(08-11-2019, 09:34 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Not only that, on an outside run he pulled out and gave up while the defender he was supposed to block made the tackle on Williams.

I was at the Saints game last year and there was a play where Mixon got outside with Glenn leading. There was a DB in front and Glenn...instead of leveling the DB, weakly shoved him allowing the play to be stopped. IF Glenn leveled that DB, Mixon gets a TD. It's those type of blocks that are the difference between a 10 yard play and a 55 yard TD.

People act like Glenn is physical because he's huge, but he's a finesse guy and NOT a good run blocker by any means. I suspect this is some of the reasons why they moved him to Guard. Plus, he's had pretty significant injuries over the pas 3 years. His best days appear way behind him.

Hobson:

_The No. 1 offense did exactly what it was supposed to do, taking it 14 plays for a touchdown on the first drive. Maybe that’s the biggest takeaway of the night. Quarterback Andy Dalton likes this offense and this offense likes him.

_The reason it looked that good is, let’s face it, the first offensive line played better than people thought it would. Particularly in pass protection. And that seemed to be a thread throughout much of the night, except for the last 50 seconds of the first half. From the first group to the last group, they gave their guys time and only allowed three hits on the quarterback all night.

_As good as the defense looked in the training camp practices, it didn’t seem as confident or fast when the lights came on. But if that’s a concern, then the defensive line has to be considered a strength because it showed up on every line of the depth chart. Yet they need better play at linebacker, hampered by youth, and in the secondary, hampered by injury, and those two things can get back on track with time during the four weeks between now and the opener.

Fej got injured. Hopefully a sprained ankle...but they aren't sure yet. Should know Mon.

Hobson:

Dalton was terrific in the new scheme on seven of nine passing for 80 yards that included three-for-three on third downs. His one glitch, an underthrow to the wide-open Josh Malone, was an honest mistake. It was a double move, but Malone beat cornerback Bashaud Breeland so quickly on the first move that he didn’t bother with the stutter step and that’s what Dalton was expecting. No problem, next time all Malone has to do is raise his hand a la A.J. Green to let Dalton know he’s in the clear.

Hobson on LB's:

A lot of youth here and it showed up when the Chiefs gouged them for 4.8 yards per carry on 24 runs and it’s the backs and tight ends that still keep making the big plays on them and not the fleet wide receivers. The Chiefs’ four longest passes went to tight end Travis Kelce (36), running back Darwin Thompson (29), tight end Blake Bell (23) and John Lovett (22).

They love Pratt’s brains and tenacity and he led the backers with 29 snaps. They’ll be looking for him to shore up his tackling after missing some Saturday, but he looks to be as advertised. They love Nickerson’s football IQ (he had their only interception on Saturday), but he couldn’t keep up with Thompson out of the backfield on that touchdown pass. They love Jefferson’s athleticism and he had Lovett covered but couldn’t find the ball. And he couldn’t get off Bell’s block on a jet sweep that went for a TD. Other than Pratt, no rookie played more than 14 snaps. You can almost hear DC Lou Anarumo right now telling them he needs more consistency from players that are talented.

(08-11-2019, 10:43 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Hobson:

_The reason it looked that good is, let’s face it, the first offensive line played better than people thought it would. Particularly in pass protection. And that seemed to be a thread throughout much of the night, except for the last 50 seconds of the first half. From the first group to the last group, they gave their guys time and only allowed three hits on the quarterback all night.

I'll be honest, I was pleased with how the offensive line played at the start of the game. Granted a lot of that is probably due to low expectations, but Andy had time to throw and if they can keep that up I think they'll be fine on offense.

Run blocking was subpar, but at the same time the run game will instantly improve simply by having Mixon back there. Eifert probably helps open up the run game as well.

If it goes like last night they can always rely on the passing game to open up the running game, which is pretty much the opposite of what I think most of us thought would be the case for the offense.

(08-11-2019, 08:35 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Literally no one is worried about a 7 for 9 performance from the QB. Some people just think a 9 yr vet should hit a wide open receiver and there shouldn't be silly excuses for why he missed him.

It was an incomplete pass that he should have made. No more, no less, no excuses.

Right, they're ignoring the 7 for 9 performance and worrying about the 1 bad throw out of 9. Yes, he should have made the throw.  News Flash: Andy Dalton doesn't have the strongest arm and sometimes under throws long passes.   No excuses, that's what we've got.  In a 7 for 9 performance with no starting skill players it's the very least of our problems.

Andy Dalton is far from perfect.  He's going to miss passes.  But he's good enough to win in a well executed Zac Taylor offense with the right players around him.  Carping about one bad pass from Andy like you're dropping some kind of Truth Bomb is the very essence of Bengal fandom.

