CINCINNATI — Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan and tight end C.J. Uzomah laughed about it on Monday. When you win by 16 points, the dropped would-be touchdown pass that schemed him wide open only to miss the 999-times-out-of-a-thousand throw-and-catch cost the team four points can be a punchline.
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“I told C.J. this morning, I was just sad when I was watching it last night at the house,” Callahan said. “It was just so beautiful.”
On the play, Uzomah sneaked out against the grain of a play call looking toward Tyler Boyd in the flat and was running all alone — a rarity in the NFL. Although, for those watching Bengals games, they saw it just two weeks ago in Oakland when Derek Carr hit Foster Moreau on a play that looked eerily similar.
That’s because it was. Even more interesting, it’s connected to one of the most famous plays in recent viral NFL history: Spider 2 Y Banana.
Jon Gruden made it famous talking about it on Monday Night Football, but that’s because it’s been a favorite call in his arsenal for his entire career, including time spent with Callahan and his father, Bill.
“I want to say my dad and Jon have been running that play since we were watching Tim Brown run it,” he said.
In the original, the tight end in Uzomah’s spot runs a corner route at the near sideline over top of the player coming out of the backfield into the flat.
“The second version of that play is instead of running a corner route, he blocks his way down and as he comes down finds his way to the back side,” Callahan said. “It’s a great play for teams that play man-to-man and you put a little bit of motion.”
Callahan said that’s the fourth time they’ve run the play this year, but the first where the throw didn’t go to Boyd in the flat and instead back the other way. Each of the first three was a first-down conversion.
He also recounted running it last year while in Oakland in a big spot.
“It’s a third and-1-2-maybe-3 play where you are anticipating the heavy front and man coverage where they are anticipating run and a little more susceptible in that regard,” Callahan said. “I’ve run it on the field in normal plays before. We ran it in Oakland last year. Had a huge play against Baltimore to Lee Smith for a 40-yard gain on the back side (fourth-and-1 for 30 yards). We ran it against Pittsburgh on the goal line out of 13 personnel so we had a bunch of tight ends in there. We hit Lee Smith on the back side for a touchdown.”
Here are all three of the plays Callahan referenced:
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Then, two weeks ago his old team hit him on his old play for the easy TD. You could say it was “stolen,” but nothing is really stolen in this league, especially when it’s been so much a part of Callahan’s playbook for years.
“We stole it from Oakland last year because our offensive coordinator was there,” Zac Taylor joked on Monday.
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Maybe being on the front of the mind helped pull it out this past week, but outside of Oakland using a fullback to run off the flat, the Bengals kept with their personnel and Boyd in an almost identical fashion
“We dress it up with how we look as an offense,” he said. “You look around the league and you see that play pop up probably once every two weeks where somebody has some version of it.”
The throw came out a touch harder than it needed to, but Callahan points out the progression calls for a quick reset to the back side and you don’t always see everything going on over there. So making a quick throw assures nobody catching Uzomah or a safety that he didn’t see coming after a lob.
It may be the only time Andy Dalton or Uzomah miss a short throw that wide open in their entire careers.
“It’s one of those things when you win, you can laugh about it,” Callahan said. “But the first play of the game should have been a touchdown and that play right there are two plays that are missed opportunities for 11 points. In a closer game, a tighter game, those things matter a lot. Particularly when C.J. is so wide open. Those are four points that could have dramatically changed the structure of the game, but thankfully it didn’t matter.”
On tap
The Bengals practice for the first of two games against the Browns this month. Cleveland was all but eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday and the walls are closing in even more on Freddie Kitchens after he got busted wearing a “Pittsburgh started it” T-shirt on Friday.
Quotable
Sam Hubbard on whether Zac Taylor said anything to him after Carlos Dunlap and Hubbard doused the head coach with Gatorade on Sunday following his first win:
“No, I’m pretty sure he was pretty pissed, though. It was pretty cold out there and that thing was full of ice.”
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I found the conversation surrounding this move fascinating when you look at the two schools of thought regarding celebrating the first win while being 1-11.
Are these guys supposed to not enjoy themselves just because their season has been a train wreck?
I knew some idiot would do it. Complete lack of self-awareness.
— Jeremy Dyer (@jeremyadyer) December 1, 2019
I can attest there was far from unanimity inside the Bengals locker room about showering Taylor after his first win. The idea of going nuts at this point didn’t sit well with everyone, obviously.
It does feel awkward, but at the same time, I don’t think you can take those things too seriously. If a couple of players — in this case, Hubbard and Dunlap — decide they want to have fun with this moment, then so be it. Dunlap talked about how they have preached living in the moment all season and enjoying that day for what it was and embracing the relief of finally getting that monkey off their back would fit the situation.
Dunlap’s take on the celebration resonated with me.
