A Tale of Two Defenses Plus, Why We All Love Tyler Eifert

Lets talk...Bearcats at Huskies:

Forgive me readers, for it has been 20 days since my last post. Honestly, I have just now gotten over the Bengals loss, and can begin to discuss Cincy sports again without such distain, but we'll talk football in a minute. First, lets talk about the Bearcats match up tonight against the UConn Huskies. Two teams that used to hold their own against the monster Big East opponents of a couple years ago, are now floating in the middle of the American Conference. Not holding anything against the American, they do have some quality teams, including both the Cats and the Huskies. But lets face it, Tulsa is no Georgetown. In order for the Bearcats to even THINK about getting into the tourney, they need to take care of business within their conference. That means a quality road win tonight, and it won't come easy.

Defense is the Cats' bread and butter, but the past two games against both Memphis and Tulane they have been an offensive machine. They almost put up 100 in the Tulane game where Coach Cronin got his 200th win! Nothing made me happier than to see Kenyon Martin out there celebrating with him. Although, I wish they could've saved some of those points because UConn is almost a spitting image of UC. Their defense can shut down their opponent, only allowing an average of 62.6 points per game, compared to the Bearcats' 62.4. The Huskies are allowing opponents to shoot only 37.3% from the field, (courtesy of gobearcats.com). This means two things to me; One, the Cats will have to score a good amount of their points on the run in transition, before the Huskies' defense can get set. And two, they can't rely on making an absurd amount of three pointers. This has been the Achilles heel in almost all of their losses. You live by the three, you die by the three. I've always believed in that saying, especially when it comes to this squad. They'll need to focus on feeding it down low to their big men, Clark, Ellis and DeBerry. Points will be hard to come by in this game, so they'll need to take more high-percentage shots if they want the win.

Lets talk...my ever growing love for Tyler Eifert:

Tyler Eifert. The list of adjectives to describe this man goes as follows: talented, athletic, gorgeous, and you can add humble on there too. After the playoff debacle that lead to most NFL fans thinking the Bengals were nothing but dirty thugs, Eifert got some positive publicity for our team on Wednesday night. Eifert is in Hawaii for the NFL Pro-Bowl and he is used to giving out his signature to fans. Instead, he decided to highlight the people that fight for our freedom by having members of our military autograph a football helmet that he had. The link to the vine is below for a small glimpse of Tyler's good will.  Eifert is one of seven Bengals selected to this year's Pro Bowl which includes: Geno Atkins, Andrew Whitworth, Cedric Peerman, AJ Green, Carlos Dunlap, and the late addition of Adam Jones.

https://vine.co/v/iiL7LbxLFpp

Bearcats Fall, Who Dey Nation Ready for the Steelers

Lets talk...logic:

Forgive me that it's been so long since I have posted anything! But I have a lot to talk about this afternoon, starting with last night's game. The Bearcats were the last team to go on the road at SMU and bring home a victory. They have faltered against Top 25 teams so far this year, but I actually had a good feeling about this game going in. After stumbling in a loss to Temple, the Bearcats bounced back with a beat down over Tulsa on their home court. I got to take in the game from my seat in the Bearcat lair :) Mind you, Tulsa is nowhere near the #15 team in the country, but the defense was staggering in that game. I think Tulsa may have only had two points at the 10 minute mark of the first half. That's beside the point. The cats needed a signature win over a worthy opponent and they should've had it.


I blame Mick on this one. I hate to do so, but it all comes down to his use of timeouts. We were up seven with three and some change to go. All of a sudden, the lead dissipates. Ok, they've blown the lead, but they still had a good chance to win, (although, the Bearcats find themselves on the losing end of most games like this). If we hadn't been shooting threes like it was going out of style all game, and feeding it to Gary Clark, we may have had an even bigger lead on the road. Farrad Cobb may be the leading scorer on this team, but I'd have the most points too if I chucked up 15 threes a game. Yes, many of them do go in, but his shot selection is POOR. He's either off balance, got a hand right in his face, or there is 25 seconds left on the shot clock! It's frustrating to say the least.

When it came down to the winning shot, Farrad Cobb is shooting an ill-advised jumper from beyond the arc with four whole seconds left on the game clock, and the cats only down one. But can you really blame the 20 something for the shot? Or do you blame Mick, with one timeout left and 20 seconds remaining for not calling a timeout and drawing up a play to feed your next leading scorer, Gary Clark? Clark looked excellent in this game. He even drove the ball to score at times, which is more than I can say for the rest of the team. When he backs his defender down, and throws that hook over his right shoulder, it's almost guaranteed that it's going in. So why not call the timeout and draw something up? If not to Clark, than at least something that ends in a higher percentage shot! Coulda, woulda, shoulda I guess. That loss puts the Bearcats at 11-5 and near the bottom of the American Conference. They will need to secure a signature win by the end of the season if they hope to get in the tourney, and rack up some conference wins because as of now they sit at 1-2.

Lets talk...playoffs:

The playoff picture unfolded last Sunday, and of course our worst fears were recognized. It will be a matchup against the division rival, Pittsburgh Steelers, at Paul Brown Stadium Saturday night. After the last game between these two, the NFL decided to take action before they even take the field. Both teams have been warned that if any extra-curricular activities go on after the play, players will be ejected from the game.

Of course the big hype around this game is not just the intense hate for the Steelers, but the burning question, "Can the Bengals win a playoff game?". That question will be answered without the play of Andy Dalton. The cast is off his thumb, but AJ McCarron will be our QB in primetime. The good thing is that while he's only played in a couple games this season, the first one just so happened to be the massacre against Pittsburgh. He's seen their defense, knows what to expect, and he's got a little more experience under his belt this time around. Regardless of our QB situation, our defense is going to have to have a huge game. Whoever wins the turnover battle, will have the playoff W. Big Ben is tough to take down so the pass rush will need to be relentless. I think one benefit to the last game we played against the Steelers is that we did lose. The Bengals will be out for revenge on their home turf. It's primetime in the Jungle baby, LETS ROAR!