First call: Bengals fans go after Bud Dupree, Patriots trick play burn Baltimore, Browns gut players

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About an hour ago

Monday’s “first call” features Bengals fans waving their fingers at Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree after their team’s loss at Heinz Field. The New England Patriots start another round game against the Baltimore Ravens. The Cleveland Browns have ruined a bet. And the Jacksonville Jaguars have given the Steelers a few things to think about before they fight next Sunday.

Bengals fans angry with Bud

Bengals fans are furious at the Steelers over linebacker Bud Dupree after the Steelers’ 36-10 win. And they may have at least one reason to be restless.

Dupree left with a little late on Bengals rookie QB Joe Burrow in a scramble in the second quarter.

Hey, let’s just say I saw less of a flag being drawn. Especially late. Especially on a quarterback. Especially on the QB sideline.

Bengals fans essentially treat Burrow like Penguins fans treated Sidney Crosby in his freshman year at Pittsburgh. Any “offensive” hit is dirty, malicious and causes five alarms.

Now Dupree is Public Enemy No.1 in Cincy it seems, as there were online TV channels from those in Cincinnati when the game failed to draw a flag and that Burrow appeared to twist an ankle.

Credit Burrow, however. He was not one of those who complained.

“I didn’t think there were too many (late hits) today,” Burrow told reporters via Cincinnati.com. “I think Pittsburgh did a good job of not hitting me too late and if they did they kind of held me back and didn’t fall on me.

Now if you want to talk about “dirty” shots on the quarterback, how about Sam Hubbard of Cincinnati falling low on Ben Roethlisberger’s lap?

I know. At least that one has been reported. But it’s ironic a penalty like the one that was imposed on a Bengals defender. This after former Cincinnati wide receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh said in a recent interview that Kimo von Oelhoffen’s 2005 hit against Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer was intentional. It was an extremely similar kind of game.

Houshmandzadeh said, “If they hadn’t deliberately hurt Carson, in my opinion they wouldn’t have beaten us in the playoffs.

does this help?

The Steelers have managed to avoid “that typical Mike Tomlin loss” so far this year.

Specifically, in those last two games against the Dallas Cowboys 2-7 and the Bengals 2-6-1.

But the next one on the calendar? The 1-8 Jacksonville Jaguars. Before the rival division of Baltimore Ravens at Thanksgiving.

It has all the characteristics of a classic “trap game”. Except maybe Sunday, the Jaguars have done enough to wake the Steelers up and make them realize they’re not chopped liver.

After all, the Jags clung to the Green Bay 7-2 Packers. Rookie running back James Robinson was excellent for Jacksonville. The Illinois State product had 109 yards on 23 carries. He’s averaged exactly 109 yards per game in his last three games.

For the season, Robinson has lost only one fumble in 159 touches.

And the Jacksonville defense held the Packers to a measly 80 rushing yards.

But if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger can come close to replicating what Aaron Rodgers did for Green Bay, the Steelers will be fine.

The Packer’s QB was 24 of 34 for 325 yards. He threw two touchdowns and scored 108.1. He has only been sacked once.

Now they’re just messing around

Few of the times the Pittsburghers like to see the Patriots cope with a trick play.

But when is it against the Ravens? Well that can be fun.

Like, remember when the Patriots knocked out the “ineligible and eligible” receiving lineup in the 2014 playoffs? And when Julian Edelman threw a touchdown pass to Danny Amendola in that same game?

Well, the Patriots did it again to the Ravens on Sunday night as wide receiver Jakobi Meyers threw a touchdown pass to running back Rex Burkhead.

Like Edelman, Meyers had a few jets in his background. High school quarterback Meyers made the transition to wide receiver at NC State. Edelman was quarterback at Kent State.

I know. I know. Seeing Bill Belichick pull a quick one – again – is infuriating. But if it burns John Harbaugh and the Ravens, that’s a lot of fun, right?

The Patriots ended up winning 23-17. They improve to 4-5. And the Ravens are now three games behind the Steelers with a 6-3 record.

Winning game, lost bet.

Nick Chubb did the right thing on Sunday.

The Cleveland Browns running back crossed the line before scoring a late touchdown. Up 10-7, Browns coaching staff told Chubb to pick up the first down and then get off so he could go past the clock.

Well, he did a lot better than that, sort of.

Chubb took a throw on a third and a 3 with 1:07 to go and moved up the left sideline toward the end zone. The Texans didn’t have a time-out, so Chubb just ran out of limits instead of scoring and returning the ball to Houston.

This allowed Cleveland to kneel against the clock in the next two games.

Now, maybe he should have just made it to the limits. And scoring a touchdown plus an extra point would have put the game essentially out of reach with a 10-point margin and less than a minute to go.

But Chubb did as he was told.

For some players, however, this was not a good thing. The Browns were favored by 4.5. So those with a lot of money in the game clearly pulled their hair out because the three-point margin allowed the Texans to cover.

Via ESPN.com, “In William Hill sports betting across the country, 89% of the money bet on the points spread was on Cleveland, according to data reported by the bookmaker an hour before kick-off. .

“Jeff Stoneback, sportsbook manager for BetMGM in Nevada, said the Texans covering the spread produced a six-figure swing in favor of the house.”

It must hurt.

Tim Benz is a writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication, unless otherwise specified.

Categories:
Sports | Steelers / NFL | Breakfast with Benz



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