Sprinting down the hash marks into the back of the end zone, Jason McCourty’s incredible play to knock a possibly game-changing touchdown out of the hands of Brandin Cooks is only one of many defensive efforts that won Super Bowl LIII 13-3 for the New England Patriots. Brian Flores’ New England defense held the Los Angeles Rams to 301 total yards, 229 of which were passing. Kyle Van Noy ultimately made the biggest impact on defense due to the constant pressure he kept on Jared Goff. Lawrence Guy and Albert McClellan came up big, as well, knocking Goff down during throws, and Jonathan Jones, Duron Harmon, and Dont’a Hightower made some important hits, as well, but Van Noy was an absolute beast on the New England defensive line. On an important third down midway through the second quarter, Van Noy made the one of the best plays of the entire game sacking Goff for a huge 14-yard loss. The linebacker Van Noy started the play in the defensive backfield, teaming up with Hightower to erase any thought of passing to running back Todd Gurley up the middle of the field on a quick pass, but once Goff left the pocket, Van Noy started towards the young quarterback. Once there were no blockers in site, Goff started to panic and looked for heave downfield, but he made the wise decision to hold onto the football. Van Noy soared over the acreage between the 50 and the Rams’ 40-yard lines. Diving, he spun Goff around and grappled him to his knees on Goff’s own 39-yard line, to force Los Angeles to punt and give New England the football. Van Noy, Jones, and Hightower combined to sack Goff four times, Hightower taking him down twice. Stephon Gilmore’s game-winning fourth quarter interception was forced by pressure and an almost-sack by Duron Harmon. The Patriots threw a zone blitz at the Los Angeles offense who put four receivers running downfield in various crossing routes, with Cooks running a straight route right directly to the corner of the end zone. With six blockers left to defend their quarterback, Goff, there was one man left unblocked in the Patriots defense, who were rushing seven.
That unblocked man was the safety Harmon who forced Goff to drop back about two more yards and move slightly to his right. The scared quarterback had to toss the deep pass to Cooks off of his back foot to avoid being sacked for a major loss by Harmon. Harmon’s aggressiveness and Goff’s nervousness translated into a short lob of a throw. With the cornerback Gilmore guarding the wide receiver Cooks closely, trailing him by only a couple of steps, cutting off Goff’s underthrown toss was the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. Leaping about two feet into the air and finally landing on the three yard-line, Gilmore came down with the ball, and the game, thanks, in large part, to Harmon’s speed and pressure on the quarterback. Punter Ryan Allen gave the New England defense a great deal of help with his strong leg. He finished the night punting for 215 punting yards on five attempts. Matthew Slater was a huge help on the punts, fielding the ball on multiple occasions inside the five yard-line to ensure that the Rams would have a rough starting point. Julian Edelman and Sony Michel provided a lot of help for the defense, Edelman receiving for 141 yards, rushing for eight, and Michel rushing for 94 yards and one touchdown. Tom Brady, though he did not play his best game, passed for 262 yards during the game. Stephen Gostkowski also hit two of three field goals. While these numbers did not exactly make the defense’s job the easiest it could have been, points are good for everyone and provided them with enough of a cushion to win. Jesse A. Cook “Patriots Defense Made The Difference” February 4, 2019
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The Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams is right around the corner, so how will this game end?
