 |
T.J. Houshmandzadeh pulls in a TD pass, but the Bengals tumbled to 3-7. (David Kohl/Associated Press) |
CINCINNATI - Another ugly loss has the last-place Cincinnati Bengals thinking maybe they're just not that good.
At 3-7, reality is setting in.
They can't win games with their high-tech passing game. They can't stop anybody on defense, not even a 36-year-old quarterback throwing with his other arm. They can't win a game when they get two long touchdown passes and return a blocked punt for a score.
They're starting to wonder whether their self-image is a tad inflated.
Even receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who has regularly insisted the Bengals are better than the teams that beat them, is taking a step back and wondering if he needs to change his perspective.
"Talent doesn't win games, obviously," Houshmandzadeh said, referring to a 35-27 loss to the Arizona Cardinals Sunday. "Or, maybe we don't have as much talent as we think we do."
Precisely.
"Guys have been built up to think they were up to this level of player," coach Marvin Lewis said yesterday, referring to their high expectations. "Well, they're finding out that maybe you're not."
Lewis insisted the Bengals have as much talent as the teams they're losing to every week. "We're not overmatched, that's all I'm saying," he said.
That's debatable. But there is no doubt this collection of talent doesn't add up.
When Lewis arrived in Cincinnati for the 2003 season and turned the lowly Bengals into an average team, his motto was to act like a worker totally focused on digging a hole. Don't look up, don't slack off. Keep digging.
Yesterday, right tackle Willie Anderson said the Bengals have lost that hardworking attitude.
"The talent's still here," Anderson said. "I just think we're a little too Hollywood right now. Somebody may hate me saying that word . . . We've got to get back to that '03 mind-set where we'd bring our shovel in here. I think we've gotten away from digging ditches."
Instead, they're in one. And it's too late to climb out.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
