Observations from the game

[NASTYNATI]

THE FIRST TEAM OFFENSE LOOKED GREAT!

THE GOOD:

Dalton had all day to throw

Benson and Scott both looked like they were in midseason form

Boling appears to be one hell of a bargain for a fourth rounder

AJ Green is dominant

The O-line played their asses off tonight

Geno Atkins is a Monster he and Peko are gonna be a force in the middle

Gruden has def. Opened up the playbook more Dalton was getting everyone involved

Pass rush was present all night

Jon Wade made one hell of a play defending a pass intended for S.Smith I hope he sticks around

Reggie Nelson is showing why he was a former 1st round pick another solid game from him.


THE BAD:

Dalton still needs to improve on timing and accuracy Green had 3td's tonight had he been more accurate with his deep ball. In time I know it will be there.

The turnovers cannot continue to happen 8 turnovers in 3 games is unacceptable

Jerome Simpson appeared to be frustrated at times tonight due to him not seeing the ball, Marvin and Gruden need to get that shit in check.

The Fui Vakapuna project needs to end, he cant block, catch, or run and he has a stupid hair cut. I want Chris Pressley to win the FB job.



comments, feel free to chime in with your observations.

[thedaltonshow]

[quote name='NASTYNATI' timestamp='1314332252' post='1021633']

The Fui Vakapuna project needs to end, he cant block, catch, or run and [b]he has a stupid hair cut. [/b]

[/quote]

No kidding, but I feel like the reason he kept that damn tuft is because the shearers broke after getting through the thicket covering the rest of his head...

[MULLY]

[quote] Dalton had all day to throw[/quote]

I'm perfectly fine with Palmer being gone and Dalton learning on the fly. I have to wonder, though, how much better this offense would be if Carson had all that time back there? One thing I'm really liking is how Dalton can scramble out of there if need be. Sick of seeing statue standing there.
MULLY

[8675309]

[quote name='NASTYNATI' timestamp='1314332252' post='1021633']
THE FIRST TEAM OFFENSE LOOKED GREAT!

THE GOOD:

Dalton had all day to throw

Benson and Scott both looked like they were in midseason form

Boling appears to be one hell of a bargain for a fourth rounder

AJ Green is dominant

The O-line played their asses off tonight

Geno Atkins is a Monster he and Peko are gonna be a force in the middle

Gruden has def. Opened up the playbook more Dalton was getting everyone involved

Pass rush was present all night

Jon Wade made one hell of a play defending a pass intended for S.Smith I hope he sticks around

Reggie Nelson is showing why he was a former 1st round pick another solid game from him.


THE BAD:

[i][b]Dalton still needs to improve on timing and accuracy Green had 3td's tonight had he been more accurate with his deep ball. In time I know it will be there.[/b][/i]

The turnovers cannot continue to happen 8 turnovers in 3 games is unacceptable

Jerome Simpson appeared to be frustrated at times tonight due to him not seeing the ball, Marvin and Gruden need to get that shit in check.

The Fui Vakapuna project needs to end, he cant block, catch, or run and he has a stupid hair cut. I want Chris Pressley to win the FB job.



comments, feel free to chime in with your observations.
[/quote]

To be fair, how many of those long pass plays end up in completions for any team? It's way less than 50%.

But the shear fact that you have to keep that safety over the top and not in the box only helps the Bengals.

[8675309]

[quote name='Fulcher_33' timestamp='1314333078' post='1021642']
I'm perfectly fine with Palmer being gone and Dalton learning on the fly. I have to wonder, though, how much better this offense would be if Carson had all that time back there? One thing I'm really liking is how Dalton can scramble out of there if need be. Sick of seeing statue standing there.
MULLY
[/quote]

Carson struggled in an O he's been in his whole NFL career over the past few seasons, I'm not certain that putting him in a new one would change anything. JMO

[FulcherVulcher33]

Its them georgia boys son get hip!! and pressley definitly should be the fb

[CincyInDC]

Was Pressley the one with a wife and a kid who they focused on in Hard Knocks?

[NewRoc]

Happy to see them play well but they did play the crappy Panthers. I'm sure all the positives you saw today wont be there when we play a decent team or above.

