Criminally Stupid---The Monday Night Game Take
With regard to all of the Bengals' many arrests, "stupid" and "ill-advised" are words that seem appropriate in summing up the situation. Those words also apply to the dumb as hell gameplan that Marvin Lewis trotted out onto the field in Indianapolis last night. I think that as an irritated Bengals fan, and acknowledge that tons of Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh owners must be ripshit furious this morning.
I simply cannot comprehend a gameplan that takes the ball out of Palmer's hands as much as that one did last night. Makes no sense. Yes, Jacksonville gashed Indy for 375 yards last week. But they have a better running game than the Bengals. To load up on the run, and foresake the pass to the extent that Palmer had only 16 passing attempts heading into the 4th quarter? Insane. He only had 8 pass attempts at halftime! Eight! Beyond crazy.
On top of that, the defensive gameplan of allowing Peyton Manning to play pitch and catch on underneath stuff? Similary insane. It's like the defensive staff wouldn't acknowledge that ten yards every three plays is a bad thing. Hey, at the least the Bengals can take solace in making the Colts feel better.
Memo to Marvin Lewis: next time around, try a gameplan that maximizes what your team does well. Just a thought.