As bad as preseason game 2 was, it was still just an exhibition warm up game. Some upsides to the game were : McCarron finally got in an NFL game of some kind....There were not any major injuries that I know of.....Also, Lovie Smith seems to have brought his tough Bears defense style to Tampa, which became tough under Tony Dungy tough defense in the late 1990's. If Tampa has a defense again, playing at Tampa will again be rough, as it was before. Tampa was never known for their great QBs but for their defense, even in the Super Bowl win year. So Tampa was loaded for bear, or loaded with Lovie Smith Bear, but they were locked and loaded and will have a better record if they play like that at home. ......The mistakes made, well, you want to get those out in preseason. Most NBA preseason games are sloppy and hard to watch. At least the mistakes were in a preseason game, which is why they play preseason games. All teams are rusty from the off season.

As for Preseason Game 3.....the Bengals need to shake it off and come out strong at home in THE JUNGLE. Loaded for bear because they are playing the Bears. Good games from Dalton, McCarron and Johnson at QB would be great. Let everybody get some reps in before they starting cutting players, so the wrong players don't get cut. Give them all a chance to step up or step down. A win would be nice in THE JUNGLE, but not important. Get these preseason mistakes out of the way and fine tune this thing and eliminate the penalties and turn overs. September is here, and the opener at Oakland is coming up fast. Labor Day weekend will have the team 100 % focused on games that count in the standing. So take a second look at some players tonight, get as many people some reps as possible, because it's time for a lot of these NFL players to get fired. So have a good game and then make the right cuts and keep the right players for that much wanted Play-Off Win and trip to the Super Bowl, which is the real goal. I hope everybody plays good tonight and makes the cuts hard choices. That means we have depth.

So, Bengals to shake it off and show they are better than that and also show they can play on a short week. ....If they look just as bad, then we have real problems that may not be fixed by the AT Oakland game in 15 days. So we we need to see this team has what it takes to bounce back. They had that in 2012 and this team from 2011 on has never quit and always fights back. I'm hoping for a better showing tonight. I understand the NFL has cut way back on practice in pads, so you are just going to have some sloppy preseason showings as players get in football shape again. Not lifting weights, but the shape you get into when pads hit pads and you toughen back up. The timing of plays has to come together. Preseason game 3 is a big night and hoping for team to start getting it together.

Per PFF:

"3rd rounder Paul Dawson was our top graded LB in the draft and is our highest graded 4-3 OLB this preseason".

I have mixed feelings about PFF but it's nice for them to acknowledge our LB. I only watched game 2 against the Bucs and he looked like an absolute stud in that one.

I popped by the Warshington message board to see if anyone was crying in his beer over RGIII's latest set-back (I'm a bit of a schadenfreude junkie, in case you haven't noticed) and lo and behold I saw a poll presented that touches upon something we have been discussing during the Marvin one-n-done years:

Would you rather win a championship and be a bottom-of-the-barrel team for the next 10 years or have 10 seasons of making the playoffs?

http://es.redskins.com/topic/392041-poll-championship-sucking-or-playoffs/

They have some pretty similar responses, but they also have the experience of winning a SB a long time ago and being a total joke of a team for a long time, too. Hmm....comments?

Alex Smith used to be horrendous. All before the NFC West was the "elite" division its been n recent years. In fact during the time the NFC west was the weakest division, allowing the under .500 Seahawks take a playoff spot. Niner fans used to boo Smith and cry for Carr to start...But since Harbaugh and continuing into KC he's been solid. His performance of tonight's first half was what has seemed like a norm of his since the Harbaugh era. Dalton has performed better than Smith in his first 4 seasons. just saying the talk of "Dalton hasn't progressed one bit" is getting old. Perhaps he is just what he is: a game manager. But being just a "game manager" doesnt keep an offense from being potent, or a team from being successful.

How would we perceive ourselves if we beat the 49ers in the Super bowl?  What would have changed?  How would you have changed as a fan?  Would we still be referenced as the Bungles?  Do you think our draft picks would be who they were?  Just any idea or concept you can think of...  how would our Bengals and Fan base would be different.. have fun with this one..!!

I guess Hue's a dumbass.....Whitworth and Hill too.


Article pretty much agrees with ALL sentiment here....preseason is meaningless, the effort was trash.

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/On-to-Chicago/38a8f5cc-3aab-4401-afd8-0b9bb16ea1ba

For those that are interested/care here the announces teams that will handle our games for weeks 1-4, as of right now.

Week 1 @Oakland: Tom McCarthy, Chris Simms
Week 2 vs. San Diego: Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts, Evan Washburn
Week 3 @Baltimore: Andrew Catalon, Steve Beuerlein, Steve Tasker
Week 4 vs. Kansas City: Spero Dedes, Solomon Wilcots

http://espn.go.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/13516331/ranking-top-10-receiving-corps-nfl

For those with Insider, there's the link.

I don't pay for it myself, but apparently we're #2 unless my source was lying for some unknown reason.

Colts #1, by the way.

Colts
Bengals
Lions
Falcons
Steelers
Cowboys
Bears
Broncos
Giants
Jets

Updated with full list. I guess this is interesting because I've been told that nobody outside of Cincinnati thinks we have elite receiving targets. I guess at least 1 person outside of the fanbase believes so. I don't know if we're exactly #2, but I do think it's a great group overall and it's good to see us getting some love.

We have a 2, 1000 yard receivers and a 1000 yard RB?

I was chastised for wanting it after 2013. Just curious if folks still think it's impossible or unlikely.

Solomon shares his thoughts on the Tampa game, the teams attitude, and whether there should be concern...

"It was clear to me that one team was more focused than the other," Wilcots said when I asked him about the game on Tuesday at The NFL on CBS Media Day. "Lovie, where his team is at right now, coming into a preseason game, they've got everything to prove. That was reminiscent of a Lovie Smith defense, wasn't it? Pressure the quarterback, cover 2 on the backend, and they intercept all tips and overthrows."

"I saw a Bengals team kind of feeling like, hey, we’re accomplished, you know who we are," Wilcots said. "If they don’t understand that no one cares that they’ve been to the playoffs four straight years, they’re going to go on opening day and lose in Oakland. I’m telling you right now. Because Oakland is one of those teams like Tampa, that’s got a lot to prove. Jack Del Rio is going to have those guys ready to play."

"I’m really concerned, because for me, preseason game or no, if you’re the number one group you gotta be ready to play and they clearly weren't ready to play," Wilcots said. "And if you go back to that last game in the playoffs against Indy, they weren't ready to play. Now, I'm watching this game and I see the same lethargic attitude and it concerns me and I'm not saying that’s what we're going to get in the regular season. I’m saying after seeing that, I'm concerned, and if it’s not addressed, then it becomes a reality."

"Winning is a habit, I don't care if it's the preseason, I don't care if it's checkers," Wilcots said. "That's just what I believe. It’s just being a competitor and setting the standard for how to perform anywhere, anytime and that’s how winning becomes a habit. And so does losing, unfortunately. They should be concerned, they really should be. And the only way to stop it, is to be concerned."

CincyJungle