[CincyInDC]

[quote name='NewRoc' timestamp='1314343391' post='1021695']
Happy to see them play well but they did play the crappy Panthers. I'm sure all the positives you saw today wont be there when we play a decent team or above.
[/quote]

True, but the alternative would have been getting our asses handed to us. That would have been bad, right?

[texbengal]

[quote name='CincyInDC' timestamp='1314341619' post='1021691']Was Pressley the one with a wife and a kid who they focused on in Hard Knocks?[/quote]

Yes. Bright guy. He's done well.

[CincyInDC]

[quote name='texbengal' timestamp='1314355804' post='1021716']
Yes. Bright guy. He's done well.
[/quote]
cool. He seemed like a good kid.

[texbengal]

I had a lot of the same observations...

QB- Dalton continues to improve, but he and Ced need to get the handoff shit fixed, and quick. He also needs to get his paeese lower.

RB- all three looked good. Both Scott and Leonard look faster... Scott was a beast last night

TE- Gresham looked very good... He is very good after the catch... Speed and running instincts, too. Coffman played pretty well. Scaife getting hurt gave him more of an opportunity. It'll be interesting to see who gets the #3 -Coffman is the better receiver, but Cochart is the better blocker

OL- played really well, albeit vs a terrible DL. Whit and Livings both impressed me, and admittedly I haven't been a Livings fan. I thought Collins looked good, too.

DL- Atkins was a beast, also liked MJs game and was happy to see Peko getting some inside penetration as well as McDonald. I also thought Frostee had a really strong game... I like his play, and I hope he makes it. Thought Adeyanju looked pretty good, too, and has flashed in all the games thus far.

LB- Rey continues to wreak havoc, though I wish he'd wrap up better... He missed some tackles. Lawson looked good, and he played some DE, too. He looked good on the pass rush. Howard looks good as a cover LB, but I'm less impressed with him at the point of attack. Rivers is better. I like Skuta as a backup and ST ace, but he's limited in pass coverage. I thought Brandon was just OK last night.

DB- Reggie Nelson continues to play well... Actually, the starters all looked good. The last two weeks, they've been much tighter in coverage. For the backups, they were better, especially Wade, Trent, and Myles. I wonder if Sands is more of a PS guy... He really doesn't show e much, yet. I think Wade distanced himself from Bennett last night (other than the ole tackle on Cam's TD).

STs- Huber has been great all preseason. Coverage was good, but penalties were worrisome. Good to see Nugent's long FG, but his KOs aren't great... He gets the end zone, but not enough hang time, IMO.

[Bengals1181]

[quote name='NASTYNATI' timestamp='1314332252' post='1021633']

The Fui Vakapuna project needs to end, he cant block, catch, or run and he has a stupid hair cut. [b]I want Chris Pressley to win the FB job.[/b]

[/quote]


I think that's done and settled unless they decide to not keep a FB, which I think they'll keep one.


Another positive, I saw 1-2 nice blocks by Coffman.

[Jason]

[quote name='8675309' timestamp='1314334868' post='1021662']

Carson struggled in an O he's been in his whole NFL career over the past few seasons, I'm not certain that putting him in a new one would change anything. JMO
[/quote]

The way they played against San Diego I have to wonder how much of that was on Chad and TO. Not to mention the predictable play calling by Brat.

[Vol_Bengal]

ahhhh... amazing what a win will do!

[oldschooler]

