Strafford

I honestly can't see us winning 11 Macca. Any team with a decent secondary just has to sit on our receivers and jump the routes, especially to AJ. As you say the AFC is fascinating at the moment. Pittsburgh probably has the best functioning offence in the AFC North at the moment, although that isn't saying much. I think I will just need to buckle up for a wild run home.

22 Seasons since we won a playoff game....so as you say one of us will be happy, because unless we have a massive collapse, which is possible as we have done it in the past, we should win the division. I honestly shudder to think what the offensive stats will be like on the day. Whoever gets out to an early lead should win, because the other team will have to throw the ball to catch up and that spells, "Danger, Will Robinson, danger."

You just need to play us mate All the points in the game could come from defence

Despite putting up 41 points, including a franchise record 31 points in a quarter our offence was woeful again. Andy seems to have lost it and was booed after we went 13 to zip behind after his second interception. Our major injuries are on defence, but you wouldn't think so from how the units are performing. I have said it before and I will say it again, if we lose our defensive co-ordinator Mike Zimmer we are in real strife.

There have certainly been a number of twists and turns this season. Injuries certainly play a part, which is why the next man up thing is a bit of a myth, as some guys just can't be replaced, or you have so many injuries that it just reaches a critical mass. In pretty much any sport it just isn't the done thing to admit that a key injury or two, or a number of them, makes it difficult to put a good team on the field. With that said I expect the next men up for the Bengals to play blinders.

I'll try to reply to this one again mate after my earlier befuddled attempt, which totally misunderstood where you were going. I reckon this is probably Carson's last season as a starter, unless he has a blinder of a finish to the season. He has been better in his last couple of games, but still has more interceptions than touchdown throws this season. I think the Cards will draft a QB. I doubt that Carson's pride will ever have him consider being a backup for the rest of his career so he will probably retire. The guy has made a fortune out of the game. It isn't his fault that the Bengals were so excited that they had finally drafted a QB that could play, after so many busts, that they then gave him a huge long contract, before they had to, which made him one of the highest paid players in the NFL, if not the highest. From there it was a Greek tragedy, he got injured, the contract crippled the club and we lost a number of players etc etc until it finally ended with his holdout.

Sounds like a fair scoring system mate. I like the idea of getting something for trying, I was very disappointed as a kid when I discovered that in the higher grades, they didn't use stars and stamps anymore to mark your work. I'm not sure I believe you about the unintended cruel fun bit though. I think you have revealed some underlying sadistic tendencies. If as a child you enjoyed ripping off the wings of flies and stealing dummies from babies, then I would suggest that you may need professional help.

The AFL is a pale imitation of many things NFL, I can't remember the last time I went to the AFL site. I used to to be a fairly regular visitor to the NFL website, but I made the mistake of listening to the around the league podcast...a jumping the shark moment for me, guys continually referring to themselves as a " Room full of heroes" is a bit sad. I actually quite liked the podcast it replaced, which has had a few names over the years. I still access a number of products of the NFL network, as you are spot on they do produce some quality stuff. I have gamepass and I listen to a number of podcasts, because that allows me to do other things whilst catching up on my American football fix. I don't have to go to the site to accesss those.

You are spot on mate, this a really tough week in what has been a tough comp. Colts Lions Chargers Fingers and toes crossed for this week...

Thanks for the link mate, I sometimes forget that the NFL site has some good analysts, such as Brooks and Jeremiah. I just get turned off by the around the league guys who I think are idiots, so I don't go to the site much. My bad as I am missing out obviously Kap is young so hopefully he will learn.

Yep doesn't help when your main targets are missing. You may need to check your tips mate, the Bengals are the home team.

Just on your QB mate, and there is no doubting he is a huge athletic talent, but does he go through his reads, or read coverage well presnap? I have only seen a few of his games this season, and all but one of those was early in season when he was having a real struggle, but he so often seems to make one read and if that isn't on, he runs or usually boots right and throws down the sideline. I could be a victim of the availability heuristic here.

....Tavon Austin...

Ha....

