Titans @ Bengals Game Thread

[Kazkal]

I sure hope our DB's play better in the reg season; right now they suck.

Those CB playing on that play probably won't even be here at the start of the season

Well I hope kirkpatrick is >.<

[volcom69]

Nice play Still he is playing hard tonight

[volcom69]

I sure hope our DB's play better in the reg season; right now they suck.

Those CB playing on that play probably won't even be here at the start of the season

Well I hope kirkpatrick is >.<

Yea Kirkpatrick and Ghee make it with Prater going to practice squad is how I see it. On that play Lewis Harris got smoked, and I'm not sure if he will be here.

[volcom69]

Boom running hard tonight I like it. Tough cuts at RB also

[volcom69]

Moch nice havnt heard his name much

[combatbengal]

Good game and we have some position battles going on.

[HoosierCat]

Good game. Must fix the pass protection. Whit needs to get his ass back on the field next week.

[volcom69]

Good game. Must fix the pass protection. Whit needs to get his ass back on the field next week.

I don't want them to rush him back too soon its still preseason, and he will be fine once he gets back. Let the young guys get better, on that Dalton hit where he fumbled, Zeitler just got mulled back, plus Bernard has to learn to pass protect better. I also would love to see Dalton get out of the pocket some and move as well, but the over all picture I was pretty happy tonight. If they give Dalton time this offense can be really really good.

[HoosierCat]

Good game. Must fix the pass protection. Whit needs to get his ass back on the field next week.

I don't want them to rush him back too soon its still preseason, and he will be fine once he gets back.

Correction: you hope he'll be fine. I want to see what we have. Whit is a key leader on the team but the fact is his play has been slipping the last two years. If the knee isn't ready now I have a hard time believing a couple more weeks will matter.

I'd also like Andy Dalton to live through preseason...

[skyline]

I'd feel better if I could see Dalton complete some more downfield passes, but as you guys have pointed out, his protection has been subpar so far. Add in a missing AJ Green, and it's understandable. They still found a way to make it work tonight, and Bernard sure looked good (albeit against a very weak defense).

Glad to see Sanu in there mixing it up again, and it was nice that Eifert was able to get that first catch out of the way.

[cHaD711Johnson]

Is Whit's knee an issue or is it just precautionary?

[membengal]

They are being precautionary.

[HoosierCat]

Is Whit's knee an issue or is it just precautionary?

Whit said two weeks ago that the knee wasn't strong enough for football yet. He only worked briefly at the beginning of camp, and just got back into practice late last week. So we will get a better idea of where he stands as this week moves along. Given that he's now had two procedures on the knee in two off seasons, that it was clearly impacting his play last year, and it's still not right, I would definitely call it an issue. And we saw with both Levi and Willie how quickly things can go south for a big tackle with foot and knee issues.

[TJJackson]

Good game. Must fix the pass protection. Whit needs to get his ass back on the field next week.

I don't want them to rush him back too soon its still preseason, and he will be fine once he gets back.

Correction: you hope he'll be fine. I want to see what we have. Whit is a key leader on the team but the fact is his play has been slipping the last two years. If the knee isn't ready now I have a hard time believing a couple more weeks will matter.

Gimme a center and a left tackle as 2 of our first 3 picks in April May 2014

[volcom69]

Lets just wait and see how Whit does before we start calling for his replacement. He is the biggest leader this team has had in some time. I think Anthony Collins has done a pretty great job in his absence. I like a lot of the depth guys on this O-Line.

[HoosierCat]

They seem to be pretty high on Hawkinson, but his injury has meant we haven't gotten much of a look at him. I wouldn't be surprised if they looked at the oline early next April, but that's so far out I haven't so much as looked at who might be there.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Thankfully the rest of the team is moving in a positive direction, because Dalton was awful...again (batted-down pass, fumble, and I don't think he completed a single pass downfield, nothing but outlet/underneath stuff that Sanua nd Bernard turned into big plays - anyone can do that minus the fumbling, batted-down passes, poor throws etc.., etc..,).

Then he's smiling and laughing it up after a bad play to top it off. I just don't see any changes or improvement with him so far.

[volcom69]

They didnt even throw the ball down field

[HoosierCat]

Ah, I see we have the weekly Shula troll. Hint: trolling is much more effective if it bears some resemblance to reality.

