Week 2: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

1. Zimmer. Glad to see he didn't pull a Breshnahan again this week. He clearly won the chess match yesterday, and the players executed his plan perfectly. 

2. Geno Atkins (#97) & Pat Sims (#90). Any time Flacco dropped back to pass, at least one of these two guys were collapsing the pocket and forcing Flacco to hurry his throws. Everyone in the media is always fascinated by the glamorous sack stat. Don't fall for it.

For example, Hob clings to the sack stats when defending the actually terrible 2007 Bengal's OL which caused Palmer to learn some bad habits that he is still trying to work through. It is pressure that really effects the opponents QB efficiency rating by forcing the QB to hurry and make poor decisions. No pressure the first week = Brady 120.9 with a 71.4% completion percentage (seemed like 95% while watching the game). Constant pressure from the front four this Sunday = Flacco 23.8 with a 43.6% completion rate and four INT's. According to the NFL stats, no Bengal defensive player recorded a single sack against the Ravens. I would be perfectly happy if this team doesn't get another sack the rest of the season, as long as they produce like they did Sunday.

3. Bengals OL. It wasn't pretty, but they managed to give Palmer the time and space he needs. Even with the rotating timeshare at RT, they picked up almost every blitz package and stunt the Ravens threw at them. Roland held his own against Suggs for the most part, which is a very difficult thing to accomplish. Personally, I think the RT timeshare is as cheesy in football as it is in real estate, and Smith has to take over the position to solidify the OL at some point.

The Bad:

1. Palmer. He had the time and space and he couldn't take advantage of it. His poor performance yesterday made this game a nail biter when it shouldn't have been even close. The mistakes made Sunday are the remaining scars of the years of abuse he took behind a sub-par OL from 2006 to 2008. Unfortunately, his recovery is a work in progress and it will take time to work these things out since they are mostly mental. The throwing errors we are seeing are most likely from Palmer still feeling like he needs to force his throws to avoid being hit. His passes are either too early, too late, or off target because of this.

The good news is that his mechanics and footwork have improved dramatically compared to the previous two seasons, but his read and reaction skills are still a few steps behind. Does this mean Palmer is done? In this case, we have to ask WWLD? I think Lando would recommend the same treatment that he recommended while his men are getting blown to hell: "we have to give him more time." He just needs to learn to relax and play football again, and I expect that we will see Palmer work out these mistakes as the season goes on if the OL can continue to give him the security he needs in the pocket. If the OL continues to provide space for him and he doesn't improve, then yes he is done. So the jury is still out.

2. Batman and Robin's hands. Johnson has never been good at catching a ball while running toward the interior of the field, and this weakness was showcased Sunday with several dropped balls. TO had one or two catchable TD passes and he couldn't bring them in. From the past two weeks only, it seems like if you can cover TO tight, he can't concentrate on catching the ball. TO's decrease in speed doesn't help out in this department either. I still believe he would be better in the slot than as the #2 since he would have more favorable personnel match ups and routes that get him open by taking advantage of the seams in the zones and exploit his ability to get some YAC's like we witnessed against the Ravens. 

3. Gresham's blocking. I wrote at the end of the preseason that we would see Benson get blown up a couple of times while running the stretch play because of his inexperience. However, Bratkowski continues to test Gresham's improvement at the most inconvenient times. There were a couple of 3rd and short plays where they ran toward Gresham's side; almost every time he whiffed and Benson was blown up. They either need to: a) stop calling this play on third and short; b) teach the kid to block aggressively really quick; or c) fire Bratkowski.

The Ugly:

You know what?  This deserves it's own post.

 

Comments

[Rich]

I find myself moving slowly from the "Carson the Omnipotent" to "Carson is fallible" camp. I gotta tell you, it is a more painful journey than it ought to be and I hope I am wrong.

[Sleeping With Bieniemy]

I found myself doing that for the first time ever Rich. It really is terrible. I hope my man Blesterov is right and he just needs to get comfortable again...

[blesterov]

Think of it from his perspective. From 2006 to 2008, every time he would drop back he would be hit within a few seconds since the OL was so porous due to injuries, age, and/or incompetent (Ghiaciuc). He was constantly hurrying and forcing throws to WR's for the past 3 seasons which led him to pick up some back techniques and screw with his head. He has worked out the mechanics and footwork problem, and now he just needs to cool down the ticking clock/ hypersensitive spider sense in his head that tells him someone is going to come and break his leg. Once he can work this out, I think he will be back to normal. I just hope it happens sooner then later.

The one thing I will give credit to Bratkowski on is that he switched over to the run last year to take the pressure off Palmer knowing that he had an inexperienced but rebuilt OL in front of him. He wanted Palmer to settle back down in the pocket so he didn't feel like he had to rush and get comfortable with his new OL. As Boomer stated in his interview with Joe Reedy, he should bounce back.

[v festival ticket prices 2011]

I really like this album. I think it really demonstrates KOLs ability to grow. Lets be honest if they continued to produce the same music they were in the beginning, people would moan as well. |Having been a KoL fan for a while now, I much prefer the first three albums (the first two being the best) to their more recent 'sound' of stadium rock. Sadly, it seems like the garage rock that they did so brilliantly seems to have disappeared completely, with nothing approaching the genius of California Waiting, Four Kicks or Charmer. The Kings seem to have enjoyed the popularity of Only By the Night, and carried on with the same sweeping guitars and radio-friendly melodies, and in doing so, have become boring.

Come Around Sundown, in my opinion, is an improvement on the massively commercialised Only By the Night, and has a few stand-out tracks (Back Down South, Radioactive, and The End), but the album seems to blur into one. Tracks such as The Face and Birthday are weak, but no worse than Be Somebody or 17 off the previous album.

In short, if you like KoL based on Sex on Fire, or Use Somebody, you will probably enjoy this album. However, older fans hoping for a change in sound, should stay away. Disappointing.

[Justin Bieber Supra]

I've seen the opposite, where parents put their kids into private school kindergarten to get them in a year earlier than the school district would have allowed them. This ended up with a six year old in my second grade class. She wasn't ready.

It really is something that should be considered on an individual basis. My sister was eligible for kindergarten based on her birthday when we lived in California, but when we moved, she ended up being more than a year younger than her classmates for the rest of her schooling. My mom wishes that she had kept her out another year.