45-41 Patriots No question that this game will be high scoring. You might think that the LA defensive line with Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh, and Samson Ebukam will be too much for the NE offensive line, but they’ve been infallible this postseason and Tom Brady has not been sacked even once. One the other side, while the New England defense stepped up against the Kansas City Chiefs and destroyed the Los Angeles Chargers, the Rams are different, more powerful team with lots of weapons. Jared Goff has really been slinging it all year, passing for 4,688 yards and 32 touchdowns, completing 64.9% of his passes. In the postseason, he’s connected for 483 yards and one touchdown, completing 58.8% of his passes. With weapons like C.J. Anderson ready to play if Todd Gurley’s having trouble and the constant positives in Brandin Cooks and Tyler Higbee, Goff has a lot of options that will surely translate into lots of points, despite the prowess the Pats’ defense has showed these playoffs. Why do the Pats pull away? It’s Thomas Edward Patrick Brady standing in the pocket with Bill Belichick calling the plays. This isn’t a sophomore Patrick Mahomes with Andy Reed, this isn’t a broken Ben Roethlisberger with Mike Tomlin, and this certainly isn’t a robbed Drew Brees with Sean Payton. This is a winning quarterback who has only lost the Super Bowl to Eli Manning on miracle catches (as well as a Wes Welker dropped pass) and Nick Foles in a feat of pure miraculousness. Goff will be back in the Super Bowl one day, probably against Mahomes, but as for winning this game, when push comes to shove, the better quarterback and the better coach prevails. Just for some proof of Brady’s superiority in pocket, while passing for slightly fewer yards and touchdowns (4,355 yards and 29 TDs), the G.O.A.T. hit 65.8% of his targets and threw fewer interceptions in the regular season (11 interceptions for Brady, 12 for Goff). In the postseason, while Brady has passed for only 274 yards, he’s hit targets in the endzone for two TDs, and he’s completed an astounding 70.5% of his passes. Lastly, Sony Michel is the main reason Brady’s passing yard numbers are so low. He’s rushed for 242 yards and five TDs over New England’s two playoff games. The score’s gonna be high, but the Pats are really gonna tear it up and pull away with Super Bowl victory number 6. Jesse A. Cook “Patriots Have Edge In LIII” February 3, 2019 Aaron Rodgers calls out a play to his offense from the shotgun formation. He takes the snap and rolls out right. Anthony Barr pursues him. He snaps a bullet pass to Martellus Bennett who drops it, immediately cursing his apparent butterfingers. Rodgers is down back on the other side of the line of scrimmage after Barr stands up and walks away. The Green Bay Packers’ quarterback has a broken clavicle and is out for the rest of the 2017-18 season. Some people say that the new “roughing the passer” rules in the NFL go overboard, but situations like Barr’s hit on Rodgers indicate otherwise. Rodgers had already thrown the football by the time Barr smashed his purple helmet into the quarterback’s collarbone. On the other hand, Rodgers’ teammate, outside linebacker, Clay Matthews has voiced his disdain for the roughing the passer calls including a tweet stating that, “The calls just keep coming—no matter what game.” He also said in a postgame press conference (after a roughing the passer call on Matthews cost the Packers a win) that he thinks the new safety precautions the league is trying to use go too far and hurt the gameplay. He said, “Unfortunately, this league is going in a direction that a lot of people don't like. The only thing hard about this league is the fines they levy down on guys like me that play the game hard.” (Matthews’ penalty occurred on the pivotal drive of a Week 2 2018 game between the Packers and, incidentally, the Vikings where Kirk Cousins threw a game-losing interception to Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander, winning the game for his Green Bay opponents. Fortunately for Minnesota, the play was called back due to a roughing the passer call on Matthews. He tackled Cousins around the waist, but the ball had just barely left Cousins’ hand, so the referees threw a flag.) Instances like the Washington Redskins’ Alex Smith’s Week 10 season-ending injury raise more questions about roughing the passer. After the Houston Texans’ cornerback Kareem Jackson and defensive end J.J. Watt combined for the sack, Smith lay on the ground in brutal agony. The hit was legal, but Smith’s leg was snapped. If that’s legal, but still that dangerous, then the league might have a few more kinks to work out in the rule and the protection of quarterbacks. Colt McCoy stepped in for Smith for the rest of the 23-21 loss to Houston.
