The Cincinnati Bengals missed another field goal that would have sealed a win on Saturday night. However, it is not just the kickers fault in a very weak performance by the offense for most of the game against Houston.
The Cincinnati Bengals went to Houston on Christmas Eve and had a chance to win with :05 left on the clock. Randy Bullock, who took over for the struggling Mike Nugent, gave Bengals fans a look at what they just left, when he missed a last second field goal and 10-12 loss.
That wasn’t the worst of it though. The offense was absent for a majority of the game. Andy Dalton only really found his groove in the second half with a touchdown pass to Brandon LaFell for 86 yards. Take away that pass, Andy Dalton only went for 182 yards the rest of the game and threw one interception.
The Bengals backed off of the Jeremy Hill show, but Rex Burkhead had work ahead of him with the top ranked defense standing across the line. He ran 12 times for 42 yards not to mention his four receptions for 25 yards. Jeremy Hill who saw a much reduced role went eight yards on seven carries.
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We finally saw a halftime adjustment that worked for the Bengals. However, it seems like the adjustment was just taking a game plan around A.J. Green and returning to a game plan from the past four weeks. Ken Zampese’s offense however was terrible in the first half and they couldn’t take advantage of the defense blanking a struggling Texans offense.
Ken Zampese was not calling any effective plays until the final two minutes of the first half when the Bengals finally struck first with a field goal. It wasn’t until the second half, and even then, the third quarter was more of the same. It wasn’t until Brandon LaFell ran a five yard slant and took off that the Bengals offensive numbers spiked and they took the lead back.
The Cincinnati Bengals have one more meaningless game against the Baltimore Ravens, who just lost and ended their playoff chances against the Steelers. The Bengals could at least salvage their division record to 3-3 with a win.