Marvin, it’s time to release the BEAST!

Unbelievable!  Marvin Lewis, the offense and Carson Palmer did not have their best day against the Raiders and the Bengals lost 20-17 in the last minute of the game.  The Bengals are so lucky that the Steelers lost to the Chiefs on Sunday, too.

The first half the game, the Bengals played strong and then Coach Lewis switched gears and started coaching conservative football.  He should have coached the offense to play the whole game like they played the first half – passing the ball and mixing it up.  Another problem was when the Bengals got into the Red Zone all they did was run the ball.  If we are going to play that kind of offense at least put Larry Johnson in and mix it up a bit.  I know the Raiders have a strong defense but our offense should have destroyed them with the passing game.  My point is, Marvin should have released the beast instead of holding it back.

The offense also had way too many turnovers in and out of the Red Zone.  The Bengals should have demolished the Raiders.  We gave them the ball back one time too many and it ended up deciding the game.

Palmer played great in the first quarter but he lost his groove during the rest of the game.  The way I see it, Palmer has been struggling with keeping his intensity going all game.  He has started some games slow and finished strong, like the Steelers game.  But againt Oakland, Palmer started strong and finished weak.

Where was Ochocinco?!  I thought he was the number one wide receiver for Palmer.  #85 saw the ball a lot in the beginning of the game but he disappeared after the half and from what I saw he was burning his man all day.  When we get the ball to Chad we score and we needed one more score to win on Sunday.  The offense was in the Red Zone three times when they didn’t score.  That can’t happen.

Overall, the game was disappointing.  We didn’t lose to a better team, we beat ourselves with turnovers, conservative play calling and a lack of offensive intensity.