1st half observations (v.Cowboys)

[SunsetBengal]

Wow, where to begin. What a painful half of football to watch, for a Bengal fan..

First of all, the OL is still very much a "work in progress". They clearly couldn't open any holes, when rushing to either side of the line.

Second thing that jumps out at me? The rushing defense is still terrible. If Zeke Elliott had been in the game, it could have been ugly..

Now, I will say that the Bengals never had field position on their side, and the refs were letting Dallas get a bit grabby on their TD drive. However, that does not excuse the inability to stop the run, or cover a TE. Hell they made some no-name TE look like a young Jason Witten out there.

Of individual note?

Driskell is not good. He locks on, and stares down his receiver, the entire defense gets there at the same time as the ball. This should put a rest to the "Driskell for backup" debate.

Dre K. is more of a sly dog than I've given him credit for. After getting his ass rolled by the Cowboys' tackle, he comes back the next play to take Zach Martin out of the game. Nice work Dre, nice work.

CJ Uzomah might not be a bust. He might just need to be more involved in the offense.

Billings? He ain't the man, yet. On 3rd and 1, he ended up on his back, blocked right out of the play.

Cordy Glenn? He won't ever be mistaken for Whitworth, but he seems to be getting the job done.

Billy Price? No penalties, no bad snaps. Only good rushing play came up the middle.

Bobby Hart? He didn't suck, but he wasn't a badass either. He might be alright.

Redmond? I didn't notice any particular screw ups, but the pile didn't move as much as I had hoped it would, on his side of the ball.

Andy Dalton? Seemed to revert back to "I only see AJ" mode, once the defense proved stout.



I'm sure that I missed a few details, but those are my thoughts.

[RASCAL]

(08-18-2018, 09:44 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Wow, where to begin.  What a painful half of football to watch, for a Bengal fan..

First of all, the OL is still very much a "work in progress".  They clearly couldn't open any holes, when rushing to either side of the line.

Second thing that jumps out at me?  The rushing defense is still terrible.  If Zeke Elliott had been in the game, it could have been ugly..

Now, I will say that the Bengals never had field position on their side, and the refs were letting Dallas get a bit grabby on their TD drive.  However, that does not excuse the inability to stop the run, or cover a TE.  Hell they made some no-name TE look like a young Jason Witten out there.

Of individual note?

Driskell is not good.  He locks on, and stares down his receiver, the entire defense gets there at the same time as the ball.  This should put a rest to the "Driskell for backup" debate.

Dre K. is more of a sly dog than I've given him credit for.  After getting his ass rolled by the Cowboys' tackle, he comes back the next play to take Zach Martin out of the game.  Nice work Dre, nice work.

CJ Uzomah might not be a bust.  He might just need to be more involved in the offense.

Billings?  He ain't the man, yet.  On 3rd and 1, he ended up on his back, blocked right out of the play.

Cordy Glenn?  He won't ever be mistaken for Whitworth, but he seems to be getting the job done.

Billy Price?  No penalties, no bad snaps.  Only good rushing play came up the middle.

Bobby Hart?  He didn't suck, but he wasn't a badass either.  He might be alright.

Redmond?  I didn't notice any particular screw ups, but the pile didn't move as much as I had hoped it would, on his side of the ball.

Andy Dalton?  Seemed to revert back to "I only see AJ" mode, once the defense proved stout.



I'm sure that I missed a few details, but those are my thoughts.

I thought the line as a whole, (not ahole mind you) but a whole sucked! PERIOD!!! 2 more weeks to get it worked out!

[*bengalfan74*]

Billings had a hell of a good game and Driskel started out a little rough but finished pretty strong IMHO.

[Millhouse]

My conclusion is that I have no conclusions, it's just preseason game number 2.

Though I am intrigued by Brown's kicks. And 'Seize the Dey' commercial is already overplayed to the point of me muting it already.

[BURROWorBUST]

First half was impacted alot by field position, combined with very conservative play calling, and pretty bad play by our Oline. When you have to run, you have to be able to run. We couldn't. Credit Dallas. Their front 7 are good.

Dallas penalties helped pull this out for us.

[TheUberHuber]

Defense was good i thought. Driskel looled good in the second half. The qb on my flag team is better than barkley. Dallas doesnt have much depth.. especially after today...

Edit: oh' and the offensive line is not good

[samhain]

I've never been an Andy Dalton hater. I'm far from a homer, but I've always kind of hoped that Andy would prove that he could do what everyone says he couldn't. I'm sort of getting to the point where I'm nearing the end with him.

