Ocho Cinco Kicks Bengals Past Patriots 7-6

With kicker Shayne Graham sidelined with groin injury the Bengals called on Ocho Cinco to kick the extra point and put the Bengals ahead 7-6 in the first half of tonite's pre-season game. Little did we know it would be the decisive point and add one of the funnest moment in Bengals pre-season history. Here are my other quick hit thoughts on tonite's game: The Good: - Ocho Cinco's kick. He actually showed the distance to kick into the 30s and may have found himself called upon late if the situation arose. Ocho also looked good as a receiver for the 2nd straight week. - The pass rush - The stats only show 4 sacks but the Bengals defense brought relentless pressure throughout tonite's game. - Robert Geathers - There were concerns about Geathers' health coming of microfracture surgery but he showed excellent burst this evening including a sack on Tom Brady. - Pat Sims - Sims dominated the point of attack and found his way into the Patriots backfield on numerous occassions. Another game like this and he may earn his starting job back. - JT O'Sullivan - Showed excellent poise in the pocket completing 10-13 passes highlighted by his 24 yard TD pass to Chris Henry on 4th down. - Chris Henry - He has looked like a new man this pre-season and may eventually challenge Laveranues Coles for the starting spot opposite Ocho. - Jerome Simpson - TV did not catch the pushoff very well but irregardless his called back TD was a nice catch. He added another nice grab on a slightly off-line pass later in the game and drew a pass interference call. Remember it takes time for receivers to develop. - The running backs - The coaches will face a difficult decision when selecting the final running back slots as DeDe Dorsey and James Johnson both performed well behind so-so blocking - Johnathan Joseph - Made two nice plays on the ball in limited action. - The overall defensive effort - They defense had its faults esp. in the prevent but holding New England to 6 points is always positive (even if it was vanilla offense). - Tom Nelson - A longshot to make the team Nelson had a sack and more importantly caused the decisive fumble late in the game. The Bad: The offensive line - The line was not terrible but the run blocking was suspect (esp. in the 1st half) and they allowed 4 sacks. The pass coverage - For as good as the pass rush was, you would have expected the coverage to be a little better. There were lots of receivers open as the team once again showed its lack of depth at cornerback. Jordan Palmer - Aside from Dorsey's long run, his offense failed to move the ball much and he completed just 2 of 7 passes for 45 yards. Cedric Benson - Fumbled for the second straight week. Daniel Coats - Known for his stone hands, he finally makes a nice catch in stride only to fumble the ball. The Ugly: Kevin Huber's attempt at a kickoff - Is it just me or should a team carrying just 1 kicker and 1 punter do a little cross-training in the event of an injury. Huber does not need to be great at kickoffs but he should look like he knows how to kick one. Plus Shayne Graham is not very good at kickoffs anyway so he could use some competition. As much as I liked Ocho Cinco kicking the extra point, he does not have the time to practice a few kicks each week, Huber does.