My name Is Kevin Snyder. I am from Dayton, Ohio and I am 23 yaers old. As a youth I have played football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and am currently involved in auto racing. I do not have a degree in writing, but I can assure you that my passion for writing and sports are not limited by my achievements. I have grown to love all aspects of everything athletic growing up playing sports. My hobbies include writing and sports, hence my passion to become a sports writer. The Cincinnati Bengals' perfect record was spoiled by the Jacksonville Jaguars in week five. Some would say the Bengals' perfect record was spoiled by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Having their best start since 1988, the Cincinnati Bengals walked into Alltel Stadium with a chip on their shoulder. The Bengals found themselves facing a 2-2 Jacksonville team with the third best defense in the NFL. Being on prime time television, Cincinnati wanted to show the world that their 4-0 start wasn't just a fluke as well.
Cincinnati was first to receive and started on their own 17-yard line after an energized kickoff by a Jaguars team who has never lost two games in a row at Alltel Stadium. After being shut down on the first two plays, the Cincinnati Bengals were forced to punt.
Kyle Larson punted the ball, which was a screaming 67-yard punt, only to be called back on an illegal touch call against Cincy. From then on Larson made two consecutive bad punts which would give Jacksonville excellent field position, that later resulted in a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.
"Those are things we haven't done all year," said linebacker Brian Simmons in an article on the Bengals web site about allowing touchdowns on the first two drives of each half. "You can't do that in a game of this magnitude. We knew they were going to come out excited. You just can't allow them to come out and get the momentum. We didn't come out really good and couldn't sustain the emotion."
Cincinnati seemed to have been dazed by the quick scores of Jacksonville in the first quarter and never were able to recover. The Bengals defense allowed 181 total yards rushing, that in which Fred Taylor accounted for 132, as the Bengals could not find a way to stop Taylor's power.
After two consecutive field goals for a Jacksonville 13-0 lead in the second quarter, Carson Palmer and the Bengals responded with an impressive drive of their own. With 6:07 left in the second quarter, Carson Palmer connected with Chad Johnson, who made a spectacular catch in the corner of the end zone to cut the Jacksonville lead to six. It would be a close and intense game from that point on, as both teams would capitalize on each others mistakes.
Cincinnati came into week five with the second worse penalty rate per game, and proved it once again as they committed 12 penalties to help the Jaguars sustain momentum. Defensive lineman Robert Geathers committed two encroachment penalties on crucial third downs to revive the same number of Jacksonville field goal drives, one being the game winner, which ultimately ended in a 23-20 win for the Jaguars, and the Bengals' first loss of the season.
"Me being undisciplined. I know that. That’s what Marvin told me," Geathers said in an article on the Bengals web site. "Being over center is kind of new to me, but I can't let that bother me. Both times I went on the hard count. I can't do that. I have to go on the movement. It’s not really the crowd. It’s just not being disciplined. He got me on the hard count."
But to put the blame on one person is to go too far in this situation. Cincinnati was inconsistent as a team for all of four quarters. The defenses poor tackling resulted in too many rushing yards given to Jacksonville. Their special teams gave up excellent field position, enabling Jacksonville to capitalize with minimal effort. And any team giving up 12 penalties a game is bound to lose the possession battle.
Their is no doubt that Marvin Lewis is frustrated with the Bengals' inconsistency, and will definitely touch on this for practice heading into week six.