Jesse A. Cook “Roughing The Passer Complications” November 24, 2018 Today is the 20th anniversary of the Seinfeld episode concerning the holiday, Festivus. In following the tradition, this December 23rd, here is my airing of grievances and feats of strength from the major sports:
AIRING OF GRIEVANCES PLAYER’S POWER In the NBA, the power of the players to control their owners has been a constant problem. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Paul George and Chris Paul say they want to leave their franchise team and there’s no debate, they’re right onto listening for new deals! They say they want out and they’re gone. That’s ridiculous, but it looked like it was staying in the NBA until recently. STANTON LEAVES MIAMI Giancarlo Stanton followed in suit with the NBA stars and decided he wanted to leave the city he’s called home for his entire eight-year career. Immediately, he’s dealt to the New York Yankees, which actually leads me to my next grievance which is how a lifetime Pinstripe traded the star of the team he newly owns to the Yanks for next to nothing! Derek Jeter willingly deals the reigning National League MVP from the Miami Marlins to the Bronx for Starlin Castro and a couple of mediocre minor leaguers? Something’s not right, here. FIGHTING IN FOOTBALL From Michael Crabtree and Aqib Talib to A.J. Green and Jalen Ramsey, the fighting in the NFL has gotten out of control. The sport is dangerous enough as it is, and with the ongoing investigations into concussion protocol and CTE, they definitely do not to be scrutinized over how Ndamukong Suh stepped on Aaron Rodgers’ throat. The Cincinnati Bengals are a prime example, for they’ve been recognized as thugs ever since Adam Jones and Vontaze Burfict tried to essentially assassinate Antonio Brown in the 2015-16 AFC Wild Card. NHL LEAVES THE OLYMPICS With great players from around the globe in the NHL, it’s a real shame that this 2018 Olympic Games is the first tournament to not include the NHL athletes. Who doesn’t want to see Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin lead Team Russia against Patrick Kane and Zach Parise for Team USA, or Tuukka Rask and Team Finland against Henrik Lundqvist and Team Sweden, or the many notable faces of Team Canada against whatever sorry country they’re pitted against? The NHL doesn’t want to take two weeks out of their season anymore to showcase their best and brightest stars, but fortunately, we still have the Hockey World Championship in late spring. NBA SUPERTEAMS The Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets, the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder are prime examples of superteams. These teams are corrupting the NBA because now great players are just getting together and making it ridiculous for other teams to even try! It’s not inconceivable that the only competition in the West is the Warriors, Houston and OKC and it’s only Cleveland and Boston in the East because of these superteams. FOOD AT MARINERS’ GAMES The Seattle Mariners are a fine organization, but their food has gotten a little outlandish. Safeco Field is now serving roasted grasshoppers at Mariners’ games, but however good they may or may not taste, this writer is not on board with munching on insects. HATING TB12 The New England Patriots are often thought of as the Yankees of the NFL because they just keep on winning, but that hate is directed mainly at Tom Brady. People claim that he’s not the greatest quarterback of all time, but the stats do not lie and now people are claiming that he’s not that good when he’s the front runner for MVP. Giving the MVP Award to somebody else is like when the NBA gave the award to Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon or Magic Johnson just so Michael Jordan didn’t get it every single year; greatness gets repetitive and people need to get on board. 31 TEAMS Sure, the Las Vegas Golden Knights is a pretty addition to the NHL, but now the league is in a weird situation. The West now has 16 teams and the East has 15, lopsiding the league so that there’s one more team to contend with in the Western Conference than there is the East. Maybe it’s just an answer to how the Nashville Predators, who made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, were the last seed in the West, but the seventh seed Calgary Flames wouldn’t have made it in the East, so now teams have to do slightly better to make the playoffs. FEATS OF STRENGTH WIN STREAKS The Celtics, Cavs and Rockets all boasted win streaks in the double digits, with the Land at 12 games, Houston at 14 and the Celts at an outstanding, historic 16 games. Granted, all three of these organizations fell under my list of superteams, in the competitive National Basketball Association winning above ten games in a row is no small task. Only a strong team could pull off such a feat. ANGELIC DEALS The Los Angeles Angels are making themselves into a powerful foe for their American League counterparts. Already possessing arguably the greatest baseball player since Babe Ruth in Mike Trout, with the recent acquisition of Shohei Ohtani, Zack Cozart and Ian Kinsler, they’re a daunting danger to the daring demeanor of the distant desert teams in the AL West. The all-star Reds’ shortstop Cozart and the WBC Team USA star Ian Kinsler make a deadly, dastardly duo in the middle infield and Ohtani speaks for himself, something he doesn’t do when addressing an English-speaking crowd! They barely missed the playoffs last year, so with this rejuvenation, this year will be a wild one. THE COMEBACK Okay, okay, it was last season, but it’s still 2017 and 28-3 is the greatest Super Bowl comeback in history. Without their star tight end, Rob Gronkowski, and only held up by Tom Brady’s cool calm collectiveness, Julian Edelman’s nimble fingers, James White’s clutch speed, LeGarrette Blount’s means of just hurling himself through a defense and Martellus Bennett’s grit, Bill Belichick’s soldiers sauntered into Houston, through screeching Falcons to the first Overtime victory in Super Bowl history. A fifth ring to the GOAT’s hand through the only 21 minutes and 8 seconds of a comeback is no small deed. LIGHTNING STRIKES AGAIN Last season, the Tampa Bay Lightning was the tenth seed in the Eastern Conference and now they’re the best team in the entire league! This year, they have the best powerplay, most goals scored per game, the most points, most wins (and least losses), Nikita Kucherov leads the league in both goals and overall points, Anton Stralman has the best plus-minus, and Andrei Vasilevskiy has the most wins by a goaltender. This isn’t a jump from the absolute worst, but the irrelevant squadron from the 2016-2017 season is now the scariest phenom on the ice for the 2017-18 season. Now that I’ve exhausted my airing of grievances and feats of strength, it’s time to take out the festival pole. 2017 has been a good year for sports and let’s hope for an even better one in 2018, so this December 23rd can really prove to be a Festivus for the rest of us. Jesse A. Cook “Festivus” December 23, 2017 The Cincinnati Bengals have not been mathematically eliminated, so they still have a shot at the postseason. There is a slim chance that they could actually pull off the last Wild Card spot.
