So Antwan Odom is out. Oh no. How will the Bengals ever recover? Is it even possible to come back from such a loss? How did the Texans find his one weak spot? After all, this guy was the breakout star of a breakout defense. The story for the Bengals had always been "Great O, No D." Now, their defense was playing well. When outsiders came to search for a reason, this guy they'd never heard of who had eight sacks through or four, or as the case may be, five games seemed like the most likely candidate.
Well, I'm here to say, this team can certainly survive without Antwan Odom. I know he's far from the best source, but check out this article only 7 months ago by ESPN.com's James Walker. He calls Odom the fifth worst signing in the history of the AFC North. Honestly, it looked as bad or worse. Odom wasn't a star in Tennessee. That title fell on Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch. Odom faced single teams every week, and wasn't exactly able to take advantage often. He had 12.5 sacks in 52 games, or about a quarter of a sack per game. Last year, he had three sacks in 12 games.
Ohhh, but this year was different, right? He added 30 pounds! He was over his foot injury! He was leading the league in sacks! All true. He did have eight sacks in five games, but five of those came in one game. Those five sacks didn't come against a Pro Bowl left tackle. They came against Daryn Colledge, who is a left guard forced into playing left tackle due to injury. Take a look for yourself. Five sacks is five sacks, and it's impressive. But did any of those sacks look like a dominating effort? Think of Dwight Freeney, Jared Allen, DeMarcus Ware, and other similar great pass rushers. They use a combination of speed, power, finesse moves, and nonstop effort to get to the quarterback. Can you honestly say that Odom is anywhere in their league?
Really, if I had told you before the season started that Bengals fans would bemoan the loss of Antwan Odom, would you have believed me? What if Chad Clifton doesn't get hurt, and Odom gets two sacks against the Packers instead of five? He'd have five on the season, including one in the last four games. Does anybody even discuss his injury then? I'd imagine the case is no.
The Bengals can survive without Antwan Odom. They'll miss him, but they'll miss him a lot less than national media hacks and a lot of others realize it. So file this away, just in case the Bengals go 7-9 and we hear certain front office people talk about just how darn unlucky the Bengals got in '09 and how '10 will be different.
I agree with what you guys say most of the time, but you are off base here. Odom got 5 sacks against Green Bay, and they still almost beat us so he had a big hand in that win. Also he was drawing double teams and making other teams account for him making it easier for others to put pressure from the 4 man rush or blitz. Now that is gone. He was a big part of that 3rd down defense that got killed last week by Houston. He helped protect the secondary b/c Cincy didn't have to blitz as much putting more into coverage. You can say what you want about what he did last year, but this year he meant a lot.
Posted by: JoseOle | October 23, 2009 at 09:26 AM
I think you are underestimating his worth to the team. Geathers hasn't done much since 2005 when on the field,Rucker/Frostee are backups for a reason and get injured a lot. The key man in all of this is Michael Johnson, but that is asking a lot from a rookie. Hope to see him get it done.
Notice w/o Odom there was little pressure on Schaub and how our db's got burned...
Posted by: Who Dey | October 23, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Or was that more the loss of Peko?
Posted by: Sleeping With Bieniemy | October 23, 2009 at 12:18 PM
I disagree. I think Odom is a good DE and Geathers is an average DE. Odom was getting doubled and other people were getting sacks. Why does Fanene have three sacks already this year. Last year that would have led this team for the season. I think if Fanene and Micheal Johnson can play extremely well, his loss may not be that bad. By the way Utecht was one of the worst free agent signings ever. Losing Odom had little to do with losing to the texans. We lost to the Texans because the coaching staff made no adjustments and we got killed by the scree pass all game.
Posted by: MJ | October 23, 2009 at 12:46 PM
@JoseOle
You might be right that Odom had been extra attention (I can't prove or deny that quantitatively, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to watch all the tape and document it), but Showtime is still right. Don't Freeney, Allen and other top DE's command extra attention too? And they STILL get results. Odom had largely disappeared the last 4 games with extra attention.
Odom is at least a decent DE, but he is not as great as fans and media guys are making him out to be based on a single stat.
Posted by: Major Payne | October 23, 2009 at 12:46 PM
None of these guys is all that good. Ain't a Pro Bowler in the bunch. Why are they making a big deal out of it? Because Mikey Brown needs excuses.
Posted by: FeedMikeBrownToAquaBengal | October 23, 2009 at 12:47 PM
Rucker/Frostee are backups??? Frostee Rucker is one person. LOL Nice job on player knowledge Who Dey. Now the rest of the things you said just lost credibility with your inability to know who our players are. lol Hopefully it was an honest mistake but I doubt it. I see a lot of Bengals fans act like they know everything about the Bengals now that they're winning. But when they're losing, they said they don't give 2 shits less about them. Come on man. Learn your players.
Posted by: Randy | October 23, 2009 at 12:47 PM
Sorry meant Fanene/Rucker; I know the players. Both show spurts of being okay but over their careers here have spent more time with the training staff than on the field.
Losing Peko definitely hurt the pass rush b/c it made Tank and Sims play the whole game when they are used to being in a rotation. Also didn't help Tank coming back from the foot injury.
