Paraphrasing Yogi Berra: In football, you don’t know nothin’.
Unless you knew Khalid Kareem would make a season-changing play Sunday, or you were certain the Steelers would beat AFC top seed Tennessee while rolling up fewer than 200 yards of offense and that Baltimore would damned near beat Green Bay.
Crazy season, crazier still in the AFC North. With one W, the Bengals went from out of the playoffs to 1st place in the North. By 8 tonight, they could be back off that perch. . . if the Browns can beat Vegas with the one and only Nick Mullens at QB. Assuming Baker Mayfield and his backup, Case Keenum are sidelined with COVID-19.
Best not to hurt your brain pondering the possibilities. Just enjoy the wacky show.
It was a nice W for the Men in Denver, though all this self-congratulation in the wake of 15-10 should make a Bengals fan nervous. Whenever this team has felt good about itself, bad stuff has followed. But an L Sunday would have spiked their playoff dream; now, it remains front and center. If nothing else, the ’21 Bengals have kept you entertained and played like they’ve meant it.
Without further ado. . .
TEN THINGS FROM 15-10 IN THE SMILE HIGH CITY.
1. I really wish Zac Taylor wouldn’t say stuff like this: "Our defense played their tails off," Taylor said. "I think they really sent a message to the league that we have a hell of a defense.’’ One, his defense ranks 26th against the pass, and that’s after defending a Broncos team that can’t throw the ball when its starting QB is healthy. Teddy Bridgewater left Sunday’s game with 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, with a head injury. Two, the Bengals had allowed 67 points in their previous two games. Three, it sets a questionable tone.
The league is hardly quaking in its cleats. Even if it were, saying arrogant stuff like that suggests you’ve arrived. You haven’t. The Patriots lead the league in yards allowed. They don’t tell everybody how great they are.
2. I really wish Tyler Boyd wouldn’t say stuff like this: “When we play right like we did this week, I think that the sky's the limit.' I don't think that we can be beat."
3. Ah, c’mon.
4. Good teams don’t talk this way. You haven’t won anything yet.
5. Thanks to Vic Fangio, whose clock management at the end of the 1st half made all of Broncos Nation yearn for Marvin Lewis. First, he dawdled and went passive on his team’s final possession of the half. Then he didn’t use his timeouts properly. McManus missed a 51-yard FG try, leaving enough time for the Bengals to complete a 19-yard pass, followed by McPherson’s 58-yarder at the gun. That was a 6-point swing. And the ballgame.
6. Very nice team win. Very good efforts from every position group. They’ll need it again Sunday. Lots of wounded yesterday.
7. Burrow did what good QBs do. He made his team better, when his team had to have him. The 3rd-down scrambles for 1st downs, his wise decision-making, the big throws to Boyd. He didn’t force anything. Not a gaudy game, just one of his most effective.
8. Nice ad for the work the front office did in the offseason. Hendrickson might have clinched a Pro Bowl spot, Ogunjobi was solid v. the run etc.
9. Mixon could be showing the effects of all those carries in the past several weeks. Plus, he hurt an ankle late. You OK with Perine carrying the load v. the Ravens? Of course, B-more has lost both its Pro Bowl-caliber corners for the year, so maybe it’s time for deliverance via Saint Joe and his receiver disciples.
10. Hope the COVID scourge stays away, while giving credit to the Bengals for the exemplary way they’ve kept the virus at bay. They could be the Browns, you know.
SPEAKING OF THE BROWNS, who have 20-plus players in the protocol. . . we don’t know yet who their QB will be tonight at 5. Mayfield and Keenum right now are not playing, leaving the job to Mullens. One or both could be cleared. Mullens started eight games for the 49ers last year, completing 65 percent of his throws and throwing for 12 TDs and 12 INTs. Cleveland also is missing RB Kareem Hunt and T Jack Conklin.
Cleveland needs a W tonight. Its next two games are at Green Bay and Pittsburgh. The Green Bay game is next Saturday. Nice 5-day turnaround for the Brownies.
AS FOR THE RAVENS. . . The karma doesn’t live in Charm City this year. Twice in three weeks, B-more has lost games because it didn’t convert two-pointers at the end. ESPN.com:
The more debatable decision was Harbaugh's decision not to go for 2 points after Baltimore had closed to 31-23 with 4:47 left in the game. If the Ravens had successfully made that 2-point conversion, they would have needed only an extra point at the end to win the game. If Baltimore had failed, it would still have had a shot to tie the game with a 2-point try at the end.
The Ravens are the first team in NFL history to lose three straight games in a single season by a combined four points or fewer.
Lamar Jackson missed the game, but Harbaugh said he’ll play v. the Men. Even if he doesn’t, Huntley isn’t a bad back-up. He threw for two TDs and ran for two others yesterday.
THE STEELERS are like moles in the backyard. Can’t kill ‘em. When their D is nearly whole, as it was Sunday, they’re a problem. But so is their schedule: At KC and B-more, home with Cleveland.
TOM BRADY IS A PETULANT BRAT. . . He was bitching and whining the whole game last night, before throwing and smashing an iPad, or whatever device the league supplies its teams. This is the other side of Brady, the one he usually takes great pains to conceal. It was a very good time, watching the Saints make him cry.
AMAZE IS WHAT HE DOES. . . Tiger and his 12-year-old son-prodigy Charlie reeled off 11 birdies in a row in that made-for-TV, father-son funfest Sunday, to finish 2nd behind John Daly and his son. (Daly, BTW, looks like he should be sleeping under an overpass.)
I didn’t see much of it, but enough to see that son looks like a miniature pops, right down to the mannerisms and clothing choices. It’d be a little weird if it weren’t so spectacular. The only difference is, the blessing of good health Charlie enjoys. His swing is like buttah, unburdened by back trauma and leg issues. If you have a little kid who wants to play golf, have him watch Charlie swing. Simple and deadly effective.
XAVIER CONTINUES TO IMPRESS. . . Saturday it was Dwon Odom, off the bench with 19 points and 3 steals in 21 minutes. The Musketeers have enough good players to have an answer for everything. Their depth eliminates foul-trouble concerns and, I’m guessing, makes for very competitive and fully engaged practices.
Travis Steele’s major concern is keeping everyone happy with the PT they get and with making smart substitutions. X doesn’t seem to have any real weaknesses. We’ll learn more tomorrow night, when they play at #9 Villanova.
GET OFFA MY LAWN NOTE O’ THE DAY. . . It’s wayyyy past time to ditch the idiotic “It’s third dowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn!’’ belch offered now BY EVERY SINGLE FREAKING STADIUM PR GUY.
K?
One, it’s entirely unoriginal. Like playing 7 Nation Army any time.
Two, we know what down it is.
Three, it’s stupid.
Just stop.
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . Last TML for me, before Xmas. So, naturally, the world’s greatest Xmas tune. And Jerry Springer on bells! Have a merry, benevolent one, Mobsters. Thanks for being here.
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