Amidst Injuries and Adversity, Bengals Keep Grinding and Improving
By walzav31
Sept 23, 2012; Landover,MD, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback
Andy Dalton(14) dives to gain yardage against the Washington Redskins during the first quarter at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Paul Frederiksen-US PRESSWIRE
What do you get when you combine the likability of Ron Howard, the swagger of Danny Bonaduce, and the arms of Carrot Top? You get the cream of the 2011 quarterback crop, Andy Dalton. While Cam Newton flashes the million dollar smile and the well-rehearsed Super-Man poses. The Red Dragon just throws touchdowns and gets wins. He leads. He has a NFL leading 151.7 quarterback rating in the fourth quarter. Has that genius Greg Cosell been watching? Sorry. I was on a rant.
The defense woke up this week, and added six more sacks bringing their league leading total to 17. The more the offense jumps out to an early lead. The more this defense can tee off. The star of the preseason Dontay Moch will return Sunday and he had 3.5 sacks in the preseason. It will be interesting to see all the pieces come together. Zimmer is far from happy, but it’s a start. If the cornerbacks ever get healthy they can start living up to the high expectations they had to start the season. It will be interesting to see what happens when the FOUR 1st round cornerbacks get healthy and in the lineup.
This week will be a grind. This week teams will fall out of the race, and other teams will pull ahead. The Dolphins are 1-3. Another loss and the hole will be pretty deep, in a division with Tom Brady. The Bengals at 3-1 are naturally going to start feeling good about themselves. Desperation vs. Relaxation could lead to trouble. I look for the Bengals to grind out another victory.
Everyone outside of Who-Dey nation will keep saying they haven’t beaten anyone until they beat Pittsburgh on Oct. 21st. It will be a mental battle the next two weeks, to maintain the level of consistency against the bad teams now, because God knows the Bengals will have plenty of difficult games as the season goes along. If they take it one week at a time, the destination may truly be New Orleans.
Want more Bengals news? Like Stripe Hype on Facebook, or grab our RSS feed.
walzav31@twitter.com