JT on Preseason Game 1

[akiliMVP]

[quote]So now that the Bengals have played their first preseason game, what are your thoughts? You cannot judge preseason games by wins and loses. Yes, winning makes everyone feel good, but that is not what the preseason is for. If that were the case, the Colts would never go to the playoffs. Teams have to evaluate their players and coaches can’t worry about the score when doing this. I saw a lot of good things from the Bengals. I do think the chemistry on this team is better than it has been in the past. The players have leaned on each other a little more, and you do see cohesion that hasn’t been there in the past. My reasoning for that is that everyone in the building has to have a big year in 2009. From management on down to the players. In years past, its been the defense that had to step it up in order for the team to win, now it’s everyone. And when your best players are coming off bad years, they usually spark the rest of the squad. Here are a few of my thoughts….

For starters, the best players on the field Friday night were WR Chris Henry and RB Bernard Scott. Hands down. Chris Henry can’t be covered. And that little Scott kid has another gear at the line of scrimmage that no other back on the team has. He can bounce inside and outside with on cut and no wasted motion. RB Cedric Benson will be the starter, but Scott will push for more and more playing time each week.

The OL did a great job against a pretty good Saints DL. Carson Palmer took a few shots, but those were the result of missed blocks by RB’s and WR’s. And it was good to see Chad @OGOchoCinco(Twitter name) get some run after catch. The only negatives were the turnovers, and lack of scoring by the first unit. Next game they have to play together longer.

Defensively, the Bengals played well. The Saints have the best offense in the NFL, and to hold them to zero points after they started a drive inside the 10 yard line, was big. I saw some big hits, and guys were swarming to the ball. Not really any good pass rushes by the starters, other than one by Odom, but that’s expected playing against Brees. The backups played like crap. They gave up too many big plays. They played the run well, but too many plays down the seams of the defense. That is on the pass rush and the safeties. But things should immprove.

Special teams were OK. Shayne missed a FG that he should have made, and Hubert had a short punt out of the endzone. Other than that, coverage was pretty good.[/quote]

[url="http://www.allproblogger.com/2009/08/15/preseason-games/#more-2447"]http://www.allproblogger.com/2009/08/15/preseason-games/#more-2447[/url]

I enjoy reading an ex-Bengal's opinion on the team

[Bengals1181]

agreed, I love getting a former player perspective.

[Jim Finklestein]

Overall I was pretty happy with how we played. Be interesting to see if Fletcher and Parrish are still on the team, they got schooled. We are short on CB depth though so perhaps Fletcher is safe.

[Tigris]

They were schooled because we let Brunell have 45 seconds to throw the ball. No one can guard someone for that amount of time. I wouldn't can them yet. I'd give them some work with the first team before making judgement.

[RickyD]

we definitely need more pass rush,seems like they only get pressure when they blitz.

[jh0720]

[b]The OL did a great job against a pretty good Saints DL. Carson Palmer took a few shots, but those were the result of missed blocks by RB’s and WR’s. And it was good to see Chad @OGOchoCinco(Twitter name) get some run after catch. The only negatives were the turnovers, and lack of scoring by the first unit. Next game they have to play together longer.
[/b]