Stripes

I think so far the team looks less like one that will struggle to compete with anyone and more like one that will keep games close and probably lose most of them -- that's encouraging. The running game is horrible to nobody's surprise.

It only just now occurred to me that we're no longer going to be dealing with Marvin Lewis clock management or wasted timeouts. Who knows if Taylor will be any better, but needless to say I am optimistic.

Good night for the three QBs. Dolegala is rendering Driskel even more obsolete.

Two possessions, two punts for the starting offense. Boyd had a bad drop.

I have a feeling WJIII is going to be back to himself this year though.

Defense looks like swampass

Aristides Aquino.

Finley is 12/13. RIP Driskel

Looks like we suck.

Just got here. Do we suck?

I think Puig's reputation for poor effort was always overstated and based on a couple of incidents that got blown up in the big LA market. He was a firecracker for the Reds, and I suspect he will do the same in Cleveland.

I expect Erickson and I think it should be Erickson. The sky is the limit for that guy, and he's exactly the kind of player that was constantly underused by Marvin Lewis and his staffs.

I'm frankly not bothered. This team is just not likely to be very good anyway. So let's hurl some adversity in the direction of Zac Taylor. Either he responds brilliantly to it now and we all feel great, or he gets some valuable experience to carry forward into a new season that doesn't feel lost before it begins.

6-8 weeks per Schefter. Torn ankle ligaments. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27276175/bengals-green-likely-6-8-weeks

That's what I'm bummed about. This team sucks anyway, so now it just sucks a bit more. It really puts Taylor behind the eight ball though and I don't see any way he can be blamed for it. He'll face some serious adversity from Day One this season. We'll see what he is able to do.