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[ I Am Bengal – Hear Me Roar (Page 4)
] Just a little bye-week stats action for the moment, but trust me, I've an absolute doozy of a game to report on a bit later. Oooh, the suspense. ;) Week 7, then, and our injured players creep one week closer to getting back in the lineup as the rest of the lads have a bit of time to relax and quietly marvel at a 4-2 record. Astonishingly, it's our offence that's been doing the damage - no-one but the Steelers have scored more points than we have, and no-one but the Cowboys have conceded more. We're two games behind the undefeated Steelers, but at this early stage of the season we're right up there in the chase for a wildcard spot. Our division looks like this: Pittsburgh Steelers:
6-0 Stat leaders in Bengalville as of the bye week, for those of you who just can't get enough numbers: AKILI SMITH COREY DILLON DANIEL GRAHAM PETER WARRICK In selected highlights from the defence/special teams... we've managed four sacks and 3 interceptions, total, over six games. We've also managed a grand total of 7 yards from 4 punts returned. Yep, it's true, we really -don't- stop teams all that often. Oh, and Nick Harris is averaging a pathetic 18.5 net yards per punt. On the special-teams upside, Gary Anderson is yet to miss a kick, and Andre Dyson and Chad Johnson have a touchdown apiece on kick returns, with averages (27.6 and 24.8 yards respectively) that put them very much in the top-tier of NFL returners. So, what's the plan for the second half of the season? Well... more of the same, really. Our defence is going to suck at least until Takeo Spikes gets back to fitness, and there's not much we can do about that. I elect not to sign a free-agent to replace Chad Cota at strong safety, and instead we'll give 2nd-year man Aric Morris (OVR 66) a chance to show us what he can do. Not much, most likely, but I live to be surprised. On offence, it ain't broke, so you're not going to see me with a screwdriver in my hand. The only slight tinker I want to try and make is to get our talent at wide-receiver a bit more involved in the game, but if we keep clocking up 28-30 points a game, you know, I'll live with having balance issues. And so, rested and refreshed, we're as ready as we'll ever be to welcome the visit of that scary-looking bloke with the 'tache whose name I keep forgetting, and the Tennessee Titans... ... Week 8, and in to the depths of darkest Bengalville come the Tennessee Titans. Jeff Whatshisname, Steve McNair, Eddie George and company. This is going to be tough, but with the week off to prepare I'm absolutely certain it's winnable. Their linebacker corps isn't great, and their secondary is decidedly dodgy. The former should let us run all day, which will set up the latter to be exploited deep. "Deep passing?" says a member of the Bengalville faithful. "What's that?" "You remember..." replies the guy next to him. "It's what Shaun King did to us about seven hundred times the other week." Swine. Okay. It seems to be becoming a bit of a local tradition that we have an eventful first play from scrimmage. Never one to let the fans down, Corey Dillon takes the handoff on a simple lead run up the middle, breaks a tackle or two, carries a linebacker the rest of the way to the 1st down marker... then fumbles. Tennessee recover at our 29, and it takes them four plays to find the endzone, Eddie George tearing us up then McNair chucking a couple of sneaky out-routes, and we're seven down almost before the fans have found their seats. Alright, alright, let's not panic. Anything they can do, we can do better. Our runners spend an entertaining couple of minutes making a mockery of their front seven, Dillon, Lorenzo Neal and Akili Smith just carving them to ribbons. Then, when Jeff Scary-Tache starts to bring the safeties up to contain us, Peter Warrick beats Samari Rolle all-ends-up on a post-in, takes the pass in stride and strolls in for a 28 yard reception and the tying score. Oooh, that'll be the warm, fuzzy feeling of something going to plan... The crowd are getting into it, now, and out come our D, all revved up and ready to go. Ready to go backwards. Quickly. Ah, nuts. 14-7. Okay. You boys just sit down, let the offence handle this. They've wised up a little now, it's not quite so easy going trying to run, but we're still making progress, until, on a 4th and 1 at the Titans' 40, I mess up my audibles and call a play-action pass when I wanted a halfback up the belly, and Daniel Graham drops a pass while trying to fight through double coverage. Nadgers. Okay, defence, in you come... Okay, defence, out you go again... 