Some thoughts on the game

[Maelstrom787]

• The defense continues to improve. That's a really, really hard offense to hold to 17 points when they're actually healthy - and this is the first time all season that offense has been fully healthy. They're getting home to the quarterback more often and the defensive secondary is fast as all hell. Run defense appears to be totally fixed, even without the best personnel. Cam Young is playing well, and Jarran Reed is playing better than ever after sucking ass in his time away from here.
• The offense is discombobulated. They've got serious timing issues, they cannot figure out what to do in the redzone, and third down continues to be a pain point. Will they find their groove?
• The offensive line, despite vastly overperforming through injury, is starting to hit growing pains - especially on the right side. Bradford is nasty but raw, and Curhan will never be a consistent pass protector.
• It doesn't feel like they're rushing enough. They're tunnel-visioned on the pass game, and the lack of balance seems to be hurting everyone.
• Lou Anarumo is a known boss at disguising coverage. They destroyed Mahomes a few years back by dropping 8 a ton and confusing him, allowing the pass rush to make his life hell. I suspect this played a role in how slow Geno and the offense were to process and get open.
• Disappointing loss, but they bought themselves a little breathing room with 3 solid wins prior to the bye. Feels good to still be above .500 post loss. Lots to be excited about, lots to worry about.

 

[nwHawk]

Good post Mael. Very vanilla run blocking schemes, mainly because of personal, but damn. Give those guys something to get the defensive line off balance.

Impressive defensive performance. The unit is rounding into shape, very encouraging. Tre Brown had a very nice game. Brooks had some nice plays, hell several guys played within the defense and together.

Curhan is a JAG, Haynes has rough at LG, and Geno just couldn’t adjust his play clock to get the ball out quick enough. Tough loss.

 

[QWERTY]

3pts in 2nd half is amazing.

Woolen is either having a sophmore slump, or he's getting worse, but I didn't see him doing anything really.

 

[JPatera76]

3pts in 2nd half is amazing.

Woolen is either having a sophmore slump, or he's getting worse, but I didn't see him doing anything really.

Nah, he wasn't targeted a lot and was shoved (opi). He had a quietly good game. Same with Spoon and Brown. Our safeties on the other hand... suck. Diggs was hot cold... Adams... idk wtf he was doing other than he made 1 good tackle? lol

 

[TheLegendOfBoom]

Offensive line is still terrible.

Geno, may be regressing.

Run game seems like best weapon but Waldron wants to keep throwing.

A lot of issues on offense.

Waldron called a lackluster game even with the front four of the The Bengals getting a pass rush at will.

Seattle was on their high horse after the Giants game and came unprepared and was outcoached in a game where they could have won. That’s most disappointing.

 

[seabowl]

Geno is a good quarterback and can distribute the ball. The issues that he has always had is when it comes to crunch time he rarely if ever comes through. That’s the difference between a good quarterback, and a great quarterback.

 

[JPatera76]

Offensive line is still terrible.

Geno, may be regressing.

Run game seems like best weapon but Waldron wants to keep throwing.

A lot of issues on offense.

Waldron called a lackluster game even with the front four of the The Bengals getting a pass rush at will.

Seattle was on their high horse after the Giants game and came unprepared and was outcoached in a game where they could have won. That’s most disappointing.

I believe during the more recent KJ All day podcast KJ Touched on this. I think KJ being a former player for PC and experiencing it knows PC teams tend to come out flat after a bye week. He alluded as much when Gee asked him who he thought was gunna win.

 

[Maelstrom787]

On the plus side - that feels like about as low as the offense is going to slump this season.

 

[LTH]

• The defense continues to improve. That's a really, really hard offense to hold to 17 points when they're actually healthy - and this is the first time all season that offense has been fully healthy. They're getting home to the quarterback more often and the defensive secondary is fast as all hell. Run defense appears to be totally fixed, even without the best personnel. Cam Young is playing well, and Jarran Reed is playing better than ever after sucking ass in his time away from here.
• The offense is discombobulated. They've got serious timing issues, they cannot figure out what to do in the redzone, and third down continues to be a pain point. Will they find their groove?
• The offensive line, despite vastly overperforming through injury, is starting to hit growing pains - especially on the right side. Bradford is nasty but raw, and Curhan will never be a consistent pass protector.
• It doesn't feel like they're rushing enough. They're tunnel-visioned on the pass game, and the lack of balance seems to be hurting everyone.
• Lou Anarumo is a known boss at disguising coverage. They destroyed Mahomes a few years back by dropping 8 a ton and confusing him, allowing the pass rush to make his life hell. I suspect this played a role in how slow Geno and the offense were to process and get open.
• Disappointing loss, but they bought themselves a little breathing room with 3 solid wins prior to the bye. Feels good to still be above .500 post loss. Lots to be excited about, lots to worry about.

I just think the O line finally got taken advantage of...couldn't get the run game going ...couldn't protect Geno when it counted just got to give the Bangles D credit and move on.

LTH

 

[NoGain]

I had this game as a loss before the season started, and a loss at game time, though I felt better about our chances than when the season began. So the world is not crashing for me as a fan. It just hurts that we had so many chances to win a game I thought we'd likely lose.

