Pre-Camp Presser

[HoosierCat]

Looking at Hobs' twitter stream (https://twitter.com/GeoffHobsonCin) and a few nuggets:

Brown on Bengals outlaw image from years past: Blame me

Way ahead of you, big guy.

Zimmer thinks he can find starting safety for season.

Well, that's...reassuring...sorta...kinda...okay not at all.

Liked springs of Iloka, Williams, Mays

Not helping.

Marvin on Dre: Waiting to get cleared for practice

Still????? (and no I don't mean Devon although at least he can get on the field...)

Lewis on Dalton: Done a great job not forcing the ball...He's the offense

Now Marvin is just trolling COB...

[ArmyBengal]

Hell, I can find a starting safety for the season.

That's nothing more than plugging in the guy on the roster that sucks the least.

Now, had he said he could find a solid vet **cough** Rhodes **cough** to start and allow Williams to be brought along, then I would have been cool with that. Again, not to say someone like Iloka or Williams won't be that guy, but with the cap space they have, why not grab up a guy like Rhodes and see what happens in camp and preseason ?? What's the worst that could happen ?? Williams or Iloka beats out Rhodes and they cut him ?? OH NO, not that...

Dre is concerning for sure. I still think Newman can be solid under Zimmer for another season, but I (as well as everyone else) want to see Kirkpatrick doing something this year besides working out on the sidelines.

[HoosierCat]

Josh & Anthony shovel out a few more nuggets:

Zimmer "believes" Maualuga will be the starting MLB.

Gruden "hopes" Moobs shows up in shape tomorrow.

[ArmyBengal]

Both of those articles are reactionary. However, I suppose there isn't much else to do right now than to worry about things we don't know anything about.

In regards to those two articles:

I think there is little thought that Maualuga starts at MLB.

I might not like it, but it is what it is. I wish they could have gone another way, but they didn't. I don't think there's any real way anyone could look at what Rey has done here and take away anything other than him being a below average MLB. Do I think they should move Burfict to the middle ?? Not neccessarily, but they appear to have some players they are really high on, so the move wouldn't surprise me either. Wasn't there talk about when looking at the defensive scheme, that Maualuga didn't look to be on the field that much even though he was considered the starter ?? I could be wrong, but I thought I read that here or somewhere.

On one hand you have the coach saying Smith was gone for personal reasons. Now you have the OC saying it "kinda" sends the wrong message. Well which is it ?? Does having personal issues that need to be addressed "kinda" send the wrong message or is Smith just f*cking off ?? Don't get me wrong, as much as I have been a backer of Smith, I don't like that he has been absent. However, I have no idea what is going on with him. What I do know is that when he signed his 3 year deal, he was said to be in great shape and the pictures proved that he wasn't all blown the f*ck up. It was also reported (take what you will from it) that Smith was working out hard down in Alabama and was tearing up the weight room. I'm still in the line of thought that thinks things will be just fine either way around.

[HoosierCat]

On Maualuga, I'm sure he will at least start the season as the starting MLB in the 3-4 alignment. But the Bengals spent more time in the 4-2-4 last year and I don't expect that to change. The question in which LB comes off? Last year it was Lawson. this year I believe it will be Rey. We'll see. If Rey continues to struggle, I also think they won't hesitate to shuffle the lineup.

On the Smith front, Gruden's comments don't surprise me. There have been plenty of rumbles behind th scene that, despite their rosy public comments, the bengals are not at all happy with his absence. If Andre doesn't show up in shape there will be fireworks.

[jjakq27]

When I hear "hope", I wonder if anyone has had any contact with him. I'm assuming the absence or issue is weight related so it bothers me that there is this uncertainty about his physical shape and conditioning.

So I "hope" it's all useless discussion once he reports but I have my doubts.

[AMC]

On Maualuga, I'm sure he will at least start the season as the starting MLB in the 3-4 alignment. But the Bengals spent more time in the 4-2-4 last year and I don't expect that to change. The question in which LB comes off? Last year it was Lawson. this year I believe it will be Rey. We'll see. If Rey continues to struggle, I also think they won't hesitate to shuffle the lineup.

I harken back to ML's constant focus on "getting off the field on 3rd down". Yes, it is one of the basics of football, defensive 3rd down conversion rate, and I believe this directly affects personnel as you stated. You can look at this through the prism of two 3rd down situations: 3rd and 2 versus 3rd and 7.

3rd and 2, which is extremely common within a game, is a grey area for the coaches and their use of Rey M. Do you rely on his ability to stop the run, or do you acknowledge that 3rd and 2 could be ripe for a TE on Rey M situation? How the coaches approach this on an opponent-by-opponent basis is really the key. I think an opponents ability to mix up their play calling specific to 3rd and short situations, given our DL strength, further isolates Rey M and makes him vulnerable.

All in all, there appears to be only one situation where you should be "comfortable" with Rey M, and that is on "any down" and short where the opponent chooses to run between the tackles.

I concur with Hoosier that given the increased use of the 4-2 front that Rey M's role will be drastically reduced.