1st half observations (v.Cowboys)

[BengalChris]

(08-18-2018, 09:44 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Wow, where to begin.  What a painful half of football to watch, for a Bengal fan..

First of all, the OL is still very much a "work in progress".  They clearly couldn't open any holes, when rushing to either side of the line.

Second thing that jumps out at me?  The rushing defense is still terrible.  If Zeke Elliott had been in the game, it could have been ugly..

Now, I will say that the Bengals never had field position on their side, and the refs were letting Dallas get a bit grabby on their TD drive.  However, that does not excuse the inability to stop the run, or cover a TE.  Hell they made some no-name TE look like a young Jason Witten out there.

Of individual note?

Driskell is not good.  He locks on, and stares down his receiver, the entire defense gets there at the same time as the ball.  This should put a rest to the "Driskell for backup" debate.

Dre K. is more of a sly dog than I've given him credit for.  After getting his ass rolled by the Cowboys' tackle, he comes back the next play to take Zach Martin out of the game.  Nice work Dre, nice work.

CJ Uzomah might not be a bust.  He might just need to be more involved in the offense.

Billings?  He ain't the man, yet.  On 3rd and 1, he ended up on his back, blocked right out of the play.

Cordy Glenn?  He won't ever be mistaken for Whitworth, but he seems to be getting the job done.

Billy Price?  No penalties, no bad snaps.  Only good rushing play came up the middle.

Bobby Hart?  He didn't suck, but he wasn't a badass either.  He might be alright.

Redmond?  I didn't notice any particular screw ups, but the pile didn't move as much as I had hoped it would, on his side of the ball.

Andy Dalton?  Seemed to revert back to "I only see AJ" mode, once the defense proved stout.



I'm sure that I missed a few details, but those are my thoughts.

I have to agree.

Dre surprised me with his play, which is good because I had him down as a weak spot.

Dalton looked off and the line was letting Dallas get in his face.

Glenn, as you say, will not be confused with Whittworth, but he is our best tackle. Hart was nothing special.

Ogbuehi was awful, 2 holding calls, allowed a sack and jumped off sides. That's about as bad as you can get going up against the second team. We should find someone else to come in as the backup.

Our young DEs did produce sacks, in fact they all did. That's nice.