SHR nailed it

The game left me very worried for this year. Tackling was embarrassing and so was coaching. I wanted to see Mixon do more. Mixon does not worry me as much because I feel he knows what he was doing wrong and will correct it. What worries me is the mistakes that are made continuously. Tackling and coaching is our weak spots and they have been for years. A good analogy was when someone mentioned they look like lawn darts when tackling. Pathetic!

I would call the Bengals performance against the Chiefs last night a lousy effort but that would imply Cincinnati made any effort at all. 

(08-20-2017, 02:17 AM)kevin Wrote: Anthony Munoz on TV said it best. " If Bengals took one step forward against Tampa they took 2 steps back tonight ".   Munoz and other announcer made Bengals 2 kickers the players of the game, but added that isn't good for the rest of the team when the kickers are the players of the game. .....I value Hall Of Fame Anthony Munoz opinion on if Bengals play good or bad. This game was bad.  They got killed in the trenches all night. Chiefs offense moved through our defense all night long pretty easy.  On the other side, our O Line didn't finish blocks. The D didn't finish tackles and the O Line didn't finish blocks.  Andre Smith playing late in the game. Is he not living up to the hype coming back ?  Again, Munoz said all these guys are big, buy they need to put a body on people and block.

That's the bad news.....The good news is it was only preseason game 2.  Hopefully they look better in preseason game 3 when teams really go at it  as much like regular season as a preseason game gets.  The Defense has looked bad in both games and that for a few years has been our strength. The O Line took a step back also.  Hopefully the next game they show they aren't as bad as last night.

The game is won and lost in the trenches and we lost big time on both sides of the ball. We all worried about the OL and tonight we saw it again, many things to worry about with the OL. But I thought our defense could be dominant because of our DL and our DL looks crappy. That worries me because if we don't have a great defense, we will be an 8-8 type team.

(08-20-2017, 10:05 AM)Luvnit2 Wrote: The game is won and lost in the trenches and we lost big time on both sides of the ball. We all worried about the OL and tonight we saw it again, many things to worry about with the OL. But I thought our defense could be dominant because of our DL and our DL looks crappy. That worries me because if we don't have a great defense, we will be an 8-8 type team.

Yeah, the defense overall has not been impressive to me. Not just the DLine. We're getting gashed in the run game and still can't seem to cover the middle of the field. For the D, I'm hoping some of it can be attributed to playing vanilla, but they're also showing bad form with missed tackles and assignments. I feel the OLine is still the biggest area of concern, but the defense as a whole needs to step up and show more as well.

(08-20-2017, 07:48 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: Pretty pathetic effort across the board.  Team looked like they would rather be watching Big Brother re-runs.

MJ, Gilberry, and Pat Sims started again, and were awful, again.

Will Clarke looked worse than MJ, and I didn't think that was possible.

Mixon was either told to stay inside, or he couldn't see that there was nothing in front of him and he had clear skies outside and has the speed to get there.

AJ Green dropped an easy first down that would have put them around the 20 yard line.

Dalton had guys in his face all night, and rather than have an outlet receiver, they had the TEs in blocking the whole time. And it still didn't help. Combine that with the fact that LaFell and Boyd generated zero separation.  Boyd had a couple long completions on broken plays, so at least he kept working.

Dumbass Marv had 11 seconds before the half, the play stopped at the 7 yard line, and one time out.  He waited until the clock was at 3 seconds and called time out, and the ref gave one second back, so 4 seconds.  The entire bleeping stadium was screaming to call time out...If he wanted to get a kicker a situational shot, he is dumber than dumb.  A better situational play is:  You have no more time outs, 11 seconds, at the 7 yard line.  Run one play, it must go in the end zone, and you can't take a sack.  Simple, to almost everyone else on the planet.  God, does he anger me at times.

The good:  Vigil played probably his best football in stripes.  Smith and Willis continue to burn people on the edge.  The kickers made all their kicks and the kickoffs weren't returnable.  There weren't many injuries.  That's it.

Overall, I take it with a grain of salt.  The Chiefs got pounded on the ground by the 49ers in week 1 and they showed up with some purpose.  I think we will see a Bengal team with a bit more energy against the skins.

Along with Vigil, I thought Jackson shut down his side of the field, and Fej looks like he can take over for Williams.

