Man, what a tough week 3 for Bengals fans. In a game that looked so ugly on paper, the Bengals managed to stay within one score for essentially the whole game. This was a very winnable game for Cincinnati but they could not seem to get it going in the second half. Yes we know there was drama with John Ross, and the A.J. Green injury, and a non existent run defense. But despite all of this, the Bengals hung in there with the Panthers and kept it close. But that is behind now in the past, the Bengals still sit atop the AFC North and seem to have avoided a serious injury to Green.
Now onto week 4, and I want to start by saying, weddings during football season should be illegal. I will be in attendance at my cousins wedding this weekend. Congrats to her and I feel honored to be in the wedding, however it is three and a half hours away and I will have to be up at the crack of dawn to drive home to watch the game on top of making sure all my fantasy football lineups are set. Tired of my complaining yet, let’s talk Bengals now. The Bengals will travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons, who are somehow more banged up than the Bengals are at this point in the year. Having lost their best starting linebacker and both starting safeties, the Bengals may be able to take advantage on offense.
Dre Kirkpatrick vs. Julio Jones – Dre and Julio go way back, as they were teammates in college at Alabama. Dre will definitely have his work cut out for him on Sunday. He has faced a lot of criticism for his play this year and has been targeted a ton this season so far. He has actually done a fairly good job at corner and on Sunday he faces his toughest task of the year with Julio Jones. Playing for pride and facing off against his old teammate, Dre should have plenty of motivation this week. In order for the Bengals to win, Kirkpatrick must find a way to slow down Julio.
Giovani Bernard vs. a banged up Falcons Defense – Over the past two weeks, the Falcons have given up over 329 yards from scrimmage to running backs, 226 in which have been receiving yards. With the loss of Deion Jones and Keanu Neal the Falcons have been destroyed by running backs in the passing game. This is very good news for Gio, who has had plenty of success catching the ball. After a good performance versus Carolina he will be key in this matchup. The Bengals have to establish a run game to keep the Falcons offense off the field. Gio should have a huge day in week 4.
John Ross vs. Himself – John Ross has been all the talk this week for the Bengals. After questionable play in week 3, Bengals fans are calling for him to be benched which is silly. Although that is another subject which you can read about in one of my previous articles. Ross will face his biggest test of the year in showing whether or not he can bounce back and prove everyone wrong. Ross must show improved hands and work ethic. He appears to still have the trust of his coaches and teammates, but can he prove it to fans this week? It’s a big week for #15.
This game will be decided by the Bengals defense. Dalton and company shouldn’t have any huge issues moving the ball and scoring, especially with A.J. Green looking like a lock to play Sunday. The Bengals defense will be the ones who have to slow down this Falcons offense and get off the field on third down, which they haven’t been able to do this year. If the defense can hold the Falcons to around 21-24 points, I think the offense should be able to put up more than this to leave Atlanta with a win.
My Prediction: All year I have been predicting the Bengals to split the Carolina and Atlanta game going 1-1 between the two. I bet on Cincy last week and was burned and am skeptical to pick them this week. While I think they have the ability to win this week, it is always tough to win on the road. Especially somewhere loud like Atlanta. I will not be surprised if they win this week but I am picking them to lose a close game. I hope they prove me wrong but the high powered Falcons passing game is looking red hot right now and I think Atlanta kicks a last second field goal to win this one.
The hate has already gone too far.
Enough with the John Ross hate, it’s gone too far with Bengals fans. Fans tweeting for his benching, to replace him with Josh Malone or Auden Tate, whatever it is, it needs to stop. It is far too early to give up on the 9th overall pick from 2017.
Ross played just 17 snaps last season as a rookie, partly due to injuries but also for losing the coaches trust. His rookie season was basically non-existent. 2018 is basically Ross’s rookie season as a Bengal. It all started out great, as Ross got a lot of camp hype and impressed coaches on a daily basis.
His great camp, along with Tyler Boyd’s development, was so strong they decided to cut veteran Brandon LaFell in favor of younger players. It was a very unusual move for the Bengals who tend to heavily favor vets but it shows just how confident they were in both Ross and Boyd. His good camp continued, getting compliments from coaches and teammates on his good play and about how good he looked coming off such a bad rookie year. Everything looked like it was coming together for a big 2018. His preseason was up and down but we witnessed how great of an athlete he can be.
Yes he also struggled with some drops but being basically a rookie one should expect there to be some bumps in the road. We even see veteran guys like Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, and even A.J. Green struggle from time to time.
Ross was quiet in week one versus the Colts, catching one ball for a touchdown. Yet it demonstrated how useful he can be for the Bengals. Adding him as a weapon to pair with an already loaded offense could be the missing piece the Bengals have needed. After a quiet week 2, his preseason hype had died down. It appeared maybe a week 3 breakout was on the horizon against a banged up Carolina secondary.
This is where we catch up to date on the John Ross situation. There was good and bad in this game for Ross. First, the good. Ross saw a career high 7 targets from Andy Dalton against Carolina. After seeing just 6 combined in the first two games it was nice to see Andy start looking his way more. We saw Andy look his way on a third down near the red zone that Ross caught setting up a touchdown. It was not an easy catch but Ross was able to secure it for the first down.
Now the bad. We saw multiple times in this game where Ross and Dalton could not connect. The first was in second quarter when Dalton took a deep shot to Ross near the end zone.
The ball appears to be just a bit in front of Ross, of course other camera angles show it was catchable, an incompletion nonetheless on what could’ve been a HUGE gain. The takeaway from this is that it was not Ross’s fault anymore than Daltons. They just could not connect. The next play is on both Dalton and Ross again. Dalton forces a ball towards Ross near the sideline, not exactly a great throw. However, Ross also doesn’t go for the ball as hard as he probably could have resulting in an easy pick for the defense.
Again, the mistake is on both of them. The last play is the one that set fans over the edge. Late in the fourth quarter down by a touchdown, the Bengals need a spark to get the drive moving and tie the game. We see Dalton wind up and let the ball fly deep. He is looking for Ross on the play, and as many of you know the ball is picked off.
At first glance, it appears Ross gives up on his route and may have even been running the wrong way. But, if you watch Joe Goodberry’s breakdown of the play, you see it’s possible that Dalton threw the ball to the wrong spot. This doesn’t excuse Ross for giving up on his route, but it still is not all on John Ross. Most of the mistakes he made in this game were not completely his fault. And for those fans wanting Josh Malone in over Ross, Malone also was main the reason for an interception in this game.
The point is, John Ross is still young, basically a rookie trying to adapt to the NFL under a spotlight with gigantic expectations. Some guys like A.J. Green come into the league and are instantly studs, but for some it takes time. Take Tyler Boyd for example, who last year was made inactive at times and looked to have regressed a bit in his 2nd season and now is one of Dalton’s top targets and is playing like a stud. Ross needs time to develop and build that connection with Dalton. Week 4 will be a huge test to see how Ross can handle the criticism he has gotten and bounce back. There is no reason to give up on someone as talented as Ross. He is facing tougher criticism than someone like Boyd did but he is not yet a bust. We also shouldn’t be giving up just yet. Let him prove us wrong by working harder at practice, finishing his routes, and showing us more of what we saw in college at the NFL level.
It is simply too early to give up on John Ross after just 129 pro snaps.
Be sure to follow me on twitter @Pierson242FF and share your Ross thoughts with me. Who Dey!