A day after the "No Brainer Freeze" beat his team, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis raised the notion that maybe Saints quarterback Drew Brees did more than talk a good game to draw Bengals defensive tackle Pat Sims into the neutral zone on fourth-and-two.
But the Sims and the Bengals know that he shouldn't have moved even if Brees did move his foot.
"Brees does a good job moving his left foot and he draws Pat," Lewis said at his Monday news conference. "Knowing the situation and seeing how they had done it, basically the formation unfolded about the same way they had done it the last time they had done it … it's unfortunate."
Everybody knew the Saints were trying to draw the Bengals offsides and had no intention of passing up a tying 22-yard field goal with 34 seconds left. But no one knew more than Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. He and Saints head coach Sean Payton worked together under head coach Bill Parcells in Dallas.
"I've seen it 100 times," Zimmer said Monday. "Parcells did it all the time. That's where Sean got it. Everybody knew it was coming. Pat knew it was coming. He just jumped. (Brees) twitched, but they don't call that. Not in that situation, you don't move. We practiced that. I'll blame me more than I blame him. Showed it to them on tape. It happens. Guys mess up. That play didn't lose the game for us. I can pull out six other plays. That one stands out in front of everybody."
Sims seemed to indicate that Brees' foot flinch made him flinch.
"Something like that, something like that," Sims said. "Something drew me off, but it was my fault. I shouldn't have been looking."
HISTORIC RUN: If the Bengals give up a 20-yard run Sunday in Pittsburgh, they will become the first team in NFL history to open the season by giving up a 20-yard run or more in their first 13 games. They are currently tied with the 1958 San Francisco 49ers, a club that played only 12 games.
Zimmer sat his defense down Monday looking at the big plays they've allowed in the last four games via the run and pass, as well as all off their first- and second-down snaps in that stretch. Cincinnati's 16 runs allowed of 20 yards lead the NFL.
"He's basically saying it's all little techniques and we're not doing that," said tackle Domata Peko. "We just haven't been making the plays we were making last year. People are fighting their tails off, but it just seems like it's the little things."
