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[PalmerToCJ]

A lot of encouraging things from tonight.

I LOVED the defensive play calling, the aggressiveness is what our D has always needed. It was great to see the blitzing creating incompletions and rushed throws.

Ahmad Brooks can flat out blitz. I loved what I saw in that area, he needs to work on his tackling (missed 2 by my count) and was still in the wrong places at times but he just needs to keep improving.

Robert Geathers was AMAZING tonight. He spent more time in the Ravens backfield than on our side of the ball. 1 INT, 1 Sack, 1 PD, 3 Tackles, 1 FumR. We could actually have a defensive pro bowl player this year.

The secondary looked good. Madieu played in more of his '05 form and was aggressive, still made some mistakes. Dexter played as well as he ever has in a Bengals jersey, he was great blitzing and made plays in other spots. Leon Hall played great for a rookie, he can flat out tackle. Deltha played well, definetely more in his '05 form.

I was also very encouraged with Landon's play. 8 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries, the TD and a pass deflection.

Loved what I saw on defense, some lapses in run D. At times we dominated and at other times the RB didn't get touched for 5 yards, hopefully the trend of improving as the year goes on continues.

The offense was off a bit. Carson in general was off (still 63% accuracy) and still needs to get timing down with Tab Perry. Rudi wasn't great but it was his usual game vs. the Ravens, he had some big runs when we needed them... The fumble was just a fluke.

Despite having THREE backup OL's in there the Oline played surprisingly well in the 2nd half... Not great obviously but we were playing the freaking Ravens D so I was impressed.

Special teams needs work, Indiana Jones is a STUD on ST but as a unit the coverage was obviously lacking. Hopefully Graham will be fine.

Great way to start the season. I can only imagine what we'll accomplish with Henry/Perry/Levi/Willie back...

[Bengals78]

I completely agree. Once we get the injured and suspended back, I think the Bengals are a scary scary team. If our D grows and gets better we could have a scary defense.

[themaninblack]

if our oline can do halfway decent like they did last night without our elite bookend tackles were in for a good year. even when ghiaciuc went out i thought stepanovich stepped in and was adequate.

the defense was outstanding IMO. we know that we aren't the most physically imposing D but we were very agressive and played balls to the wall the whole night. Robert Geathers is official and the Dline as a whole i thought was much improved. Ahmad finally showed what he can bring to the table he just needs to get used to the position a little more. we gave up a few big plays but it seemed like the D was on a mission and i liked it. when they made a mistake they made it at 100MPH and thats what we need to do. I give the d a solid A for that performance.

[PalmerToCJ]

I cannot explain how excited I am about the defensive play calling last night. The aggression is what we need, it's like the defense feels they control the game unlike last year when they let the offense dictate everything.

I've never been huge on Geathers but wow, after last night I'm just blown away. As I said he lived in their backfield.

It was amazing to see the Oline do as well as they did. The guards are easier to replace but we lost our elite tackles and center while playing the #1 defense and they still managed... I was VERY impressed by that.

Fortunately our biggest problems right now are at our biggest strengths (Carson getting in sync with WR's and special teams).

We played without some of our better players last night.

[themaninblack]

ive always been big on geathers but last night was really his coming out party. last year was nice but he has the tools to be an elite DE in this league.

[PalmerToCJ]

No doubt, it looked like he added some new moves to his pass rush and his motor was just non-stop. If he stays at that level we got him at a bargain.

[themaninblack]

he's a guy who anyone would like to see succeed and i really hope he does.

[Aftermath]

I said before the season started that Geathers could be a possible pro-bowl candidate, and he looked amazing against the Ravens.

[Shere Khan]

You never know what you're gonna get from the Bengals D.

It could be a shutout, or it could be 30-odd points with 300 + yards in the air and 100 + yards on the ground.

This is the year I think they turn it around.
If they aren't motivated/inspired by that debacle of a season last year, I don't know if they can be helped.....

[PalmerToCJ]

It's ALL about being aggressive.

When the defense just sits back and plays conservative (See Indy/SD last year) we get clobbered. The QB just sits back and our secondary can only cover for so long.

Monday night they were agressive and went after the QB with more than our front 4. Marvin has always been stubborn in wanting to just rush 4 but hopefully this offseason he realized he can't do that with this D. Blitzing Ahmad/DJax/Landon was working out fantastic last week and forced McNair into a lot of bad passes. Geathers penetration also helped out a ton.

If they keep bringing the heat our defense will be enough to take us to a SB if the offense plays up to its capabilities.

[Prime Time]

Wow... I can't believe the Browns scored 51 on you guys..