Doc's Morning Line: 10 things we learned from Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Monday mourning to youse, Mobsters. It reminds me of a line from a Cat Stevens tune.
Who’s Cat Stevens, Doc?
Doesn’t matter.
If I laugh, just a little bit. . .
The Men got Ben-t again. In the press box with 3:30 to play and the Bengals owning the ball, I said to L. Patterson sitting next to me, “They’re gonna win 21-20.’’ Then, when they went 75 yards in two minutes and 18 seconds, I said, “They just lost.’’
Seventy-two seconds and three timeouts was way too much time to be leaving Roethlisberger. Especially with a defense minus three starters, and a couple more who were barely mobile. So it goes. Time to hitch up the big-boy pants and regroup for the trip to KC, whose offense is as loaded as its defense is empty. Meanwhile, without further ado. . .
TEN THINGS
* Please no whining re the alleged pick penalty some say should have been called on Justin Hunter on the A. Brown TD. You’re allowed to do what he did within a yard of the line of scrimmage. It was, IMO, a yard within the line of scrimmage. I had the same question. The Steelers didn’t win because of the officiating. (See, P. King's take, below.)
* The refs didn’t whistle Burfict for a forearm swipe at Brown. They didn’t rule touchdown on James Conner’s dive into the end zone. They don’t care who wins.
Tweets object to Burfict's play
* I didn’t like the defensive play call on Brown’s TD, against Roethlisberger of all people. He knew it was coming, didn’t even have to audible into the play they ran.
An all-out blitz with 15 seconds to play? The kicker Chris Boswell had missed 3 of his 6 FG tries this year. Twice on Sunday, Alex Erickson returned kickoffs a long way because Boswell didn’t have the leg to get the kicks deep into the end zone. If the Bengals make a stop on that play, 10 seconds remain. Maybe the Steelers get the ball a few yards closer on the next play, maybe they don’t. If they don’t, it’s a 49-yard FG try for Boswell. If I’m the Bengals, I take my chances on that one.
* That said, gutsy effort by a D missing Williams, Vigil and Dennard for all the 2nd half. Two goal-line stands.
* We don’t know yet the extent of the damage to those players. But to go to KC without a fully loaded gun on defense ain’t good. You watch the Chiefs game at New England last night?
* The line between heroes and goats has never been thinner.
* No way MLewis should not have gone for it on 4th-and-1 from the Pittsburgh 40. That should be an easy call these days, as standard as a punt in that situation used to be.
* Props, too, to yet another Elevation Man effort by Dalton. 75 yards at winnin’ time, for the 2nd time in 3 games. The Bengals had 49 totals yards in the 2nd half, before that drive.
And this: Dalton had Steelers in his face all day, made 42 throws without a pick. Well done.
* Claim all you like that the intangibles in this game don’t matter. New year, new team blah blah blah. Steelers Mystique is alive and flourishing, and will be until Ben leaves the building.
* The TM column on the subject. Don’t tell me it’s not possible.
KNOW YOUR OPPONENT. The Chiefs put up 40 at Foxboro, against Smarrogant Bill, who’s well known for sticking it to hot kid QBs. That said, I see some big regression coming for Patrick Mahomes. He runs around a lot, he throws a lot of 50-50 balls, his receivers bail him out a lot. Seemingly every big throw comes when Mahomes leaves the pocket and rolls right.
The KC defense is allowing 29 points and 468 yards a game. They look like a baseball team that can mash but can’t pitch. We know what happens to those teams.
Last year, the Chiefs started 5-0, lost 6 of their next 7 and had to win their last 4 to make a wild card game they lost to Tennessee. They scored 164 points in those first 5 games; they managed 134 in their next 7.
Seems Andy Reid’s flying circus is figure out-able. Seems to me a key is keeping Mahomes in the pocket and minding your assignment. The Bengals aren’t always very good at the latter.
And yet, Tyreek Hill did catch 3 TD passes in the last 16 minutes. Yikes.
