AJ Looks Good And Looks To Lead.......

[BFritz21]

New article on Bengals.com highlights AJ Green and his improvements/progress.

Green says he plans to play until he's 36, which he's only missed three games in his career so there's no reason to doubt that he can do it, and I love the way he sounds like he's just all-in in Cincy.

Green also, according to Dalton, looks like he's in the best shape of his career, looking bigger, stronger, and faster, which, paired with his attitude, sounds like he's in for a HUGE season.

He's already making big plays and it's still early in the preseason:

Quote:Rewind to early in Tuesday’s practice. Green lines up outside opposite cornerback William Jackson and although the coverage isn’t bad, Green’s sleight-of-foot double move has got a step on Jackson down the right sideline on a go route. Safety Shawn Williams comes over to help but Dalton has put the ball in the only place Williams and Jackson can’t get it. Right on the edge of the boundary. Green, as he always seems to be able to do whether in a May practice or in the fourth quarter in Baltimore, turned himself into a rubber band and contorted his body in time to snap the ball into his hands before stepping out of bounds.

“We just watched it,’ Dalton said later. “He was in.

“That stuff doesn’t surprise me anymore. I almost expect him to make the crazy catch because I know he can. He’s done it for so long.”

That's amazing to me because WJIII is no slouch, and Dalton being able to place the ball like that is amazing and these two sound like they're on the same page more than ever before, which can only lead to big things. It's early and might just be blind optimism, but I feel like these two can be one of the best pairs in the NFL.

Also helping make AJ's life easier, which he acknowledges, is the young guys looking good because he knows that defenses have enough trouble covering him without having to worry about other guys.

Quote:What a difference, as they like to say in D.C., a year makes. When Green went down after just nine games with a partially torn hamstring, Boyd and LaFell responded with productive seasons and they are now teamed with a lightning round draft class. The Bengals receiver room now boasts the fastest player ever at the NFL scouting combine in first-rounder John Ross and a 6-3, 4.40 speedster in fourth-rounder Josh Malone.


Not only that, the most impressive receiver in camp besides Green has been last year’s sixth-rounder Cody Core, another 6-3 guy that runs mid 4.4 40s and has clocked the fastest route of the spring in a little more than 23 miles per hour.

“That’s what I’m looking for in the young guys, something they didn’t do well last year, have they worked on it to get better this year?” said Green, sounding all of his seven years. “I feel like the biggest guy that’s improving is Cody Core. I feel like he’s been really working on his craft this offseason and getting better. You can tell on the field. How fast ‘TB’ is playing.

“You know with John we’re not going to rush him in. We’ve got guys that can play with ‘Jo’ and ‘TB’ so that’s one thing; he’s not going to have to be pressured to play right away. We’ve got a great receiving corps, so we’re going to give him some of his plays and let him work himself in.

I didn't realize that our receiving core was this fast but it's amazing because teams will need to load the box to stop Mixon, making it hard to defend speeder receivers that Dalton can just loft it up to!

When asked about stats, Green gave one of the most amazing answers that I've EVER heard:

Quote:“One Super Bowl, that’s all I need,”
Green said. “That’s the only number that matters. That’s all I need. One is good.”

His goal is like all of ours: hoisting the Lombardi!

I'm getting more and more excited for this season and the possibilities!

That article is worth the read!