Cincinnati Bengals Hurting & Saints Stuff.

I'm not sure if anyone got a chance to catch the Saints/Bengals game the other day but I did and I wasn't impressed especially since I picked the Bengals to surprise some people.

The Bengals looked bad. On offense, T.J. Houshmanzadeh, Chad Johnson and Rudi Johnson were inactive for the game. Rudi Johnson isn't that big of a deal because he likely won't be the starter in Cinncinnati. Look for Chris Perry to have the starting gig there. Anyway, those players were gone and it showed. Carson Palmer looked bad out there at times. He over-threw players and made questionable decisions. Palmer looks to have reverted back to his performance from last season where he threw a career high 20 interceptions. He almost had a pass picked off after he clearly overthrew his receiver downfield, straight into a diving Mike McKenzie's arms. Fortunately for Palmer, McKenzie dropped it. Later in the game, Palmer was sacked, ending the game with a bloody nose and a split lip. After the game, he had a quick procedure done on his nose but looks to be ready for the season opener. Moving along, the running game looked bad out there for the Bengals. They had no push on the opposing linemen. Speaking of offensive linemen, there is one guy that is struggling on that team. Stacy Andrews, the RT, seems to have trouble with penalties. Second week in a row he has had a false start penalty. To top off an abysmal offensive performance, Palmer said that Houshmanzadeh and Johnson may not be ready for week one of the regular season.

On defense, the Bengals looked just as bad. Poor tackling to open up the first quarter and then weaker players constantly got picked on by Drew Brees. Guys that stood out on defense for them were Domata Peko, Keith Rivers and Leon Hall. Those guys were making plays but everybody else wasn't. Hall stripped Colston on an inside route, making the Saints end their drive with a punt. Rivers displayed his quickness and great reading of the offense. Peko got in the backfield several times and was their only pass rush. The others looked bad but one that stood out was Marvin White. White is the replacement of the departured Madieu Williams. White lacks cover abillity and it showed it against the Saints after he was beaten several times including a downfield throw to Robert Meachem. The Bengals have no pass rush.

On the Saints side of the ball, the offense was good like always. Reggie Bush suffered a knee injury or at least looks to be that. I haven't heard anything on that but overall, they were good. Defensively, they stood out. They looked good in stopping the run with the first team and the defensive backs did a good job even though the two Bengals receivers were absent. One guy that stood out from the bunch was Tracy Porter. Porter made some plays including a strip of the ball on an end-around to Antonio Chatman. He somehow got his hand around the Bengal blocker and got to the ball.

In the end, the Saints were good and the Bengals suffered their first pre-season shut out ever I believe.

 

Lol, I think the Bengals will end up doing fine this season though. Once the guys come back healthy, which will probably be around week two or three. On defense, one guy that they need very bad back there is Safety Chinedum Ndukwe. He's injured and I'm not sure how long he's out but they're a different defense without him.

At the LB spot last night, I think they had Dhani Jones in the middle with Brandon Johnson and Keith Rivers on the outsides. Jones and Rivers are good players but Brandon Johnson is a backup and shouldn't be out there. I said this in the Club Level but I think they need to move Jones out with Ahmad Brooks in the middle. Eventually, I do see that happening.

I didn't see Jonathan Joseph out there last night, maybe I missed him. Him and Leon Hall really came on toward the end of last year. Another guy I forgot to mention earlier that may have contributed to the lack of pass rush is Antwan Odom. He wasn't active last night. He's a good player imo and hopefully he will help them out.

They may end up replacing the struggling Marvin White at Safety with Corey Lynch.

I still pick them as a surprise team and a surprising defense though.

 

Your Palmer pick doesn't look too good for the first couple weeks of the season (assuming the receivers miss the game).

 

I don't know, Palmer said they both could miss the game. We'll have to see.