National Football League

Flattened Bengals defense still stewing

Published Sep. 15, 2010 10:19 p.m. ET

foxsports

Defensive lineman Tank Johnson thinks the Bengals need an attitude adjustment.

The Bengals' defense came into the season with aspirations of moving up in the rankings from fourth to the NFL's best. Instead, it's marooned at No. 25 after getting flattened in an opening 38-24 loss to the Patriots, a showing so bad that the Bengals are calling it an eye-opener.

Maybe they're not as good as they think.

''Defense is all about attitude,'' Johnson said Wednesday. ''We did not have the right attitude last week. Collectively, we'll have an attitude adjustment and we'll be prepared for Sunday.''

The Bengals (0-1) have high stakes for their home opener against Baltimore (1-0), a team picked by many to dethrone them as AFC North champions. The Bengals swept the division last season, the first time they've done that in franchise history, and have won their last seven games overall against AFC North teams.

Another bad showing and the Bengals will be trying to dig out of a quick two-game deficit.

Another bad showing and the defense can forget about being considered the league's elite.

''I take it very personal,'' Johnson said. ''I don't know why the attitude wasn't where it needed to be across the board - myself included - but I know our goal this week is to have the right mindset. And the mindset is going to be all-day, smash-mouth and get after them.''

The Bengals were bad in all phases in New England. Carson Palmer threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, and the Patriots ran back the second-half kickoff for another score. But the defensive collapse was the most stunning part of the team-wide implosion.

Tom Brady led the Patriots to 280 yards and a 24-3 lead in the first half alone. The Bengals' priority was to pressure Brady, but he was hit only twice all game while throwing it 35 times. Cincinnati didn't come close to sacking him.

After the Patriots went up 31-3, the Bengals scored a couple of touchdowns, sparking thoughts of a comeback win. That's when the defense had perhaps its worst moments, allowing New England to hold the ball for nearly eight minutes during a 14-play touchdown drive that put it out of reach.

There were missed tackles and broken coverages and a lot of uncharacteristic lapses for Mike Zimmer's defense.

''The whole thing was my fault,'' Zimmer said Wednesday after practice. ''The whole fiasco was my fault. I know better than what I did, and I've got big enough shoulders to take it.''

Zimmer thinks he overloaded the game plan, getting his players out of their comfort zone.

''There's an old adage: You try to stop everything, you end up stopping nothing,'' Zimmer said. ''And that's what we did. We didn't stop nothing because we tried to stop everything instead of remembering who we are, what we do.

''And again, that's all my fault.''

Zimmer told his players it won't happen again against the Ravens.

''Coach Zimmer told us we'll keep it simple this week so we can just play fast,'' defensive lineman Domata Peko said. ''I think we were thinking too much, trying to be too smart. We've just got to line up and play ball.''

The defense had two good games against the Ravens last season, beating them 17-14 in Baltimore and 17-7 in Cincinnati. The Ravens scored only two touchdowns on offense - Ed Reed returned an interception for the other score - and went only 4 of 21 on third-down conversions in the two games.

Given how they played at New England, the Bengals aren't counting on anything.

''We got knocked in the chin,'' Johnson said. ''Now we've got to bounce back from that. They didn't knock us out. They just made us a little woozy.''