Gästebuch » there was no big play to save a defense that's given

Down to its last chance Youth Jordan Wilkins Jersey , the Bengals' defense dug in to stop the run. The Carolina Panthers ran the ball six straight plays, got a pair of first downs and finished them off.This timeup a lot of yards in three games.The Panthers ran for 230 yards — averaging 5.6 per carry — during a 31-21 victory Sunday that highlighted one of Cincinnati's biggest concerns in the opening month. The defense is giving up a lot of yards to quarterbacks and runners.Andrew Luck and Joe Flacco each threw for more than 300 yards in the first two games, but the Bengals were able to stop the run and come up with late turnovers to hold on for wins. In Carolina, they simply got run over all game and were unable to save themselves at the end."We felt like we were close," defensive end Carlos Dunlap said. "I hope it looked that way too. They did a lot of little things that worked to their benefit."Mainly, the NFL's top running game took advantage of them. Christian McCaffrey ran for 184 yards — averaging 6.6 per carry — and Cam Newton ran for a pair of touchdowns. McCaffrey ran for 99 yards in the first half alone, when the Panthers got ahead 21-14.The decisive possession came after Andy Dalton was picked off at midfield with 3:33 left and the Panthers up by seven points. McCaffrey had a pair of runs for 13 yards against a defense that knew he'd get the ball. Newton then faked a handoff and went 12 yards around left end, leaving the Panthers well inside field-goal range.The Panthers ran three more plays to drain the clock, and they kicked the clinching field goal with 1:11 to go."Sometimes it's just one of those days," defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Monday. "We had a stinker."The Bengals (2-1) held the Colts to 75 yards rushing in the opener and the Ravens to 66 yards rushing the following game, forcing them to throw. They didn't expect a lot of runs from McCaffrey Womens Jack Doyle Jersey , who had carried only 18 times in the Panthers' first two games but caught 20 passes."They did some things we hadn't seen on film, and it kind of shocked us a little bit," cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick said Monday."The Bengals face another unfamiliar offense next Sunday when they travel to Atlanta (1-2) for their third road game in the opening month.The Falcons lost to the Saints 43-37 in overtime on Sunday. Kirkpatrick plans to challenge his teammates in practice this week to get beyond the bad performance in Carolina and get ready for a wide-open offense."Everybody's down now," Kirkpatrick said. "We expect more."GREEN'S STATUSCoach Marvin Lewis provided no update on the status of A.J. Green, who suffered a groin injury early in the third quarter and didn't return. The Bengals struggled to move the ball in the second half with him on the sideline, going 0 for 4 on third down. Green caught five passes for 58 yards.ONE MORELinebacker Vontaze Burfict serves the final week of his four-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancers. He's eligible to rejoin the team next week.Indianapolis Colts Week 1 game balls vs Bengals Each week throughout the Indianapolis Colts 2018 season we’ll hand out game balls to those players who made their presence known. Whether it be a receiver carving up a secondary, a running back owning the ground attack or a defender making life impossible for a quarterback we’re going to recognize someone in all facets of the game each week.The Colts lost their opener 34-23 to the Cincinnati Bengals, but there was plenty to look forward to as this young group kicked off their season.OFFENSEAndrew LuckI mean it’s gotta be Luck, doesn’t it? Luck hadn’t played a meaningful game since January of 2017 and came out looking very much like the guy we expected him to be. Luck finished with 319 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception on 39-of-53 (73.6%) passing for his first game back.Luck largely showed very good decision making, stayed strong in the pocket through his second and third reads and led the Colts in converting 11-of-17 opportunities on third down. Luck evaded pressure well all game, got the ball out quick Womens Adam Vinatieri Jersey , and to his playmakers and threw some absolute dimes downfield. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season from Luck, and he was without a doubt the shining star for the Colts on offense Sunday.DEFENSEMargus HuntOn this side of the ball there was a few quality options to choose from. Darius Leonard led the team in total tackles and was a ball of lightning all day, Kenny Moore had an interception and Matthias Farley forced a fumble Sunday. But, it was Hunt who made an impact throughout the game and was able to get to the quarterback not once, but twice.The Colts’ pass rush has been anemic over the past several years, and though we hoped to see an increase in pressure being generated with this group, I don’t know if anyone suggested it would come from Hunt. He did have a third tackle for loss in this one as well, and did his job against the Bengals’ run game as well as anyone.We saw that the Colts front four were able to get into the backfield a bit, but the team as a whole only had 3 QB hits for the entire game. For Hunt to succeed in getting big sacks which put the Bengals into a third-and-24 situation, and a third-and-15 respectively.Hunt’s first sack helped force a three-and-out on the Bengals first drive of the second half, and his second would have stymied Andy Dalton’s final touchdown drive had it not been for a pass interference call on the very next play. Both were big plays and gave the Colts a chance to get the ball back. That counts more than downfield tackles to me.SPECIAL TEAMSAdam VinatieriLook, I know he missed a 55-yard attempt Womens Ryan Grant Jersey , but he also nailed a 51-yarder and gave the Colts 9 points that they truly needed in a tight game. Realistically, Vinny was the only choice here. Zach Pascal did a fine job returning kicks, but he didn’t do anything great. Chester Rogers, again, nearly caused disaster by failing to have the spacial awareness to make a fair catch.Rigoberto Sanchez was fine Sunday, but he only had two punts and they didn’t play much of a part in the Colts outcome. Aside from that, nobody had an inordinate amount of special teams tackles or anything to speak of.We underappreciate Vinny far too often as the ‘old man’ on the roster, myself included. But, we’ve seen him rightly earn the game’s MVP honors for the Colts in the recent past. It’s pitiful, but true.