And with the 27th pick in the 2012 NFL Draft the Cincinnati Bengals select KEVIN ZEITLER.
The Bengals back up a few spots and get Kevin Zeitler. I’ve already praised the Bengals move for gathering more picks this is just more of the same. Big offensive guard from Wisconsin. They are just building up for a run in the AFC North.
And with the 17th pick in the 2012 NFL Draft the Cincinnati Bengals select DRE KIRKPATRICK.
This is the pick the Bengals got from Oakland Carson Palmer trade. This is the last top flight corner and the Benglas got him. This is a need for the Bengals at the moment. They have seen their secondary depart lately.
This young Bengals team is close and they have the picks. They can get the parts they need to compete in the AFC North out of this draft. Even if they do half a good of job as last year.
Beware the Bengal.
Busy busy week in the NFL. One overlooked story is Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis going from New England to Cincinnati. This could be an excellent move for the Bengals, it looks promising.
You never knew exactly what Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis was in NE. He could look fantastic one week and then the Patriots would abandon the run the next (completely within reason with Tom Brady at the helm). He’s a dependable runner, he never fumbles. NEVER FUMBLES. Which is the opposite of what the Bengals have been getting out of Cedric Benson. Now Cincinnati can keep the limited change of pace work with Bernard Scott and use BJGE as their main back. It’ll be interesting to see what he does with all the carries.
Winners and Losers…Wild Card Weekend Edition
Each week throughout the playoffs, we’ll be recapping winners and losers from the week’s action. Let’s get right into it:
Winners
Houston Texans fans: Can’t help but feel happy for the fan base. They lost their football team in the 90s when they moved to Tennessee, welcomed an expansion team back to the city about a decade ago, then watched the team become one of the most notoriously underachieving squads in football. Their chance at a division title opened up this year thanks to a particular neck injury to another quarterback. And they seized upon it. Injuries along the way have derailed realistic chances at a Super Bowl. But their home win over the Bengals this weekend was a huge stepping stone for the franchise. The Houston Texans. Finally relevant.
Cincinnati Bengals: Yes, that was a disappointing playoff loss and debut for Andy Dalton and A.J. Green, and it leaves Marvin Lewis still winless in the post-season. But the future is bright for this team. With two first round picks in the upcoming draft, the Bengals might be competitive again in 2012. The Steelers and Ravens should get a handful from this team in the coming years.
Sean Payton: Everyone likes to say that the New Orleans head coach is fearless for his repeated decisions to go for it on fourth down. To me, he’s just maximizing the potential of his personnel. Taking risks is one thing, taking risks that makes sense is another. Ask Falcons head coach Mike Smith about that one. The Saints offense didn’t get going until the second half, their receivers were uncharacteristically shaky with a lot of drops, and they still set an NFL playoff record for total yards in a game. That’s got to be a disturbing thought for the rest of the playoff field.
Matt Flynn: Still the most sought after quarterback in free agency this off-season. No one displaced him this week. That makes him a winner.
Josh McDaniels: If you haven’t heard, McDaniels is back with the Patriots as an offensive assistant for the remainder of the playoffs, with the understanding that he will be their offensive coordinator next year when current coordinator Bill O’Brien takes the head coaching reigns at Penn State. McDaniels had a trying year in St. Louis, and now gets reunited with the Brady bunch. Funny that he will face the quarterback he drafted a few years ago in Denver, Tim Tebow, on Sunday. Not sure what it means, but that’s one more storyline to keep an eye on.
Tim Tebow: You know, ever since Tebow was put into the starting line-up, everything that he’s succeeded at has been taken with a grain of salt. There was an underlying assumption that he was doing things that didn’t make sense, that this couldn’t last, it felt more like satire than a real inspirational story. But that was a legitimate win over the top ranked defense in the league on Sunday. The Broncos didn’t win in spite of Tebow, they won because of him. You can talk about his throwing motion, you can break down the numbers, you can say it doesn’t make sense. But it might be time to consider the Tim Tebow story as legitimate.
Losers
Atlanta Falcons: On a day when they dropped a turd, it made sense that they’d end up with a deuce on the scoreboard. Still winless in the playoffs in the Matt Ryan era, and there has to be questions surrounding head coach Mike Smith.
Dick LeBeau: Another side-effect of Tebow. When he tears your defense up, you will be questioned and scruntinized because it’s never suppose to happen.
Phil Simms: Paraphrasing what I heard while he was commentating the Steelers-Broncos game: “For it to be a forward pass, it has to go forward.”
