Bengals vs. Patriots: Full Report-Card Grades for Cincinnati
The Cincinnati Bengals entered Foxborough against an angry New England Patriots team on Sunday Night Football with something to prove despite their undefeated mark.
Marvin Lewis' team got punched in the mouth right out of the gate and never truly managed a counter, shooting itself in the foot along the way beneath the bright lights of a national audience en route to the painful 43-17 finish.
After a bit of early erratic play from Andy Dalton, he settled down under center and put together a nice overall outing marred by several costly drops from his depleted crop of receivers. He had no rushing complement to support him as the team found itself in a hole early and looked to dig itself out by way of the aerial approach.
Defensively is where the team seemed to hurt itself the most, though. The usually stout run defense was downright miserable against a pass-first attack. While an overblown stat in terms of importance, the fact that New England held the ball for more than 38 minutes is a good way to illustrate the thorough domination.
With a bye week to prepare for this contest in particular, calling the performance a disappointment is a gross understatement. The absence of injured players was certainly part of the issue, but bigger problems persist in the Queen City.
Let's take a look at a positional breakdown and assign grades to the performance.
Quarterback: B
1 of 10
Andy Dalton was a mixed bag right from the start. He tossed an ugly interception right to New England corner Darrelle Revis on the team's first drive, but he was saved by offsetting penalties. He then checked it down on third down in the face of a four-man rush before the special teams went on to miss a field goal.
Now, to be 100 percent fair to Dalton, his receivers were a mess after he recovered and started making good throws by halftime. Jermaine Gresham dropped a touchdown and A.J. Green had the critical fumble right before the half.
Dalton had a few more notable misfires, but really, his play was one of the night's lone bright spots. He finished with a 15-of-24 line for 204 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Dalton acutely took advantage of the absence of Devin McCourty and Darrelle Revis on scoring tosses No. 1 and 2, respectively.
While a good sign that Dalton was able to calm down and put together a decent showing, it means little if the pieces around him designed to insulate him in the first place fail. As long as the team's issues do not revert Dalton to his happy-feet ways in the pocket in future contests, he will be fine moving forward.
Grade: B
Running Back: B
2 of 10
When the Cincinnati Bengals elected to ride the ground game against the New England Patriots Sunday night, it was rather effective.
Giovani Bernard received the lion's share of the carries in the first half and gained 53 yards on 10 totes.
But really, only so much could have been expected from the backs when the coaching staff felt forced to take to the air after falling behind on the game's very first drive. Bernard was given just 13 totes in total, which went for 62 yards. He also caught a pair of passes for 10 yards.
After Bernard, rookie Jeremy Hill touched the rock just two times, although he did break free for 38 yards in garbage time on one of his three receptions.
In total, it was disappointing to see Bernard and Hill used so little, but the New England plan all along was to take the backs out of the equation by jumping out to an early lead.
It worked to perfection.
Grade: B
Wide Receiver and Tight End: D
3 of 10
A lack of production from wide receivers and tight ends finally caught up to the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday night.
Without wideout Marvin Jones and tight end Tyler Eifert, the Bengals simply struggled to move the ball through the air. While Andy Dalton was inaccurate to start the game, the blame quickly morphed toward his receivers.
Tight end Jermaine Gresham dropped an easy touchdown pass in the second quarter with his team down 14-0.
A.J. Green fumbled away a big gain near the end of the half, which turned into a New England field goal. Paul Dehner Jr. of Cincinnati.com put it best at the half:
"Talk all you want about Dalton, A.J. Green, Mo Sanu and Jermaine Gresham all let him down in big way in first half.
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) October 6, 2014"
While Green padded his stats with a garbage-time touchdown and finished with five receptions for 81 yards, the real bright spot of the unit was Mohamed Sanu. He did not connect on some zany pass this time around, but he did catch five balls for 70 yards and a score as the most consistent presence on offense outside of Giovani Bernard.
It was a night to forget for this particular group, and one in need of a little reinforcement. With any luck, it gets it in the coming weeks.
Grade: D
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Offensive Line: B
4 of 10
The Cincinnati Bengals offensive line was once again mostly a bright spot despite a few injuries.
The team finished with 79 total rushing yards and mostly held up strong against the pass rush. Quarterback Andy Dalton was sacked just once, which impressively was the first time all season.
There were issues, though. Right tackle Andre Smith crippled a drive in the first half on his own with a false-start penalty. Rookie center Russell Bodine was partially to blame as the whole line, sans the ball, moved.
A major miscommunication in the second quarter was not entirely the line's fault, but it summarizes the strange night for the Bengals rather nicely, as explained by Bleacher Report's Alessandro Miglio:
"The offensive line was running a stretch and Dalton/Hill were running a dive.
— Alessandro Miglio (@AlexMiglio) October 6, 2014"
All things equal, it is difficult to find too much fault in the offensive line after Sunday night. Dalton had plenty of time to throw for most of the night and the unit would have presumably been even better had it been given the opportunity to get out and run block more consistently.
Grade: B
Defensive Line: D
5 of 10
It was an ugly day at the office in Foxborough for the Cincinnati Bengals defensive line, the unit that is supposed to be one of the team's main strengths.
Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins were quiet in the first half, whereas veteran Robert Geathers was the only one to seemingly provide a spark with his sack, which turned out to be the only one of its kind by night's end.
By halftime, the line played a major part in allowing New England to rush for a whopping 110 total yards.
In total, New England rushed for a ridiculous 220 yards on a 4.8 per-carry average. Domata Peko was soft in the middle of the unit despite his eight total tackles and ends such as Carols Dunlap and Wallace Gilberry failed to consistently apply pressure.
In short, it was a strange overall showing for the line, and one that figures to be a bit of an anomaly.
Grade: D
Linebacker: D
6 of 10
Without Vontaze Burfict, the entirety of the Cincinnati Bengals defense looked lost Sunday night.
The linebacker unit had its ups and downs, but Emmanuel Lamur was a standout at times, at least in terms of coverage. On a key third down before the half, he broke up what would have been a surefire chain-moving pass to New England tight end Rob Gronkowski.
But as Richard Skinner of Cincinnati.com notes, he was a liability against the run:
"Emmnauel Lamur is just having a dreadful game. Took another bad step and got earful from Reggie Nelson #Bengals
— Richard Skinner (@nkyskinner) October 6, 2014"
As was Vincent Rey. One of the better backups in the league and known for explosive showings last year, Rey was a mess against the run and a major reason the unit struggled so much in that area throughout the game.
Rey Maualuga was arguably the best defensive player on the night for Cincinnati and wound up leading the team with nine total tackles and one tackle for loss. But for as much maligned as Maualuga has been over the years, his being the best player speaks volumes to how horrific of a night it was for the unit as a whole.
Grade: D
Secondary: C
7 of 10
Tight ends continue to run roughshod on the Cincinnati Bengals defense.
The blame gets spread around for this, but let's nail it mostly on the secondary after the Sunday Night Football debacle in New England.
By night's end, Rob Gronkowski eventually got his in the form of six receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown. But it was lesser-known name Tim Wright who also hurt the Bengals with his five catches for 85 yards and a score.
Leon Hall and George Iloka had themselves strong nights in the box score, with the former nabbing eight total tackles and the latter getting nine.
But that only tells half the story, as on the actual film itself it was quite apparent the secondary was seemingly playing soft and off of receivers such as Brandon LaFell, Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman. That trio combined for all of five receptions before halftime.
For one reason or another, the secondary decided to give plenty of room to what amounted to the opposite of speedy threats. Adam Jones had a few nice breakups and Terence Newman was mostly solid, but on the whole, the unit's struggles against the rush bled into large chunks of yardage surrendered through the air.
Grade: C
Special Teams: D
8 of 10
When almost everything is chugging along inconsistently at best, the last thing a team needs is a game-altering mistake on special teams.
Sunday night, that is what the Cincinnati Bengals got from wideout Brandon Tate.
Down 27-10, Tate took a kick out of the end zone, fumbled and watched as New England's Kyle Arrington returned it for a touchdown to put the game out of reach.
The mistake did much to damper the impact of a previous Adam Jones punt return that led to an eventual score.
The issues extended to others, too. Mike Nugent missed his first attempt of the night with the team down seven points. He would later connect on his second of two attempts, although at this point one has to wonder if the coaching staff does not toy with the idea of bringing on some competition.
There was one sound play on the night for the unit as a whole thanks to Jones. But Tate repeatedly running kicks out of the end zone and failing to reach the 20-yard line has a way of ruining everything for all involved.
Grade: D
Coaching: C
9 of 10
The performance as a whole was bad Sunday night for the Cincinnati Bengals, but when it comes to the coaching staff, the blame will focus on one man—defensive coordinator Paul Guenther.
Yes, his unit was without its best player, Vontaze Burfict. That is no excuse to give up 220 total rushing yards, and often look out of place with coverage types that did not even fit the opposition that well.
With a bye week to prepare, at that.
The offense was a mixed bag, but kudos again goes to offensive coordinator Hue Jackson for keeping things fresh. He cannot be out there on the field himself to make sure receivers actually catch the football or that linemen get the snap count right.
Guenther drags the grade down here, and it is hard to be angry with the verdict. His unit did the same to the team as a whole Sunday.
Grade: C
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Overall Grade |
| QB | B |
| RB | B |
| WR/TE | D |
| OL | B |
| DL | B |
| LB | D |
| Secondary | C |
| Special Teams | D |
| Coaching | C |
| Cumulative Grade | C- |
One word summarizes the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday night—embarrassing.
Whether it was seemingly lackluster effort in all phases, whiffed tackles, bad angles, dropped passes or something else, this Cincinnati team looked nothing close to the one that beat up on a trio of inferior teams to start the season.
There is an inherent problem in Cincinnati, like it or not. This team seems to fade when it matters most, and while the first three games of the season flirted with the idea that a relatively young roster had turned a corner, the events in Foxborough slammed the door shut again.
It is just one game. Cincinnati is easily the favorite in the AFC North. The Bengals are still a very good team. The upcoming schedule will tell us a lot more (Carolina, at Indianapolis, Baltimore).
In a perfect world, Andy Dalton and his team pulls a Tom Brady and New England this past week and routs an opponent next week. But the three years and change this group of players has on its resume suggests otherwise.
For now, the vibes out of the Queen City are a mixed bunch at best.
All stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
