Good morning everyone. It's way too early to be awake right now. Or at least in my world it is. If you're like me and aren't a morning person then grab some coffee and wake yourself up before you set off to work, school, or whatever it is you do with your time.
On Sunday it's going to be a showdown of two rookie quarterbacks in Andy Dalton of the Bengals and Blaine Gabbert of the Jaguars. In all honesty, up to this point of the season Dalton has looked more like a quarterback then Gabbert. Granted both of them have looked like what they are, rookies. Dalton has shown more glimpses of what he's capable of in comparison to Gabbert. Then again Jacksonville is filled with a bunch of no ones, outside of Maurice Jones-Drew. Dalton has completed 58 percent of his passes, while his rival, Gabbert has completed just shy of 48 percent of his passes.
Gabbert hasn't looked comfortable at the helm for the Jags. He kind of looks like a chicken running around with its head cut off. That's just my opinion though. Dalton, on the other hand, has shown more poise and confidence. However, he hasn't always looked comfortable in the pocket. But this is all part of the development for both quarterbacks. The more snaps they take, the more playing time they receive, the more they should improve. Or that's how it's suppose to work. But that's not always the case, see JaMarcus Russell.
I have a feeling that on Sunday we are going to see something along the same lines that we have seen ever game so far this season. I would much rather predict that this is Dalton's "breakout" game, but for some reason I just don't see that happening. Then again, I could be wrong and Dalton could post one of the best games in his young career.
Alright here is a look at what you may have missed or overlooked from Wednesday.
- One quality that we want to see in an athlete is a competitor. Every game we want to witness athletes compete and beat their opponent. We want athletes to get upset when they aren't involved enough. And Cedric Benson is starting to show signs of frustration with the Bengals. And he is expected to be available Sunday against Jacksonville.
- On Sunday Bengals safety Reggie Nelson is set to face off against the team that originally drafted him, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
- Confidence. It's something that some of us don't have enough of. But Bengals cornerback Adam Jones is confident that his ability is still at the top level.
- During his suspension Bengals guard Bobbie Williams dropped 12 pounds.
- Third round draft pick Dontay Moch has finally returned to practice. Just imagine how much chaos the defense will cause once he officially returns.
- The Bengals have only faced Maurice Jones-Drew once during his five-year career. And the results of that game went the Bengals way as they were able to contain the highly-explosive Jones-Drew.
- According to a recent poll, the Bengals are the second-least-favorite team in the NFL.
- Cincy Jungle's week four MVP is.......there's a link there for a reason. I can't tell you. That would be too easy.
- ESPN has come out with yet another ranking system and it's a complete joke. ESPN's The Total Quarterback Rating ranked Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton as the 27th best quarterback. And despite his historic performance on Sunday, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is ranked second.