Scrimmage Friday Night

[IfItsBrownFlushItDown]

Just wondering how many of you are planning on going to the scrimmage on Friday night. I'm going, especially since its only about a 25 minute drive.

Edit: And I realize there was already a post about this, but that was in early July.

[CTBengalsFan]

Rudi looks like he just got out of a fight in his roster pic lol

[Tiger Stripes]

goin down saturday morning.

[Brian]

BengalDave and I will be there as well as some other cincybengalites

[BengalDave73]

Yes we will be there. :player:

[IfItsBrownFlushItDown]

Info from Bengals.com this morning:

BENGALS INTRASQUAD SCRIMMAGE

Friday, August 6, 6:30 p.m.

HOW IT WORKS

Full pads and hitting. No score is kept. The offense is projected to run somewhere around 40 to 45 plays.

WHO'S THERE

No. 1 quarterback Carson Palmer and No. 2 Jon Kitna are expected to lead two drives each of at least eight plays. Rookies Casey Bramlet and Scott Rislov, vying for the No. 3 job, figure to each get a series.

WHO'S NOT THERE

Out because of injury: LT Levi Jones (eyelid), LG Eric Steinbach (elbow), G-T Scott Kooistra (knee), FB Jeremi Johnson (groin), CB Reggie Myles (groin), WR Patrick Johnson (leg), WR Maurice Mann (knee), CB Greg Brooks (intestinal). Out because of holdouts: RB Chris Perry, CB Keiwan Ratliff.

I'm interested to see what kind of depth we have with some of these guys out. I'll be taking a notebook to jot down some of the things I notice. Hopefully I'll bump into some of you guys there!

[The Brew Man]

Im strongly considering it, if not I will be down there next week sometime....

[BengalszoneBilly]

Hopefully I'll bump into some of you guys there!

Unless you have your picture posted under your member profile, (as you do 'Brew man) how are you guys going to recognize one another?

Maybe we need "Bengalszone" T-shirts made up Terry so we can spot our brethern!

[BengalPappaw]

Folks,

Its a two hour drive for me -- so I'm NOT going.

I would like to hear how Nate Webster looks in the middle!

I think he could be a big key to our success this year.

:player:

[shworge]

I'll be there, I'm heading down in about an hour.

[The Brew Man]

To anyone interested:

If you are not going to Georgetown tonight to watch the Intrasquad Scrimmage, well you're in luck.

The Homer 1360 am will be broadcasting it, starting between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

you can also listen to it online at www.1360homer.com

Click this link to go directly to the listen online page of 1360homer.

Thanks to the guys at the bengals lair for the heads up.....

[B24]

To anyone interested:

If you are not going to Georgetown tonight to watch the Intrasquad Scrimmage, well you're in luck.

The Homer 1360 am will be broadcasting it, starting between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

you can also listen to it online at www.1360homer.com

Click this link to go directly to the listen online page of 1360homer.

Thanks to the guys at the bengals lair for the heads up.....

Thanks Brew and the Lair. :player:

Here's a clickable link to the site.

http://www.homer1360.com/streaming.html

[HoosierCat]

70-15?!?!

'kay, I know it was just a scrimmage...but still, with a result that lopsided...

Is out O really that good?

Or is our D really that bad?

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Yes the Bengals' offense is that good, and the defense probably is still that bad right now.

[IfItsBrownFlushItDown]

Alright, I just got back. Here's what I jotted down in my notes:

Nate Webster is the Chad Johnson of the Defense

O'neal could possibly be the best CB the Bengals have had in years

Carson Palmer makes the plays that Jon Kitna couldn't last year.

Stacy Andrews is something special

Madieu Williams is the real deal

K2 started at safety???

And to answer the question above, the offense is that good. Plus, the scoring system favored the offense. They got 7 points for TDs, with one point for each first down (21). The defense only had that one interception and held them on all 4 downs twice.

This defense shows promise, and our depth at every position is surprisingly good. There was no change between the first teams and second teams going in.

Conclusions I've drawn:

Schobel shouldn't make the team. Lewis or Whalen should

Kyle Larson should beat out Richardson for the Punter job.

Carson was the right choice as starting QB

Our O-line was solid even w/o two starters on the left side.