They didnt even throw the ball down field

That was obviously the plan on the first drive, but the pass protection was too poor to let the play develop. Surprisingly, they then did what I was screaming at the computer screen for them to do, namely switch to a mix of Gio runs and short, high percentage passes.

For the uninitiated, this is called the West Coast Offense. Some guy named Paul Brown created it. And it still seems to work pretty well.

[Stripes]

The fumble was ugly, but a valid excuse for that play isn't hard to locate. Otherwise Dalton was solid. He may well have a career with an inordinate number of passes batted down at the line, but that doesn't make him awful.

[skyline]

Gruden was very high on Dalton last night, and even more impressive were his comments on Gresham:

Gruden opted for two third-down passes from Dalton in the first quarter to wide receivers. Both led to touchdowns. Both crossing routes. One to Sanu on third-and-10 for 24 yards that was aided by a stiff-arm in honor of Tom Brady to safety Bernard Pollard. The other to Brandon Tate for 22 yards, aided by his sheer speed as he motored away from the safety.

Gruden loved them because Dalton threw both balls so well and just in front of Sanu and Tate that they were able to get the first down and the bulk of their yards after catch.

"People underestimate how important the location of that throw is," Gruden said. "It's an under route so it's got to be right there so he can catch it and turn up and run. "Same thing with Tate. The location on that ball was perfect also. He throws that ball right here (up the arm), Tate gets tackled for five yards and we're punting. Not only was it a great location, good protection. But great finishes by the guys."

The right side of the line atoned with Zeitler dishing it out and getting joined by right tackle Andre Smith and tight end Jermaine Gresham. Gruden also sent out triple tight ends three times in that drive that began with Bernard going right for nine yards on the first two snaps after the fumble and then he went for seven more to the left on the third snap.

"I would like to know a better blocking tight end in the NFL than Jermaine Gresham," Gruden said. "He can pass block, he can run block. To me he's as good of a blocking tight end, I would think, as there is."

[Earendil]

Thankfully the rest of the team is moving in a positive direction, because Dalton was awful...again (batted-down pass, fumble, and I don't think he completed a single pass downfield, nothing but outlet/underneath stuff that Sanua nd Bernard turned into big plays - anyone can do that minus the fumbling, batted-down passes, poor throws etc.., etc..,).

Then he's smiling and laughing it up after a bad play to top it off. I just don't see any changes or improvement with him so far.

I don't see any improvement with your posting either...

[membengal]

His posting is good at one thing...driving people away from the board. Have a good season, y'all. Used to be fun here.

Be good, skyline, jjak, cob, army, stripes, hoosier and a few others.

Peace.

[ArmyBengal]

First it's Dalton didn't put any points on the board in the first game.

Now it's questioning "how" he put the points on the board ??

He didn't throw enough long balls, he didn't throw them high enough, he didn't throw them outside enough.

Jesus, it's called the west coast offense and is EXACTLY, from the mouth of Gruden himself, what the Bengals are wanting to do this season.

If you haven't been keeping up, AJ Green got hurt in practice and hasn't played in a preseason game yet. Doesn't matter you say ??

Fine, how about the fact the Bengals drafted both Eifert and Bernard and want to see how those two will do before the season begins ?? No ??

How about Whitworth having not played in a game yet the preseason either due to his knee ??

Dalton was a yard shy of having two TD passes in the game against the Titans #1's. Yeah, that really sucks.

He was efficient and pretty accurate with his throws.

The fumble ?? Yeah, go back and watch how the o-line was pushed into his face on that play.

Nope, must be Dalton's fault right ??

Batted ball at the o-line ?? Yeah, I don't like to see it, but it happens.

Brady, Manning, Rogers, Brees, all of them have throws batted at the line as well.

Did it impact the game ?? No.

Anyone calling for Josh Johnson to be the starter or think he will become that, minus an injury to Dalton, needs their head checked.

I was at the game and then went back and watched it again Sunday. Sorry for those that hate Dalton, but he was more than solid.

Find another player to hate.

[Stripes]

Shula is entitled to his opinion (I don't think he's just being a troll, he has over 7,000 posts). If the rest of us are right about Dalton, he'll do all the work in showing that during the season.

If it were a DontPushMe scenario in which he never said anything else whatsoever (Rudi sucks, start Perry), it would be a problem. Shula isn't that guy.

Sucks if you bail, mem, but you are also entitled to do as you please.