The Score: The Cincinnati Bengals offense struggled to score points for the second straight game.
Sfvftc's Shot: The Cincinnati Bengals offense is deficient at one vital position: tight end (TE).
The Bengals offensive unit is replete with young dynamic talent. Quarterback Carson Palmer is a strong and accurate passer. Wide receivers Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chris Henry are accomplished pass catchers. Running back Rudi Johnson is one of the most underrated players in the NFL. In addition, the Bengals offensive line is a stout unit.
Nevertheless, the offense has faltered in the last two games. The Bengals posted a mere 13 points in each contest loses to the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Those losses revealed that Cincinnati lacks a first-rate TE. Right now, the Bengals cannot attack the middle of an opponent's defense. For example, the Buccaneers, along with many other NFL teams play the "cover 2" defense or a version of it. The defense is designed to prevent long pass plays down the sidelines, as the cornerbacks and safeties try to bracket wide receivers. Its weakness is its center. One sound method for generating quality plays against this kind of defense is to throw ball to the TE down the middle since safeties cheat to the outside and linebackers, who usually cover TE's in this alignment, tend to be slower than TE's. (Shh. This X & O analysis is based on watching NFL Match up with Merril Hoge, Sal Paloantanio and Ron Jaworski for years and a TD catch by Jay Novacek in Dallas' Super Bowl win in January of '93.) However, yesterday, Palmer completed only one pass to his TE for 27 yards.
Therefore, Palmer and crew need a speedy TE with an above average ability to catch the ball. With such a player in tow, Cincinnati will, once again, have a dominant offense.
Key Play(s):
1. The Bengals offense, loaded with superior talent, lacks an above average TE to strike at the center of most defensive formations, in particular, the common "cover 2" defensive alignment.
The Score: Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Chris Simms played with a ruptured spleen in his team's loss to the Carolina Panthers yesterday.
Sfvftc's Shot: Bucs quaterback Chris Simms, once and for all, shedded the demeaning 'soft' label with his gritty perfromance yesterday.
The media, Steve Young in partciular and myself stamped Chris Simms as 'soft' or fragile. We formed this characterization based upon his privileged upbringing, his inability to defeat archrival Oklahoma while at Texas and his failure to guide the Longhorns to a national championship.
Yesterday, though, Simms jettisoned that categorization by playing with a ruptured spleen. His head coach, John Gruden, today said, ""He's a tough guy. There's been people out there that have questioned his toughness. Those people hopefully were silenced yesterday." (Quote courtesy of www.sports.yahoo.com & AP & Fred Goodall)
Coach Gruden, I consider myself 'silenced' about Simms' toughness.
Key Play (s):
1. Chris Simms proved his mettle yesterday by playing with a ruptured spleen.