Jamall Broussard could make this team, but reminds me of Craig Yeast.

Our defense has improved.

[IfItsBrownFlushItDown]

Oh and I forgot about the things I discussed with the players!

I asked Jeremi Johnson how many yards Rudi would get this season, and he said that he could get any of our RBs 2,000 yards.

I asked Justin Smith how many sacks we could expect from him. He said to put him down for at least 10.

If that doesn't get you pumped for this season, I don't know what would.

[B24]

Alright, I just got back. Here's what I jotted down in my notes:

Nate Webster is the Chad Johnson of the Defense

O'neal could possibly be the best CB the Bengals have had in years

Carson Palmer makes the plays that Jon Kitna couldn't last year.

Stacy Andrews is something special

Madieu Williams is the real deal

K2 started at safety???

And to answer the question above, the offense is that good. Plus, the scoring system favored the offense. They got 7 points for TDs, with one point for each first down (21). The defense only had that one interception and held them on all 4 downs twice.

This defense shows promise, and our depth at every position is surprisingly good. There was no change between the first teams and second teams going in.

Conclusions I've drawn:

Schobel shouldn't make the team. Lewis or Whalen should

Kyle Larson should beat out Richardson for the Punter job.

Carson was the right choice as starting QB

Our O-line was solid even w/o two starters on the left side.

Jamall Broussard could make this team, but reminds me of Craig Yeast.

Our defense has improved.

Thanks for the info.

From what I heard on the internet radio Broussard did a great job. The guys in the booth seemed really high on him. Couldn't really hear most of what he did because the broadcast was a bit choppy.

[IfItsBrownFlushItDown]

Thanks for the info.

From what I heard on the internet radio Broussard did a great job. The guys in the booth seemed really high on him. Couldn't really hear most of what he did because the broadcast was a bit choppy.

Yeah, he made something out of nothing every time the ball was in his hands. But at 5'9", 172lbs., the similarities between him and Craig Yeast are eerie. Broussard can also return punts which makes his value to the team increase, but that size still limits him.

Don't get me wrong, the kid can play ball. There's a reason Palmer called him P-Dub #2 after the scrimmage.

[wookie]

Great report on the scrimmage!!

Question: What was the reason for Kitna's numbers looking better than Palmer's? Was it the quality of the defenders, number of snaps, or just something to be expected since Palmer is still learning? I noticed that Palmers completion % was 50 with 3 td's and a pick and Kitna's was better than 80% going 10-12 with 1 td and no picks. (Although with 3 fewer competions Palmer only had 12 fewer yds than Kitna)

Not seeing the game myself the stats do seem to favor Kitna, this wasn't the case seeing it live?

[IfItsBrownFlushItDown]

Kitna's passes were mostly short (the story of last year). The reason for Palmer's incompletions??? He tried more daring throws.

That's why Carson's YPC was higher.

[wookie]

The reason for Palmer's incompletions??? He tried more daring throws.

That's why Carson's YPC was higher.

Could that also be the reason for the pick?

Its good to have a gunslinger behind center, but lots of teams have been successful with the short pass strong, running game type of offense.

I'd like to see Palmer a little less daring and a lot smarter, could be that he was just having fun at a scrimmage, but you have to practice like your going to play.

[IfItsBrownFlushItDown]

The reason for Palmer's incompletions???  He tried more daring throws.

That's why Carson's YPC was higher.

Could that also be the reason for the pick?

Its good to have a gunslinger behind center, but lots of teams have been successful with the short pass strong, running game type of offense.

I'd like to see Palmer a little less daring and a lot smarter, could be that he was just having fun at a scrimmage, but you have to practice like your going to play.

The pick was due to a great defensive play by Williams. If Williams didn't make a play on that ball, it would have been Palmer to Washington for a TD. Palmer did an excellent job reading the field and dumped it off to the TE as a safety valve when needed. The incompletions were from good defensive plays, not bad throws.

[wookie]

Great news all around!!!

[JPW]

This defense shows promise, and our depth at every position is surprisingly good.  There was no change between the first teams and second teams going in.

We talking about the DL Rotation here to ?

[IfItsBrownFlushItDown]

This defense shows promise, and our depth at every position is surprisingly good.  There was no change between the first teams and second teams going in.