The referee doing the overtime coin toss in Denver: It seemed like he forgot his cheat sheet while explaining the new overtime rules. Thankfully, Tebow saved the officiating crew from any misinterpretation of the rules in overtime.
John Elway: Just because from now on, when they talk about “The Drive”, they will also mention “The Overtime Pass” by Tebow. The two of you are stuck together forever.
Fans: Just seven more football games left until the off-season.
He was the MVP of his state championship game in high school, so he has some skills. Only 6’2” and 195, and his athleticism exceeds his route-running, so he’s probably a combo guard in the Association. He could potentially be a Shannon Brown type - great dunker, limited in other areas - and considering that the police found eight pounds of weed at his house, you’d have to think he’d end up on the Blazers.
Today, Cincinnati visits Houston in the Texans’ first playoff game ever, which means David Carr can finally cut his hair. Houston is a four-point favorite, meaning that that the Gamblo-American community (TM Scribbly Tate) thinks the teams are virtually even on a neutral field. How do we separate such close teams? Let’s look Behind The Inside Of The Numbers!
Quarterback Names
If your name is “T. J. Yates,” you have no choice to become an NFL quarterback, a NASCAR driver, or a bootlegger. “Andy Dalton” sounds like an investment banker or someone’s high school boyfriend. Cincinnati would be better off if he was “Andrew Dalton” or even “Drew Dalton,” but T. J. Yates is really tough to beat.
ADVANTAGE: Houston
@steven_lebron - Cincinnati Bengals
I’ve been a huge fan of Andy Dalton and AJ Green since this video. I can’t remember a rookie quarterback-wide receiver tandem that achieved chemistry so quick and got the team to the playoffs. Now the Bengals did take advantage of all their winnable games on a not so difficult schedule, but you can’t tell me a road game at the Texans with T.J. Yates (and Jake Delhomme lurking) at quarterback doesn’t fall into the category of a “winnable game”. Houston hasn’t scored more than 22 points since their starting quarterback went down, they finally lifted a decade long drought of underachieving by getting their first playoff berth. They’ve accomplished all that they need. The Bengals might not have beaten Pittsburgh or Baltimore, but they hung tight in those games, and have those battle-tested experiences to draw on for this post-season outing. In a battle of two rookie quarterbacks, I will take the more competent one to win a low scoring affair on the road.
@nhall - Houston Texans
Two rookie QBs, yup. Low scoring, yup. But that’s where we differ. This is everything to Houston, first playoff game of their young history. It’ll be a fantastic crowd for sure. The Bengals only beat one playoff team this year, the 8-8 Broncos. And that was way back in BT (before Tebow) time in week 2. They lost at home to this same Houston team only four weeks ago in Cincinnati. It’s true that the playoffs are a different animal, and neither of these teams are necessarily hot but Houston will have Andre Johnson. Will he be 100%?No, but you have to respect even a gimpy Andre Johnson. If Andre Johnson can get down field and at least sell the threat of a pass than I think this offense will be just fine. They have the best running back combination in the league. That will do wonders for the play action. Cincy is a popular pick but I don’t understand what they’ve done. This Houston defense has something to prove. I like a healthy Owen Daniels to come up big and Jonathan Joseph to pick of Dalton on one of those fingers crossed chucks to A.J. Green.
Of course, if Jake the Snake Delhomme does in fact start I take this all back and will be doubling down on the Bengals.
The Jags won their game today, but it means they’ll probably see Andrew Luck twice a year for the next decade and beyond. The Steelers won today, but they remained a 5th seed and may have lost their starting running back for the year. The Chiefs and Kyle Orton got their revenge in Denver, but they’ll be watching the playoffs like us.
Meanwhile, the Colts lost but gained a franchise quarterback in the process. The Bengals lost but will get into the playoffs. The Broncos scored just three points at home but clinched their division.
Winners were losers. Losers were winners.
Again, football makes no sense sometimes.
Just a reminder to all the NFLO followers, Mitchell & Ness is having its Black Friday sale online. All jerseys are $100, other apparel is 40% off. The deal is on at their website until midnight tonight.
I wanted to get this Randall Cunningham Eagles throwback but there’s only 3XL left. Lots of great football apparel available for you diehards.
By the way, I don’t work for M&N, but if they want to throw me a free Bernie Kosar jersey for spreading the word, I wouldn’t be mad.
(photo via mitchell-ness)
You see that white ball cap near the bottom of the photo there? Yeah, the one with hand clutching it. Yup, that one. That’s referee Ron Winter at the business end of a Ravens/Bengals pile up. Not where you want to be if you’re one of the guys on the field not wearing pads.
(Source: Yahoo!)
