The Cincinnati Bengals are a quality team (except when the calendar says January), and the Jets came within a couple of botched kicks and a blown coverage of beating Cincy.
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The Bengals receiver torched the entire New York Jets secondary, going for 180 yards on 12 catches including torching Darrelle Revis on a 54-yard touchdown as Cincinnati eked out a 23-22 win. He was targeted 10 times and didn’t force a single incompletion. The one incompletion was a trap that Green almost sold as a catch before it was overturned on review. “He’s everything as advertised”. He knows what playing behind a bad line looks like.
Revis was limited in training camp and might not be 100 percent healthy. Following a NY punt, Dalton capitalized on a secondary miscommunication and hit Green one-on-one against Revis 54 yards to put his team up three.
Revis began showing signs of decline as a 30-year-old last year, when he was dominated by younger receivers such as DeAndre Hopkins of the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills’ Sammy Watkins.
Must-wins in Week 1 don’t exist, but the Jets are in the unenviable position of travelling to Buffalo on a short week to avoid a deeper hole. He lived up to his word, but Revis was no match for Green when he was assigned to the sixth-year veteran. Keep an eye on the Tampa Bay defense, which gave up a lot of yards to the Falcons – who trailed 31-13 and were throwing for the final quarter and a half – but harassed Matt Ryan all game long.
Given the importance of the player and the matchup, my anti-game ball goes to Darrelle Revis for his performance yesterday. Still, Revis’ once-elite closing speed was not there as he failed to catch up to Green, even as the pass from Andy Dalton hung in the air.
“I take it on my shoulders”, Folk said. The Bills answered seven minutes later with a 1-yard run from McCoy, pulling to with three just before halftime.
“They were good up front”. They said they’ve been watching film of me all off-season. “Credit the Bengals. They’ve got a good red-zone defense”.
Including the way that was once inconceivable. Even on the play where he threw his first touchdown pass, he probably could have walked it in after the right defensive end bit hard on the run action despite there not being a play fake.
But the Bengals’ own defense held – and blocked the field goal – and one of the grittiest games of the day was on. We had our opportunities, ” Fitzpatrick said. “I’m not going to sit here and explain things to you anytime, but certainly not right now”. “We have to regroup”. Jeremy Hill rushed for a 12-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
After getting down to the 4 on its next drive, NY stalled with two incompletions to Brandon Marshall and a catch for no yards by Bilal Powell. Fitzpatrick finished the day 19-for-35 with 189 yards and two touchdowns to go along with an interception. Fitzpatrick also had a shotgun snap bounce off his leg and had to bat down a pass that was tipped back to him by a Bengals defensive lineman. “It was just poor execution and I don’t think it had anything to do with not being prepared and not being on the same page”. “We got down there plenty”. With the Cincinnati Bengals beating the New York Jets 23-22.
It’s working. You can’t win playoff games if you don’t get to the playoffs, and the Bengals get to the playoffs every year. “Had we won, it would be just as hard”. He proved his versatility while still remaining one of the best dual-threat backs in the game. We have to regroup.
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“I wouldn’t want to have anyone else” Dalton said. Early in the game in the game, we were getting into third-and-long situations.