The Bengals are playing the tough 10-3 Minnesota Vikings at 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The last time these two teams faced off, Week 16 of the 2013-14 season, Matt Cassel led the Vikes, but the Bengals, at home at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, took them to the slaughterhouse with an astonishing 42-14 victory. The purple and gold is heavily favored over the 5-8 Jungle, but Andy Dalton and A.J. Green know how to surprise a crowd; with his accuracy only getting better this year and the constant threat of Green’s hands of steel, the Red Rifle and his offense can clearly upset the Twin Cities’ representative to the National Football League. The New York Jets are playing an NFC demon, the Drew Brees led New Orleans Saints. The Saints have a clear advantage over the J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!, so maybe “Who Dat?!” will help their brothers to the far north, “Who Dey?!” by eliminating the Jets. Incidentally, if the Bengals and Saints both win, Minnesota and New Orleans would be tied for the second bye week in the NFC (the Vikings, however have the tiebreaker as they defeated the Saints in their only matchup this year 29-19 in Week One). The Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills are playing each other and both teams are in the hunt. If the Bills win, the Dolphins are pretty much out of the picture and the Bills would continue to hold that last playoff spot in the AFC. The bright side of that for the Bengals is that they beat Buffalo in their sole clash 20-16 in Week Five, giving Cincy the tiebreaker, if the season should come to a tie between the two after Week 17 (the Bengals would have to go undefeated the rest of the way and the Bills would have to lose their last two games). The next game pertinent to Cincy is the Oakland Raiders versus the Dallas Cowboys. If Dak Prescott can pull off a victory, his last game without Ezekiel Elliott, over Derek Carr and Michael Crabtree, the Raiders would be tied with the Bengals and that would help Cincy a great deal to finally be equal with their rivals. The Raiders lost last week to the Kansas City Chiefs, 26-14 and the Cowboys won their last two games 38-14 over the Washington Redskins and 30-10 over the New York Giants respectively, so that points to a Dallas victory. The Los Angeles Chargers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 30-13 on Thursday night, so at 7-7, if the Chargers go 1-1 the rest of the way, or 0-2, the Bengals have a shot. If the Chargers win against the Jets next week (that week doesn’t affect the Bengals’ chances if the Saints win), but they still lose the week after, Week 17, against the Oakland Raiders (who would have to lose both this week and next week to help Cincinnati), the two teams (Cincinnati and LA) would be tied at 8-8, with the Bengals having the tiebreaker because they would have the better record inside their own division. The last game the Bengals are counting on is rather unlikely, for it’s the 7-6 Baltimore Ravens against the 0-14 Cleveland Browns. That game looks like a gimme for Joe Flacco and the Ravens, but the Bengals and Ravens play each other in Week 17 and if they Bengals win, despite their 20-0 Week One loss to Baltimore, Cincy would have the better record in their division, the AFC North, and possess the tiebreaker, putting the 8-8 Cincinnati Bengals in the playoffs. Fans out of southwestern Ohio, southeastern Indiana and northern Kentucky got some exciting news this morning that hated Bengals’ coach Marvin Lewis would be leaving after this season, so they have more hope for next year, the 2018-19 season, but they’re not done for 2017-18. The Bengals, though unlucky, are optimistic. Jesse A. Cook “Not Impossible: The Bengals Can Make The Playoffs” December 17, 2017 The Cincinnati Bengals lost 20-0 to the Baltimore Ravens yesterday which puts them in position to make history. Since 2003, no team has made the playoffs after losing in shutout on Opening Day. What happened in 2003, though?
