PAUL DAUGHERTY

Doc: 'Nice to sit back' during Bengals' win

Paul Daugherty
pdaugherty@enquirer.com
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14) and St. Louis Rams quarterback Nick Foles (5) talk after the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 12 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the St. Louis Rams at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015. The Bengals routed the Rams 31-7, improving to 9-2.

Well, this game won't make the league's promotional package. Don't pitch this gem to the good citizens of London. Keep Bengals-Rams deep in the same secret location as the nuclear codes and Bill Belichick's standup routine. "Uneventful,'' Marvin Lewis called Bengals 31, Rams 7. That's understating it.

It was as easy a win as exists in the NFL. The Bengals played it like a day at the office, as steadily and unemotionally as any game this year. The Rams played it like they were channeling the 90s Bengals.

It was almost as if Cincinnati dedicated the day to working on things:

Let's get Jeremy Hill some confidence and A.J. Green some catches in the end zone. Let's watch Geno Atkins swallow men whole. Let's see if he can defend the Rams' offense all by himself. Let's unleash Domata Peko's belly dance on an unsuspecting St. Louis fan base. All 12 of them.

Bengals' defensive line adjusts, dominates

We will shut down the very good rookie running back Todd Gurley and watch Nick Foles perfect the horizontal passing game. When you can't complete a pass for more than 10 yards, you're playing offense in a shipping crate. Which is no place to be when Geno Atkins is there, too.

Analysis: Why the Bengals beat the Rams

The Rams started two rookies on the offensive line, which had the Bengals interior defensive linemen salivating by last Wednesday. "We were licking our chops,'' Peko offered.

Now two years removed from blowing his knee on a Thursday night in Miami, Atkins has had an entirely excellent year. He has moments, Geno Moments, that fill you with incredulous laughter, the sort of knowing, can-you-believe-that chuckles only the greatest players elicit. Think Steph Curry now, and Tom Brady.

One such moment occurred in the second quarter Sunday. Gurley, the rookie from Georgia, took a handoff from Foles and headed toward the middle of the line.

Haha.

Atkins, also a Georgia product, split a double team. He didn't tackle Gurley, exactly. It was more like he picked the rook up by the waist and just sort of held him there. Two-yard loss. Gurley is listed at 227 pounds. Atkins treated him like a sack of taters. There would be no "establishing the run'' by the visitors Sunday.

"The big Bulldog put it on the little Bulldog today,'' Peko said.

Atkins also added a sack. He is a dominant disruptor, who makes better everyone who lines up with him along the Bengals line. Just ask him. Or, you know. . .

"Geno is not saying anything to nobody,'' laughed safety Reggie Nelson. "Geno is walking back to the huddle, lining back up and (getting) ready to do it again. He won't even smile at you. He don't even come up to me after I make a good play. He just goes to the (bench) and sits down.''

A competition of sorts exists among the heathen media who cover the Bengals. The inside parlor game "Let's Talk to Geno!'' is making the rounds. Whomever gets the first usable utterance from the big man gets an adult soda. Or something.

So far, no winners. Someone mentioned to Reggie Nelson that Fox TV requested Atkins for a postgame interview on the field. Nelson chuckled. "Good luck with that,'' Nelson said.

We dwell on Garbo Atkins because he very much symbolized the team and the win Sunday. The 2015 Bengals are in a place now where their confidence has eliminated the need to worry, to press or to concentrate on anything but the next play. Fans might have winced after two losses in a row. The locker room did not.

There are no self promoters on the team. In that way, they're all like Atkins. A favorite word in the locker room now is "grind.'' Work, don't stop working, and good things will happen.

The Bengals led 17-7 at halftime without doing anything eye-raising. They went up 31-7 with 5:20 left in the third quarter, on a Leon Hall pick-six. They had only three penalties, just one turnover and didn't allow Andy Dalton (three TD passes, QB Rating of 121.4) to be sacked.

"It was nice to sit back (when) the fourth quarter was not a nailbiter,'' Dalton said.

The win was about as sexy as a flannel nightgown. Also, very efficient and modestly ruthless. Just like Geno Atkins.

"If Geno ever danced after a play, what would it look like?'' I asked Reggie Nelson, who laughed. "You won't never catch Geno dance,'' he said.