We need Lucas back. We have to get more creative in the red zone against quality teams. And Geno just didn't look good today. I think it's fair to be wavering on him as a longer term answer. But he's all we've got this year and perhaps next.

On to the next game...

 

[TheLegendOfBoom]

Geno is a good quarterback and can distribute the ball. The issues that he has always had is when it comes to crunch time he rarely if ever comes through. That’s the difference between a good quarterback, and a great quarterback.

Geno is a good quarterback but all conditions needs to be good for him to make magic happen.

The constant theme was the Bengals pass rush getting to Geno in 1.5 seconds. Geno, couldn’t adjust or make decisions faster and held onto the ball a long time when he needs to make a throw, but, the coverage on the wide receivers blanketed Seattle and disrupted Geno’s rhythm throughout the game.

DK, was clearly open on a few early throws and Geno for whatever reason, did not look his way. That’s on Geno, right there.

I understand DK was upset and it wasn’t entirely DKs fault but Geno didn’t make all his reads. DK threw a tantrum and I get it but Geno didn’t play well either.

Seattle’s coaching staff was outcoached this game and not even by a lot but enough to where Seattle’s inefficiency was completely exposed. You don’t want to coach like that.

Carroll still struggles at adjusting to game plans not working and doesn’t shift strategies all that much.

Walker ran pretty well and they should have gave him the ball a lot more since the Cinci pass rush was looking like a NFL elite rush attack.

Really, quite pitiful effort by Seattle’s offensive line.

Seattles offensive line today looked as bad as the Giants offensive line when Seattle played them.

 

[CallMeADawg]

Serious work needed up and down on the offensive side of the ball. Geno isn't blame free for this, but he's also not the only reason why they shit the bed today.

Defense was seriously good today after they adjusted. Hopefully they can continue to play at a high level.

 

[oldhawkfan]

How about some props to Jamal Adams for playing a whole game!

 

[Yxes1122]

Honestly, if you’d asked me if this team (at full strength) would’ve won this game at the beginning of the season I’d have said no. One of the best teams in the last 2/3 seasons and Pete is historically flat coming off of byes.

I’m encouraged by this game. Geno had a terrible game and it looked like he got rattled in the second half. Bradford and Haynes both had a rough game. We lost on turnovers and penalties. And were still in position to win the game at the end. That game script feels familiar.

Honestly, to see the D hold up on 3rd down over and over and over again, was one of the most encouraging signs for the season. And this wasn’t against the Giants. It was a healthy Burrow with Chase/Mixon/Higgins/Boyd.

The OL needs to get healthy. Hopefully Lewis and Lucas can get back into the lineup and stabilize the OL. Geno is not a transcendent QB, and needs at minimum, interior protection to succeed. If Lewis remains out, I’d prefer to see Brown over at LG and Olu at C next week. If nothing else, hopefully that gets the run game going to unlocks PA.

But overall, this game felt like proof the D is ascending. And it felt like our luck ran out with the OL attrition. At its core the Geno INT in the red zone and INT that gave the Bengals 3 proved to be the two plays that most impacted this game. Geno hasn’t been an INT prone QB in Seattle so I don’t think that’s indicative of future struggles, barring continued attrition on the OL.

Still encouraged for this team’s prospects this season.

 

[LickMyNuts]

There was a third down in the first half where the Bengals clearly had the Seahawks outnumbered on the right side. Instead of calling a timeout Geno chucked the ball to no one and nearly got his head taken off.

One of several really boneheaded decisions by the QB today. At times he makes the simplest mistakes.

 

[OneLofaTatupu]

There was a third down in the first half where the Bengals clearly had the Seahawks outnumbered on the right side. Instead of calling a timeout Geno chucked the ball to no one and nearly got his head taken off.

One of several really boneheaded decisions by the QB today. At times he makes the simplest mistakes.

He saves those timeouts for first down

 

[toffee]

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that 12 flag was still there.

Yes, flag still flying at my front gate.

 

[Ad Hawk]

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that 12 flag was still there.

Yes, flag still flying at my front gate.

Toffee repping proudly!

 

[Torc]

I thought we were in for a really long day defensively when the Bengals scored TDs on their first two drives. The defense was super solid the rest of the game. Thumbs up to Jamal Adams who showed clearly that when he's available, he's a difference maker. Hopefully he's healthy the rest of the season.

I thought we were in for some offensive sparks when the offense marched down the field on the first drive. No one was saying Geno was out of sync then. There were certainly a few plays where (at least on my TV screen) I saw open receivers that Geno wasn't throwing to....but that doesn't mean much.

Man, DK needs to chill out. In terms of game flow I thought that he really hurt the offense beyond the 15 yard penalty. Geno seemed to be trying to force it to him a bit after his tantrum, and that needs to not be in the QB's head when he's making decisions.

JSN got a couple of downfield looks, which was great. Hopefully that was a focus during the bye and we'll see more of it. Bobo sure looked good on his catches, even getting some beasty YAC. I'm not sure why he is such a magnet for big hits, but he sure seems to get them.

 

[toffee]

Toffee repping proudly!

View attachment 61248

As we should.