Pre-season Game 2---Reaction Thread

[membengal]

---Was disappointed in the run blocking to start last night.

---Fitz has now made me at least comfortable that if anything were to happen to Palmer, he could move the team.

---I hope Sims' injury is not bad, he was already starting to make a difference in the middle. With the Bengals' luck, it is probably a bad one.

---Simpson showed why he was a 2nd round pick. When the rawness is off that guy, he is going to be a huge help. That may even be mid mid-season this year.

---Was even more disappointed by the pass blocking last night. Frankly, the o-line blew chunks for too long in that game.

---As for the defense, thankfully, Baltimore and Tennessee have s**t at wide receiver to start the year. Maybe that will help.

[walzav29]

Leon Hall sucked last year, and I am worried about him. The OL looks like crap. There is no depth at receiver. Palmer has looked really bad. I'm nervous.

[cincyhokie]

The funny thing is that at some point of every pre-season it looks like this team is in some sort of trouble. While it is just pre-season, there is reason for concern (and no I don't care that the Colts always suck in the pre-season or that the Patriots lost last night. I don't care.)

The o-line has not even been close to the same since Braham left. The run blocking has always been suspect and the pass blocking has steadily become worse.

Carson does not look comfortable and set. He looks jumpy and nervous. Of course, this is an effect of the o-line play.

The defense gets zero push at the line of scrimmage 99% of the time. The lanes the opposing teams open up are significant. When a runningback cuts back, the defense seems slow or out of position to react.

The cornerbacks look bad. Leon Hall looks like a midget against the bigger guys. If these guys are playing one on one while the front 7 applies the rush....we are in trouble (I would rather see this than the alternative, though).

The special teams don't look good at all. Aside from Chatman's return, why does it seem like we get completely dominated on almost every punt that we return for the past 15 years??? Ratliff, O'Neal, blah, blah, blah.....all the same.

I'll save my positive comments for later...

[HoosierCat]

My biggest concern isn't the play I'm seeing on the field, but rather the fact we're turing into a M*A*S*H unit again. Particularly at WR -- just as it was the LB's turn last season, it looks like the injury bug is picking on the wideouts this year. Not good -- and that's putting it mildly. If the passing game dies, it won't matter if the D magically transforms into the '85 Bears.

[Ickey44]

I'm not worried about Leon Hall. It's hard to defend Calvin Johnson no matter who you are. The guy's 6'5" and can run and jump. Hall was in good position last night, there's not much else he can do though.

Negatives:

The o-line worries me-a lot.

Utecht dropped the most catchable pass thrown last night. Although, he made up for it with a spectacular catch in the 3rd quarter. I wish he'd get more consistant.

David Jones gets beat almost every time the ball's thrown his way. I hope we don't need him during the season.

Our pass rush is still non-existent, even when we blitz.

Positives:

Chris Perry, Kenny Watson, and even DeDe looked good last night running the ball.

Was very impressed with the way Fitzpatrick moved the offense.

The WR's looked a lot better last night than they did in GB. That was good. Maxwell and Simpson stepped up and even Chatman had some catches. Glenn Holt looked good, too.

Finally had a big punt return, liked the way Angelo Craig lit up whoever that was.

Shane Graham still looks good. 50-yard FG's aren't easy to make.

[jditty47]

not worried about leon hall?!?! how the hell could you not be. both corners are getting beat at least once or twice on huge plays a game. yes its preseason but s**t its game form and they are doing the same s**t as always for bengals corners.

i cannot believe going into this season that i am more worried about our secondary than i am about our Dline or linebackers.

[CJBestInAFC]

If we had a pass rush then they could leave the corners on islands. That is not the case and the pass rush is once again going to be the let down of the defense this year. Why is John Thornton still starting? This guy continues to under perform every game and hasn't even made a statistic yet in either one of the preseason games. He sucks a lot and he is one of the reasons why they never get pressure on the oppossing QB. I think Peko is fine in there, but he needs another big body in there to take up double teams. I think it is time to start getting some serious pass rushers for the Bengals. I am tired of seeing QBs like John Kitna have all day to throw the ball down field.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

My reaction was to take a big dump afterwards. Sums it up for me.

Buy hey, it's only the 2nd preseason game and they've got two more weeks to get ready, seems like we hear that every year.