21-7. This is starting to become a bit of a concern. Come ON, boys. Come on, Akili, lad, you can do it, you can do it... what are you doing? Wha... No! Not the guys in the white! Oh, GOD... George and McNair have a jolly time wandering around eleven defensive players who all seem to have brought notes from their mothers excusing them from tackling. 28-7, and I'm considering sending the cheerleading squad in in place of my secondary after the break. Now I know, I know, I swore off last-minute-before-the-half attempted-drives after I had two go completely pear-shaped on me in consecutive weeks... but, you know, damn. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We're 21 points down, the Titans will get the ball back off the kickoff and my D is about as frightening as a hamster with a flick-knife. Yes, alright, there's already no hope, but if we don't get points here the score could end up absolutely ridiculous. So. Akili airs it out to Graham over the middle, to Willie Jackson posting in off the left sideline, then to Graham once again who thunders down the opposite sideline and is eventually dragged out at the 5. Corey Dillon smashes through the heart of the Tennessee defence and at least the scoreboard's just an embarrassment now, as opposed to a tragedy. Halftime, TEN 28-14 CIN. We are now, officially, panicking. The two teams' offensive production is actually almost identical, in both passing and running, but the turnovers are absolutely killing us, and there's no way we can even have a slim hope of getting back into this game without the defence doing something, anything, to help. Fifteen minutes are spent in the lockerroom with myself and the defensive coordinator jumping up and down yelling "TACKLE! TACKLE, YOU OVERPAID FOOLS! TACKLE! TACKLE! FOR GOD'S SAKE, FRICKING TACKLE! TACKLE SOMETHING! TACKLE ANYTHING! JUST TACKLE!" at the defensive starters (that's how they coach in the pros, you know) and out we troop once again, with the sworn intent of keeping the score under 50. I live in hope. We've nothing to lose, now, so we go after their running game with everything we have (ie, not a lot). I now have 3 middle linebackers playing in the 4-3, with Bernardo Harris coming in to fill in the left side. Perhaps it's the change of scheme, perhaps it's the Titans coming out expecting things to stay as easy as they were in the first half, but from somewhere we conjure up our first defensive stop of the day. They punt, and we drive. Offensively, the plan's stayed the same, it's still run-and-gun, and it's still working and they still haven't figured out how to stop both the pass and the ground game. Unless we stop ourselves - we call a rollout pass, Akili doesn't like what he sees and takes off instead, the safety comes up and clobbers him at the two... out comes the ball, and my heart's in my mouth, but somehow a Cincinnati player gets to the bottom of the dogpile and we're still in it. The next play Akili gets his revenge, diving over and we're seven down. The Titans' running game has definitely hit a speedbump, and so they're having to rely on McNair to get them out of trouble. Justin Smith comes ripping off the right side with a hit that knocks McNair out of the game - only for a handful of plays, but even a little Gus Frerotte is enough to remind me why I traded the bum, and enough for us to get them to 4th down and punting the ball away. They haven't found an answer to straight-ahead running yet, so they get some more questions. And, to prove they've learned nothing, Tennessee once again bring a safety to try and stem the flow, and once again get Samari Rolle roasted to a crisp by Peter Warrick, 33 yards this time. Do you like your cornerback rare or well-done? And good crikey, we've only gone and tied it up! 28-28, 4:41 to play. I'm running out of nails to bite, and the Titans are trying to show patience and give us no time to get back in it. But the defence's collective tails are up, now, and the crowd is absolutely roaring them on - the Titans start to slow down, and then stop completely at our 36, as nickelback Jeff Burris makes an outstanding tackle all alone in the open field to put Eddie George on the deck on third down a yard short of the first. I'm so paranoid about the fake kick we come out in a nickel formation, but there's no tricks, just Joe Nedney dropping his looooooong fieldgoal waaaaaaay short. Just past the two-minute warning, 3 timeouts in hand. Watch out, endzone, here we come! It's a bruising drive, and both Akili Smith and Corey Dillon are knocked out of it along the way, but we're on a charge, buoyed up by the fans and by the desire not to fall short now we're so close to what would be a fantastic comeback - and as players fall, others are just stepping up to the breech and marching steadily onward. Jon Kitna completes a pass to 4th wideout