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NFLUK is running a series of diaires by Daniel Watts, a former British amateur football player who is a member of the Bengals' practice squad this season. Here is (some of) what he wrote about the game last week:
"On Sunday we played against the New England Patriots at Paul Brown Stadium, and going into the game we were confident that we could make it to back to back wins over the past two Super Bowl champions and really establish the Bengals as an AFC powerhouse. Unfortunately it was not to be.
Our gameplan on defense coming in was all about stopping the run. We practiced particularly against stopping the draw and the delayed run – which the Patriots do a lot of – but when it came to the game, we just couldn’t do it. Some of it was down to the different things we were doing on the defensive line, but time and time again you saw Corey Dillon or Lawrence Maroney stiff-arming guys and breaking tackles, and that is not something we wanted to see.
After the game the atmosphere in the locker-room was as bad as anywhere I have been. Getting to 3-0, whether any one mentioned it or not, meant that you wanted to keep the undefeated start to the season going for as long as possible, and the first loss of the season is always going to be the most painful. We had talked particularly about not losing a home game all year and how much that could boost a team if you get to the playoffs, and that made it even more painful.
Most of all, though, was the feeling that we could have beaten the Patriots had we executed as we did in practice. It really felt like we beat ourselves in all areas of the game, and not that the Patriots really outplayed us – or at least not as much as the 38-13 scoreline would suggest.
Coach Marvin Lewis spoke to the team afterwards and admitted that we had our asses whupped by New England. His main point, though, was that we have to move on, learn from our mistakes, and get stronger from the loss."
http://www.nfluk.com/features-display.php?id=2061
Clearly, a lot of Bengals are blaming themselves for the loss -- telling themselves that they could have won if they had played better. I think that that is absolutely fine. It isn't disrespecting the Patriots to say that they played better on the day.
Apologies for only posting this so late in the week. Time to move on to Miami!
"On Sunday we played against the New England Patriots at Paul Brown Stadium, and going into the game we were confident that we could make it to back to back wins over the past two Super Bowl champions and really establish the Bengals as an AFC powerhouse. Unfortunately it was not to be.
Our gameplan on defense coming in was all about stopping the run. We practiced particularly against stopping the draw and the delayed run – which the Patriots do a lot of – but when it came to the game, we just couldn’t do it. Some of it was down to the different things we were doing on the defensive line, but time and time again you saw Corey Dillon or Lawrence Maroney stiff-arming guys and breaking tackles, and that is not something we wanted to see.
After the game the atmosphere in the locker-room was as bad as anywhere I have been. Getting to 3-0, whether any one mentioned it or not, meant that you wanted to keep the undefeated start to the season going for as long as possible, and the first loss of the season is always going to be the most painful. We had talked particularly about not losing a home game all year and how much that could boost a team if you get to the playoffs, and that made it even more painful.
Most of all, though, was the feeling that we could have beaten the Patriots had we executed as we did in practice. It really felt like we beat ourselves in all areas of the game, and not that the Patriots really outplayed us – or at least not as much as the 38-13 scoreline would suggest.
Coach Marvin Lewis spoke to the team afterwards and admitted that we had our asses whupped by New England. His main point, though, was that we have to move on, learn from our mistakes, and get stronger from the loss."
http://www.nfluk.com/features-display.php?id=2061
Clearly, a lot of Bengals are blaming themselves for the loss -- telling themselves that they could have won if they had played better. I think that that is absolutely fine. It isn't disrespecting the Patriots to say that they played better on the day.
Apologies for only posting this so late in the week. Time to move on to Miami!
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