We talking about the DL Rotation here to ?

IMO, yes. When BengalDave and Brian get on here hopefully they will share their thoughts too. But I thought that Askew and Langston Moore looked solid, and Powell adds to the rotation even with his smaller size (6'2" 271).

I did want to clarify one thing this morning. When I got home last night I was very hyped up about the defense. One thing I did forget to mention was there were a lot of missed tackles and broken tackles. Some of the people I talked to during the scrimmage said that it might have been due to this probably being the first time they have gone full speed and full contact at the same time, so I played it off. But on Bengals.com this morning, some of my thoughts stood corrected:

8/7/2004 - 8-7-04, 6:10 a.m.

BY GEOFF HOBSON

GEORGETOWN, Ky. _ Carson Palmer threw for three touchdown passes and 108 yards Friday night in his debut as the Bengals No. 1 quarterback to highlight the offense’s domination of the defense.

But it is his simple, crisp throw to T.J. Houshmandzadeh across the middle on a third and 10 that has the Bengals thinking this move just might be going in the right direction.

“He’s seeing the things we’re working on. He’s seeing the blitzes,” said offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski. “We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re going in the right direction.”

Other highlights of the offense’s 70-16 roll before about 9,000 at Georgetown College:

Rookie safety Madieu Williams stood out on a defense that had trouble tackling and bore a lot of resemblance to the one that finished 28th in the NFL last season. Williams intercepted Palmer on a ball

** Continued from Homepage **

went through the hands of wide receiver Kelley Washington, and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier credited him with causing a fumble.

The running game produced 160 yards on 25 carries behind a patchwork offensive line, spearheaded by running back Kenny Watson’s 51 yards on nine carries and Rudi Johnson’s 46-yard burst after springing out of defensive tackle Tony Williams’ grasp at the line of scrimmage.

Kicker Shayne Graham was four of six on field-goal tries with makes from 30, 32, 35 and 42 and wide rights from 40 and 45.

Veteran Kyle Richardson may have taken control of the punting race with a more consistent night even though rookie Kyle Larson’s average on the six punts was about six yards longer (45-39).

“Our running backs did a nice job today, our receivers running after the catch,” said head coach Marvin Lewis in singling out Watson and Houshmandzadeh. “We have to do a little better job leveraging the ball on defense.”

Houshmandzadeh took advantage of one of those missed tackles, this one by safety Rogers Beckett, to turn a hitch into a 19-yard gain. Although the first defense is supposed to be ahead of the offense so early in the game, Frazier wasn’t panicking when it looked like his unit that finished tied for 25th in run defense last season picked up right where it left off.

“I might be after I see the tape,” Frazier said. “It looked like we were in the right gaps most of the time, but we didn’t tackle as well as I thought we would. It’s still early enough that I know we can improve. I saw enough from the first group to make me believe these things are correctable.”

Palmer, who threw scoring passes of two yards to first-year tight end Chad Hayes against the No. 1 defense and a 28-yarder to rookie free agent wide receiver Jamall Broussard, and a 33-yarder to veteran tight end Tony Stewart against the No. 2s, made a key correction on one of his scoring drives.

On a third-and-10 and the No. 2 defense inching up on a blitz, Palmer changed the pass protection at the line. With Houshmandzadeh no longer the “hot,” receiver with the change, he broke across the field and caught a 24-yard pass on the way to his own impressive four-catch, 74-yard night.

“He’s been doing it for so long of a time,” Houshmandzadeh said. “I think watching (backup quarterback) Jon Kitna is what is really doing it. Kit is really helping him with that kind of stuff. He saw they were going to blitz a certain way and he changed it so we could pick it up.”

Kitna also had a good night, carving up the No. 1s for much of his 120 yards on 10 of 12 passing, including a 28-yard touchdown to the ubiquitous Hayes.

Pro Bowl wide receiver Chad Johnson played sparingly with two catches for 12 yards after a work-horse first week of training camp in which he has caught more than twice as many balls as any other wideout. Washington ran one of his deep routes, but couldn’t connect when Palmer overthrew it down the sidelines.

“I was just a little too fired up and overthrew him a little bit,” Palmer said. “That’s what we want. We want Chad in there for those, but I think we want to take it easy on him because he’s been going so hard all camp long.”