On September 7, 2003, Drew Bledsoe’s Buffalo Bills took on their quarterback’s former team, Tom Brady’s New England Patriots. Passing for 230 yards and one touchdown, alongside 89 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Travis Henry, the Bills scored 31 points. Brady passed for 123 yards and alongside Kevin Faulk’s 62 yard rushing game and Larry Center’s 36 yard rushing game, the Patriots scored a whopping zero points. On the next day, Donovan McNabb’s Philadelphia Eagles faced off with Brad Johnson’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Johnson passed for 238 yards with two touchdowns for a 17 point total for the Buccs. McNabb passed for 148 yards and no touchdowns for a zero point total. On September 10, 2017, Joe Flacco’s Baltimore Ravens and Andy Dalton’s Cincinnati Bengals met at Paul Brown Stadium for Opening Day. Flacco passed for a measly 121 yards, but was helped by impressive rushing games from Terrance West, 80 yards, and Javorius Allen, 71 yards, for a 20 point game. Despite passing for 170 yards, Dalton threw four interceptions, got little help from the rushing game and relied on A.J. Green to do most of the work on the receiving end, leading Cincy to a zero point day. What makes the September 7, 2003 shutouts of New England and Philadelphia so special and how does it relate to yesterday’s atrocity in Cincy? Well, the matchups in the Conference Finals that year were the Indianapolis Colts versus the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers versus the Philadelphia Eagles. Granted, the Panthers held Philly to a field goal, it was a better day for the Pats. Brady and his team kept Peyton Manning’s Colts at bay and with a final score of 24-14, after starting the year off by being shutout, the New England Patriots were off to their second Super Bowl in three years. They defeated Jake Delhomme’s Panthers 32-29 on a last second field goal by Adam Vinatieri. Again, how does this connect to the Bengals? Well, first of all, all three teams were shutout on Opening Day by an unthreatening squadron. So WHAT? Tons of teams have been shutout on opening day by another bad team and missed the playoffs since then, what makes the Jungle so different? Being different is not the distinction, what gives Cincinnati hope is that they are similar to New England and Philadelphia. The 2016 Bengals and the 2003 Patriots and Eagles have a lot in common. The reason I’m using the 2016 team is because I only have the stats from one game of the 2017 season. In ‘03, New England rushed for 1607 yards, got about 3.4 yards per rush, passed for 3432, completed about 59.6% of their passes, got about 10.73 yards per completion, earned 294 first downs, passed for 23 touchdowns and ran for nine. In ‘03, Philadelphia rushed for 2015 yards, got about 4.83 yards per rush, passed for 3020, completed about 57.6% of their passes, got about 10.82 yards per completion, earned 302 first downs, passed for 17 touchdowns and ran for 23. In ‘16, Cincinnati rushed for 1769 yards, got about 3.96 yards per rush, passed for 3942, completed about 64.7% of their passes, got about 10.83 yards per completion, earned 341 first downs, passed for 18 touchdowns and ran for 17. What do these stats show? They show that all three teams had a strong run game that could go for big yards. They also were able to rely on their receivers when needed. All three teams kept their rushing yards per attempt number pretty high, between three and five yards per attempt. That means that if any of these three teams rushed on first, second and third down, they’d move the chains before setting up the special teams squads for fourth down. The passing numbers were fantastic for all three. Recording 10+ yards per completion with completion percentages over even just 50% is incredibly impressive! That means that, on an average drive, if they missed on first and even second down, too, they’d still be favored to get a first down if they passed again on third! Sure, the past 14 years dictate that getting shutout on Opening Day is not a good omen, but those were all teams that weren’t any good the year before, either. The Jungle narrowly missed the playoffs last season, but their numbers were still slightly better than the last two teams’ numbers were when they got shutout in Week One and still made the postseason. “Cincinnati is in for history-Parts One, Two, Three and Four” (it was originally only four parts, but this, “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Five, the bonus track,” is, as mentioned in the title, a bonus track) are chock-full of stats clearly indicating how the remaining 15 games of the 2017-18 NFL season will go Cincinnati’s way. Also, as a parting piece, please remember the events that transpired 16 years ago today, 9/11. On September 11, 2001 two hijacked planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the Twin Towers, New York City, New York, killing 2763 people, one hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, killing 189 people, and one hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, originally aimed to crash into the White House, Washington D.C., crashed into the ground outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing 44 people. Never forget. Jesse A. Cook “Cincinnati Is In For History-Part Five, The Bonus Track” September 11, 2017 The Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens will open their seasons today in Cincinnati at 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. This game will mark the start of a historic season for Cincinnati. Of course, every great season starts with a great game.