Posted by: Who Dey | October 23, 2009 at 01:50 PM
Actually, Odom's vast improvement - and while I agree that the 8 sacks is misleading because of the Green Bay game, he was also facing shifted fronts ever since, even from the Steelers (and they would know) - was attributed largely to his finding treatment for sleep apnea. It wasn't about the foot or the weight, to ask Odom, but that for years he had struggled with sleep apnea and never was able to give game day 100% energy, until this year when he finally found a working treatment in the offseason.
And honestly, that would make a significant difference to an athlete doing the things he's asked to do. Don't forget he also had that field goal block against the Texans just before he got hurt. He was definitely valuable. If the pass rush vanishes I agree there should be no excuse, but let's not act like the man was a meaningless addition this year.
Also, the references to Freeney and Ware are pretty off-base. Freeney doesn't see as many stacked fronts because he has Robert Mathis, also a Pro Bowler, playing opposite him. Ware plays OLB in a 3-4, which is different from DE in a 4-3, and Ware also had more defensive help (Jay Ratliff, for instance). And Ware only has 2 sacks this year, in part because he's not receiving that same boost from the rest of his defensive front.
I'm tempted to give you the Jared Allen bit due to what he accomplished in Kansas City. But of course in Minnesota, he's playing right next to the Williams Wall. The point is that the only person named who might be facing extra attention (in terms of personnel) right now is Ware, and he's very under-productive as a result. Most people, even Pro Bowlers, can't produce at the same level when they're being doubled every play. Let's not fault Odom for that.
Posted by: Mockenrue | October 23, 2009 at 02:19 PM
I think there are two issues in the Odom injury that goes right to is the very foundation of Who Dey Rev. Odom shows signs of life and other teams start to double him. What's missing is another stud to capitalize on the other end of the D, or up the middle for that matter. But MFB is too much of a cheap douche bag to invest in some bookeends! The other issue goes to the depth, or lack thereof. It is a given in this league that players will go down, the teams that win have developed some depth. But MFB is too much of a cheap douche bag to invest in a personnel department that has a clue and sign some talented depth. Thanks for Nothing MFB!
Posted by: illigit blackburn | October 23, 2009 at 04:24 PM
It gets back to the fact that Geathers and Odom both make near Pro Bowler money while being middle-of-the-pack guys. When's the last time the Bengals drafted a stud defensive lineman who made the Pro Bowl? Krumrie? In the franchise's entire HISTORY its drafted defensive linemen have combined for, what, maybe 4 Pro Bowl trips? (Krumrie made two, Reid made two... you could count Alfred Williams but he did it with the Broncos).
Can you imagine any other franchise that has that sorry a record at a position that has 3 or 4 guys on the field for the last four decades?
Posted by: FeedMikeBrownToAquaBengal | October 23, 2009 at 04:37 PM
illigit blackburn- your burn on MFB here doesn't hold a lot of water. They needed depth at DE they drafted that last year. The team drafted like the Giants last year, taking BPA and also filling needs. Now if they would have drafted a TE that could actually contribute that would have been spectacular. I have a feeling Coffman is going to play after the buy and people are going to say what the f*ck were you waiting for. I agree that Geathers is severely overpaid and really hasn't done anything since getting paid. He needs to be replaced after this season. To the other person who say MFB is too cheap to have bookends, well what team does? I can think of the Colts and the Giants off the top of my head. There are a lot of teams who don't have one guy that can get after the quarterback Bengals included.
Posted by: MJ | October 23, 2009 at 05:19 PM
Hey, What's Justin Smith doing these days? Maybe he's interested in making a return!! HE LOVED US!! AND he played 16 games a year while he was here. Wasn't a Smith lover, but gotta say he was more dependable than Odum (including 3 cases of lost contain and two missed takles per game)
Posted by: Broken Hippo | October 23, 2009 at 06:00 PM
Agree and disagree. I think he'll definitely be missed--you don't lose the NFL sack leader for the year and say "no big deal". Sometimes when he wasn't getting a sack, he'd be disruptive or make a tackle for a loss. We all wanted a pass rush an started to get it. I do also think he's overvalued though. His backup, Fanene has almost half as many sacks as he does and Michael Johnson is a physical specimen. Odom will be missed, but I think the bigger problem is the injuries to Peko, Odom AND Roy. That combination over the last couple of weeks has proved costly.
Posted by: TheCarlPickensClause | October 23, 2009 at 06:49 PM
You guys are such tools you think Dwight Freeney has 5 sacks against probowl caliber guys? what was impressive about Odom was his play against the run and then his ability to disengage a blocler...Yes his sacks wearn't burning someone with his speed or moves but they were great efforts that he would be able to disengage his blocker just at the right moment to make the sack...
He was a huge help and truthfully i'd rather have him then Dwight freeney now if you could give us Dwight Freeney instead of Robert Geathers that would be awesome until we tell him he needs weigh between 280-300 lbs to be a starting DE on the bekga,s
Posted by: Useless | October 25, 2009 at 05:49 PM
Yes, Mike Brown can retain the rights, to the locked-in Paul Brown stadium deal, just fine without Antwan Odom...par for the course...everythings's working as it always has...
VIVA
Posted by: Hofbraunow | October 28, 2009 at 11:28 AM