Chad and TJ should be fine for the opener. They aren't going to practice or play the rest of preseason, so that should be a given.

Rudi is fine - could've played last night but they are being overly cautious.

Caldwell is a non-factor with his injury. Simpson looked good, should get some more #1/#2 snaps Friday. Maxwell and Holt are both looking like #4 and #5 WR types. Caldwell may not even make the roster at this point. Another wasted high draft pick (again at this point).

The passing game isn't right because they can't block any body and Palmer looks like a scared rat back there, poor mechanics, poor drops, bad timing, happy feet etc..., he looks slow and inaccurate, and can't seem to make any good throws under pressure - which is something he's going to have to get used too, quick.

[COB]

There is no doubt the corners are being asked to do a lot more this year. And learning to make those adjustments will take time.

I'm also not worried about Leon Hall getting torched by Calvin Johnson. That guy is so big, so fast, and just so good that he's going to beat people, no two ways about it.

Carson Palmer is probably my biggest worry. I don't understand how he can look this bad. The guy from Harvard looked great by comparison, though I'm basing that on the drive where he took them 99 yards for a touchdown, and on the hurry-up offense he ran that ended in the confirmation that De De Dorsey is apparantly not the second coming of Jerome Bettis. The o-line played pretty well in that series, though maybe that QB just made them look good by fleeing for his life when everything broke down.

I'm a little discouraged, but the sky isn't quite falling yet. The defense looks improved. I love Marvin White's ability to hit. He'll jar the ball loose a few times this year. Blackstock looked good. Sims, though raw, looked powerful. That pre-season offense, though...

The nagging fear that Bratkowski's offense has just gone stale, or that the league has figured it out, is creeping into my mind. Surely he changes things up every season to keep defenses from reading things too easily.

[volcom69]

Ok so hears my question to all this how much game planing was actully made for this game or any preseason game. The Lions were blitzing on almost every play do you really think they were expecting that im not to sure they were. I think they hardly watched any game footage on these guys and wernt expecting them to blitz like they did and werent ready for that.

As far as Leon Hall you tell me what conerback in this league is going to stop someone jumping at there highest point to get the ball like C. Johnson did and i cant blame leon on that one. I can however blame the coach for not bringing a safty over to help him if you think that leon Hall is going to cover him one-on-one like that there nuts.

I was happy to see the young WR come up with some big plays and happy to see C. Perry and Watson lookin pretty good. I however am worried about the injuries that this team is taking and i hope that all of this is just to make sure they dont get hurt worse.

So what do you guys think any or much game planning going in when they play the preseason or you think the main thing was to just work on the running game and such.

[redsrule2500]

Palmer needs a real O-Line or this team is done, season #3.

[Ickey44]

The nagging fear that Bratkowski's offense has just gone stale, or that the league has figured it out, is creeping into my mind. Surely he changes things up every season to keep defenses from reading things too easily.

I wish that were true, but unfortunately I don't think it is.

[CJBestInAFC]

Ok so hears my question to all this how much game planing was actully made for this game or any preseason game. The Lions were blitzing on almost every play do you really think they were expecting that im not to sure they were. I think they hardly watched any game footage on these guys and wernt expecting them to blitz like they did and werent ready for that.

As far as Leon Hall you tell me what conerback in this league is going to stop someone jumping at there highest point to get the ball like C. Johnson did and i cant blame leon on that one. I can however blame the coach for not bringing a safty over to help him if you think that leon Hall is going to cover him one-on-one like that there nuts.

I was happy to see the young WR come up with some big plays and happy to see C. Perry and Watson lookin pretty good. I however am worried about the injuries that this team is taking and i hope that all of this is just to make sure they dont get hurt worse.

So what do you guys think any or much game planning going in when they play the preseason or you think the main thing was to just work on the running game and such.

The Leon Hall breakdown can definately be linked to pass rush. Calvin Johnson is one of those rare Wrs. that make it very difficult to defend. I agree you need S help, but when Kitna has all day to throw, any starting qb is going to shred a defense. If you watch the third quarter you see that Shirley multiple times was in the backfield. He had one play on Pinner last night where he powered his way right to the running back. I think the future for this kid should be sooner than later. His natural ability more than makes up for Thornton and Myers play.