The o-line needs to get better. I like Glenn and think that Price will be as advertised once he adjusts to the pro game. That said, they still have some major holes at RT and RG. It will take more than a year to rebuild up front. Doesn't mean it's not going in the right direction.

Despite the line issue, I think it may come to be time after this season to look at other options at QB in the draft, particularly if the team sucks and ends up with a high pick. He's a guy that needs a lot around him to succeed. It takes a lot of time to acquire the talent and chemistry that will create a situation for him to be able to run with the elite qbs of the league. Perhaps they should look at another option instead.

[*psychdoctor*]

You can't go three-and-out and expect the defense to hold up completely the first half. I think the Bengals' offense needed to find tempo and it just wasn't there. Dalton needs to make those tough throws.

[dr tarzan]

Aside from a Sunset observation of a single play, Billings was a stud. I believe they finally have a guy to team with geno.

I sure wish I knew what has happened to TJ Johnson, good god he sucks

Fisher looked way better today than last.

Dalton still ain’t ready for prime time.

[GreenCornBengal]

I'm a big Andy supporter, but I think this game is totally different if he hits the two medium balls to AJ. The pick by Boyd was set up perfectly and it should have been an easy completion. Both those throws would have kept the drives alive and given more opportunity to make something happen.

O-line looked weak on the run game, but Dallas D-line and linebackers are no joke (when healthy, let's see how long Sean Lee and Jaylon Smith last). Still, much work to be done. Mixon wasn't as elusive as I would have hoped either. The pass blocking was good thought I thought.

Defense looked good, especially Kirkpatrick. Just realized who 52 was, dang, he didn't look good out there imo. I was like "Who the hell is Brown?", just realized it was Preston. He lacks awareness in coverage.

It's definitely preseason ball though, watched Geno on the Dallas TD. He gave up chasing the QB. Preseason at its finest.

Overall, wasn't too upset with the game. Glad to see very limited injuries for us.

Also, Ross looks good. That pass that the Cowboy guy intercepted with 1 hand was a spectacular interception. Ross woulda had it and with one good juke coulda been gone.

[Luvnit2]

The game starts in the trenches and Dallas won on both sides of the ball. Dunlap was nowhere to be found. Billings was inconsistent, but made some very good plays. We could not cover a tight end again, but I thought Jackson, Dennard and Dre played very well. I saw flashes from Vigil and Evans again. Overall, I think our tackling has been solid both games.


On offense AD missed an easy wide open Green early killing early momentum. AD seems to be pressured quickly and rarely was given a clean pocket to step and throw, that is concerning. The OL run blocking was worse than horrible. No holes created by 1st unit. The offense has a load of work to do, they looked again like worst offense in the NFL. I know it is preseason, but I was hoping to see more of them.


Special teams overall did well. Helped themselves were kicker Brown, he was flawless on field goals and PAT, but needs more height on planned short kick offs. Erickson made the team tonight. Hubbard, Willis and Bates all made plays. Okoye played well in second half.

I did not see Core so he is in trouble. Tate did not do much and needs to play better next 2 weeks to secure a spot.. Baker was not impressive. Driskel made some plays, but needs more reps. We have AD and no one ready behind him. TJ Johnson is not close to 1st team caliber centers. Ced and Fisher still not improving much if any.
Wilson struggled again at safety against weak competition.


There is time, but would like to see our DL and OL dominate Bills next week.

[TKUHL]

This offense looked horrible! But it's only pre season yada yada bull, they still tried and looked bad. Ive convinced myself 2 years ago that this team will never win the AFC Conference (forget SB) as long as Dalton and Marvin are here. Ross looks scared and Mixon has been a dissapointment so far, maybe they should have taken Cook or Kamara. I'm just not seeing the hype with Mixon. I know the line sucks but he should be able to make something happen from time to time.

[Trademark]

My prediction, the Browns finish with a better record than us this year

[Nicomo Cosca]

Didn’t get to watch the game but I saw a couple plays. Liked that Erickson catch with the toe drag.

So the general consensus is doom and gloom though?

[BURROWorBUST]

(08-19-2018, 01:25 AM)TKUHL Wrote: This offense looked horrible! But it's only pre season yada yada bull, they still tried and looked bad. Ive convinced myself 2 years ago that this team will never win the AFC Conference (forget SB) as long as Dalton and Marvin are here. Ross looks scared and Mixon has been a dissapointment so far, maybe they should have taken Cook or Kamara. I'm just not seeing the hype with Mixon. I know the line sucks but he should be able to make something happen from time to time.

