So what did everyone think of last nights game vs Eagles? I’m pretty happy with what I saw last night. There are a few kinks to iron out, but overall it was a better effort by the starters. Defensively, I thought the DL played much better this week. Peko has to play the NG position a little stronger than he has been of late, but the rest of the DL played well. I still think that the 2nd unit makes more plays than the starters, but maybe that’s just the preseason. Looking into the future, I think DT Geno Atkins will be a starter at some point early in the season. Offensively, the Carson to Chad connection is still off. They need a little work before season starts. Weird that Carson to T.O connection is in midseason form. And I’m still not convinced that the kickers the Bengals have now are any good.
Posted by John Thornton with WordPress for BlackBerry.
I’m of the belief that the Bengals should only keep two QB’s on the roster this season. It’s time to make the decision on QB Jordan Palmer. Can he be a backup in this league or not? So far this preseason, he hasn’t looked the part. Now to his credit, he has played with the 3rd stringers, but that is no excuse. Plenty of QB’s around this league have made a name for themselves in that same position. The only way the Bengals will truly find this out, is to rest Carson in one of these last 3 preseason games and let Jordan start with the 1st OL. That’s right, don’t start JT O’Sullivan because we know what he can do. We also have seen a lot of Jordan over the past few years, so now is the time to make this decision. Most 3rd QB’s are rookies with potential to be developed and if Jordan isn’t that guy, then let him go. If he is that guy that can back Carson up, then let JT go. You can always get a young QB on the practice squad and develop him and have him help with practice during the season. With tough decisions coming at positions like WR, and DL, I would hate to see a good position player let go and a QB kept on the team that really isn’t going to help the team this year or in the future.
Eagles coach Andy Reid
It’s the Bengals 3rd preseason game and this is usually when NFL teams play their starters the most. But the Bengals have five preseason games this year. What do they do? The Philadelphia Eagles have said that they will play their starters throughout the 1st half, so will the Bengals? Or will they wait until next week when they are on the road vs the “weaker’ Buffalo Bills? Food for thought. Not that the Bengals are ducking strong competition, but the Bills may give them a better look for their season opener. The Bengals open up on the road vs the Patriots, the Patriots play a 3-4 defense and the Bills just switched to a 3-4 defense, and the Bills have the kind of offense that the Bengals can get after and gain some confidence after a not so good showing so far in the preseason.
Anybody catch the game on Monday Night Football? I did, and I loved it. I wish all preseason games were that good. Not only was it a good game throughout, but the intensity and physical nature of both teams were what you want to see from teams that plan on having a good season. I give credit to Rex Ryan for setting the tone on the game for both teams. Even though he is hated by many for being a loud mouth, he backs up his talk. Rex kept his starters in for the whole first half of their first preseason game and made sure they got into a rhythm. They had a bunch of new pieces and he got them used to playing with each other in gametime situations. And the Jets defense, minus Revis, blitzed on almost every play. The Giants in turn had to try to match the Jets style of play and it took they a while but they finally reacted by going deep and beating the Jets blitz. Good game, hope we get more like it this weekend.
Posted by John Thornton with WordPress for BlackBerry.
The Bengals beat the Denver Broncos last night, but I really wasn’t interested in the final score. I wanted to see the Bengals starters come out and play a little better than they did last week vs the Cowboys. Offensively, the Bengals improved. I thought Carson looked pretty good. I thought that the tempo of the offense was a lot better, and I think that if it were a regular season game, the offense would have done well last night. The LG position still worries me though. Defensively, I thought the Bengals started poorly for the second straight game. And remember, this was the Broncos first preseason game, and it was the Bengals second, and the Broncos have had a lot of injuries in camp. I think the Bengals need a spark defensively. They need a lineup change that will add some excitement to the first unit because they are a tad bit flat for me. I get that its the preseason, I’ve been on many teams like this where guys don’t turn it on till it counts. But I know what I see, and it could become habit. I’m not starting to panic, but would like to see better play early on. To be fair, there isn’t much game planning going on right now, and I always found it hard to play without a game plan or a lot of film study on my opponent. They have a few weeks to fix a few flaws that I see at this point. The kicking game WILL be an issue. How you can go into the season with these kickers, I don’t know. But I can see a scenario where Shayne Graham gets cut from the Ravens and end up back here at the veterans minimum. Oh, and I thought QB Jordan Palmer played better last night. I still don’t trust either QB to run the team for a week or two if Carson went down. All in all, good second week, the team will feel better, but things still have to be worked on.
Posted by John Thornton with WordPress for BlackBerry.
