@poeticg said:

PoeticG...why...why do you taunt us. Every time I think about the possibility of having Gordon out there I drool. Can you imagine him catching a few of those quick slants? Come back routes that are open because they're afraid of the deep pass? Gordon is the one guy we have on the team that can take a routine catch and take it to the HOUSE. From what little I've heard about Gordon, he appears to be keeping it together, and intent on returning to the NFL. At this point it'd be foolish to expect him to be back considering all the times he's disappointed us, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely praying for his return. Talent like Gordon is very rare, and he's the kind of guy that can bail out an offense. The kind of guy we don't have atm.

@mudfly said:

Also looked like they were calling a lot more designed rollouts- to play to his strength.

@baconhound said:

30-23 is a better loss

Sad it's come down to that.

Besides the running game, Johnny needs help int he weapons department. That drop by Benji was soul crushing. Johnny did such a nice job on that play, and the play call was perfect. How many times have we gotten into the red zone this season, only to come away with 3 or zero? I don't have the stats on me, but we have to be the worst in the entire league, correct? Barnidge has been a wonderful surprise, but even he has his limitations. He's dropped a couple of touchdowns that would've been amazing catches, but he couldn't come up with it. Granted, he's made some ridiculous receptions as well, but we need that all star guy in the red zone that can go up and snatch the touchdown with consistency.

Now, I realize we're past the trade deadline, and there isn't anything we can do about getting a weapon at this point, but you have to wonder who in the heck is going to make plays for us. I would assume Hawkins and Gabriel will be out, even with the bye week. They haven't done much this year anyways, but still...they ARE our starters. So are we going with Hartline, Benji, and Bowe? Yikes.

The Steelers game was just one game, but when you add it to the Bengals first half, it looks like progress is being made. The amount of times Johnny made plays from the pocket was impressive, and yes, I realize the Steelers had the game in hand and were probably playing somewhat soft. But look at the early part of the Steelers game. Johnny had a couple of 3rd and longs that were very impressive. I know I bring him up often, and I probably shouldn't, but I can't stop thinking, "What would this offense look like with Josh Gordon?" Please...PLEASE let him come back.

@flyingfooldoug said:

I think prime time games get more. Some games now have the pylon cameras. If this game had those....I think that gets called a TD.

@bob806 said:

The call on the field was no TD.....and the replay that had the best view.....that would have shown that he was in, was obscured by a Steeler player being in the way. If they had a camera on the other side of the field it would have probably showed that he was in, but they didn't have a camera over there. As it was, they didn't have clear evidence that he was in.

Had the on field call been a TD....I think that call would have had to be upheld as well.

Really showed good composure in some pretty adverse conditions. Thats a good sign....

Mike

@bbedward said:

You mean like when we turned '1st-10, need two yards for a game winning FG' in to '3rd-25, need a whole lot for a game winning FG' against Denver?

@bob806 said:

Even so, we turned 1st and goal at the inch line into 2nd and goal or whatever from the 25 yard line.

That's impressively bad.

Doesn't matter when the defense absolutely blows.

We beat ourselves most weeks