“We just won. And it’s his first career win. He deserved it. Simple as that. Regardless of how the season has gone, this is coach Zac’s first win. We wanted him to remember it and enjoy that feeling and hopefully we’ll get a win like that where confetti is dropping and it’s a Super Bowl city. But right now, today the Bengals won in this stadium, regardless of what the season is.”
Twitter question of the week
Any chance Cordy stays next year?
— Christian Spahr (@REALCNOTE85) December 2, 2019
The latest in sentences I didn’t think I’d write a month ago: Cordy Glenn and Bobby Hart turned in perfect pass-blocking performances, according to Pro Football Focus.
They protected on 40 dropbacks without allowing a single pressure on Sunday. The same for right guard John Miller.
You have to give credit, Glenn popped up from off the map to put together a couple of nice games at left tackle and bring some noticeable stability to the offensive line.
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I’ve already eaten my words regarding Glenn around here since I never thought we’d see him play another game in Bengals stripes, so I hesitate to say this, but I don’t see a scenario where he returns.
The club won’t owe him anything if they let him go. It takes almost $9 million off the books. They have Jonah Williams in place to start at left tackle. That all makes this a pretty easy decision.
Their desperation to win a game put Glenn back into the starting lineup two weeks ago but the same desperation won’t be part of the equation this offseason.
Overly researched stat of the week
The evolution of the Bengals defense over the last three weeks made all the difference in the competitiveness of the games and team earning its first win. A few factors play into it. The healthy return of Darqueze Dennard and Carl Lawson provided a bump. Dunlap somehow returned to prime Dunlap form after a sleepy first half of the year.
Plus, defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo has found success with his three-safety looks, the elimination of Preston Brown and minimizing snaps by linebackers as a whole.
The Bengals benefitted from a game against Pittsburgh’s toothless offense, but Oakland ranks seventh in the league in yards per play and the Jets had ripped off 34 points in three consecutive games prior to Sunday.
Here’s a look at the key drive categories the last three weeks compared with the first nine games of the season.
Last three weeks for Bengals defense (33 drives):
- Yards/drive: 29.9 (14th)
- Score %: 27.3 % (10th)
- TD %: 9.1 % (1st)
- Turnover %: 9.1 % (23rd)
First nine weeks for Bengals defense:
- Yards/drive: 41.0 (32nd)
- Score %: 46.8 (30th)
- TD %: 27.7 % (27th)
- Turnover %: 7.4 % (29th)
We shall see what transpires over the final four games of the season, but it would create a nice wave of optimism (coupled with an overhaul of the linebacker room) for the defense if the second half stats end up looking remotely like these past three weeks.
Around the division
Browns (5-7): The drama and issues with the Browns are becoming too much to keep track of at this point, the latest on all of it from Pat McManamon.
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Steelers (7-5): Fans in Pittsburgh have embraced this team like few others of the past, Ed Bouchette points out.
Ravens (10-2): Mike Sando takes a closer look at how Lamar Jackson versus the Buffalo defense could go down on Sunday.
Bengals post of the week
The inside the locker room stuff after wins is always fun to watch. I thought Joe Mixon being the one to stand in the middle of the room and make this speech is fairly telling about the turn of young leaders on the team.
Degenerate corner
The Bengals opened a 9-point underdog in Cleveland. The line feels high for a Bengals team that has been within a possession each of the last three weeks and just beat the Jets. Particularly considering the mess the Browns’ season has become a week after being all but eliminated by the Steelers.
I’m not one to say Vegas is wrong, but I like the Bengals cover this week.
Must read
Our draft folks will eat up Dane Brugler’s first mock draft of the year. He addresses the criticism of Joe Burrow’s average arm.
Dad life
After surviving the 20-plus-hour round trip in the car with a toddler and 2-month old, there’s one aspect of travel I never appreciated enough until driving with kids.
The easy, efficient hotel breakfast buffet is one of the truly great gifts of the parenting world.
No matter how early your kids get up, you can wander down to the lobby, it’s an exciting adventure, they can pile however much food they want from whatever corner of the buffet. They can make a mess and you only need to do moderate clean up. It brings happiness and kills hanger first thing in the morning with zero work outside of getting in an elevator.
Shout out to the Marriott and Hampton Inn buffets. Sorry I never appreciated your glory before.
Wrapping it up
Happy 49th birthday to Jeff Blake, who brought a period of excitement to the Bengals in the ’90s and one of the most gorgeous deep balls you’ll ever see.
I think a deep shot to Darnay Scott is still hanging somewhere in the Pittsburgh atmosphere.
(Top image: David Kohl / USA TODAY Sports)
Paul Dehner Jr. is a senior writer and podcast host for The Athletic. He's been covering the Bengals and NFL since 2009, most notably, for six seasons with The Cincinnati Enquirer. He's born, raised and proudly Cincinnati. Follow Paul on Twitter @pauldehnerjr
