Matthew McAdow
Contributing columnist
For the first time this season, the Bengals finally squeezed out a much-needed victory over the Panthers and ex-Bengal, Andy Dalton. It was a tough battle, and from a defensive standpoint, it was quite ugly. However, ugly doesn’t matter in football when you pull out a victory. If you really think about it, Cincinnati is a 4th down and questionable call away from beating the Chiefs and honestly could’ve beaten Washington as well. Almost doesn’t count in football either though and if Cincinnati wants to save their season, another win against the Ravens will need to happen this week as well.
Positives
*Joe Burrow continues to look like his normal self, and outside of an interception that wasn’t all his fault, he has been phenomenal to begin the year. He is tied for fifth in yards and tied for third in touchdowns. His QBR ranks sixth in the league.
*Carolina failed to get a single sack against Joe and it is time we give Frank Pollack his flowers. As much as we criticize him, he deserves an ovation for what he has turned around to begin this season. The offensive line has been phenomenal.
*Is Ryan Rehkow the best punter in the league? He ranks first in his yards per punt average and has the longest punt in the NFL at 80 yards. Brad Robbins, you may have lost your job.
*Chase Brown had some electric plays throughout the game. 80 yards on 15 carries and two receptions – I hope to see him continue to get more opportunities.
*While Ja’Marr Chase only had 85 yards, he had the most exciting play of the season as he forced three missed tackles to take a 63-yarder to the endzone.
*Trey Hendrickson hit Dalton on what turned into an interception for the Bengals to gain momentum. He is the only guy in stripes play after play finding a way to apply pressure on the quarterback. He is top five at his position in the league and I truly believe that.
*Evan McPherson looked back like his old self, drilling two field goals that were crucial in winning this game.
*The 4th down stop to begin the game was crucial. While the defense was horrific, this stop truly changed the momentum of the first quarter.
*Amarius Mims was phenomenal in this one. The block he made on the Chase touchdown was fun to watch.
Negatives
*Cam Taylor-Britt had the worst game of his young career. CTB is very good, but his talking isn’t matching up with his play currently on the field. He was burnt play after play. Diontae Johnson made him look foolish all four quarters. Let’s try and stay quiet this week and be less Eli Apple-esque, shall we?
*Ravens week makes me nervous and if this team is without B.J. Hill, Trey Hendrickson and Sheldon Rankins, Cincinnati might just be in for a long night, maybe a record-breaking night on the ground from Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson.
*Jordan Battle continues to not get any playing time. It can’t be any worse than what we have been watching for four weeks. Give the man some snaps. Include Jermaine Burton in this as well.
*It’s safe to say the defense is bad at this point in the season. For Cincinnati to win games, it will require 28+ points per game until proven otherwise.
Brennaman and I Disagree on Many Reds-Related Topics
I didn’t want to type this, but honestly, Marty’s comments have become enough for me to have to type out my frustration. Yes, Marty Brennaman was the voice of the Reds for years, specifically 1974 to 2019. Yes, he was a staple in the Cincinnati community. However, his baseball thoughts and mine couldn’t be more different more often than not. This week, he went on a rant about Elly De La Cruz not being a shortstop and needing to be moved to the outfield. Really?
In his first full year in the league, he ranks 12th in all of baseball in OAA at 22 years young. Among shortstops, he had the 2nd highest fWAR in a single season all-time in Reds history. If you just look at errors, yes he had 29. Nine of those happened in four games alone. Take away those and he had a .978 fielding percentage per Bryce Spalding. In perspective, Barry Larkin had the same number of errors as a 24-year-old, yet he is one of the best shortstops to ever play the game of baseball.
Let’s not forget that Marty hated Joey Votto and complained often of the contract awarded to one of the best batters in baseball history. Look up OBP and OPS leaders in the history of baseball before ever thinking for a second that it was a bad contract. He despised Joey and it was vivid as I attended multiple events that both were at last season. Marty also hated when Griffey would slowly jog to first after a homerun and even called him out for not stretching a double one time. He stated “I was here before you were here and I’ll be here after you’re gone.” We can’t forget his comments on Adam Dunn either. Remember when he was “pretty close” to giving up on Adam Dunn? He thought the team waited one year too long to trade him, mentioned his weight and talked again about him walking off the field. I guess in Marty’s eyes, you must run off the field at all moments, have zero fun in baseball, and just show up to work.
I love listening to those who aren’t afraid to speak their mind, much like Cowboy. There is a fine line between Cowboy’s approach though and the approach that I see from Marty. The older I get, the more I realize that Marty and I wouldn’t agree on nearly anything baseball-related and how much I appreciate listening to Sadak, Cowboy, Welsh, Thrall and others. Votto, Griffey and De La Cruz are once-in-a-decade type of players. Let’s appreciate them and hope that Cincinnati builds a team around Elly to be successful in his prime.
Matthew McAdow is a Peebles resident. He works in human resources in the nuclear industry and has been an avid Cincinnati fan his entire life. He is an Ohio Christian University graduate and has always enjoyed giving an honest opinion on multiple topics regarding Cincinnati sports.