Neither Cincinnati, nor Baltimore made the playoffs last year, but the better will definitely be proven in the game to the Bengals. Both in offense and defense they are superior. The Ravens have gone straight downhill since they beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII (Super Bowl 47) back at the tail-end of the 2012-13 season (save for their AFC Championship Game loss on a missed field goal by Billy Cundiff to the New England Patriots at the end of the 2014-15 season). In the first piece of this series on how the Bengals will have a great year, “Cincinnati is in for history-Part One,” I talked about the promise of their new rookie running back, Joe Mixon. In the second installment of this series, I discussed the improvement of the Jungle’s defense, “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Two.” In the third episode, “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Three,” I discussed how Cincinnati’s offense will be, to quote Mixon, “electrifying.” This is “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Four:” this is the final chapter of this 4-part showcase. This is about the season opener versus Baltimore and how this will be an easy victory for Cincy. Starting with the quarterback matchup, Andy Dalton outplayed Joe Flacco last season. While Flacco barely passed him in passing yards and touchdowns thrown, Flacco attempted over over 100 more passes, threw seven more interceptions, gained fewer net yardage gains per pass attempt and passed for fewer yards per play. What this indicates is that, not only is Dalton a superior quarterback, who converts more first downs, but that Baltimore is not capable of running as many successful rushing plays as Cincinnati. That brings me to my next point: the Cincinnati backfield is great and they make Baltimore’s look like dirt. Baltimore rushed for 1463 yards, ten touchdowns and only 79 first downs. Cincinnati rushed for 1769 yards, 17 touchdowns and they moved the chains 100 times. As far as defense goes, Cincinnati excelled there, as well. Cincinnati made 17 interceptions, forced six fumbles, recovered 13, 321 tackles assisted, had 33 sacks and 623 tackles. Baltimore had only one more pick, six more forced fumbles and eight more fumbles recovered, but they had 24 fewer tackles assisted, two fewer sacks and 41 fewer sacks. The final factor is the receiving end of the passing game. The receiving game is basically the same as the passing end of it. Flacco moves the chains less due to how he tries for more attempts for less yardage because the coaching staff has no confidence in the run game, but Dalton moves the chains more by throwing less times for more distance to his stars in A.J. Green, Brandon LaFell, Tyler Eifert and Tyler Boyd (and, this year, rookie John Ross), and letting Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard (and, this year, rookie Mixon) take the ball themselves half the time for the rushing side of play. Last season, Baltimore and Cincinnati played each other twice resulting in a 1-1 season series tie. The Ravens won the first game in Week 12 at home 19-14 and the Bengals took the second matchup in the Queen City 27-10 in Week 17, the last game for either team of the 2016-17 season. Cincy won by a bigger deficit, which pretty definitively proves, alongside the difference in stats and strategy, that the Bengals will start the 2017-18 season on a good note with an easy Week One victory. With that, concludes this four-part series of articles. The Bengals are set for life at running back, with Mixon, their defense is a brand-new set of skillful players and attitudes, their offense is off the charts amazing and they’ll have an easy start to the new season. Jesse A. Cook “Cincinnati Is In For History-Part Four” September 10, 2017 The Cincinnati Bengals’ offense year-in and year-out is always impressive, but this year, they will unleash fire and fury like the world has never seen. No, I’m not making fun of the United States of America’s President Donald Trump’s remarks about possible nuclear war with Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, but I am predicting what A.J. Green and Andy Dalton’s offense will be capable of this year.
