Unbelievable.  Down 4 with 2 minutes left I was thinking to myself "There is no way they do it again".  I was waiting for the Ed Reed pick or the fumble recovered by Ray Lewis to put a dagger in the heart of the Bengals. Yet, in what has become common for the Bengals this season, it never came and the Bengals made the plays when it mattered.

What I didn't like

Turnovers. They say you can't win on the road in the NFL with turnovers. Well, the Bengals did, but I would still like to see that part of the game cleaned up.  Why does Carson have such a hard time with the play clock.  Every week there are multiple times where the clock burns them. Brad St Louis. The guy just doesn't have it anymore.  I will be surprised if he has a job this week.

What I did like

Ray Lewis takes a cheap shot on Chad Ochocinco and Chad pops up and goes after him. This is the kind of fire that the Bengals have been playing with and it shows in their record.  Chris Henry continues to make plays when he is in the game. His 74 yd catch with one hand was awesome, he should have continued running though. The Bengals defense has to be one of the better units in the league.  They shut down the opposing teams number 1 receivers and have kept the Bengals in the game when the offense has been less than stellar. Cedric Benson is also an outstanding running back.  Why are people knocking him still?  All he did today was go out and put up 120+ yds on a team that has not given up a 100 yd rusher in almost 40 games straight.

Speaking of knocks, I would like to point out an article I read on Friday that I was saving for just this occasion. Adam Duerson of Sports Illustrated does a weekly article on the game of the week.  This week was the Bengals Ravens and like most of the other media he chose the Ravens to beat the Bengals. The Ravens were the favorite everywhere so that is not what I have issue with.  Adam decided to rip the Bengals in every aspect when making his prediction.  Some of the finer points are below:

 - "Mental toughness:One of these teams has it. And it ain't the one from the Queen City."

It takes a tough team to play from behind on the road as an underdog to a divisional opponent.  Maybe the Bengals are tougher than everyone thinks.

 - "Cincinnati's opposite corner, Johnathan Joseph, and a pair of retread safeties, Roy Williams and Chris Crocker, are having a harder go of it."

Well, JJ had the biggest interception of the day for the Bengals when it looked like sure points for the Ravens. The Bengals secondary also did an incredible job on media wonder boy Joe Flacco who was held to a pedestrian 186 yds with two interceptions.

 - "Cedric Benson: Loads of potential but never really flashes it when you most expect him to. (For example: 74 yards against Cleveland.) Probably going to break down soon. (Yeah, he's on this week's injury report -- again.) And mentally, well... He leaves something to be desired. That's pretty much your 2009 Bengals right there, no?"

Describing the Bengals as broken down and not flashy. Tons of potential that doesn't deliver.  The Bengals are the only team in the NFL at this point that had defeated all of their division rivals. Two were on the road. Again, maybe you don't know what you are talking about?

 - "Angry team at home versus somewhat lackadaisical rival on the road. Reminds me too much of Pittsburgh-San Diego last week, and that game was a blowout at the half. If Cincinnati musters a late comeback, per usual, Baltimore has the clock-churning runners to finish it off. Ravens in a smackdown, 38-20."

If by smack down you mean a defense that has lost its swagger and is not as feared as the media makes them out to be, then yeah. Does this mean the media will finally come around that maybe this Bengals team that is a fluke pass away from being 5 and 0 for real? No, I doubt it.  There are late game penalties to whine about and close games that shouldn't have been close to compare to. Do you think I or the team care one bit about where we will be in Peter Kings fine fifteen or Don Banks power rankings? Nope. We only care about the actual rankings, and right now the Bengals are 3 and 0 in their division and in first place.

WhoDey.

A win is always better than a loss.  I made some comments last week about how I didn't care what the score of the game would be as long as the Bengals pulled out the win.  I even mentioned I didn't care if it went into overtime as long as they pulled it out.  Well, that is exactly what happened.  The Browns out uglied the Bengals in overtime to allow the Bengals to win the game.

What I liked
When this offense has its back against the wall they fight.  This is the 4th game in a row where the Bengals have been down at the end of the game and Palmer and company need to drive the length of the field to win the game.  They actually had the opportunity to do it in this weekends game twice. It is a good feeling to know that the offense can perform when it matters. 

The defense is still tough.  After being on the field for most of the last 3 quarters the Bengals defense did a good job of keeping a Browns offense that was finding life in their passing game in check.  The Browns had plenty of opportunities to put this game away and the Bengals came up with some key turnovers and stops to allow the offense the chance to win this game.

What I didn't like
What is going on with this offense.  It starts off hot, then extremely conservative and the play makers are unable to make plays.  Then with the game on the line they come to life and usually on 4th down make the necessary plays to win the game. I blame Bob Bratkowski for a lot, he does not understand how to adapt to game changes in his play calling.  However, in this most recent games you also see Chad Ochocinco dropping passes and Carson Palmer floating balls to open receivers when he should put some zip on it.

All in all the Bengals are 3 and 1 tied with the Baltimore Ravens for the division lead. For all of the people on the ledge thinking the Bengals are exposed or whatever nonsense is going on in your mind think about the following things.  The Bengals are 3 and 1.  They have defeated two quality opponents, one on the road. They are winning their division games. They are a fluke tip away from being 4 and 0 and in the process beating a very good Denver team (who is 4 and 0). Like many of you my initial gut reaction was that the Bengals are getting destroyed by the Ravens this weekend. The more I think about it though, I think the Bengals have just as good a shot to win this game as the Ravens.  Who have they beat?

Bengals Win! I had been saying all last week that Bengal fans are going to find out what kind of team they had based on the game against the Steelers.  I am not saying this is a Super Bowl team now, but I think this is a team that has talent, heart and desire.  This is not something we have seen in Cincinnati for a while and if not for a fluke play against a 3 and 0 Denver team, this is a 3 and 0 team.

What I Liked

The Bengal defense is tough. They didn't get as much pressure on Ben as I would have liked but they managed to make adjustments and shut the Steelers down in the second half. Carson Palmer is back.  Not only is he engineering 4th quarter comebacks he is also getting the respect nationally that he deserves (except from loud mouth has beens named Warren Sapp). Where were the Steeler fans? All I heard about was Paul Brown being Hines field west.  However the crowd was a sea of black and orange. I love that the city is behind this team, now I am sure the bandwagon is making its stops around the city to pick up the fans. The Bengal storm trooper. I had the opportunity to meet him after the game and wanted to call it out here. This guy can be found at every Bengal home game and also many away games and is a huge Bengal fan. Keep up the good work.

What I didn't like

The Bengals offense needs to play better. The first three possessions the Steelers offense had 200+ yds, the Bengals had -10. Cincinnati was lucky that the defense kept them in the game to give them the opportunity to make a comeback.

A win feels much better than a loss. No moral victory or solid effort was going to cut it this week.  The only thing I wanted to see from the Bengals this week was a check in the W column. Now on to Cleveland.
 

WhoDey

What a different looking team from the first week.  The Bengals defense played as well as last week.  You can look at the 24 points the Packers put up but the defense held the Packers in check.  Less than 50 yds rushing.  No huge plays.  Odom recording 5 sacks. (he is on record breaking pace with 7 in two games.)

Carson Palmer had the biggest mistakes of the day.  Two interceptions on two terrible throws.  Both were just bad throws the QB was trying to force.  He also got away with a third that was thrown behind 85 on a screen that could have easily been picked.

Cedric Benson and the offensive line were awesome.  This is a huge boost to the offense and I hope they have finally found something that works.  Enjoy it today, tomorrow begins Steeler week.

WhoDey