Tua had a nice second half. Good to see a step up from the rookie. Gesicki had some nice catches. We have 8 wins! And the defense had both sacks and pressure. And we didn't pull a Jets.
But gosh that was just a disgusting feeling game. 5 ejections total, including our best player on defense and maybe our best offensive player. Grant with a crucial drop, a bad decision to field a kick deep that left us in terrible field position, and two non-fair catches in a row that resulted in fumbles. The guy is dynamic as hell but its easy to see why every staff who coached him made him split time as a returner with guys who had no chance of a big return. On the play when the game should have been put away Gaskin fumbles some thirty yards downfield. This in addition to some bad reads he made running the ball despite always running hard and making great catches and blocks in the passing game. No third down conversions until the last minute of the game. Very poor red zone play.
We knew we could play a bad game against the Bengals and likely still win. Still, it was a bad game. People said we played down to the Jets last week in a game we won by 17 points. Well, the Jets actually made plays. The Jets at times forced us into bad plays with exceptional pressure and with receivers that showed some talent.Today, outside of the TD pass, the Bengals really didn't make plays in any phase of the game. But there were so many moments where we nearly gave this game to them, only a team with practice squad caliber QBs and with a third down RB starting really couldn't do anything. And Taylor as coach....lol.
Of course happy for the win in a playoff hunt. Happy for a step up up from the QB. But hard to feel great about all the BS that happened in this one. Does not portend well for our tough last 4 games where every team is more than eminently capable of making you pay for leaving the window open, if they don't flat outplay you in the first place.
But gosh that was just a disgusting feeling game. 5 ejections total, including our best player on defense and maybe our best offensive player. Grant with a crucial drop, a bad decision to field a kick deep that left us in terrible field position, and two non-fair catches in a row that resulted in fumbles. The guy is dynamic as hell but its easy to see why every staff who coached him made him split time as a returner with guys who had no chance of a big return. On the play when the game should have been put away Gaskin fumbles some thirty yards downfield. This in addition to some bad reads he made running the ball despite always running hard and making great catches and blocks in the passing game. No third down conversions until the last minute of the game. Very poor red zone play.
We knew we could play a bad game against the Bengals and likely still win. Still, it was a bad game. People said we played down to the Jets last week in a game we won by 17 points. Well, the Jets actually made plays. The Jets at times forced us into bad plays with exceptional pressure and with receivers that showed some talent.Today, outside of the TD pass, the Bengals really didn't make plays in any phase of the game. But there were so many moments where we nearly gave this game to them, only a team with practice squad caliber QBs and with a third down RB starting really couldn't do anything. And Taylor as coach....lol.
Of course happy for the win in a playoff hunt. Happy for a step up up from the QB. But hard to feel great about all the BS that happened in this one. Does not portend well for our tough last 4 games where every team is more than eminently capable of making you pay for leaving the window open, if they don't flat outplay you in the first place.
I'll take it every week. No questions asked.
