Bengals into October

My beloved (and bedeviling) Bengals sit at 3-2 as they head into a game with the 3-2 Buffalo Bills today.

The good news - this year the Bengals have beaten quarterbacks who have amassed a combined six Super Bowl victories (Ben Rothlisberger, Aaron Rogers, and Tom Brady).  The offense has looked good . . . in spurts.

The defense has been great (when the offense hasn't turned it over).  And outside of one boneheaded personal foul on a third down stop against the Bears, they have constantly kept the Bengals in games.  The defense has never looked better than scoring the game winning TD on a fourth down stop against the Packers and limiting Brady last week to no touchdowns and under 200 yards passing.

The bad news - despite beating those excellent quarterbacks, the did lose to someone named Brandon Hoyer and - gulp - the Browns.  How?  The offense looked terrible.  And while it has looked good in spurts . . . it has also looked horrible in spurts (such as the four consecutive drives against the Packers).

The only thing the Bengals have been consistent in is their inconsistency.  Despite all those wins against great quarterbacks, the Bengals, though, have struggled mightily against rookie or first year starting quarterbacks.

Dalton, their third year quarterback, has a ton of talent around him: a Pro Bowl LT, WR, and TE.  They added an electric runner, Giovanni Bernard, and another athletic TE, Tyler Eifert, to pair with Jermaine Gresham.  They also have a grinder in the backfield who runs hard in BJGE.  And they have two developing second year receivers Mohammud Sano and Marvin Jones.

Let's hope they can find some consistency and beat the Bills.