Colts @ Bengals Pre & Game Thread

[HairOnFire]

I still think the name of the offense should be the Dalton Gang.

I still say it's the Farkel Family featuring the Farkel Flinger himself and his trusty sidekicks Fab Farkel (AJ Green) and Flinty Farkel (Cedric Benson)

Not to mention Jerome Simpson, aka Sparkle Farkel. (High!)

[Spor_tees]

I still think the name of the offense should be the Dalton Gang.

I still say it's the Farkel Family featuring the Farkel Flinger himself and his trusty sidekicks Fab Farkel (AJ Green) and Flinty Farkel (Cedric Benson)

Not to mention Jerome Simpson, aka Sparkle Farkel. (High!)

Does that mean if Cedric scores a touchdown he does the Five Finger Farkel Shuffle?

[Spor_tees]

No tryouts for the Bengals this week but PFT reports some former Bengals got a look including Toraj:

Jaguars: punters Josh Bidwell, Nick Harris, Jeremy Kapinos, and Spencer Lanning. (Harris was signed.)

Giants: defensive back Chinedum Ndukwe and guard Jason Shirley.

Eagles: defensive back Tom Nelson.

49ers: receivers Chris Chambers, Brian Finneran, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and Brett Swain. (Swain was signed.)

So the Bengals in a round about way got Nick Harris another job. He should send them a Christmas card or something. I didn't know Chris Chambers was out there, I wonder if he has anything left? The Bengals will need someone soon.

Finneran or TJ might be able to man the slot, Chambers the outside. What is needed most when Simpson leaves? Caldwell seems to be a better outside option than a slot man. Baby Toast seems to be able to handle the slot OK and there is always Whalen. We may not see any WR's come in after Simpson goes of to do his time.

According to PFT the Broncos have Brandon Lloyd on the trading block. Do you think Mike Brown has enough confidence that this Bengal team might make the playoffs, to go after a player like Lloyd that can fill a spot in the WR group?

[princeton]

big opportunity for Andre Smith in this game. His coach is talking him up. is Marvin just whistling past a graveyard?

I think that Andre's in much the same boat as fellow draftee Aaron Curry-- neither have played like a really high pick, but both might do much better if shifted to a less glamorous position. Curry's possibly a so-so SLB, a la Manny Lawson, and Smith looks like he'd be a top guard. These aren't the worst things, but owners -- particularly our owner-- don't throw big bucks at non-glamor positions. I doubt that Smith's agent is willing to package him as anything but a big bucks tackle, too.

I predict Bengals draft a RT in 2012 round 1, and let Andre walk in a season and a half. but Andre can change that scenario with a top effort vs. Mathis

[cincyhokie]

Rey Maulaluga out for Sunday with a sprained ankle per Reedy's twitter.

Let's go Dan Skuta!

[HoosierCat]

Rey Maulaluga out for Sunday with a sprained ankle per Reedy's twitter.

@#$%

Oh well. With the bye next week he should be back for Seattle.

[walzav29]

Big game this week. Win and we can talk 10-6. Lose and we're stuck in the 7-9 range. USO defense? Puke.

[Spor_tees]

Watch Skuta have a break out game and price his way out of Cincy. It's great for a player to get a good payday, but I hate when Cincy develops players just to see another team benefit from the fruit of their labor.

I see Gresham having a bad game this weekend because more than likely he is going to have to stay in and help block Mathis. When he does go out for passes look for the runningbacks to stay in and block Mathis.

If the Bengals can go into the bye week at least 4-2, I see them finishing no worse than 8-8.

[COB]

On one hand, I assume Indy will go berserk they're so desperate for a win. So Bengals lose. On the other hand, I harken back to the first part of the last preseason game when the Bengals starters were in vs. the Indy starters. Indy's o-line got abused, in particular I remember Jeff Saturday getting stood up and shoved into the backfield more than once by Pat Sims.

So Bengals win. Which will lead to a little more national media talking about the Bengals. And all of said talk will center around Palmer/trading deadline/Mike Brown hate.

[Spor_tees]

On one hand, I assume Indy will go berserk they're so desperate for a win. So Bengals lose. On the other hand, I harken back to the first part of the last preseason game when the Bengals starters were in vs. the Indy starters. Indy's o-line got abused, in particular I remember Jeff Saturday getting stood up and shoved into the backfield more than once by Pat Sims.

So Bengals win. Which will lead to a little more national media talking about the Bengals. And all of said talk will center around Palmer/trading deadline/Mike Brown hate.

I think you are right, if the Bengals win the game will get more national attention...but for the wrong reason. There will be more talk of the Colts tanking the season to get Andrew Luck. Irsay has already made comments about Luck to the media.

Florio has another segment where he talks about the Palmer trade where he thinks it would be best for the Bengals to wait until February to trade Palmer and get draft picks. He also has an opinion that maybe the Bengals wait until midway through the draft and trade Palmer to a team that missed out on the quarterback they had pegged to draft.

The whole offseason will be another circus.

[kingwilly]

I don't think beating Indy will draw any more attention to the team.

There are so many things that are still to question about the team, especially to national media types, there is no reason to think beating a team that is trying to possibly "Suck for Luck" will validate the begals as an upper tier team. Now, losing to Indy would tail-spin the Bengals reputation with most media muppets.