Bengals’ third-string quarterback Jeff Driskel said, “I love the culture. It’s a culture that expects to win, it’s a culture that really roots for each other and rallies together.” Driskel is right that Cincinnati expects to win and they do this because of their incredible offense. Driskel continued by saying, “I think it’s a talented group, I think it’s a group that has a lot of upside and a group that plays well together, so, I’m excited for those guys and I know they’ll be ready once the season gets rolling and everything gets set in stone.” Once Sunday comes around for their game against the Baltimore Ravens at 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, they’ll have most of the pieces that will make their offense great. They have a star-studded starting quarterback in Dalton, wide receivers in Green, Tyler Boyd and Brandon LaFell and a threefold nightmare for the defense at running back in Jeremy Hill, Giovani Bernard and rookie Joe Mixon. In the first installment of this Cincinnati-centered series of articles, I talked about how helpful Mixon will be this year and I discussed in the second piece of this series how there are some positives the Bengals’ defensive end, as well. Now, I’m onto how the Bengals’ offense is awesome. Despite missing rookie wide receiver John Ross due to injury for Weeks One and Two, the Jungle will be off to the races for another playoff appearance, maybe a bye week in the postseason and maybe, finally, a postseason victory. As Mixon said, “This will be electrifying.” First of all, Dalton had a great year last year, despite missing the playoffs: he passed for 4206 yards, 18 touchdowns and only eight interceptions. With a beefed up set of running backs, that also gives him the option of handing the ball off to this newfound speed. As always, Green is projected to be one of the best wide receivers in the NFL; his fantasy ranking was ninth in the entire league. The six year veteran is a six-time Pro Bowler and last year, in his ten games, he caught for 964 yards, four touchdowns and he caught 66% of the passes thrown to him. His contemporary, LaFell, is a bit of sleeper player, as well. As the secondary target for Dalton (behind, first, Green, then Boyd, LaFell caught for 862 yards, six touchdowns and he caught 60% of the passes thrown to him. The third piece of the Cincy wide receiver trio, Boyd, is a budding star, who hopes to conquer the league alongside Green, LaFell and, eventually, Ross. Last year, the rookie Boyd caught for 603 yards, one touchdown and he caught 68% of the passes thrown to him. Ross, though he’ll miss Weeks One and Two versus the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans, respectively, is sure to play a big role this season in the Jungle’s success. In his final year at Washington, Ross caught for 1150 yards, 17 touchdowns and he averaged 14.2 yards per reception. That’s a first down and then some everytime he catches the ball; Dalton’s got a brand-new, very promising target, now. Eifert, the tight end, is the factor that not only uses finesse, but just, mere brute strength. The tank known as “Matchup Monster,” in only eight games last year, caught for 394 yards, 5 touchdowns and 13.6 yards per reception. Most of those plays are ones where he muscles out the last six yards or where he muscles his way through defending arms to catch the football. The running game, as mentioned in “Cincinnati is in for history-Part One” will be exciting. With the leadership of Hill and the mixture of Bernard and Mixon. The final chapter of this series of articles, “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Four,” will come out early tomorrow. It’s a preview for Opening Day against the Ravens and things are looking up for Cincinnati. Jesse A. Cook “Cincinnati Is In For History-Part Three” September 9, 2017 The Cincinnati Bengals are in for possibly the franchise’s greatest season of all-time. “Despite all of the talent on that side of the field, their success depends solely on one word, discipline,” said Dennis Clausen of RotoBaller.com. “Though the team is loaded with some very, very talented players, numerous penalties and “dirty” play has hindered the overall success of the team.”