(08-11-2019, 11:23 PM)Roland Wrote: Right, they're ignoring the 7 for 9 performance and worrying about the 1 bad throw out of 9. Yes, he should have made the throw.  News Flash: Andy Dalton doesn't have the strongest arm and sometimes under throws long passes.   No excuses, that's what we've got.  In a 7 for 9 performance with no starting skill players it's the very least of our problems.

Andy Dalton is far from perfect.  He's going to miss passes.  But he's good enough to win in a well executed Zac Taylor offense with the right players around him.  Carping about one bad pass from Andy like you're dropping some kind of Truth Bomb is the very essence of Bengal fandom.

I agree.

And honestly, if that's what the first team offense is going to look like most of the season only with Green, Eifert, Mixon, and Gio (and maybe even Ross?) added to the mix... they're probably going to win more games than some people think.

That's *NOT* to say I'm ready to say that's what we'll be getting all year, but come on - that was a very pleasant surprise for their first drive. People should be cautiously optimistic about that instead of finding the one thing there is to complain about.

(08-11-2019, 11:23 PM)Roland Wrote: Right, they're ignoring the 7 for 9 performance and worrying about the 1 bad throw out of 9. Yes, he should have made the throw.  News Flash: Andy Dalton doesn't have the strongest arm and sometimes under throws long passes.   No excuses, that's what we've got.  In a 7 for 9 performance with no starting skill players it's the very least of our problems.

Andy Dalton is far from perfect.  He's going to miss passes.  But he's good enough to win in a well executed Zac Taylor offense with the right players around him.  Carping about one bad pass from Andy like you're dropping some kind of Truth Bomb is the very essence of Bengal fandom.

The missed throw was on the WR according to Hobson as when he beat the guy he didn't make a move he was supposed to that threw the timing off.

(08-11-2019, 11:28 PM)NKURyan Wrote: I agree.

And honestly, if that's what the first team offense is going to look like most of the season only with Green, Eifert, Mixon, and Gio (and maybe even Ross?) added to the mix... they're probably going to win more games than some people think.

That's *NOT* to say I'm ready to say that's what we'll be getting all year, but come on - that was a very pleasant surprise for their first drive. People should be cautiously optimistic about that instead of finding the one thing there is to complain about.

Supposedly Jordan is looking good at Guard in camp.

I don't know if they'd start a 21 year old though. I think that's a big ask.

I saw Westerman gave up a sack.

(08-11-2019, 11:30 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The missed throw was on the WR according to Hobson as when he beat the guy he didn't make a move he was supposed to that threw the timing off.

TBH while that makes sense there's still a part of me that says the play took long enough that Andy probably should have been able to make the adjustment. This didn't strike me as a bang-bang kind of timing throw or anything.

I loved the aggressive play calls on back-to-back plays, though. I'm excited to see more of the offense at the very least.

(08-11-2019, 11:33 PM)NKURyan Wrote: TBH while that makes sense there's still a part of me that says the play took long enough that Andy probably should have been able to make the adjustment. This didn't strike me as a bang-bang kind of timing throw or anything.

I loved the aggressive play calls on back-to-back plays, though. I'm excited to see more of the offense at the very least.

Maybe but I'll believe both the coach and the QB if they are saying what happened. It's basically a brand new route scheme so some hiccups are inevitable. 

(08-11-2019, 11:31 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Supposedly Jordan is looking good at Guard in camp.

I don't know if they'd start a 21 year old though. I think that's a big ask.

I saw Westerman gave up a sack.

My take has always been that if you're going to struggle, at least go young at the same time. I'd rather see a 21 year old Jordan taking his lumps and hopefully learning from them than a 30-whatever year old Jerry getting abused while trying to catch lightning in a bottle.

I'm curious to see what their approach will be on Thursday. You can't keep shuffling the line around for too long... they need to try to settle into a starting unit.

(08-11-2019, 11:35 PM)Joelist Wrote: Maybe but I'll believe both the coach and the QB if they are saying what happened. It's basically a brand new route scheme so some hiccups are inevitable. 

For sure! I'm no expert by any stretch, just making an observation. If you're going to mess it up, now's the time to do it!

(08-11-2019, 11:35 PM)Joelist Wrote: Maybe but I'll believe both the coach and the QB if they are saying what happened. It's basically a brand new route scheme so some hiccups are inevitable. 

I waited til I figured out what happened... Wasn't sure if that was just a blown coverage or what. It's sounds like Malone just smoked Breeland though. All things considered, you have to like that.