Ron Dugans on 3rd and long to keep the drive alive, while Lorenzo Neal has become our feature-back in Corey's absence, and it's Neal who puts the tin lid on the series, with two runs that just bulldoze up the gut, and it doesn't matter -how- many players the Titans put there, it just gives him more bodies to knock over... AND WE'RE AHEAD! WE'RE AHEAD! AND THERE'S ONLY... Oh, God, there's a whole minute thirteen to play... We've left them too much time, we've left them -way- too much time. Our poor secondary is coming back to haunt us as Tennessee march downfield much too easily. In a flash, they're at our 22, 1st and 10 with 20 seconds to play, but they're out of timeouts, and a field goal won't do it. Here we go. This is the game. The crowd are screaming, like they've been for most of the second half, it seems. Tennessee set up in a 5WR spread formation, which means they'll get to see just how deep my secondary doesn't go... 1st down - McNair looks for Kevin Dyson on a post-in. It's a perfect throw, it's a perfect catch... but then from out of nowhere comes my personal hero, Jeff Burris, who hits Dyson so damned hard he's lucky he doesn't lose his ribcage along with the ball. Jesus... 2nd down - McNair to Dyson on a post-corner, another perfect ball, Dyson goes up, Dyson gets it, Dyson comes down... Dyson's out of bounds. I breathe again. The booth announces they're reviewing it. I can't look. "After reviewing the play, the ruling on the field... stands." God... damn this drama. Get that referee's name, we need to send him a cheerleader or something... 3rd down - McNair to Dyson on a crossing route. Have to think that Steve's getting a bit of tunnel-vision, because his man's triple-covered and there has to have been a better option - oh, well. Batted away by the Bengals Secondary Collective. 4th down - Dyson sprints for the endzone, he's in traffic, no worries... oh, Christ, it's a hook... he puts on the brakes, my corner doesn't and he's wiiiide open... back goes the McNair arm, and in comes the pass like a cannonball, dead straight, quick as lightning, giving my boys no time at all to recover position... up come Dyson's hands AND THE BALL SHOOTS RIGHT PAST HIS SHOULDER WITHOUT HIM LAYING A FRICKING FINGER ON IT! AHAHAHAHAAAAA! BENGALS WIN! BENGALS WIIIIIIIIIINNNN! Um... anyway. Final score, TEN 28-35 CIN, and we've scored 28 unanswered points to come back from absolutely nowhere. What did I tell you? Nothing but scintillating football this season down in Bengalville! I'm going for a little lie-down, now. This is all making me far too excitable. :) ... In an ever-so-slightly freaky coincidence, my Bengals and the so-called "real" Bengals are now in almost perfect synch. So you might regard this game as some sort of uncanny prediction of how Cincinnati are going to go in Houston this Sunday. But then again, you might not. You know. Whatever works. Houston, then, and the terribly-imaginatively-named Texans. Surely if this is the way the naming thing works, then we should have teams like the Tennessee Rednecks, the New York New Yorkers and the New York Different New Yorkers To The Other Lot Of New Yorkers... I mean, it's not quite as silly as, say, naming your team the Browns and then having an orange helmet as your team's logo, but there's a certain "well, duh" factor, isn't there? Um. Sorry. The Texans, yeah. This was the game, the one game that I'd seen in the schedule and marked down as a definite tick in the W column. Okay, so they had the edge over us at quarterback (but, hell, doesn't everyone?) and their o-line is pretty damned good, but their defence is horrible, even by our low standards, and they've receivers that even the Cincinnati secondary should own. We win the toss, again, my trusty double-headed coin doing its work once more, and brace ourselves for the customary insane first play from scrimmage. Corey Dillon takes the toss, sweeps outside, picks up a block and... is tackled, for a gain of five. Oh. What a letdown. Second play - seeing a weakside blitz coming, we counter by sending Dillon pretty much straight up the middle on the strongside. He takes his time, waits for the blockers to get up ahead and get the defenders engaged... and the next thing we know, Corey's a little orange-and-black spot in the distance, having gone 62 yards untouched for the opening score. Ah, okay, we were obviously just running a bit late... Ahh... seems like the Texans like the outside running game. We know how to deal with that. They nick a couple of first downs through the air, but Walls manages 4 yards in 3 rushes, and good God if our defence hasn't stopped someone! Hmm. Speed's a problem for this Houston D. We run, we pass, we look like we're running, then we pass, we look like