Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Hopefully it was filled with relaxation, beer, friends and family, more beer, and even more beer in order to forget the Bengals ugly loss to the Detroit Lions.
Alright so I hope no one is prepared to raise the white flag on this season. If you are, then that shows how loyal you are as a Bengals fan. Preseason is a tune-up for the regular season. The results that happen during the preseason is a big "who cares" type ordeal. What matters the most is the development of the team and players. Any team can lose every game during the preseason and manage to find some success during the regular season.
Now I'm not saying that the Bengals are going to go winless during the preseason, nor am I saying that the Bengals are going to be good during the regular season. All I'm saying is that it's the preseason, let's not get too worked up over one game. In my opinion as long as we witness progress in the evolution of some of the rookies on the squad such as Andy Dalton, A.J. Green, and Clint Boling then that's a positive note.
Another element that is vital for the Bengals is the development of the players being able to work together as a team. With the new West Coast offense the Bengals need to be able to run plays together and have success running those plays. If they can't run plays successfully then this season will be a long one.
Let's hope the preseason opener was only a hiccup for the Bengals and that they have success in the near future!
Here is a look at what you may have missed or overlooked from the weekend.
- Jay Finley could be a leading candidate to land a spot on the practice squad. If you think about that, it makes perfect sense. And for him personally, that would be better than being released.
- Former Bengals wider receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh is scheduled to work out with the New England Patriots. Say it ain't so T.J.!?!?!
- Guard Otis Hudson may not return from injury until after the Bengals' October 23rd bye week.
- A video review of the Bengals offensive linemen against future Hall of Famer Rob Callaway, Andy Dalton and the Bengals offense began to find a rhythm, Leon Hall was the victim on defending two tough pass plays, the rushing attack moved because the blocking permitted it, and a look at how the first team rushing defense performed against the Detroit Lions..
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- Andy Dalton said that his performance against the Lions was "not the kind of day" he wanted to have. Didn't we all figure that one out? I mean who would really want their first professional pass to be an interception?
- Alright everyone, let's not throw in the towel just yet. It's too early to judge the Bengals after one preseason game. After two games you can judge all you want though. Okay, I'm actually joking about that. Wait until the regular season has started before you start judging and bashing the Bengals.
- According to Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, the offense "has to get better." High-five for stating the obvious.
- Dontay Moch suffered a broken fifth metatarsal bone in his foot and could be out for at least eight weeks. I suppose if the Bengals didn't have bad luck then they wouldn't have any type of luck at all.
- The top five good and bad stats were discussed from the Bengals first preseason loss to the Lions. The good, the bad, and the ugly was from the game was also discussed.
- Turn back the clock to 1969 to discover how Andy Dalton's path to the Bengals began over 40 years ago.
- The preseason opener was an important game for everyone, especially all of the undrafted rookies.
- Andy Dalton had one major goal in the preseason opener against the Lions and that was to manage the game.
- Former Bengals tight end Reggie Kelly denied reports that he's retiring.
- We presented the connection between the Bengals and the Lions. Check it out. It's rather intriguing.
- The New York Giants worked out former Bengals safety Chinedum Ndukwe. I'll be a bit sad to see Ndukwe leave (if he does in fact sign with another team).