As for the game, I see it being a bit of a boring game, Bengals win a defensive exhibition, sacking Painter 4 or 5 times and the secondary will get a pick or two. Final score: 20-13.

[derekshank]

I don't think beating Indy will draw any more attention to the team.

There are so many things that are still to question about the team, especially to national media types.

I think you're giving the national media too much credit. I agree that there are a lot of questions with this team, but most of the media just look at the record... not the quality of the opponents.

The Bengals were only expected to win three or four games all season. If they are 4-2 at the bye, the media will be calling Cincinnati one of the biggest surprises of the season.

[PalmerforPresident]

Who would backup Skuta at MLB? Rey?

[volcom69]

Rey out that sucks. I dont understand why they are not going to use Brandon Johnson though. I dont mind Skuta but i hope they take him out on passing downs, and put Johnson in there who has shown he can cover when needed.

[derekshank]

Rey out that sucks. I dont understand why they are not going to use Brandon Johnson though. I dont mind Skuta but i hope they take him out on passing downs, and put Johnson in there who has shown he can cover when needed.

Skuta has impressed me when he has played. He seems to instinctively be around the ball. So I'm not all that concerned.

As for who will back him up... this is why losing Muckelroy sucks. Does Brandon Johnson have experience in the middle? I know he was serviceable at Will, but if Rey taught us anything... MLB and OLB require very different skill sets.

[ArmyBengal]

Bengals win this game Sunday. Not because they are destined for the playoffs, but simply because they are better than the Colts and for once, a better Bengals team actually will win. Enough with the f*cking nicknames already. Red Rifle or anything else is just stupid. How about Dalton? And please for the love of God, no nickname for Green that are a spin off of Calvin Johnson. Is it really that hard to be a little original? Uso defense? Really?

Why would the Bengals get anymore love for beating a winless Indy team when they got no love for knocking off an undefeated Bills team?

The next question is, is it deserved? Having the #1 defense at this point has to be very unexpected and I love it and while teams ahve to go out each week and win games, they haven't beaten the top teams in this league to this point. I'm still not sold the Bills will even be there come seasons end.

Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely still loving watching this team play hard even when they are down. Having Dalton fire guys up on the sidelines and (get this) having them respond to his leadership. Seeing the defense play some really tough ball in the redzone. However, this is about where they should be at this point in time and they have yet to play the Steelers or Ravens (see 4 more games). I'm really looking forward to seeing how things turn out against those teams and think it will give a better gauge than what we've seen to this point about where this team truly is.

Honestly, i'm expecting Dalton to have the same success against those team that Colt McCoy had last year (see not good) but i'm hoping he might surprise them a bit. If he fails to produce wins against them, then I will be watching equally as close to see how he comes back the following week and plays. I think that will tell a lot about him as well. He's impressed me in that area this season when he's come up short, but still goes right back out there and continues to fight.

Anyway:

Bengals 24

Colts 13

[derekshank]

Hey Army... funny story. I sat next to a guy at the Bills game that I thought was you. He was wearing a Maualuga jersey that looked like the ones from China... and he was former military.

I talked to him for a while until I concluded that it wasn't actually you by throwing out a "F*ck you Palmer" and getting almost no response.

[Spor_tees]

Let it be known that the lack of post by HoF this week is unnerving. I am starting to get an eerie feeling of this being a trap game for the Bengals. I especially feel this way with 3 of the Colts starters not making the trip to Cincinnati. I am feeling a Denver Broncos game deja'vu.

[derekshank]

I am starting to get an eerie feeling of this being a trap game for the Bengals. I especially feel this way with 3 of the Colts starters not making the trip to Cincinnati. I am feeling a Denver Broncos game deja'vu.

I'm not sure the Bengals are good enough to afford a term like "trap-game" - but I understand what you mean. It has been my position all along that while the Bengals "should" win this game... as one of the youngest teams in the NFL, they are probably overdue for a sloppy mistake filled game.

That's just my feeling, and I will not be the least bit surprised if Dalton has an off-day.

Here's to hoping he continues to surprise, though.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Might as well use Hoosiers thread for the game too.

[volcom69]

Here is what i am wondering how much will it hurt the defense that Rey is out? I wonder what kind of guy he is on the field, if he is the hear of the defense, like a Ray Lewis is for the Ravens. Anyone else notice when Lewis dosnt play the Ravens defense is not really that good, well makes me wonder what the defense will look like without Rey out there.

How about running the ball today, dont make Dalton have to do everything pound the ball.

Use Scott today the colts are bad against fast shifty running backs, and use him in the screen game

[Spor_tees]

Anyone got a feed?

[Stripes]

If we had to lose Rey any week, this is probably the best week. The Colts have nobody at running back, and the line has been pretty bad. That doesn't imply the Bengals can take advantage, but I like their chances.

[HoosierCat]

http://www.firstrowsports.tv/watch/86452/1/watch-cincinnati-bengals-vs-indianapolis-colts.html

[Spor_tees]

/>http://www.firstrowsports.tv/watch/86452/1/watch-cincinnati-bengals-vs-indianapolis-colts.html

None of the links are working for me :/

NM link 2 is working