Skins fall to Bengals

I suppose it was an entertaining game and another solid performance by RG3 but the defensive secondary AND coaching is terrible.  To be specific, the Bengals first two TDs are perfect examples:

1. The very first play of the game is a Bengal wildcat formation.  Dalton is sent wide and D. Hall is covering him.  A.J. Green (one of the best WRs in the game) is in the slot and backup safety Dejeon Gomes is sent to cover him one on one.  D. Hall and Gomes looked at each other as if they thought about switching but didn't.  I get that this is a wildcat formation and you are not expecting a deep ball to be thrown but still just to be sure, why is Gomes one on one with no safety help covering Green?  It is a great job of the Bengals of creating and exploiting a mismatch.  I would much rather have Hall than Gomes on Green.  That needs to get fixed.

2. The Bengals second TD.  It's a second and 20 at midfield and Haslett decides to send the house.  I don't understand why he does this.  We sent in seven defensive players and granted we nearly got the sack but Dalton was able to complete a quick seven yard out and then to compound what I believe is a bad play call, Josh Wilson slips and misses a chance to push the WR out of bounds for a short gain and in turn leads to a 48 yard TD since there was no one back to support.  Last season, Haslett would call the zero blitz play and it is a high risk/high reward play.  If you don't get immediate pressure, it is a TD waiting to happen and it burned us in at least both Dallas games last year.  Again, he sends the house and it killed us yesterday.  I don't mind sending a safety blitz or a corner blitz or an extra LB but why send the house on a second and 20?  In my mind bad play call with a bad play by Wilson to compound the problem.

Those were the two plays that bothered me the most on defense.  Still, the secondary is proving to be a major liability and to me it is compounded by the defensive coaching.  What's worse is that Haslett just got an extension.  What was supposed to be the strong point of our team is showing that it can't stop anyone.  This has got to get fixed as we are the worst defense in the league giving up ridiculous number of points and yards.

On a positive note, Orakpo's replacement, Rob Jackson, played well.  He got the INT for a TD and he made a tremendous play stopping a run for a big loss.  The question I have is what happened to him the rest of the game?  It looked like I saw more of Chris Wilson and #55 as the game wore on.  Wilson is a decent pass rusher so I don't mind seeing him but it just seemed like Jackson was taken out of the game.

Also, our run defense is sound and has been in all three games.  The front seven is decent so I don't know why we don't give more help to our secondary.  Haslett is overly aggressive so to me, he is just as much to blame for the ridiculous number of big plays we are giving up as the players are.

Offensively, RG3 has been better than advertised.  He continues to impress with both is arm and feet and decision making.  Can't fault him at all. 

I also like our running game.  Morris is a gem as he runs hard and seems to understand the zone blocking scheme Shanny likes to run as he consistently hits the right hole and can run hard and has shown that it will take more than one guy to bring him down. 

It was good to see Fred Davis get involved as he had 7 catches for nearly 100 yards.

The BIG issue I had with the offense was what the F is Jordan Black doing as the backup LT?!!!!  The guy was out of football last season and basically retired.  He lost a lot of weight and then got the call from Shanny and had to put on a bunch of weight and get back into football shape.  HE SUCKED!!!! Yes, Williams is our best offensive lineman so it's going to hurt any time he goes down but WTF is Black doing as his backup?!!!  If you just watched him on every play, it looked like a big piece of S that Robs spit out trying to block.  He was a major reason that RG3 took 6 sacks on the day.  Seriously, there were several plays where he was just outclassed in an embarrassing performance by him.  I can only hope Williams injury is not severe otherwise, RG3 is in serious trouble.

After three games, I feel pretty good about the offense.  I am ticked off about the defensive secondary and defensive coaching.  That has to be corrected and Jordan Black scares me.  Will be interesting to watch these two story lines.

HTTR!!!