[b]Upon further review...my observations[/b]
*Clearly momentum is wearing orange and black.
*I think I'll totally overreact today in order to balance out the overreaction from fans after Lions/Jets.
*Prediction: Within first three calls today I'll get, "it's just preseason" and "it was just the Panthers"
*Preseason game 3 is the final tuneup, the dress rehearsal, I'm ready for the opening act of week 1.
[b]*Offense:[/b]
-Protection/blocking+rushing attack+mixing up playcalling.
-How 'bout The Red Rifle? (Dan Hoard nickname)...11 of 17-130 TD, 107.5 QB rating. He did underthrew Green on what should have been a TD....and has got to get down and slide.
-As emailers Marge and Jeff said, Red (Dalton) + Green will make it feel like a Bengals Christmas at PBS.
-How 'bout the playbook? I saw a reverse, that worked....a TE screen, shotgun snaps, shotgun draw, shotgun pitch, dump off to Ced, bubble screen, bootleg...
-Loved how physical and interested in blocking the WR's were. They didn't pretend o just get in the way, they got on guys and moved 'em out of way.
-Love seeing Gresham thrown to down the field
-AJ Green may not tweet or change his name, or propose to a cheerleader, but he will not be a headache and he will be a better all around WR than Chad Johnson. Book it.
-Nice job OL...no sacks, plenty of rushing yards. Really like Livings and Boling.
-Nice FB battle...they all seem to hit last night
-Nice tag team: Ced 6 carries, 63 yards, Scott 16 carries, 68 yards
-Gotta protect the football...2 more turnovers
-They got ball back w/ :51 left in half, 2 timeouts and on own 20 yd line...and went for it....and got a 55-yd FG.
[b]*Defense[/b]
-Man does that DL have some guys that can move...they don't lumber they chase.
-Fun to watch Peko's lateral pursuit, Gino was pushing, Frostee flashed and tracked guys down.
-Michael Johnson is becoming a beast. Loved when he shed the FB and wrapped up Stewart. Latter he bullrushed and got a hand on Newton. He's added moves.
-Manny Lawon=nice pick up. Dude is all over....long arms...quick...fumble recovery.
-Rey Mauluga looks like he's where he's supposed to be....and gets there quickly.
-Thomas Howard=nice pick up...watching him cover downfield compared to Dhani Jones is night and day.
-D did look clueless a couple of times when Newton took off. Bugs me when guys like J. Wade lower shoulder and bounce off guys instead of wrapping up.
-Didn't allow points in final 2 minutes of half....finally.
-Crocker and Nelson could be a nice safety duo
[b]*Special teams[/b]
-Nugent 55 yards
-Huber 4 punts inside 20
[b]PS[/b]
Was that Cam Newton last night or Akili Smith?




http://www.espn1530.com/pages/lancesBlog.html

[|Lucid|]

[quote]-How 'bout the playbook?[b] I saw a reverse, that worked[/b]....a TE screen, shotgun snaps, shotgun draw, shotgun pitch, dump off to Ced, bubble screen, bootleg...[/quote]

Pet peeve here... But unless he is speaking of a play I missed, that "successful reverse" to Green was actually "an end around." It bugs the shit out of me when professional sports guys don't know the difference between a reverse and an end around.. Even play by play guys for the big networks fuck it up routinely.

Here's it is in a nutshell Lance. A reverse is an end around with 2 hand-offs. If the QB just hands it off to a receiver who runs with it, that is an "End Around".

/rant

[Jason]

[quote]-They got ball back w/ :51 left in half, 2 timeouts and on own 20 yd line...and went for it....and got a 55-yd FG.[/quote]

I think that was my favorite part of the whole game.

[|Lucid|]

[quote name='Jason' timestamp='1314366738' post='1021783']

I think that was my favorite part of the whole game.
[/quote]

Me too... I thought Andy handled the hurry up like a veteran. People can point to his arm strength all day.. But he has it upstairs in spades.. And you can't coach that.

You can compensate with scheme for a weaker arm.. Young QB's have shown that you can make a guy's arm stronger with the right program..

[oldschooler]

[b] [size=6] Bengals vs Panthers reaction[/size][/b]

August 25th, 2011

by John Thornton


Ok, quick breakdown of Bengals win over the Panthers. First off, I saw this in person. The Panthers are not as good as the Lions, or the Jets. So let’s keep that in mind. But I have always felt the preseason was about individual play. Hard to get good feel for team play when key players on either side are missing. With that being said, a few things stuck out to me. There seemed to be more game planning by the Bengals in this game. Jay Gruden called a great game on offense, and Mike Zimmer dialed up some great blitzes on D.

Offensively, I thought the Bengals came out wanting to pound the ball, and control the clock with short passes to WRs on slants and TEs over the middle. Once Dalton got a feel for the game, Jay let him take some shots. The OL played better this week in both the run game and pass blocking. The best plays were the 40yd TD from Dalton to AJ Green, beating a good corner in Chris Gamble on a fade route. RB Bernard Scott showed a lot of juice once he got into the game. Beating everyone to the corner, making some big runs. He needs to split time with Ced Benson, not just be a change of pace guy. Negatives would be that Dalton continues to be all over the place with his balls early in games. Good defenses will take advantage of that. But this was by far his best outing. Looked like he had good control of the game.

