First preseason game overreaction thread

[MileHighGrowler]

It's so hard to gauge where they stand after that game. No starters played, but our 2nd string (defense in particular) hung with GB's 1st team. Anderson grabbing two picks was nice. There are definitely some concerns on the OL, but you're not likely to have to plug that whole group in during the season, just maybe one or two at points through the year. So how do they perform when surrounded by more talent? And how do they all look (both sides of the ball) when they're playing full effort with a wide-open playbook?

Personally, I have no overactions to the game. It went exactly like I figured it would. The backup QBs are not good and we're in trouble without JB. The OL doesn't have very good depth at all, which is the one thing that scares me. Lots of developing guys, but some flashes from young guys. The reaction I have is thank god the team isn't having to rely on anyone who played that game to be a leader when the season starts. I'd rather have guys on a development curve at this point than have backups flying so high we can't keep them on the PS or won't be willing to ride the pine this season.

[007BengalsFan]

(08-14-2023, 09:13 AM)BurrowTheGoat Wrote:

#Bengals pass blocking grades from the preseason game vs. GB (make sure you're near a garbage can):

D'ante Smith - 81.2
Nate Gilliam - 78.9
Ben Brown - 73.2
Hakeem Adeniji - 69.1
Trey Hill - 44.5
Jaxson Kirkland - 42.0
Max Scharping - 38.6
Jackson Carman - 37.4
Cody Ford - 29.8 pic.twitter.com/hfFri8yDzR

— Willie Lutz (@willie_lutz) August 14, 2023

Here's a rational reaction.  Our OL depth is bad and Jackson Carman deserves to be cut if he plays this bad again next preseason game.

Carman needs moved back to the left side where he showed some ability.  If he continues to struggle once back on the left side you maybe look to put him on the practice squad.  Ford and Schaping on the other hand need to be cut.  

I dont even know why we signed Ford, he was worse than Adeniji statistically when we signed him.  Ford would be the very first lineman I would cut.

Scharping was horrible in place of Cappa last year.  Not a suitable backup in my opinion

As much as fans dislike Adeniji, he did OK last year when facing mediocre talent at RT.  He may be ok as depth.  Maybe he can improve but I wouldnt count on him going up against better defenses.

Kirkland, I was hoping would show something but he was terrible.  It was just his first NFL preseason game so maybe he can improve on the practice squad.

Trey Hill is in his 3rd season now.  Has he shown any kind of progress since he was drafted?

Smith and Brown have looked really good at times.  They both could be quality depth if they can stay healthy but can they

Nate Gilliam I dont know enough about but its nice to see he graded out pretty good on his PFF pass protection.  I think for that, he deserves a longer look.

[*ochocincos*]

Carman really disappointed.
I really had hope he'd turn into at least an ok swing tackle, but if he can't cut it at RT, he's gonna have a hard time having a career in the NFL.
Not many teams want to keep a backup LT who can only play one spot.

[*ochocincos*]

(08-14-2023, 01:17 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: Carman needs moved back to the left side where he showed some ability.  If he continues to struggle once back on the left side you maybe look to put him on the practice squad.  Ford and Schaping on the other hand need to be cut.  

I dont even know why we signed Ford, he was worse than Adeniji statistically when we signed him.  Ford would be the very first lineman I would cut.

Scharping was horrible in place of Cappa last year.  Not a suitable backup in my opinion

As much as fans dislike Adeniji, he did OK last year when facing mediocre talent at RT.  He may be ok as depth.  Maybe he can improve but I wouldnt count on him going up against better defenses.

Kirkland, I was hoping would show something but he was terrible.  It was just his first NFL preseason game so maybe he can improve on the practice squad.

Trey Hill is in his 3rd season now.  Has he shown any kind of progress since he was drafted?

Smith and Brown have looked really good at times.  They both could be quality depth if they can stay healthy but can they

Nate Gilliam I dont know enough about but its nice to see he graded out pretty good on his PFF pass protection.  I think for that, he deserves a longer look.

Scharping was a rather solid starting OL with HOU, but that was primarily when he was playing LG.
He hasn't done as well playing RG, both in HOU and CIN.