I was at the game, my first since traveling to Cincinnati over thanksgiving in 2017 to see the Bengals beat the Browns. My son and I were in our Bengals gear. Saw some fellow Bengals fans, exchanged some “who deys” and talked to a couple.

My dvr crapped on me so I didn’t get to watch the game afterward. Here are my impressions from the upper deck of Arrowhead.

- The Chiefs fan base is pretty amazing. I knew that already living in KS but the place was more than 3/4 full and electric—for a preseason game. More so than that last Bengals-Browns game I attended. It was super annoying but made me jealous!

- the best way to slow down a fast team is to keep running the ball. It’s not sexy but the first drive was what we need. More capable backs will make more yards than Williams did. There were holes on some plays he just wasn’t finding them.

- seeing it live Andy did underthrow Malone but the DB also made a diving play. He doesn’t make that play, it’s still a TD. Otherwise he was spot on. Only other incompletion was Boyd’s drop.

- When it appeared Boyd fumbled and the Chiefs O took the field, the whole place chanted “MVP” over and over when 15 took the field. Very annoying and made me jealous.

- Tate had a nice grab on the first drive. Later in the first half he caught a ball around midfield and went to the ground. I swear he laid there for a second before realizing he’s a (second year) pro and wasn’t down. He got up and was immediately tackled. Mental mistake—small but that’s instinct.

- The slowdown of the reviews was ridiculous—on the overturned INt and the 3rd down in the end zone. They got it right both times, but man does it kill the energy of the game, regardless of which bench you’re with.

- Driskel looked bad. That INT was so bad. It seems like he doesn’t know how to set his feet before he throws. The crowd had basically lost interest with all the backups by the end of Q2, and then they lost their minds with the INT return.

My son is 8 and we had a 90min drive home, so we left at halftime.

My summary is that we had too many guys out for a good analysis of the offense, although in my opinion we played one of the best AFC teams to a 7-7 tie at their place before all the 2s and 3s came in. But man is the KC offense good. Even with Hill on the sideline. But—the best way to play KC is with long drives between Mahomes’ quick scores. They don’t have a good D and the longer you keep them on the field early the easier they fall later. But the only way we see KC this year is in the playoffs, which is going to be tough.

(08-11-2019, 11:51 PM)KansasBengal: Wrote: - When it appeared Boyd fumbled and the Chiefs O took the field, the whole place chanted “MVP” over and over when 15 took the field. Very annoying and made me jealous.

We're not allowed to talk about it, but there was a time not too long ago when we were calling Andy "MVP"... folks just like to pretend that never happened. 

Didn't quote the whole thing but nice post, thanks for sharing!

(08-11-2019, 10:25 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Theoretically it should lead to a big year...BUT with our terrible offensive line, going 5 WR's means you don't have any additional blocking in. Teams are going to blitz us.

AND last year, only Boyd and Green were productive at WR.

I'm not sure 5 WR's gets our best players on the field. I think Mixon, Bernard, and Eifert are all better than our 3rd WR. So going 3-4-5 WR, actually gets some of our talent off the field for less talented players.

5 wide won't be the norm. The more options they use, the better for the offense but the gist of all that is, the routes are going to help the QB more than anything. Quick release + shorter routes + multiple formations = success. Also, in those 4 and 5 "WR" sets, you can use Eifert, Mixon and Gio.

(08-11-2019, 11:54 PM)NKURyan Wrote: We're not allowed to talk about it, but there was a time not too long ago when we were calling Andy "MVP"... folks just like to pretend that never happened. 

Didn't quote the whole thing but nice post, thanks for sharing!

I’m a big Andy fan but the difference is that Mahomes is actually the league MVP and this was the first time his fans saw him since being crowned. Again, jealous...

(08-11-2019, 10:45 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Hobson:

Dalton was terrific in the new scheme on seven of nine passing for 80 yards that included three-for-three on third downs. His one glitch, an underthrow to the wide-open Josh Malone, was an honest mistake. It was a double move, but Malone beat cornerback Bashaud Breeland so quickly on the first move that he didn’t bother with the stutter step and that’s what Dalton was expecting. No problem, next time all Malone has to do is raise his hand a la A.J. Green to let Dalton know he’s in the clear.

I'm calling BS on Hobson's take here. It was play-action to the left and when Dalton came out of the fake, his first look was to the right, at Boyd who was running through the middle of zone coverage. He then looked left, saw Malone and in almost 1 motion, reset his feet and threw. The throw was all upper body as he didn't get his feet set properly. That's what caused the underthrow. 

Plus, Malone didn't beat his man "so quickly". Breeland bit on the play action and had no help over the top. There's no need to stutter step when you beat a DB off the line of scrimmage. You just get as much separation as possible and wait for the QB to throw it.