sunday was a bright day yesterday

My disgust with the Bengals coaching and play calling took a 180-degree turn during the second half of Sunday's game. I was fairly livid about the conservative play calling going into halftime. I realize that the offensive line was having trouble giving Palmer time, but the Bengals were making no attempt to take shots down the field. I was especially frustrated with our last possession of the half; with 40 seconds and two timeouts, we had nothing to lose by trying to move down the field for a field goal or shot at the end zone, but the coaches simply let time expire. The camera's shot of Chad Johnson heading into the the locker room at halftime with his head slumped dejectedly said it all. Marvin Lewis did not seem to have any faith in his offense.

But as everyone knows by now, things turned completely different in the second half. It was great to see them taking shots down the field, even if I think they only completely the one on 4th-and-1. My hat is off to Marvin and offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski on that call, which took a lot of guts to make (and was maybe even a little reckless). I don't think it was a coincidence at all that the running game got going the same time we started going deep with the pass. When we stretch the field and make them worry about the long bomb, it's so much easier to run the football. I was impressed with the performance of our tight ends as well. Reggie Kelly did well and got a touchdown, and Tony Stewart had that crucial 19 yard catch-and-run on second down deep in our own territory to get us out of trouble. We'll need another big performance from them with Kelley Washington out again and Antonio Chatman banged up. Maybe we'll get to see our boy Glenn Holt line up at wide receiver. Willie Anderson had a big game too, yielding no sacks to NFL leader Julius Peppers Ahmad Brooks was impressive once again at linebacker. He could be the spark our defense needs without Odell Thurman.