As for Ford, he's pretty much played exclusively inside the past few years, so it's probably needing some adjustment to go back to RT again.
The last time he was at RT was his rookie year in 2019, in which he had 684 reps at RT, 55 at RG. During that year, he allowed 7 sacks, 31 total pressures. Might be better than we saw Adeniji last year (4 sacks, 23 total pressures on 418 snaps), but not close to even a decent starter.


Smith might be the best hope for OT depth at this point. While he hadn't shown much of anything his first couple years, he was the best OT on the field this past game. If he continues performing like that the rest of the preseason, he makes the team.

[007BengalsFan]

(08-14-2023, 10:22 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Robbins punted like crap on the whole: his 2 good HT punts went for less than 40 yards and he had 2 that were 45ish yards that had poor hangtime.

Many reports from camp are that he's shanking punts as well, so not fully consistent.

I'm not sold on him at all and I desperately want to see if Chrisman can do anything to compete against him.

I was not impressed with his 1st punt.  Cincinnati was inside the 10 yard line, needed a big punt to flip the field position, Robbins couldnt even get it past midfield. Packers start on the Cincinnati 43 yard line.

[Frank Booth]

(08-14-2023, 01:17 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: Scharping was horrible in place of Cappa last year.  Not a suitable backup in my opinion

funny thing is, Scharping was a Volson tier player in Houston. Serviceable. But now he's just crap

Im looking at Frank Pollack here

[007BengalsFan]

(08-14-2023, 01:33 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Scharping was a rather solid starting OL with HOU, but that was primarily when he was playing LG.
He hasn't done as well playing RG, both in HOU and CIN.

As for Ford, he's pretty much played exclusively inside the past few years, so it's probably needing some adjustment to go back to RT again.
The last time he was at RT was his rookie year in 2019, in which he had 684 reps at RT, 55 at RG. During that year, he allowed 7 sacks, 31 total pressures. Might be better than we saw Adeniji last year (4 sacks, 23 total pressures on 418 snaps), but not close to even a decent starter...

Ok, so that leaves us with:

Carman who can only play LT 

Scharping who can only play LG

Ford who can only play RT, maybe

None of those sound like good options especially when you need some versatility.  After this first preseason game,  I would want to take a longer look at Smith, Brown and Gilliam as potential #2s

[Hammerstripes]

(08-12-2023, 01:46 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Perine told them he was staying then 30 minutes later he called back and said he signed with Denver. But they need to hold back money for an unexpected signing due to injury. It’s why there is negative zero chance they plop down 5 million for Zeke. If they sign Zeke they have no flexibility.

He'd be lucky to get $2 million at this point.

[*ochocincos*]

(08-14-2023, 02:51 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: Ok, so that leaves us with:

Carman who can only play LT 

Scharping who can only play LG

Ford who can only play RT, maybe

None of those sound like good options especially when you need some versatility.  After this first preseason game,  I would want to take a longer look at Smith, Brown and Gilliam as potential #2s

Agree...kind of.

Even if the Bengals keep Carman, they still need another OT. Let Smith compete with Adeniji and Ford for that. Carman has shown he can play LT better than about any other backup on the roster, so there's value...for this year anyway. Although if you wanted to argue moving Jonah back to LT if Brown gets hurt, I would assume that's a viable option too.

Scharping is getting C reps, so I have to imagine they want to see if he can be more versatile than he's shown.

Had you asked me going into TC if I thought any of Smith, Brown, or Gilliam would have a chance at the 53, I'd say maybe Brown but that's it. Now it might be possible a couple of these guys could.

[SladeX]

My overreaction? Cut Carman yesterday. Or trade him for nice dinner somewhere.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-14-2023, 10:22 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Robbins punted like crap on the whole: his 2 good HT punts went for less than 40 yards and he had 2 that were 45ish yards that had poor hangtime.

Many reports from camp are that he's shanking punts as well, so not fully consistent.

I'm not sold on him at all and I desperately want to see if Chrisman can do anything to compete against him.

Really? Guess I should of paid more attention to Robbins rather than just giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Admittedly, I am a bit bias against Chrisman for his bad Punt in the big game last year...

