(09-14-2018, 12:50 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Two games in. Williams, Bates and Fej; 33 tackles, 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 2 interceptions and a touchdown.

The weird thing I always though our safeties were not our weak spot. I think we are learning IIoka was our weak link. Bates is impressive roaming and being a ball hawk. Williams seems to be more aggressive so maybe in his case it was coaching. Fej comes in and plays great.

To answer your question, I love what I see so far with the safety group. I hope Wilson also continues to grow, he has great speed, now he need to put that speed to use.

(09-14-2018, 02:20 PM)sandwedge Wrote: How Brown caught that, is still mess'in with my head! Add the fact that, how Bates didn't intercept it or deflect it....

It is great to have teaching moments in games you win. I have a hunch Bates does not make that mistake again in 3rd down.

(09-14-2018, 09:11 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Bates reminds me of Reggie Nelson in terms of ball skills, but he seems more intense out there.

Bates has far superior range (speed and quickness) to Reggie. But Reggie was/is the better tackler. Reggie will rock you, Bates will get stronger, but now he has to have great technique to get big guys down.

I loved Reggie and I think Bates will be much better overall in time.

(09-15-2018, 10:04 AM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Bates has far superior range (speed and quickness) to Reggie. But Reggie was/is the better tackler. Reggie will rock you, Bates will get stronger, but now he has to have great technique to get big guys down.

I loved Reggie and I think Bates will be much better overall in time.

I think he will as well. He was a great pick.

Let’s see how the Cincinnati secondary and the safeties in particular handle Cam Newton a week from today.

Very good safety play


Corner play has been good in spurts as well.

D line has just been amazing


Linebackers without Burfict haven’t lost us games yet even tho the only noticeable play i remember is Preston’s INT but that means they are playing solid enough to win.


Defense has been a lot of pieces working together at the same time i love it

(09-14-2018, 02:01 PM)jwayne Wrote: When I saw the ball go through Bats hands, I LAUGHED. OMG, 3 BENGALS around the receiver and Bates Misses... JUST DAMN...

THEY look GREAT at Safety. 


GO BENGALS!

That was classic Bengals, but we usually lose those kind of games where we had chances to put it away only to drop and easy Int. Gotta give em credit. Hopefuly this team keeps on gellin and Bates becomes the next great ball hawking rookie safety.

I'll have to admit that I wasn't a fan of Williams' past play.

I hope this is a new norm for him and not some anomaly.

Jury's still out but want to wish him well because it's great to have this kind of play out all three of them!

(09-15-2018, 10:04 AM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Bates has far superior range (speed and quickness) to Reggie. But Reggie was/is the better tackler. Reggie will rock you, Bates will get stronger, but now he has to have great technique to get big guys down.

I loved Reggie and I think Bates will be much better overall in time.

Bates is already one of my favourites - and i was a huge Reggie fan too.  But this guy could be even better.

As we know Marvin has historically (though its changed a bit in last couple of years) been conservative with rookies so the fact that he was comfortable letting Iloka go and making him the starter should have given us a clue about his play.

He looks like he's been in the league for 5 years already....really excited to see how he goes for the rest of the year

(09-14-2018, 02:01 PM)jwayne Wrote: When I saw the ball go through Bats hands, I LAUGHED. OMG, 3 BENGALS around the receiver and Bates Misses... JUST DAMN...

THEY look GREAT at Safety. 


GO BENGALS!

They're not WRs for a reason . LOL..  There have been a few dbs who probably would have been great receivers, but most play defense because they're better at knocking the ball down than catching it..  That's not necessarily a bad thing . Someone has to play defense after all.  
I'm glad the kid has done good so far, but I'm always skeptical about annointing rookies after 2 games the GOATs.. Let's see how he does the rest of the season and next season before acting like he's the next coming of the great safteys of our division's history . He's still gotta earn those skins on the wall . 

(09-17-2018, 05:53 AM)grampahol Wrote: They're not WRs for a reason . LOL..  There have been a few dbs who probably would have been great receivers, but most play defense because they're better at knocking the ball down than catching it..  That's not necessarily a bad thing . Someone has to play defense after all.  
I'm glad the kid has done good so far, but I'm always skeptical about annointing rookies after 2 games the GOATs.. Let's see how he does the rest of the season and next season before acting like he's the next coming of the great safteys of our division's history . He's still gotta earn those skins on the wall . 

Stop it. He's better than buttered sliced bread. 

(09-17-2018, 03:11 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Stop it. He's better than buttered sliced bread. 

I thinks it’s easy to buy into the hype. Bates is rangy, instinctive, better tackle than we thought n seems that be around the ball a lot. It’s onlt two games but he looks like the prototype free safety

(09-17-2018, 04:07 PM)Socal Bengals fan Wrote: I thinks it’s easy to buy into the hype.  Bates is rangy, instinctive, better tackle than we thought n seems that be around the ball a lot. It’s onlt two games but he looks like the prototype free safety

Yep.

I just think it's kind of silly to respond to every post where a player is praised as if the praiser is calling him an instant HOFer. Of course, everyone will need to wait to see how good that player will be. There's no need to overreact and pour water on every post like that.