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Home > Blogs > Big C's NFL Blitz > Archives > 2010 > September > 22 > Entry
Bengals to put emphasis on run this week
The Cincinnati Bengals managed to squeak past Baltimore on Sunday with a 15-10 victory. To make a long story short, it was the Mike Nugent show. Nugent kicked a career-high five field goals to give the Bengals their first win of the season. The team’s sputtering offense failed to score and had to rely on the leg and foot of Nugent to produce points.
The highly anticipated offense was hit-and-miss passing the ball. Starting quarterback Carson Palmer completed 16 of 35 passes for 167 yards. He completed 46 percent and appeared unsettled, with a number of miscues.
On the other hand, the team had some success running the ball with Cedric Benson, who rushed for 78 yards on 23 carries, but seemed to get away from it when he was most effective, that being the first quarter. He had only three carries in the second quarter.
“We have to do what we did last year when we were a run-first team,” Benson said. “We have to focus on the run, establish the run and make plays on third downs. That is what took us to the playoffs last year.”
The running back’s statement leads me to believe that the team’s game plan was to throw the ball against Baltimore.
Benson’s best run may have been when he put an okee-doke move on linebacker Ray Lewis to rush for a critical first down.
“It was a zone play and the inside was smashed down so I had to bounce it to the outside,” he said. “Lewis happened to be on the outside and I had to make a play on him. I was able to get the upper-hand on that play and broke him down.”
Establishing the run game wasn’t the Bengals’ top priority, but you can bet the farm they will be looking to run the ball down the throat of Carolina’s 27th-ranked run defense on Sunday.
“Unfortunately, it was an ugly win Sunday but we’ll take the victory,” Benson said. “The defense played great and pretty much sealed the deal. They made it happen for us. We have to move forward every week and we’ll see what we get out of this one against Carolina. I think you’ll see a more balanced attack this week.”
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Comments
By Marvin
September 23, 2010 8:33 AM | Link to this
If Palmer would get his eyes examined, we could throw the ball successfully. As it is he can barely see the running backs to hand the ball off.
By Bob540
September 23, 2010 1:12 PM | Link to this
I think it was a smart move to try to pass more than run vs. Baltimore. The strength of their defense is up front. While getting long in the tooth at some positions, Ray Lewis and the boys can still play pretty tough run defense. The problem was in execution, lack thereof, of the Bengals’ passing game. I wish the Bengals had a solid back-up QB, in case Palmer isn’t getting the job done. Alas …
By Dallas Dave
September 23, 2010 1:47 PM | Link to this
Bengals should have drafted a quarterback last year to learn under Palmer. Palmer #1 is washed up, and Palmer #2 shouldn’t even be on an NFL roster.