I feel your frustration, but Mixon had no chance tonight. I mean it wasn't it even close. Their front 7 manhandled ours. That let their DBs play tighter against short and mid-routes. Andy wasn't going to have time to throw deep. I forget who started the thread about the Dallas game being a good test for our oline. 

Oh yeah, it was a good test. And we failed. That's about all you can say. I think we might have been able to wear them down. We looked really strong against the run at times. Preston Brown, Jordan Evans are the real deal. Vigil made alot of plays tonight, too. Billings is a freak. Did you see him toss that DB for a loss? I thought he might even get a safety out of it, but it pinned them at the 1 1/2 yard line. Our Dline is deep. But the Cowboys gashed our 2s. They even hurt us on the ground against our 1s. Especially on the drive that led to their only TD. 

Hate to say this, but MJ's just not bringing anything special to our DLine. Don't get me wrong, I think he's still a solid player. He just doesn't really pose an imminent threat to the QB. 

Anyway, I don't think we have any reason to doubt Mixon. If Cleveland is the deathbed of QBs, we're the deathbed of good RBs. Alot of them come here and die behind a weak oline. We're always close to last place in Yards Per Carry. Why? The Oline can't run block. 

[*psychdoctor*]

(08-19-2018, 12:30 AM)Luvnit2 Wrote: The game starts in the trenches and Dallas won on both sides of the ball. Dunlap was nowhere to be found. Billings was inconsistent, but made some very good plays. We could not cover a tight end again, but I thought Jackson, Dennard and Dre played very well. I saw flashes from Vigil and Evans again. Overall, I think our tackling has been solid both games.


On offense AD missed an easy wide open Green early killing early momentum. AD seems to be pressured quickly and rarely was given a clean pocket to step and throw, that is concerning. The OL run blocking was worse than horrible. No holes created by 1st unit. The offense has a load of work to do, they looked again like worst offense in the NFL. I know it is preseason, but I was hoping to see more of them.


Special teams overall did well. Helped themselves were kicker Brown, he was flawless on field goals and PAT, but needs more height on planned short kick offs. Erickson made the team tonight. Hubbard, Willis and Bates all made plays. Okoye played well in second half.

I did not see Core so he is in trouble. Tate did not do much and needs to play better next 2 weeks to secure a spot.. Baker was not impressive. Driskel made some plays, but needs more reps. We have AD and no one ready behind him. TJ Johnson is not close to 1st team caliber centers. Ced and Fisher still not improving much if any.
Wilson struggled again at safety against weak competition.


There is time, but would like to see our DL and OL dominate Bills next week.

Dalton should be hitting those intermediate throws by now.  

[TKUHL]

(08-19-2018, 01:29 AM)Trademark Wrote: My prediction, the Browns finish with a better record than us this year

Cleveland is going to finish ahead of a couple teams in our division this year. Everyone jokes but they are building a monster up there. With the amount of high pics over the years it's a givin if they have a QB that can just manage the game. They had a lot of games last year that were lost by 6 points or less. I don't care much for tyrod but I think he's worth at least 6 points a game. If the rookie QB pans out, look out.

[Socal Bengals fan]

Dalton is still Dalton. I wish our pro quarterback could hit his open all pro wide receiver. It’s only his 8th year in the league. Can’t blame the oline on his throws.

Right guard n right tackle stunk in the run game.

I know Michael Johnson is worthless but Dunlap played like him today. Lawson n Hubbard are players.

Erickson is a stud.

Billings looked good as did Vigil.

Running backs all look solid

Dalton pregame speech can’t motivate me to make a jelly sandwich.

It’s preseas so won’t freak out yet.

[*Synric*]

(08-19-2018, 03:07 AM)Socal Bengals fan Wrote: Dalton is still Dalton.  I wish our pro quarterback could hit his open all pro wide receiver.  It’s only his 8th year in the league.   Can’t blame the oline on his throws.

Right guard n right tackle stunk in the run game.  

I know Michael Johnson is worthless but Dunlap played like him today.  Lawson n Hubbard are players.

Erickson is a stud.  

Billings looked good as did Vigil.  

Running backs all look solid

Dalton pregame speech can’t motivate me to make a jelly sandwich.

It’s preseas so won’t freak out yet.

It's funny you should say that considering MJ was taking the LDE reps by the second cowboys drive...and looked very bad. I thought MJ played himself out of a job.

[Socal Bengals fan]

Yep. Just watched the game again. I have no idea why Michael Johnson is still on the team. He can’t hold his ground at all and got easily blocked by a tight end twice. His pass rush is even worse. Ugh. He’s bad. Tampa who desperately needed d line help cuts the guy. But here we are 4 years later with the trash as our starter.