The hangover

[Be Weary of Query]

how are we all feeling? Strangely my anger and disappointment doesn't linger as much as it used to after such debacles...even as unprecedented as this one was.

I don't know how to feel about that. I don't know if it's my age or just the miles of being a Bengals fan that has made me almost immune to the heartache. Soon enough I will be pursuing the online mock drafts and of course rooting my guts out for whomever the Steelers are playing. And the excitement of the upcoming season will slowly seep back and consume me on some level. At least I hope.

I really don't know how to feel. Maybe I'm rambling with this stream of consciousness.

I. Just. Don't. Know. Anymore.

How about you?

 

[futballiscool]

I'm a cynical fan. That's probably what drew me to the ESPN board back in the day over the other ones on the internet that generally had a more optimistic tone. Not to go to off the deep end on the Fruedian psychobabble but on some level I really do think the cyniscim is an effective defense mechanism.. Let's you keep your guard up for the worst dissappointments as a fan. With that said there was no way to prepare for last night. That was just fucking surreal. It was like watching an instructional video on how to choke away a big game

I felt bad for Hill. He was running hard trying to pick up a big frist down and Shazier just made a really good football play on the strip. He had to be more careful and go down on first contact. But at least it was a physical error when he was trying to win the football game. I can live with that play. Bruficit and Pacman are both great players who've helped this team win a ton of games over the years. But those penalities are much harder to accept. They're elite talents who the Bengals got off the scrap heap for a discount. They both have character flaws and those tend to show up and bite you in the ass at the worst possible time. That's the risk you take when you make those type of players cornerstones of your team

 

[bphillips4gg]

I'm calling bullshit. Hill's fumble was inexcusable and without it the Bengals win the game. Sure, there were other plays, but you claw your way back into the game and get the interception, the ONLY thing you cannot do there is turn the ball over. He had one job, hold onto the fucking ball. And he literally and figuratively dropped it. Three runs and a FG there make it a 4 point game and the Steelers have <50 decks and no timeouts to score a TD. There's no sugar-costing the fact that the stumble was the biggest cuckoo of the game by far.

 

[futballiscool]

They're playing in the rain. Hill generally struggles with ball security. The Steelers made a gang tackle and a perfectly timed strip. If the Bengals wanted to burn the Steelers timeouts and kick a FG they kneel on the ball three times and send out the kicker. The problem with that strategy is that if/when the kick gets blocked and returned for a TD everyone kills them for playing conservatively instead of going for the jugular and the 1st down
to kill the clock. Shazier made the play

 

[alf8478]

I didn't watch the game, but unfortunately i heard the last 40 seconds in the radio. I'm more or less just pretending it never happened and the bengals missed the playoffs

 

[dare2be]

If it's any consolation (it isn't), neither team is/was going to make it past the next round.

What an embarrassing shit-show that game was, on both sides.

 

[DanBengalfan]

if hill doesn't fumble and merely gets tackled in bounds. pitt calls time out.

eventually, after wasting much of the clock we punt.

possible outcomes:

1 we fumble the snap
2 punter misses the snap
3 punt is blocked (most likely)

Bengals were not going to win... period.

we've seen this over and over and over again. it's not coincidence anymore, the sample size is increased, it is now science.

 

[Robotech]

I'm calling bullshit. Hill's fumble was inexcusable and without it the Bengals win the game. Sure, there were other plays, but you claw your way back into the game and get the interception, the ONLY thing you cannot do there is turn the ball over. He had one job, hold onto the fucking ball. And he literally and figuratively dropped it. Three runs and a FG there make it a 4 point game and the Steelers have <50 decks and no timeouts to score a TD. There's no sugar-costing the fact that the stumble was the biggest cuckoo of the game by far.

I was rooting for the Bengals. When Burfict got that interception, I was seriously thinking that they should just kneel 4 times because the Steelers' best chance of coming back was a fumble recovery or a blocked kick.

 

[Gypsumstack]

if hill doesn't fumble and merely gets tackled in bounds. pitt calls time out.

eventually, after wasting much of the clock we punt.

possible outcomes:

1 we fumble the snap
2 punter misses the snap
3 punt is blocked (most likely)

Bengals were not going to win... period.

we've seen this over and over and over again. it's not coincidence anymore, the sample size is increased, it is now science.

