Tyler Eifert makes regular habit of finding space in Bengals practice

[Arkansas Bengal]

Tyler Eifert makes regular habit of finding space in Bengals practice

 

CINCINNATI -- Multiple times during Friday afternoon's camp-opening practice at Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert was wide open on passes quarterback Andy Dalton threw him.

Routinely, Eifert had enough time in the non-padded practice to turn, find the ball, catch it, look around to see if he was about to take contact, sprint upfield, gain 10 yards and still have no defender come close to reaching out and touching him.

At least once, Eifert made a move that caused a linebacker to lose him completely. It was tough to tell on the other plays if Eifert was simply making sharp enough cuts that he shook the defense loose, or if the coverage was simply that bad.

Dalton would have no problem if it were the former.

"He's a guy that's so talented and you see the matchups you can get with him," Dalton said. "He's a big part of what we're going to do so it's good to have him back."

Indeed, Eifert couldn't break free from any defenders after Sept. 7 last year. A dislocated elbow in the season opener and a subsequent shoulder surgery caused him to miss all but eight plays in 2014. Eifert made the most of those eight plays, though, catching three passes for 37 yards.

"It was a lot of fun, I remember that," Eifert said about the game. "I was like, 'All right, this is going to be a lot of fun this year.' Then I didn't make it out the first quarter. Hopefully that can change this year."

Sure, it was only the first of many days of practice, but the Bengals have to be encouraged by what they saw from Eifert.

Here are a few other observations from the workout:

• The Bengals are being helped out all this preseason by former San Diego Chargers coach Al Saunders, who said he's been asked to spend much of his time, for now, with the receivers. Saunders is retired and regularly finds himself around football. A close friend of Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson's, Saunders came to Cincinnati at Jackson's request. The two once worked together in Baltimore and Oakland. The idea of having him around is to give players a fresh voice to listen to.

  A.J. Green called Saunders hands-on and said he believed he would be a big help to his career. We'll have more Saturday on Saunders.

• Backup quarterback AJ McCarron continued to showcase the same sharp release he had during this spring's practices. But at times, he was throwing a little too quickly for his receivers. At least one screen pass was mishandled by a running back because it was thrown too hot. Another pass on a comeback route to Greg Little flew threw the wideout's hands because it had too much velocity. One coach I caught up with after practice said he wasn't worried about McCarron's rapid-fire throws. He chalked it up to slight first-day issues.

• Rookie Jake Fisher was right where we saw him in the spring, backing up Andrew Whitworth at left tackle. He'll continue getting work there and at a few other spots on the offensive line.

• Running back Giovani Bernard picked up from the spring, too, when he participated as a returner in punt-return drills. He was part of a rotation that included starters Adam Jones and Brandon Tate, and Mohamed Sanu, Marvin Jones and Mario Alford.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/cincinnati-bengals/post/_/id/18118/bengal-tyler-eifert-training-camp-finding-space-regular-practice

 

[B.A.B.]

Man this offense can become something completely different if he's healthy

[Jason]

That's great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We STILL can't defend a TE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:lol: