kaepernick) to backup Dalton and be ready to take his job if the opportunity presents itself. In addition to his long ball problems, Dalton is not scanning the field. He rarely looks off a receiver and he seems to not find the most wide open guys.

[5TimeWSChamps]

Marvin = Dusty

Both guys have taken their teams as far as they can.

Until changes are made, we are at the furthest point we will be at.

[Benihana]

Depends how you look at it. Sure we dealt with some injuries and underachieved early, but there's no doubt that we were a better team this year. We beat the SB champions, the Steelers with everything on the line, and played the last 8 weeks in virtual must win games and still made it in. Obviously just speaking for myself, but I'm pleased with what we accomplished this year. I was never under the impression that we were a serious SB contender. This is a big offseason though, because we aren't that far away.

I dunno what happened to our offense. Maybe it was Sanu getting hurt, maybe it was Cook returning, or maybe it's that guys like Wade Phillips and Dick Lebeau can just outcoach Jay Gruden...but about 5 weeks ago that team would have won today.

No, 10-7 is 10-7. Last year, the Bengals beat 0 playoff teams. This year, they beat 1.

Marvin needs to go but he won't.
Gruden and Dalton are both what they are, league average. Nothing more nothing less (at least at this point).
Zimmer and Atkins are two of the best at what they do. While along with Dunlap, he was somewhat invisible today, Johnson needs to be re-signed. Ditto Andre Smith.

Jermaine Gresham is a colossal disappointment. He has flashes of decency, but I'm afraid he's like the Wily Mo Pena of football.

Malauga is just a bust, plain and simple.

Bengals need a #2 WR (Jones, Hawk, and maybe Sanu are all good #3s). Dalton needs all the help he can get, as his upside is clearly limited, and right now he doesn't appear to have it.
Bengals need a complimentary back for Law Firm.
Bengals need another very good LB and an upgrade at SS, and that's assuming Dre Kirkpatrick can actually get on the field and play to his alleged potential.

I question whether Marvin will ever win a playoff game. We all know he is a horrible game coach, and any playoff team will be able to outcoach and outplan him. I'd love to see him step aside and give Zimmer his chance to coach this team.

[Cooper]

This is very simplified analysis, but it seemed to me the game came down to the tight ends .vs the middle linebackers. The Texans TE was able to create a huge amount of space against Rey Maulauga and Gresham could not create any space against their coverage. I'm sure some of that comes down to scheme ie...how was Houston able to clear out all that space and make it so obvious that Ray cannot cover anyone. I also saw Gresham matched up against a cornerback or 2 but didn't sit down or box them out like usual TE's can do. I'm gonna guess at least 6 catches of 12 or more yards were against Ray M in space -lots of space.
I have nothing to base this on -the Bengals MLB doesn't appear to be the smartest guy in the world.
If anything - Dalton needs to have less options - he appears to be overwhelmed with too may things to decipher, thus he does nothing - indecision has taken over his game. The guy appears to be bright and maybe in 3 years he'll be able to handle check downs and reads much quicker - right now he's just too overwhelmed. Same things happens in baseball when you turn a starter into a reliever -they trash their worst 2 pitches and get down to what they do best -sometimes simple is better.

[moewan]

When you don't have a touchdown on offense for three weeks in a row, you just are not going to go anywhere.