We would have punted it from inside their 30?

 

[DanBengalfan]

We would have punted it from inside their 30?

I was half asleep, it's even more amazing if we were in fg range, lol.

obviously steelers block the field goal and recover it to win.

 

[Robotech]

I was half asleep, it's even more amazing if we were in fg range, lol.

obviously steelers block the field goal and recover it to win.

They were in FG range, IIRC. But I wouldn't even try the FG. I've seen too many FG attempt mishaps in my life.

 

[DanBengalfan]

I believe vs Ravens we tried to do a lateral when the game was already well in hand. I believe it was one of the same players who was subject of last nights issue. If they are looking to dump some salary next season, or hit the free agent market to find a replacement, that would be a good place to start.

 

[DanBengalfan]

both of our former DCs lose today in the first round. The entire league is becoming bengalized. Mike Brown's master plan is slowly taking form.

 

[Gypsumstack]

I believe vs Ravens we tried to do a lateral when the game was already well in hand. I believe it was one of the same players who was subject of last nights issue. If they are looking to dump some salary next season, or hit the free agent market to find a replacement, that would be a good place to start.

No, that was Maluaga that tried to lateral his INT as time ran out. He actually had a pretty decent game last night.

 

[cincygrad]

I don't mind that we lost..... I'm used to it. I'm a Bengal fan for god's sakes. When it was 15-0, I was disappointed but it wasn't going to bother me too much. But the way we lost that game left me more pissed than ever. That was embarrassing. We spend a lot of time on this board blaming Andy Dalton, AJ Green, Shayne Graham, Carson Palmer, Jon Kitna, Chad Johnson, etc., etc. for not being able to win a playoff game. Just stop. It's not the players. Marvin Lewis cannot coach a team that wins in big spots - He simply can't get it done. Every media person around claims that the Bengals have one of the best rosters in the league. Other teams hire our coaches.... The one constant is Marvin and his bullshit.

 

[cincygrad]

As for Hill.... He's not the first back to cough it up at the worst time in the playoffs. Earnest Byner and Roger Craig can relate...... But given how bad he's been with ball security this year, you'd think it would be his first priority. Then again, if Gio hadn't been knocked out of the game, there is a good chance Hill never sees the field.

 

[DanBengalfan]

video replay.



my guess is this was posted by a kool aid drinker, but I have a hard time disagreeing that the calls were not consistent by the refs.

*no, I'm not blaming the loss on the refs, we always find a way to blow it*

 

[ckhokie]

I would be more upset if I didn't see it coming. I know it's tinfoil hat, but I have zero faith the NFL isn't the least bit crooked. There's just way too much money at stake.

The calls by the refs were horseshit, but mostly CBS should be ashamed. Nantz and Simms were nothing more than propaganda peddlers last night. They could have thrown Steeler radio announcers in the booth and it would have been more balanced.

Hill fumbles too much. Chose a REALLY bad time to cough it up again.

Burfict and Pac...sucks for them. Pacman really has kept his nose clean for a long time, and both were having good games and great seasons. Sucks their actions completely outshine their in-game product.

Also, I'll still blame Dalton for being a huge pussy and being out 4 weeks because he threw a pick inside the 10 and tackles like a girl. If Dalton played last night, we probably win by 2 TDs.

 

[bphillips4gg]

video replay.



my guess is this was posted by a kool aid drinker, but I have a hard time disagreeing that the calls were not consistent by the refs.

*no, I'm not blaming the loss on the refs, we always find a way to blow it*

There's a ton of shit wrong with a lot of the calls from last night. On the Burfict hit, it looked to me like Burfict tried to pull up. In slow motion you can see that Brown actually dropped his head into Burfict's shoulder. The Williams hit was, again, only contact to the head because Brown dropped his head at the last second. Williams didn't leave his feet, lead with his helmet or target the head. He led with his shoulder and aimed for the chest, the Brown had taken 3 steps since catching the ball and he dropped his head at the last second.

There's no fucking reason that the NFL shouldn't be able to review these plays. Do it the way they do in college. Throw the flag, review it. You know, since the refs can't fucking get calls right the first time. When it affects the outcome of games as much as it did last night, something needs to change.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I was kinda hoping that 65,000 people would rush the field and kick Porter, Shazier and the refs ass. Try arresting 65,000 people with 100 cops.