(08-20-2017, 04:15 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Not saying this year's Bengals will be good (I don't think they will be particularly good, you can't trot out that OL and expect good results) but that said...

The Lions were 4-0 in the preseason the year they went 0-16.
The Colts were 1-3 in the preseason the year they won the SB.

It's not about the final score, it's about what you see on the field. And real life decisions are made based on the pre season so saying the games mean nothing is a bit off.

(08-20-2017, 04:05 AM)kevin Wrote: Anthony Munoz comments don't match yours.  ...Super Bowl Champions saying it all started back it training camps and preseason don't match your comments that this is all meaningless.  ....Munoz and other announcer said Chiefs " opened a big giant can on Bengals "   They did not say whip as on TV...I guess it's easy to say after a total thumping that the game meant nothing.  Plus you say you didn't watch the game, so you didn't see the total domination by Chiefs.    The Bengals were not a good team last year.  The Bengals Offensive Line is rated the worst in NFL by most media going into season. This team isn't ready to open the season with Baltimore. Hopefully they get more reps and start blocking and tackling and do get get ready for Baltimore. 

People that are successful can say whatever they want. That doesn't mean that's how it works all the time. 

It's pre season...I would rather see a game that highlights what needs to be worked on than a good game that gives one a false sense of security.They learned more last night about the team than they did from the TB game. Now the goal is to see if they learned from the mistakes and if they can correct them

(08-20-2017, 10:54 AM)pally Wrote: It's pre season...I would rather see a game that highlights what needs to be worked on than a good game that gives one a false sense of security.They learned more last night about the team than they did from the TB game.  Now the goal is to see if they learned from the mistakes and if they can correct them

True, but missed tackles is not new for our beloved Bengals. It has plagued us severely. Undisciplined team. Bad coaching from both a leadership and intelligence standpoint. 

(08-20-2017, 10:46 AM)rfaulk34 Wrote: People that are successful can say whatever they want. That doesn't mean that's how it works all the time. 

Interesting point is that players who are elite-level actually have a harder time knowing "what works" for others.  Experts in many occupations follow their own template while average performers are the ones who understand and implement common practices.  This is why average players usually make better coaches than elite players. 


But back to the pre-season, the score and the W/L don't matter but this is semi-legit game action that is used to make big regular season decisions.  Don't players who look bad in prior seasons and practice tend to look bad in pre-season too?  I know Brock Osweiller looked like crap last year, in practice, and in pre-season for example. Hard to look at that guy and say "Who knows...it's just pre-season...he might kill us in the regular season!"

The pre-season often confirms what we've seen/know in prior instances.  So until someone here is willing to say Brock and the Browns could very well storm the AFC North I think we need to admit that pre-season actually yields some predictive data.  DUH!

FYI - The Lions' starters looked like total crap (aka, the guys who actually play when the games count) during that 4-0 pre-season run that people love to cite when mentioning how a team that "lights it up" in pre-season means nothing.

Hey, Jeremy Hill looked good

Funny, I see other NFL teams in preseason Tackling and Blocking. ....If The Bengals can not Block and Tackle in 2017, it will be a 4 win season or worse.....The Chiefs did block and tackle last night and dominated the Bengals up and down the field all night long. As announcers said, Chiefs opened a big giant can of whip as on the Bengals. ...I have no problem with play-calling in preseason because I know that no teams call plays like in regular season. That they will go on 4th down more and call runs or passes depending on wanting to take a look at someone trying to make the team. ...So preseason play calling doesn't concern me....The Bengals not being able to Block or Tackle is a huge concern. They are getting beat in the trenches. They are getting beat on the Offensive Line. They are getting beat on the Defensive Line. They are getting beat at Linebacker. They are getting beat in the Defensive Secondary. The Defense does get near the ball, but they do not make tackles as offenses run right past them. PRESEASON GAME 3 is a dry run for NFL Teams. It is the Preseason Game the starters go all out to get ready for regular season. Preseason Game 4 is meaningless, the worst of all preseason games. NFL has tried to cancel this game due to lack of effort by all teams so close to season. PRESEASON GAME 3 coming up, THE BENGALS have to Block and Tackle better in this one. If they can't Block and Tackle in Preseason Game 3, they are not ready for game 2 weeks later in Season Opener against Division Baltimore.