Palmer said he wished he could have had some throws back after completing seven of 14 passes, and he echoed Bratkowski that the offense is a long way from running smoothly.

“I thought it went pretty well. We scored on pretty much most of the drives,” Palmer said. “We still had some mental mistakes. We have a lot to clean up, but it went well for the most part. I’m excited about our running game. The offensive line was very dominant.

“Receivers ran the routes right. We didn’t have any mental errors there ,” Palmer said. “Offensively you’ve got to be perfect and we weren’t perfect today, (but) we did a good job picking up blitzes. They tried to come after us a few times, but the offensive line did a good job protecting.”

It was an offensive line that didn’t have left tackle Levi Jones (still recovering from a car accident), left guard Eric Steinbach (elbow) and backup guard-tackle Scott Kooistra (knee). But offensive line coach Paul Alexander said there were little if any mental errors as left tackles Alex Sulfsted and Victor Leyva and left guard Larry Moore made hay in the running game.

The third offense, chaired by rookie quarterbacks Casey Bramlet and Scott Rislov, also made some hay pounding away in the running game against the No. 1s. Running backs Skip Hicks (5-23) and Herbert Goodman (4-27) got their share in a scrum with Watson to make the team with Rudi Johnson and Chris Perry.

The defense is convinced they’re better than last year. They did flash on a goal-line stop (Williams, defensive end Duane Clemons, safety Kevin Kaesviharn), and had some three-and-outs.

“We’re doing better than last year. Last year they drove down the field on us all day,” said defensive tackle John Thornton. “We had some three-and-outs. The score is a little unbelievable because we can’t get off the field after stopping them.

“I’m not that concerned. We had three groups in there. It wasn’t game situations,” said defensive tackle John Thornton. “Other than a few plays, the defense did well. We did better than we showed Wednesday night and better than last year’s scrimmage.”

At least Houshmandzadeh could play, which was more than he did all last year when a nagging hamstring limited him to two games. With Peter Warrick limping (he still made a nice, diving grab on a short pass) and veteran Patrick Johnson and fifth-rounder Maurice Mann sitting out with injuries, Houshmandzadeh could be the MVP of this camp as he more than asserted himself in the roster race for six spots.

“I don’t even think even think like that,” said said Houshmandzadeh, whose only down moment came when he dropped a punt in a non-live drill. “If I’m healthy, I know I’m going to make it.”

The 5-9, 172-pound Broussard, out of San Jose State, is still a longshot to make it, but not as long as it was Thursday. He had the most electrifying play of the night, a 26-yard bolt, with 20 coming after the catch and sprint past cornerback Alvin Porter, and the rest of a backup secondary caught flat-footed against his speed.

Then, he put together a shake-and-back 12-yard catch after he reversed field out of trouble. Palmer immediately dubbed him “PDub No. 2,” in honor of Warrick, and Houshmandzadeh agreed.

“He’s a little smaller, but he’s quicker than Pete,” Houshmandzadeh said. “He’s the fastest dude on our team. I just get the ball and try to do what I can do. Jamall, he’s just a quick dude. What he does looks so simple, but it’s real effective.”

With Warrick going every other day to protect his knee, Broussard has had a chance to make guys miss all week long with a lot of reps in the slot. Houshmandzadeh said the receivers have been trying to draw out the shy Broussard and get him to eat meals with them. On Friday, he had some guys eating his lunch.

“Not much I can say,” Broussard said. “I have a a knack for finding the seam. I’m not trying to make a statement. I just want to play and have fun. . .Peter Warrick is a great player. I’ve been trying to emulate his game since I’ve been here. If I can become the type of player he is, that would be a credit to me.”

A good part of Ohio already knows him. He had nine catches against Ohio State’s national champions in 2002.

I can't believe they said Richardson still has the punting job! I'll take 6 more yards every time! And in the inside the 20 kicks, Larson pinned one inside the 1 yardline. Shows what I know...

Its funny though, Hobson's comments make the defense sound bad, but the coaches and players all talked about much better it was than last year....

Just remember, I'm just a fan, what do I know? I guess if I knew what I was talking about ESPN would have hired me by now to replace their bullcrap NFL analysts!