Sigh where do I start. Six interceptions in two games doesn't help. Nor does over 130 yards in penalties. I think the Ravens had under 200 yards of total offence, somewhere around that mark anyway. Dalton had an elite start to his career in terms of not throwing a red zone interception, then bang two in three weeks or is it three in four, either way the spell is broken. Probably the main key is pressure. When the line keep Dalton clean he can look a million dollars, but as you would expect with a QB with questionable armstrength he can't muscle throws in when he can't set his feet, nor is he great when he rolls out of the pocket. The Ravens swarmed Dalton today, credit to them. Flacco didn't look great either today just quietly, and is on a great deal more money. We need to get back to Paul Brown stadium where we are still unbeaten and stay unbeaten there for the rest of the season. Not getting so far behind early would be a great, so we don't have to rely on Andy throwing the ball as much. The Bengals are toying with my emotions again and I don't like it Still I was able to sit at home watching a few games of football today for the first time in a while, and despite the ads it is still nice to see them live. Also on a positive note, I picked up another point in the tipping...whooohooo

Sorry mate I should clarify my earlier post a bit, as I was a bit distracted due to the Bengals making a bit of a game of it after looking dead and buried. Part of what I was trying to say was that a lot of teams with the same look would have tried that throw. Rodgers certainly would have backed Jennings in against a linebacker, but he would most probably have erred on the long side, which takes the safety out of it in this situation.You have more of a margin of error if you have a Megatron who can jump over tall buildings, but generally with your speed guys you should be throwing over the top and as you say with some air under the ball to advantage, but not a short rainmaker that gives even the defensive tackles time to run back and make a play...only slight exaggeration What I would argue, and I think Cowboy agrees, is that the Vikings shouldn't be trying that type of play with Ponder too much, because the chances of success aren't that high. If you have Rodgers, yep worth a shot as for the rest of the game the defence has to worry about them taking the top off, but if you have Ponder....no just no

Man the Bengals are hard to watch at times.... Two weeks in a row they have been rubbish, but have still come back and nearly won the game...I stress the nearly. They just keep stringing you along and just when you have given up hope they drag you back into the game thinking maybe, just maybe, they are going to win afterall and then wham, you have to wheel out the comfort food and pop in the dvd of a past superbowl win....oh wait I can't even do that.....grrrrrr.

Mate it was a go route, so the underneath coverage shouldn't have been a factor, but as you say it was a terrible throw. A short floater that didn't give Jennings a chance even if he had beaten his man on the route which he hadn't. It was a third and 14 so AP wasn't that much of a factor and the two wideouts were bracketed by three guys each. If either safety had committed to the go route too early Ponder had an easy throw down the sideline. As it was one safety never had a play. As I mentioned to Cowboy, pre snap the go route up the middle would have looked on. Even when he made the throw it would still have looked a goer, as you would expect your speedy receiver to blow past a linebacker, didn't happen, and it didn't matter anyway, because Ponder put up a terrible ball. The Skins dared Ponder to make the throw, because more often than not they know he can't do it.

Should be a beauty.

Unfortunately for all his physical talent, Jerome only has one brain cell and I'm not sure that one works all that well. Yep Ponder does do some things well, but as you say taking the top off a defence on a regular basis isn't one of them. Not that it is a high percentage play even with the top guys, but keep em honest.

Good timing to have a day off and be able to watch the Bengals live....not How bad are we playing?

Looking at the play again on coaches film mate, it really looks like the Skins conned Ponder into making the throw they wanted. Pre snap it would have looked to Ponder as if the middle was wide open, but Riley the middle linebacker did a great job tracking back and beating Jennings to the spot he wanted. At that point you would have needed a bullet pass to Jennings to pull the play off, rather than the floater he put up. Or perhaps a quick Megatron substitution to go up and get it The safety made the pick, but Riley made the play work. Two thoughts probably crossed the mind of Jennings here, one being," Man I just aint as quick as I used to be, and what I wouldn't give for an Aaron bullet just about right now"

The problem I see with Flynn as well as any injury concerns, is that his confidence is probably shot. He has been beaten out a couple of times over preseasons and has been cut a few times now in a very short space of time. A number of teams also now have a very intimate knowledge of his strengths and weaknessess.

A bloke in Denver certainly highlights what you are saying. I probably do disagree a bit with your comment on safeties though. It was a linebacker who picked up the receivers route, which then allowed the safety to pick up the pick off a floater pass. Which probably highlights Cowboy's point about arm strength. Guys who lack arm strength are so much easier to pick off because there is more hang time which allows safeties to either come over the top or catch up to the ball if it is thrown short. Throwing short is especially a problem, if as is probably the case a great deal with the Vikings, safeties are walking up to stop the run. Any long passes to keep the defence honest are negated if the safeties can just catch up to the ball. Gruden for the Bengals loves his hero plays. If guys are straining at the edge of their distance they just aren't going to make those pinpoint plays that take the safeties out of the game. For example what is the point of a beautifully designed play that freezes the linebackers at the point of scrimmage and has the safeties engaged by outside runners, if the guy open on the inside has to wait for a rainmaker to come down, thus allowing the safeties to get across. It isn't a myth I have seen it Andy Dalton

In the end Ponder really made some clutch plays before he went down. Great win for your guys even though the Skins are having a hard time as well. I share your frustration with play calling