Gymshoe wrote: I feel the Bengals prepared well for this game. Oakland did what you have to do to beat Cincy..............bring the heat against Carson Palmer. The Bengals running game was solid, but, the passing game wasn't really there after the first quarter. Throw in the really stupid turnovers and you have the recipe for what happened today. Sad part of it is they let Gradkowski beat them...............he won't even be in the league much longer IMO.

Why do you think this? He's only been in the NFL for four years.

Also it's the second time Gradkowski beat them so it's not really a sad fluke or anything like that.

I've told my buddy I have no idea how Morgan Trent has done so well in the NFL when he wasn't very impressive at Michigan.

By the way, why the hell was Caldwell returning that kick when Bernard Scott had been tearing it up at kick returner??? What's the logic in that??????

Horribly called gameplan both offensively and defensively. There were less than 10 handfuls during the game, couldn't have been anymore than that. Why weren't we blitzing the heck out of them? It worked against better offenses. Seemed like the Bengals thought they could cruise through this game and that's all they tried to do and it bit them in the ass. Carson tears it up to start the game then all they do is run the ball. 43 runs to 22 passes I think. Unbelievable. They should have just went for their throat but Marvin must have taken Tressel's advice and just went ridiculously conservative. Hope this gets them pumped up because they should not lose to Cleveland or Detroit.

Terry_Tate wrote: Horribly called gameplan both offensively and defensively. There were less than 10 handfuls during the game, couldn't have been anymore than that. Why weren't we blitzing the heck out of them? It worked against better offenses. Seemed like the Bengals thought they could cruise through this game and that's all they tried to do and it bit them in the ass. Carson tears it up to start the game then all they do is run the ball. 43 runs to 22 passes I think. Unbelievable. They should have just went for their throat but Marvin must have taken Tressel's advice and just went ridiculously conservative. Hope this gets them pumped up because they should not lose to Cleveland or Detroit.

I had no problem with the gameplan. They gained 177 yards on the ground so it was working.

When you turn the ball over 4 times, including handing them the game winning field goal, you aren't going to win the game.

Yeah, I'm not sure how the gameplan is at fault. Penalties, turnovers, dropped interceptions and a missed field goal led to the Bengals' demise.

The only play call I question is giving Jeremi Johnson his third carry of the season when they did. That drive would have put the game away. The call was especially curious considering Carson's hand injury. The first-man-through play has worked in the past for the Bengals, but in that situation I don't quite get it. Still, it's JJ's job to hold on to the ball.

I just thought the Bengals came out and Carson had something like 120 yards in a little over a quarter, so obviously the pass was working, but it just seemed like after that the Bengals didn't really look for the pass a whole lot after the first 2 or 3 drives. Obviously the missed FG and fumble hurt their chances for points though.

Also, as for Caldwell returning the kickoff instead of Bernard Scott, my question was answered in the post-game quotes as Scott was supposed to go in but had some cramps, so that's why Caldwell went in. Glad there was an excuse for it because I was baffled when it happened.