On defense the Bengals bounced back from a poor first drive. They handled the Panthers passing game. The run D was a little shaky when the Panthers decided to pound it, but the score took the Panthers out of running it after a while. Domata Peko had another good game. He’s at his best when he gets to run sideline to sideline, not taking on double teams, and he made some plays on the edges. He also freed up the LBs on a few draw plays. Geno Atkins always gets good push up the middle, and was very active. Frostee Rucker continues to push for more playing time. Michael Johnson didn’t play as well as he did last Sunday, the Panthers have a really good LT in Jordan Gross. The LBs and safeties lost the TEs and slot WRs in coverage when Cam Newton got out of the pocket, and thats a negative. But they played well other than that. The Bengals DBs weren’t challenged. The Panthers WRs were pretty weak. And Zimmer made Cam throw the ball fast because the blitz was coming.

Special teams were solid tonight. The Bengals even made a 55 yard FG.

Panthers QB Cam Newton was worth going to see. Even though he didn’t have a great game passing, he made a few big plays with his feet, looking like he did at Auburn. I think the Panthers lack of talent at WR will hurt him, and he will need to run more to make defenses play them soft, allowing their WRs to get open. I think he could have pulled the ball down more and had even more rushing yards, but he looked to pass first.

All in all, it’s always better to win than to lose. Im sure I missed a lot of things, but thats what I saw in person without watching the game on TV yet. The Bengals played a good game on a short week. But like I said, the Panthers aren’t very good. I was surprised at how bad their defensive personnel was tonight. Don’t expect much from next weeks game vs the Colts. I watched them in person last week vs the Redskins and they were pretty bad without Peyton Manning. And next week they will be even worse. So this is the last time you will see a competitive game for the Bengals starters until they open up in Cleveland. A lot to work on and a few roster tweaks here and there.


http://www.allproblogger.com/2011/08/25/bengals-vs-panthers-reaction/

[sparky151]

Carolina is bad and might have the #1 pick next year. Miami's weak offense put up 300 yards in the first half vs the Carolina first team defense last week. So all that said, the Bengals looked better. I liked Simpson's blocking, the penalty was weak. Bernard Scott looked good, like he hadn't missed any time. Livings and Bobbie looked like solid starters at least last night. Kicking game was strong too.

Things I didn't like were Dalton's accuracy, ReyM running himself out of the play several times, and some of the pass coverage. The line was getting pressure on the Panthers but the Browns have a much better O-line than Carolina.

[oldschooler]

[quote name='sparky151' timestamp='1314368656' post='1021806']
Carolina is bad and might have the #1 pick next year.
[/quote]


They did beat the Giants 20-10 in preseason.

[cincity]

[quote name='8675309' timestamp='1314334443' post='1021658']

To be fair, how many of those long pass plays end up in completions for any team? It's way less than 50%.

But the shear fact that you have to keep that safety over the top and not in the box only helps the Bengals.
[/quote]

I really think the opposing defenses week in and week out are going to try to put 8 in the box and dare Andy, A.J., and Simp to beat them long. From what I've seen in the last two games, Andy sees a lot and gets the ball out quick so I like him against the blitz, and Green has shown he can beat one on one coverage. Even Simp beat his man on the Green TD pass. Simp had his man by like 3-5 yards beat downfield.

Andy is really seeing blitzes well.

[|SF2|]

My observations are that the Panthers are a very bad team. They don't have very good skill players and Newton was looking at covered receivers all night.

Their defense is horrid and Benson and Scott could have easily racked up 300 yards rushing against this team in the regular season. That is how bad they were.

Our receivers were WIDE open all night. Dalton did a good job of getting the ball to them but I am still worried that his passes simply are not accurate. Way too much reaching up for the 10 yard pass or having to stop to catch them. A perfect night weather wise made it easy but our players will rarely get this open this easily all game.

Our #2s did nothing against theirs which has me a little concerned.

Yes, way better than the first 2 games but I can't pass judgement until I see it against quality NFL talent.

[|SF2|]

[quote name='oldschooler' timestamp='1314368819' post='1021810']


They did beat the Giants 20-10 in preseason.
[/quote]
Manning and the first teamers only played a quarter while Carolina kept their starters in for a half. In the second half the Panther's second string was matched up against NY's bubble players. The first quarter was the only time the teams really played straight up.