The Bengals are lucky they're not 0-3. Go back and look at the game tapes. I have (DVR) every one of them. I went home Sunday night and watched their win over the Jets, again. They're very lucky.
You know what saved them in that game against the Jets? Ryan Fitzpatrick fell apart in the second half of that game. It was night and day. He threw for 111 yards in the first half, He threw for just 78 yards in the second half. He was high, wide and all over the pass. The fact that the Jets kicker was channeling Neil Rackers, circa 2001, was a factor, too. There was also a huge personal foul call on the Jets for a facemask violation on the Bengals' game winning drive. But by and large, the team didn't play well.
They were never really in the game at Pittsburgh. And Sunday, there were too many penalties that kept Denver drives alive, more drops and more sacks.
Yep, the Bengals are lucky they're now 0-3. As it is, a 1-2 start doesn't bode well, historically, for a team trying to make the playoffs. Since 1991, a team starting the season 1-2 has made the playoffs only 25% of the time.
But I'll still hold to what I said long before this season began: There is no roster in the AFC that's better than the Bengals. But potential doesn't always mean results.
The Bengals came out Sunday against the Broncos and wanted to establish their running attack. Nine of their first 12 plays were runs, including a 50-yard run by Jeremy Hill that set up their first touchdown. But for the rest of the game, they managed just 93 rushing yards, averaging just 3.3 yards per carry. That's better than the previous two games, but not good enough to win consistently.
And then came the sacks. Andy Dalton hit the deck four more times Sunday to bring the Bengals' sacks-allowed total to 12. Twelve sacks allowed in three games will lead to two things: losses and the backup quarterback.
Clearly, the Bengals continue to have issues with their offensive line.
But help is on the way. The Dolphins are coming to town. And the Dolphins aren't very good ...
I always thought I was good enough to be a quarterback in the NFL. And after watching Ryan Fitzpatrick Sunday, now I am ...
The Browns are a pitiful team. How they could pass on Carson Wentz and think RG III or any of those other retreads would be good enough to win is mind boggling. Of course, the happiest man after the Browns passed on Wentz has to be ... Carson Wentz ...
The Steelers offense wasn't very good Sunday. But their defensive secondary looked like a clown show ...
Baltimore is 3-0, but the Ravens haven't played anyone. And they had to hold on to beat the Jaguars Sunday ...
You want to know why Mike Zimmer and the Vikings are winning games without Teddy Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson? The word begins with the letter "D" ...
UC head football coach Tommy Tuberville said he started and went with redshirt freshman quarterback Ross Trail in Saturday's win over Miami because it gave his team the best chance of running the ball effectively. But long term, if Tuberville wants to win games, he'll have to circle back to Gunner Kiel ...
LSU, which fired Les Miles this weekend, will certainly try to lure Tom Herman away from the University of Houston as the Tigers next head coach. But as long as LSU remains in the SEC West, it and anyone else not named Alabama has no shot of winning that division championship ...
When the great Arnold Palmer died Sunday night, the tributes poured in from all over the world. Palmer was more than just a great golfer. He was an international businessman, designing golf courses, merchandise and food products and selling them all over the world. Among the golf courses Palmer designed is the magnificent Oasis Country Club in Loveland, Ohio. But Palmer was even bigger than all of that.
At his core, he was a gentleman in the ultimate gentleman's game. He always had time to make an ordinary guy feel like he was the most important person in the world. Something like that isn't learned. It's a gift.
About 25 years ago, when Kings Island was hosting a Senior Tour event, Palmer was a consistent participant. The television station where I was working at that time did nightly updates on the tournament that ran immediately after our 11 p.m. newscast. One night, a few days before the start of one of the tournaments, Palmer joined us. After our show was over, I said to Palmer that I was having trouble with my golf game. "I keep hitting my wedges and the ball never seems to come off the club face correctly," I said to Arnie. I then went into great detail about how I was standing, where the club face was, my back swing, thinking that he would be enraptured by all of this and might offer me some free advice. Arnie politely nodded as I spoke for what had to be at least three or four minutes When I was done, he raised his eyebrows and simply said, "Sounds to me like you should go find a good golf pro and get a lesson." I felt like a dolt. But then he picked me up by saying, "Don't worry about it. I'll probably do the same thing once or twice tomorrow." His eyes sparkling, they always did, he slapped me on the shoulder and walked away.
Palmer was one of a kind. And he had the good fortune to be golf's best, when the sport found its way to television. He took a niche game and turned it into an international sport, almost on his own. As someone said Sunday night, you know he was bigger than life. He has a drink named after him ...
Forty-seven years ago Tuesdaywas a monumental day in music. The Beatles released, in their home country, their final piece of recorded music, the album Abbey Road. A copy of the album showed up, about eight hours later (ferried illegally on a jet flight from London to New York City) in the USA.
While the album Get Back came out the following year, all of the material on that was recorded prior to the Abbey Road sessions. This was the lead track. t was credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, as all Beatles songs are. But this was all Lennon. He wrote it, he did all the vocal tracks. And the lyrics were about as confusing as anything the Beatles have ever done. Some allege it was about the death of McCartney. Some conspiracy theorists claimed that happened in the mid-60's. It was a wild rumor, nothing more. McCartney remains alive and well this day. But even Lennon had trouble remembering what he wrote, as evidence in this video for the only live concert he did, post-Beatles breakup.
It began as a project to write a campaign song for Dr. Timothy Leary, who was running for President in 1968. That went nowhere. But this song, with its 45 rpm flip side "Something," went straight to No. 1.
