CINCINNATI -- People love polls. They love rankings. They love polls about rankings. They are conversation pieces.
In the NFL, that's all they are. Polls in college football have some baring on how the postseason picture shapes up but not in the NFL. That's determined on a week-to-week basis. So far through three weeks, the Bengals look pretty good.
Sunday's 33-7 thrashing of Tennessee was an all-around team effort. The final stats don't look like they should add up to a 26-point win but this was a well-deserved 26-point win. The Bengals were better on offense, they were better on defense and they were better on special teams in a game played in winds that were gusting at 20 mph at kickoff.
"Probably our best effort of the season," said head coach Marvin Lewis. "We are three weeks in and have a long way to go. We have done what we needed to thus far."
The Bengals are 3-0 to start the season for the first time since 2006. That season is a prime example of how three weeks don't make a season. Their fourth game in 2006 was at home against New England, which coincidentally is their next opponent on Oct. 5 after a bye week. The Patriots handed the Bengals a 38-13 drubbing that began a 1-5 slide. The Bengals went on a four-game winning streak to regain an upper hand in the playoff chase but lost their final three games to finish 8-8 and out of the playoffs.
Call it cautious optimism.
"We had a pretty good day defensively but we're still hunting perfection," said linebacker Vinny Rey. "We're hunting excellence all of the time. We had a pretty good day and rose up to the challenge but there's a lot of things that we've got to get cleaned up if we're going to get where we want to get."
Rey started at the WILL linebacker spot in place of Vontaze Burfict, who was inactive for the game because of a concussion suffered in last week's win against Atlanta. He ended up with four tackles.
The Bengals held Tennessee quarterback Jake Locker to a 41.9 passer rating on 17-of-34 passing for 185 yards and two interceptions. They sacked him twice and had five total hits on him besides forcing him out of the pocket several times to either scramble or make poor decisions on the run.
The offense was efficient, scoring touchdowns on four of the five red zone possessions it had. Quarterback Andy Dalton threw his first interception of the season after 73 attempts without one but, with the wind conditions as they were, once the Bengals got the lead they played smart with the ball. They didn't force the action but played for field position after taking a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Kevin Huber landed three of his four punts not just inside the 20-yard line but he and the coverage teams made the Titans start inside their own 6-yard line three times. Even punting into the wind, Huber didn't let it affect him. Cedric Peerman downed Huber's first punt at the Tennessee 2. The Titans gained two yards and were forced to punt out of their end zone.
Quentin Groves was called for holding while blocking in the end zone, resulting in a safety and a 12-0 lead for the Bengals.
Huber's second punt again pinned the Titans deep. This time, defensive end Robert Geathers intercepted a Locker pass after safety George Iloka's big hit on tight end Delanie Walker popped the ball into the air. Giovani Bernard scored a 1-yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive and the Bengals had a 19-0 lead.
"The wind was blowing pretty hard out there but it was one of those games you had to be ultra-focused on the small things," said Huber. "This is by far our best win so far, as far as all three phases contributing. We didn't have a lapse anywhere."
By the time the Bengals come back from the bye and start prepping for New England in earnest they should get a few of their injured back, most notably Burfict and wide receiver Marvin Jones.
Even though polls and rankings are irrelevant in the NFL the Bengals have been showing up at the top or near the top of several power rankings. Sunday's performance won't do anything to hurt their national perception. Not that they're concerned at this point.
"That's one thing I think this team has done a good job of -- we haven't worried about what everybody is saying yet," said Dalton. "There's going to be people who rank us high and some people who don't think we're as good as we are. You can't worry about anything that's being said right now. It's still September. Hopefully they'll be saying that come February."