What Clausen said is true, while the Bengals’ defense is stock-full of talent, discipline always was fatal to the success of the team. In Part One of this Bengals’ Outlook Series of articles, I discussed how rookie Joe Mixon will be an impressive factor in Cincinnati’s playoff run and I’ll talk about the rest of the offense in tomorrow’s third chapter of the series, but in this piece, I’ll discuss the positives of this defense’s possibilities. Yes, Vontaze Burfict, Adam “Pac-Man” Jones and Dre Kirkpatrick have not shown the best character in their careers as Bengals. Burfict and Jones cost the Bengals’ their first playoff win in over two decades back in their 18-16 Wild Card loss to their rival Pittsburgh Steelers due to personal fouls (punching wide receiver Antonio Brown) in the 2015-16 season. Burfict and Kirkpatrick instigated fights with the New England Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski last year in their Week Six 35-17 loss. Sounds dismal, right? You can’t forget about their undeniable skill, though: Burfict had 73 tackles, 28 tackle assists and had a 47 yard interception return, Jones had 54 tackles and 12 tackle assists and Kirkpatrick had 35 tackles, 11 tackle assists, three interceptions and a 21 yard interception return. Both Burfict and Jones are suspended to start the season. Jones will only miss Week One, but Burfict will miss the first three games. This does not sound like a good start for Jungle, but it may be a blessing in disguise. The team is without their two worst troublemakers for a short while, they do keep Kirkpatrick, one of their best defenders, and all three players now know that the league will no longer tolerate their misanthropic transgressions. In terms of skill, the team also acquired linebacker Kevin Minter and defensive end Jordan Willis. Minter was with the Arizona Cardinals last year and Willis was drafted in the Third Round out of Kansas State back in April. Minter was quiet in his first season, but has accumulated 171 tackles over his last three years (he’s only had a four-year career). Last year, Minter had 59 tackles, 22 tackle assists and 3.5 sacks. Willis will be a rookie this year and his preseason looked promising: he had seven tackles, five tackle assists, four sacks and one forced fumble. At Kansas State, over four years he had 74 tackles, 39 tackle assists, 25.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries. Despite the attitude, the Bengals’ mercurial defenders are learning their lesson. They also acquired the factors to complete their defense’s abilities apart from discipline. Read tomorrow for a preview of the Bengals’ ever-promising offense in “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Three.” Jesse A. Cook “Cincinnati Is In For History-Part Two” September 8, 2017 The Cincinnati Bengals endured many struggles in the past years, but they are in for history this time around. Despite the injury of rookie wide receiver John Ross, which will cause him to miss the first two games, the Jungle is looking at ending their unfortunate streak of playoff losses. Yes, you heard it here first, the Cincinnati Bengals will win a playoff game.
I know it sounds crazy, but there is proof: firstly, Emile Pierce of FanSided.com says that “After reloading with a ton of youth, speed and power, the sky’s the limit.” That’s true, Ross’s contribution will definitely prove helpful to his 14 games, but his rookie running back teammate, Joe Mixon is the bigger story. Though he’s third on the depth chart for Cincy, alternating as backup with Giovani Bernard and back to Jeremy Hill, fans are without-a-doubt excited. Head coach Marvin Lewis is one of those fans and he said, “His personality, his work ethic, how he comes and approaches practice every day,” Lewis said about Mixon. “from the very first rookie camp here in Cincinnati, you felt that, but you aren’t sure because it’s a very limited exposure. Now that’s a day-to-day thing with the ups and downs in camp — being tired, being asked to run and finish every play. He likes to do that. He likes to run down that field like he is scoring a touchdown, and we are going to give him a lot of opportunities to do that.” With that type of enthusiasm from the head coach, Mixon is sure to be at the top of his game, soon enough. Of course, Jeremy Hill had a noteworthy season last year; he rushed for 839 yards and nine touchdowns with no fumbles, averaging 3.8 yards per attempt in 15 games. Although Jason Marcum of SBNation Bengals, otherwise known as CincyJungle.com, said, “that doesn't mean this hierarchy can't change as the season goes on, especially if Mixon continues to impress. It just means you need to be patient.” In his two years at Big 12 Oklahoma State he played 25 games, rushed for 2027 yards, rushed for 17 touchdowns and averaged 6.8 yards per carry. Granted, the difference of skill between the NFL and NCAA Football is immense, averaging 1013.5 yards per season is no small task; even the Bengals top running back, Hill, didn’t reach 850 yards last year. Read tomorrow for the sequel to this article concerning the Cincinnati defense. While it held the team back in the past, paired with the usual success of the Jungle’s offense, the team could turn this year into a record year. Jesse A. Cook “Cincinnati Is In For History-Part One” September 7, 2017 |
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