So far, I'm not seeing players stepping up to replace Peko and Maualuga on Defense or Zeitler and Whitworth on Offense. Somebody in Preseason better start stepping up. This team needs to Block and Tackle in Preseason Game 3. I don't care about preseason game 4, nobody does. This team needs to Block and Tackle in Preseason Game 3, they really do because games with Baltimore and Houston a few days later are only a few weeks away. This team needs to get with it and Block and Tackle in Preseason Week 3 before teams bench all the starters in preseason week 4.

Maybe some of you do not see an urgency for the Bengals to step it up in preseason, so on this we will disagree because I see a huge urgency for this team to Block and Tackle much better in the next game. A repeat of last night in the next game to me means this team can't Block or Tackle. A team that can not Block or Tackle CAN NOT win.......I still say that IF this team CAN Block and Tackle, it has the finesse players to go Super Bowl. ..The O Line Coach and the Defensive Coaches better GET AT IT this week in practice. Time is running out quickly to prepare for BALTIMORE RAVENS opener.

Again, how closely would you listen to a guy who is fat and out of shape and isn't good at doing
his own job? It starts above Marvin and trickles down. I live 2 hours away and have been a loyal fan since the 80's. I'm not going anywhere, regardless if the team sucks again. I can't understand why I can't dump this team that's basically sucked for 50 years, I can't... I sometimes wish that I could!

The first unit D and O looked decent. Chiefs had to convert a 4th and 1. That being said I would be disappointed if both MJ and Andre aren't released both have played like garbage. Depth at LB and DL with the exception of Smith who should be starting have been awful. West who is arguably chiefs best back was making our 3rd string look worse than they are.

(08-20-2017, 01:32 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote: The first unit D and O looked decent. Chiefs had to convert a 4th and 1. That being said I would be disappointed if both MJ and Andre aren't released both have played like garbage. Depth at LB and DL with the exception of Smith who should be starting have been awful. West who is arguably chiefs best back was making our 3rd string look worse than they are.

Assuming you are talking about Andre Smith. I thought he looked good at RT tackle. Now Eric Winston........

(08-20-2017, 02:35 AM)Synric Wrote: A huge part of the problem with these first few games is the 2 handed touch they play in training camp. They aren't used to tackling or playing hard...

Feels like this can be said about multiple occasions for the Bengals this entire decade.

(08-20-2017, 12:19 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Interesting point is that players who are elite-level actually have a harder time knowing "what works" for others.  Experts in many occupations follow their own template while average performers are the ones who understand and implement common practices.  This is why average players usually make better coaches than elite players. 


But back to the pre-season, the score and the W/L don't matter but this is semi-legit game action that is used to make big regular season decisions.  Don't players who look bad in prior seasons and practice tend to look bad in pre-season too?  I know Brock Osweiller looked like crap last year, in practice, and in pre-season for example. Hard to look at that guy and say "Who knows...it's just pre-season...he might kill us in the regular season!"

The pre-season often confirms what we've seen/know in prior instances.  So until someone here is willing to say Brock and the Browns could very well storm the AFC North I think we need to admit that pre-season actually yields some predictive data.  DUH!

FYI - The Lions' starters looked like total crap (aka, the guys who actually play when the games count) during that 4-0 pre-season run that people love to cite when mentioning how a team that "lights it up" in pre-season means nothing.

No arguments here. I just don't believe in the "it all started in the pre season" mumbo jumbo. There's plenty of ways to get to a Lombardi. 

My point was, successful people rarely get questioned about their path. 

(08-20-2017, 01:40 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Assuming you are talking about Andre Smith. I thought he looked good at RT tackle. Now Eric Winston........

I thought the same thing with Winston, he looks done against 2nd, 3rd and 4th stringers.

(08-20-2017, 02:35 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: No arguments here. I just don't believe in the "it all started in the pre season" mumbo jumbo. There's plenty of ways to get to a Lombardi. 

My point was, successful people rarely get questioned about their path. 

I agree, but my guess any successful person being watched by multiple cameras using multiple angles would not look so great on tape all the time. Simply we live in an era where athletes every move is recorded in practice and games. Then, they they are subjected to novice opinions on their performance with some of the information, but not close to all of the info needed to form a valid opinion.