we're passing, then we run... Akili Smith gets 30 yards in a pair of scrambles outside, while Dillon deals the punishment inside, including a 2-yard rumble to put us up 14-0. Criminy, is that..? No, it can't be. It is! Our defence has just put someone 3-and-out! My worldview is shaken to its very core - what sort of madness is this? The following drive, Akili spots the Texans' strong safety ambling nonchalantly toward the line and trying to look inconspicuous, and calls a run that goes the other way. Corey Dillon gets past the line, then cuts back into the wiiiiiiiide open spaces where the strong safety should be, eventually getting dragged down at the Houston 32, a pickup of 18. That run helps set up the deep play-pass to Peter Warrick, who nets his third TD catch in 2 games, we're 3 touchdowns up and the second quarter's barely started. Wow. This must be what it feels like to coach a good team... Kickoff, then, and long-time Jet Aaron Glenn naturally takes it back 92 yards. Yeah, okay. Knock yourself out, man, that's the only way your boys are getting on the scoreboard... The thing about playing a 3-4 defence is that if your opponent has a powerful runner who can operate between the tackles, you're in for a really, really long day. We've found this out in painful detail this season. And now the Texans are finding it out, too, because Lorenzo Neal and Corey Dillon are taking the chance to pad their season stats. A long drive ends with Dillon once again showing patience as he tracks Neal through a narrow hole on the Houston left and then screams away 22 yards to the endzone, the cornerback on that side already having been drawn away by motion. 28-7, and the travelling Bengals faithful are in good voice: "Are you Cleveland in disguise? Arrre you Cleve-land in dis-guise?" They pretty soon shut up again as the Texans go 60 yards in 7 plays and get back within two scores. I breathe a sigh of relief - ah, yes, this is -much- more the sort of defensive performance I'm used to. We march, we run out of time, Gary Anderson slots a 40-yarder and we're into the locker-room, 31-14 up. Corey Dillon's got 130 yards on the ground already, and I'm seriously considering pulling him for the second half, 'cause this one's obviously in the bag already... First drive of the second half, and whatever insanity that infected my defence for the first quarter or so has obviously passed, because they're back to being their reassuringly useless selves. David Carr puts the ball deep to Gaffney 3 straight passes, we let him make the catch three straight times and the Texans are just 10 down. So much for the bench-Corey plan, then. We're in clock-killing mode already, using the pass only as a change-up, grinding out yards on the ground. We drive deep into Houston territory, then Akili's 45 AWR comes back to bite us, when he doesn't see the robber while trying to find Peter Warrick at the back of the endzone. Pick. Touchback. Nuts. March, march, go Houston. But we know they can't run on us, so we can key on the pass. Carr's starting to get pressure, starting to get knocked down. Sam Adams rolls through the line to sack the rookie, putting the Texans into a 3rd and 11 situation. In the following play, I'm cursing all the pigskin gods as Carr gets off a perfect deep shot to Gaffney despite having Adams draped all over him... The next play, though, it's one ball forced deep out of pressure too many, and Andre Dyson nips in front of Gaffney to pick the pass off. HA! Four minutes to play, no worries. That's it. Game over. Or it -would- be game over, if Akili learned to spot that underneath defender lurking in the passing lane. Interception. Again. Damn. 4 plays, 50 yards, 31-28. This is way closer than it should be, and way too close for me to be comfortable... Houston kick the onside, and at the second attempt we recover and run it back to their 16. Run, run, play-pass - Akili showing real guts to stick in the pocket and give the play time to develop. Daniel Graham sneaks into the flat, a mile open, Smith pulls the trigger and the tight end's in for his first TD since Week 1. Houston take the kickoff and quickly drive down to score. Obviously. But we recover the second onside kick of the game, and run out the last fifteen seconds. Somehow, we've snuck yet another win out of yet another shootout, despite playing complete toilet for pretty much the whole second half. This defence is a real, -real- problem. Final score CIN 38-35 HOU - the star player clearly Corey Dillon, 26 rushes for 174 yards and 3 scores. We're now 6-2, two games behind the Steelers and a game ahead of the Ravens, who we've yet to play. And who have a pretty handy power inside rusher. Oh dear... [
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