The Men will be favored to drop to 4-3, which is guaranteed to set the already-cynical fan base to wailing. It’s more a regression to the NFL mean. The Bengals are pretty good, not great. They’re on the upper edge of the league’s vast, bloated middle, a member in good standing of the 9-7 Club. Losses are going to happen, almost as often as not.
Yeah?
I have no idea how next Sunday night goes. Maybe Dunlap, Atkins & Co. make life hell for Mahomes and the Men score the upset. Or the Chiefs win by 28.
Meantime, the Ravens had 11 sacks v. Tennessee. Marcus Mariota threw for, um, 51 yards.
P. KING’S TAKE ON THE PICK THAT WASN’T:
It helps when, on the Steelers’ winning touchdown pass to Antonio Brown, the Steelers appeared to get away with an illegal pick springing Brown for the score. The NFL defended the no-call in a Sunday night video posted to Twitter. Said vice president of officiating Al Riveron: “Contact was not initiated by the defender, therefore it is not OPI [offensive pass interference].” My NBC colleagues, Rodney Harrison and Tony Dungy, agreed with Riveron during Football Night in America.
Riveron is right in saying contact was first made by the defensive player, but Steelers receiver Justin Hunter rode the defender downfield—Hunter didn’t just shrug off the defender. The moderate, play-it-down-the-middle officiating site Football Zebras went hard after the call. Football Zebras said: [Riveron’s] explanation is as fresh as week-old fish. This is a clear OPI call, and to spin it any other way is just completely unsupportable.”
OK, but did Hunter “ride the defender downfield before or after the catch? It was a bang-bang play. Makes a difference.
REDS NEWS! REDS NEWS! REDS NEWS! From the Enquirer story:
Two weeks after the season ended, the Reds interviewed at least their 12th candidate for manager when they met with Rocco Baldelli in the past week, according to club sources.
From my (made up) story:
Baldelli, 37, is currently the sole proprietor of Rocco’s Pizza and Bocce, on 50th Avenue in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. He declared the Reds job “a great opportunity for me’’ and likened it to “an extra-large, double meat hoagie’’.
Previous interviewees for the Reds managing job have included a dairy farmer, two waitresses at the Great Grease Burger Bar in Racine, Wisc., a former mailman from Marfa, TX, and four guys named Bill.
BEARCATS GET A LITTLE LOVE. . , from SI.com, in a story exploring college football teams’ playoff chances:
NOV. 17
Cincinnati at UCF
Pivot Point for: Both
Let’s be honest. The chances of a Group of Five team making the playoff are very slim, especially considering the relative weakness of the non-conference schedules of the remaining undefeated teams (Cincinnati, South Florida, UCF). These two teams are currently undefeated, but it would be surprising if both these teams were undefeated going into this game. Cincinnati has Navy and USF in the weeks before this matchup. Meanwhile, UCF has Navy the week before.
As Central Florida discovered last year, a Group of Five team has to be better than great to get any love at all. UC is 6-0, but its schedule has the sex appeal of a 14-year-old cat.
Despite bye, upsets propel UC in both polls
WEEKEND THAT WAS featured a wedding in Columbus. . . and a pour of some of the best bourbon ever to grace my palate.
Man, I couldn’t believe how good Angel’s Envy was. Smooth and sweet, like alcoholic buttah. As good as 12-year-old Jameson. We paired that with an honest-to-Castro Cuban smoke. A lancero-style Trinidad said to be Fidel’s favorite. Heaven for an hour.
SO POPULAR. LET’S DO IT AGAIN. . . Allegedly great song that you cannot stand: I went last week with Suite: Judy Blue Eyes and Hotel California. This week:
Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen. This was Broooce’s jumping-off-point tune. I never liked it. Too much going on. The energy lacks focus. Born In The USA is a close second. Love ya, Bruce, but sometimes the hype is too much.
Yours, please.
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . I loved this tune instantly, when I watched Nirvana do it on SNL. Garage rock never gets old. The opening guitar line is killer. Not an obscure tune by any means, but an all-timer for sure.
Here we are now. Entertain us.