[Kazkal]

Well it doesn't help that Odom is Injured who was brought in to help our 4 man rush...I thought we were doing fine when blitzing and hell at least were actually blitzing now

[BengalPimp]

Well, preseason is preseason, and thats about it.

We still have no clue as to what this team will be once the season starts, as the starting lineups the first 2 preseason games, will not be the same as Game 1 (ie. no TJ,Rudi,Odom,etc.)

Also, many people just don't realize how different it is when you are only playing 1 quarter, as opposed to all 4 like the first-stringers normally would. Sometimes people just try to do too much/not enough because its preseason, and their only playing 1 Quarter or less anyways.

[chrishcovga]

I thought Jason Shirley looked good. Simpson obviously. Rivers made a hellacious tackle on that third and short, would've liked to have seen him run through the guy more, but he did the job.

- Bobbie Williams to center is a mistake. If he's the most athletic guy you got to replace Ghuicuic then you better hit the Free agent wire!

Andre Caldwell has been anything but impressive, he and Utecht have like 4 drops between them in 2 games. I can hear Henry trying on his # 15 jersey from Georgia.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Well, preseason is preseason, and thats about it.

We still have no clue as to what this team will be once the season starts, as the starting lineups the first 2 preseason games, will not be the same as Game 1 (ie. no TJ,Rudi,Odom,etc.)

Also, many people just don't realize how different it is when you are only playing 1 quarter, as opposed to all 4 like the first-stringers normally would. Sometimes people just try to do too much/not enough because its preseason, and their only playing 1 Quarter or less anyways.

I don't think people would be as concerned over 2 preseason games about the #1 guys, if this team didn't look so much like last year's team, with the same apparent weakenesses, and a QB and WR who are at odds, one is so laid back and stoic it's becoming pathetic, and the other is a head case whose skills are eroding and body hasn't filled out enough to sustain a longer career.

But the biggest mistake was not upgrading the interior 0-line, and moving Whit out to left or right tackle, and cutting ties with Andrews. As I've always said, it's obvious Alexander can't work with anyone who isn't a 1st day pick who can step in and perform at a high level without a lot of direction or coaching up.

[BengalszoneBilly]

If we had a pass rush then they could leave the corners on islands. That is not the case and the pass rush is once again going to be the let down of the defense this year. Why is John Thornton still starting?

No. F**king. Clue. BFD...he played in a Superbowl while a Titan. In fact he's still pimping the old days on his website.

[richmond_mat]

Calvin Johnson is going to be on my fantasy team.

Fitzpatrick looked good.

[TippCityRick]

If the Oline continues to play like that, you might want to pick up Fitzpatrick too!

[Spor_tees]

Sorry but the thing that stood out the most to me is the fact the Bengals did not look ready to play. Despite many of the guys being veterans and should know the offense by now, they all looked flat. The defense didn't even play that well until the Lions put in their second stringers against the Bengals starting defense. There is only one person to blame for the Bengals play and that is the head coach, Marvin Lewis. I have never been a Marvin Lewis fan, and honestly I think the success the Bengals have had over the last few years has been on talent alone and not coaching. When you hear every year that the Bengals are under-performing with the amount of talent they have on the team, who do you blame? Well of coarse you have to look at the head coach. The "In Marvin We Trust" Kool-aid is starting to taste more like the Jim Jones Kool-aid.

[cincyhokie]

Sorry but the thing that stood out the most to me is the fact the Bengals did not look ready to play. Despite many of the guys being veterans and should know the offense by now, they all looked flat. The defense didn't even play that well until the Lions put in their second stringers against the Bengals starting defense. There is only one person to blame for the Bengals play and that is the head coach, Marvin Lewis. I have never been a Marvin Lewis fan, and honestly I think the success the Bengals have had over the last few years has been on talent alone and not coaching. When you hear every year that the Bengals are under-performing with the amount of talent they have on the team, who do you blame? Well of coarse you have to look at the head coach. The "In Marvin We Trust" Kool-aid is starting to taste more like the Jim Jones Kool-aid.

If there is an exception it was 2003. The Bengals were coming off of a 2-14 year and overacheived to an 8-8 record that year. That's the kind of play I wish they could return to. If they did, I could easily see 10-6.