[puddycat]

I was gonna wait, but.. my overreaction is that the performance against Green Bay is an indictment of our coaching staff.
The Bengals played piss poor with 2nd and third string players. Without starting our best players; we couldn't move the ball or stop the ball.
Our offensive play-callers are playing checkers not chess. We can't find mismatches or create them.
Instead we need to wait for the regular season so that Chase, Higgins, and, of course, Burrow have the skills to overcome the inability of the coaches to scheme people open.
And Anarumo has been able to scheme coverages, but not pressure. I guess he doesn't want to tip his hand before the season begins. Right now I would be surprised if the Bengals go 2-0 to start the season.

[BurrowTheGoat]

(08-15-2023, 03:44 AM)puddycat Wrote: I was gonna wait, but..  my overreaction is that the performance against Green Bay is an indictment of our coaching staff.
The Bengals played piss poor with 2nd and third string players.  Without starting our best players; we couldn't move the ball or stop the ball.
Our offensive play-callers are playing checkers not chess.  We can't find mismatches or create them.
Instead we need to wait for the regular season so that Chase, Higgins, and, of course, Burrow have the skills to overcome the inability of the coaches to scheme people open.
And Anarumo has been able to scheme coverages, but not pressure.  I guess he doesn't want to tip his hand before the season begins.  Right now I would be surprised if the Bengals go 2-0 to start the season.

Would you prefer they play chess in the preseason and tip our hand to our opponents?

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(08-14-2023, 03:11 PM)SladeX Wrote: My overreaction? Cut Carman yesterday. Or trade him for nice dinner somewhere.

Wendy's?

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(08-15-2023, 05:43 AM)BurrowTheGoat Wrote: Would you prefer they play chess in the preseason and tip our hand to our opponents?

As he noted, Anarumo didn't want to tip his hand, but I guess the offense should have according to his post. 

[XenoMorph]

(08-15-2023, 10:25 AM)Wyche Wrote: Wendy's?

Whoever runs their Social media site is a savage lol i love it

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

Remember, some guys were playing in odd positions last game. Scharping played at C for the first time ever in a game. Carman on the right side.

Smith was good in pass pro but bad run blocking. Carman the opposite.

IOL depth is bad. I would not be surprised if B. Brown makes the team. But the reality is, beyond the top 6 (O. Brown, Cappa, Jonah, Karras, Volson, Collins) everyone is a question mark. And not much better than a Practice Squad level guy. I do not see a big difference between them. Keep 9 with Collins #10 on PUP and keep an extra guy at another position. One where he can actually contribute or has potential (Gunter, Ivey, Taylor, Thomas, Morgan, etc)..

[Sled21]

Fans get too caught up in the preseason by who wins and by how much. Preseason is not only for coaches to evaluate back of the roster talent, but to try different things. They don't always work, but this is when you try them, not in a game that counts.

[*ochocincos*]

(08-14-2023, 02:06 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: funny thing is, Scharping was a Volson tier player in Houston. Serviceable. But now he's just crap

Im looking at Frank Pollack here

Let's compare Scharping's time at LG in HOU with Volson:


Scharping:
2019 (1085 offensive snaps inc postseason) - 3 sacks allowed, 31 total pressures allowed. 72.8 pass block rating in reg season, 74.9 in postseason by PFF (for those that value that)
2020 (454 offensive snaps) - 1 sack allowed, 12 total pressures allowed. 60.7 pass block rating by PFF
Total (1539 offensive snaps) - 4 sacks allowed, 43 total pressures allowed

Volson:
2022 (1305 offensive snaps inc postseason) - 5 sacks allowed, 42 total pressures allowed. 52.9 pass block rating in reg season, 54.0 in postseason by PFF

So Scharping had 1 fewer sack, 1 more total pressure but 234 more snaps.

Would Scharping have been (or currently be) a better LG than Volson? I think for last year, confidently yes, and for sure early in the season. This year, I'd have to see how much Volson has grown through the offseason.

[puddycat]

(08-15-2023, 05:43 AM)BurrowTheGoat Wrote: Would you prefer they play chess in the preseason and tip our hand to our opponents?

Well, I was asked for my overreaction. But one of the beauties of chess is that you play the pieces on the Board.  Scheming to get Malachi Carter open is not the same as scheming to get Jamaar Chase open.  And trusting Jeff Gunter to beat his man is not the same as expecting Trey Hendrickson to generate pressure.
OR are you admitting that the Bengals coaches bag of tricks is pretty limited?

So my answer is that I would like our coaches to play chess so that they get good at playing chess.